Longing for the Incomparable
Waiting for the Appointed Moment
I was staring at a concrete slab where a church building had once sat as I laid my hand upon the shoulder of a Nigerian pastor and prayed with him. Before our arrival, his church had been decimated by Boko Haram, a terrorist organization that was, at the time, prevalent throughout the area. This was now the third time his church had been destroyed by the radical Islamic terrorist group. It was a surreal moment for me, and at only twenty years old, I didn’t catch the full gravity of the moment. However, it was in that moment, being with this pastor, that the Holy Spirit started speaking to me about longing for the restoration of the world.
Early in Jesus' ministry by the Sea of Galilee, some of John the Baptist’s disciples approached Jesus and questioned him asking, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not?”[1] Jesus’ response was profoundly revelatory. He said, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The day will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”[2] When Jesus ascended and was “taken away” from the disciples, they lost the One whom they loved deeply. The Bridegroom was taken from them. From there on out, the answer Jesus had given to the disciples of John the Baptist was no longer just a profound idea. Starting at the ascension, it became a heart-wrenching reality.
Soon after the disciples watched Jesus ascend into heaven from the Mount of Olives, two men in white appeared to them and said to them, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”[3] As the disciples walked down the mount, their hearts now longed for a coming day—the day when they would see Jesus, the cloud rider, split the sky and descend just as they saw Him ascend. They were awaiting an appointed moment of promise: the wedding feast and the return of the Bridegroom. With this in mind, Paul wrote to Titus saying, "The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us... to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.”[4]
Just as Jesus said to John the Baptizer’s disciples in Matthew 9, a spirit of mourning and fasting came over the disciples. Suddenly, their hearts were longing for something that this world could no longer offer. Their hearts were longing because the One whom they loved had been "taken away." For the disciples, from that point forward, "to live [was] Christ and to die [was] gain.”[5]
Romans 8: Not Worth Comparing
"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”[6]
It was evident to me in Nigeria that the Gospel was more than social justice reform, forgiveness of sins, and having a good life (though those may be part of the Gospel message). For our Nigerian brothers and sisters—in a nation where politics, social justice, and the economy can be hellish—the promises of the Gospel start to kindle within their hearts a fiery longing for a Glory that is coming. For them, the Gospel has massive repercussions for their life in this age, but even more glorious repercussions for the age to come. Perhaps the love of this world and its comforts can easily cloud this reality for some believers, especially in the West. However, the realities of the coming “Glory” must be rekindled in our hearts for us to stand faithfully in the coming days.
For many believers in other countries, especially in the persecuted church, to become a follower of Jesus does not make for an easier or better life. In fact, for most, it makes this earthly life much more difficult. For many, it causes them to even lose their life. However, they have found that what is inherited through the blood of Jesus is like a pearl of great price that is worth selling everything for. For believers, this world and age cannot offer anything close to the magnitude of the future glory we will inherit through Christ. Put simply, all the suffering, pain, disappointment, confusion, trial, and tribulation are worth it. The future Glory attained for us through Jesus is better. According to the Apostle Paul, who has a list of sufferings much longer than ours,[7] it is not even worth the time, energy, and thought to compare the two.
Paul writes in Romans 8:20-25 that this world is "subjected to futility." Some versions say “subjected to decay." This world will one day cave in and decay. Until then, all of creation and those born of the Spirit "groan together in the pains of childbirth" as we wait for our redemption. This is the hope and glory for those who have been purchased by the Blood. This is the promise given through the Gospel message. Romans 8:24-25 says, "For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience." Until our redemption, we wait patiently. We long with perseverance. We join in Christ's sufferings, and with zeal in our hearts, we count it all as joy, for Jesus will reward us with something incomparable to anything the world can offer in this age.
The Comforter and Labor Pains
At the end of John 13, Jesus says to the disciples, "Where I am going you cannot go.”[8] Immediately Peter’s emotions flare up, and he responds saying, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”[9] Jesus recognizes the need to comfort the disciples at the traumatic news that He will be taken away from them. His love as the Bridegroom shows as He comforts them and tells them, “Let not your hearts be troubled... if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”[10] Jesus then promises He will ask the Father to send the Paraclete, our comforter, helper, and advocate.[11]
In their sorrow and grief at the taking away of the Messiah, the disciples were comforted by the Holy Spirit. While the Holy Spirit was sent to be a Paraclete, He was never meant to replace Jesus nor quench the longing. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is not meant to result in making a believer feel at home in a decaying world. That is contrary to the Gospel message. Jesus said himself, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”[12] The Holy Spirit was not given to make our life better on earth so we can succeed in building a life for ourselves; rather, He was given to advocate for a waiting bride, sanctify her, and aid her in choosing to forfeit her life every day by comforting her with assurance of the Bridegroom’s return.
