Change of Season (4) - Plenty of Time

Christians always seem to be in a hurry for the second coming to come. God is generous and gracious wanting many people to come into his kingdom, so he is not in a hurry. Peter reminded us that God is not bound by our sense of urgency.

With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Pet 3:8,9).

These verses have used as a key to interpret biblical prophecy, but that totally misses the point. The real point is that time is different for God. A thousand years a like a day. The two thousand years that have passed since Jesus was crucified seems like a long time top us, but God it is just like two days. If only two days have gone by, God has no reason to wind up his show on earth. The opposite is true. He is not slow, but patient. He is willing to let many thousands of years so that more people can come to repentance and enter his kingdom.

Christians who want Jesus to return soon are out of touch with God’s heart. He did not send his son to die for just a hand full of people. He is gracious and generous and wants hundreds of billions of people to come into his kingdom. He will not establish his kingdom, and then immediately put it away like last years toy. He might enjoy watching his kingdom for thousands of years. God is patient, so he is quite happy to let several thousand more years go by, so he can keep his covenant for a thousand generations.

Here is a woe that should make us worry.
Woe to those who say, "Let God hurry,
let him hasten his work
so we may see it (Is 5:19).

God is not in a hurry. His people should be careful about making him hurry. He has many more promises to fulfil. His people should be as keen to see many billions more people coming into the kingdom. Those who want to rush Jesus coming do not understand his concept of time.

Ten thousand years is just like a few days to God. He will wait that long to fill his kingdom with billions of people.

God does not need to hurry. From his perspective this show has only been on the road for a couple of days. It makes no sense for him to close it down, because the opening day crowds were disappointing. He intends to establish his kingdom, so he will take as long as he needs to do it.