Come Up Higher - God is Patience

So as God continues to invite us to come up higher, we will explore another aspect of God’s character. That is patience. A patience that is the very essence of God Himself. For God is patience. All throughout God’s loves story the Bible, God revealed His patience, through His relationship with individuals and people groups. He is slow to anger and links His patience to His salvation.  That is, God patiently waits for all those who will come to Him have come, before He brings judgement and eliminates evil. As you listen be blessed, empowered and transformed in Jesus name.

For more information and free resources visit our website jesuslovestheworld.info Also connect with us in discipleship, watch our videos, follow us on facebook or send us an email info@jesuslovestheworld.info

For more information and free resources visit our website jesuslovestheworld.info Also connect with us in discipleship, watch our videos, follow us on facebook or send us an email

Transcript

00:00 Intro music and voice over.

Welcome to jesus loves the world podcast. For more information and free resources visit our website jesuslovestheworld.info Be blessed empowered and transformed in Jesus’ name! 

00:21 Speaker

Following on from last week, we discovered that God continues to invite us to come up higher, to know and experience His peace, even in this world damaged by evil. 

His peace is in joining together, becoming as one with Him. Dwelling as one in quietness and rest. Where the creator and His creation become one once again. As heaven and earth are in complete harmony and rest. In quietness and peace the divine and mortal have become enjoined. Where peace, God’s peace, rules and reigns. 

For it is His covenant of peace that binds us together. As we are immersed in Him, surrendered to Him, we carry His peace wherever we go.

So as God continues to invite us to come up higher, we will explore another aspect of God’s character. That is patience. A patience that is the very essence of God Himself. For God is patience.

All throughout God’s loves story the Bible, God revealed His patience, through His relationship with individuals and people groups. He is slow to anger and links His patience to His salvation.  That is, God patiently waits for all those who will come to Him have come, before He brings judgement and eliminates evil. 

In ancient times, there was a great city that reflected the might of the Assyrian empire. The people were worshipping other gods of humanity’s making. The Assyrian empire had violently seized territory and taken captive people of Jewish lineage. 

Yet God in His great mercy and patience withheld His judgement of this evil, just for the people of this great city. So they too could have the incredible privilege of knowing the one true God.

This exceedingly great ancient city was Ninevah.

God in His patience, did not bring judgement upon the evil of the people of Ninevah, waiting for those who would come to Him come. Instead He sent a man to speak the exact words God gives him. His name was Jonah.

So let us pick up the story.

Jonah 3:5-4:2 So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying,

Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?

Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. So he prayed to the LORD, and said, “Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.

The king of Nineveh recognised the God of Jonah, as the Eternal One, the supreme God, the one true God. Yet unlike Jonah, the king of Nineveh did not know the one true God is patience. 

Yet he along with the people of Nineveh turned from their worship of other gods and aligned themselves with the one true God. Having aligned themselves with God, they surrendered their violent ways to Him. 

In God’s amazing grace, tender mercy, unending patience and unconditional love, He relented from bringing judgement upon Nineveh. For they had no longer aligned themselves with evil and therefore did not come under the judgement of that evil. God’s justice, divine justice is for all people to be equal. His heart’s desire is that none should perish. Yet in His great love, God gives everyone free choice. 

Not everyone is pleased about God patiently waiting for all those who will come to Him come. Jonah was annoyed that God did not bring judgement upon a people group that had oppressed his people. Yet God who is slow to bring judgement, cares for all people. Including the oppressor and the oppressed. 

For God’s heart is that each individual and people group throughout the ages is given the opportunity to know Him. 

God is patience.

Even knowing that as time passes, the people of Nineveh would chose to return to their ways of violence, pride and worship of other gods, God still brought salvation to them. Both in the time of Jonah and to the next generations, in the time of Nahum. This time the oppressors refused to turn to the one true God and surrender their evil ways. Yet Nahum was given a vision by God to bring comfort and healing to the oppressed. That is those in exile of Jewish lineage who have remained faithful to the one true God.

Nahum 1:1-7 The LORD avenges and is furious. The LORD will take vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies; The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, And will not at all acquit the wicked. In the whirlwind and in the storm, And the clouds are the dust of His feet. He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, And dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel wither, And the flower of Lebanon wilts. The mountains quake before Him, The hills melt, And the earth heaves at His presence, Yes, the world and all who dwell in it. Who can stand before His indignation? And who can endure the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, And the rocks are thrown down by Him. The LORD is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him.

Yet this generation refused to repent, that is to change their choice of rejecting God and aligning themselves with evil. To repent is to change ones thinking and turn to God. Give total allegiance to Him and worship only Him. 

Through a vision given to Nahum, God reveals He will bring true justice to the earth. God’s divine justice includes salvation and judgment. 

That is salvation to all those who chose Him and all who choose to reject Him judgement and eternal damnation. 

Through the vision given to Nahum, it is revealed God is slow to anger. God is steadfast, consistent and slow in avenging evil. That is patience. 

Yet as God’s patience is pure, just and good, He will bring judgement to evil. In true justice God gives everyone an opportunity to receive Him and His salvation, before executing judgement.

For us today God invites us to come up higher. He continues to bring comfort to those who have received Him, as we live in this world damaged by evil. Evil still is given power by humanity and there are those who still choose to align themselves with evil. There are also those who will chose to come to Him. Choose to align themselves with only good. The one true God.

Therefore God continues to wait. He waits patiently for all those who will come to Him have come. That is He waits until everyone who chooses to receive Him has received their salvation. When their eternal destiny is safe and secure, judgement of evil will come. 

So God is patience. He waits. Just like in the days of Noah. It was a time when humanity had chosen to reject God and align themselves with evil. In doing so humanity had become pure evil themselves. The evil was so dark and destructive that God had regretted creating humanity. The sorrow in His heart at the sight of such evil was immense. 

Yet there was a man and his family who had not chosen to align themselves with evil. Instead they chose to align themselves with the one true God. 

God in patience waited for Noah and his family to be safe, before he brought judgement. He waited until the ark of their safety was complete before He brought the rains to destroy the evil upon the earth. 

The Apostle Peter, who witnessed the immense love of God as He witnessed Jesus lay down His life for all humanity testified of God’s patience. 

2 Peter 3:1-13 Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” 

For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 

But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 

Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Peter wrote this letter to those who were suffering the perils of this life. It was in very turbulent times. At a time when it looked like evil was winning. There are those who continue to scoff at future judgement. Yet it is only because of God’s great love and patience that judgement has yet to take place. 

Peter makes it clear that God waits for all who will come to Him throughout the ages will come. 

God the Father, Son and Spirit is eternal and above time. He looks through time and knows those who are His and those who will be His. Those who are His have aligned themselves with the creator of heaven and earth and all things good. Of these who are His God declares are good. Having given total allegiance to Him, are passed from the judgement of evil. 

As humanity continues to give power to evil, God patiently waits. He waits for all those who will come to Him have come. When that moment in time takes place, Jesus will return and bring judgement. 

That is judging evil as evil and sending it to an abode of eternal torment and darkness. So all those who have rejected God and thus aligned themselves with evil, will come under that judgement. 

Whoever we choose to align ourselves with and worship becomes our eternal destiny.

So as we enter into this new season, God is inviting us to come up higher. To know and experience Him and His patience more and more. A patience that is unending and intertwined with His selfless love. His heart’s desire that none should perish. So God waits. For God is and always will be, patience.

19:40 Outro music and voice over. 

For more information and free resources visit our website jesuslovestheworld.info Be blessed empowered and transformed in Jesus’ name!