Affirming this truth, the conversation that started in John 13 continues in John 16. We hear similar comforting words from Jesus as He says:
Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.[13]
Jesus is comparing the agony and anguish of a woman's labor in childbirth to living in this present age, but promises relief and joy we when He returns. The ministry and role of the Holy Spirit can be compared to that of a midwife—to guide, instruct, help, and comfort until the labor pain ends.
Revelation 5: Break the Seals and Open the Scroll
"No one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, 'Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.’”[14]
Several years back, I challenged myself to read through the book of Revelation every week for a year. My faith was nourished in so many pivotal ways in that season of meditating on this glorious book. One of the first things the Lord revealed to me in that season was a Truth from the above Scripture. When no one was found worthy to open the scrolls and break its seal (so John thought), it caused him to weep. The Scripture even adds emphasis, saying John "began to weep loudly" or "weep bitterly." I understood this until I continued to read through the chapters that followed, seeing the havoc and catastrophe that would come about because of those seals being torn. Wars. Famine. Poverty. A quarter of the world’s population devastated.
The question that arose in my heart was, “Why would John weep if no one was able to bring about these things? If the seals and the scroll brought about such cataclysmic events, why would he want them to be opened?” While emotionally it can be complicated, the answer is simple: The beloved Apostle knew where his "blessed hope" was found. His hope was found in the end of this age and the restoration of all things. The thought of no one being able to break the seals, open the scroll, and bring about the end of this present, wicked age was heart-wrenching to John. If no one was found worthy to break the seals and open the scroll, then there is no hope according to the Scriptures, and the Gospel is all for naught.
Paul makes it clear that Gospel promises include the end of this current, evil age, saying, "Then comes the end, when He delivers the Kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.”[15] The Gospel must and will include this climactic event for our hope to be found in it. Peter says in Acts 3, as he shares at Solomon's portico:
Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.[16]
Our future hope is not fixed upon the cross and Jesus' atonement; it is guaranteed through and built on the cross and atonement of Jesus.
It is when we are most moved by how wicked this present age is and how great the next age will be that we are most useful in our partnership with the Father in revealing the Son, hastening His return and the end of this age.
Followers of Jesus who posture themselves as the waiting bride show a tangible abandonment, forsaking the things this fallen world has to offer. They also show consecration, focus, and desire for the fullness of the Lord’s presence and his dwelling that is promised when He comes again. They cling to the presence of God in this age and take joy in meditating on the fact that this is just a foretaste of what is to come. The more a believer's life shows a longing for Jesus, hope in His coming Kingdom, joy in the guarantee, and a forsaking of their life and of this age, the more God is glorified and magnified to this fallen world. Believers’ eager expectation becomes a witness to a wicked, fallen world. A longing Church bearing witness of a glorious eternity with a wonderful, loving God shows the world how magnificent God actually is and how loving Jesus was to make such an eternity available to us as sinners. When we show the world that what we gain through Jesus is not even worth comparing to even the best life on earth, it reveals how loving God is and how powerful the blood-stained cross is.
The hope of the prophets of old and the redemptive work that was guaranteed at the cross will be fulfilled. The Lord is burning with desire for the day He gets to come back, and so should we. It is only when we come into alignment with the Lord's heart for the restoration of all things that our participation will be "of the Father's business.”
So, beloved, let us long for our Bridegroom. Let us groan with creation as we wait for our redemption. Let us hold fast with all endurance through the help of the Holy Spirit. For it will all be worth it when we see each other at the wedding feast of the Lamb. It is incomparable.
Maranatha.
Jesse McCaleb is the Director of the FAI Homefront, bridging the energy, prayers, and advocacy resources of the homefront to the work on the “warfront”—the Gospel frontier. We are committed to actually shrinking the 10/40 Window in our lifetime, until Gospel poverty is eliminated—strategically and effectively. Find out more here.
[1] Matthew 9:14
[2] Matthew 9:15
[3] Acts 1:11
[4] Titus 2:11-12, emphasis added
[5] Philippians 1:21
[6] Romans 8:18
[7] 2 Corinthians 11:16-33
[8] John 13:36
[9] John 13:37
[10] John 14:1-3
[11] John 14:15-17
[12] Matthew 16:24-26
[13] John 16:20-22
[14] Revelation 5:3-5
[15] 1 Corinthians 15:24
[16] Acts 3:19-21