Jesus Waited Upon the Father

What Did Jesus Do?

My hour has not yet come.
John 2.4

An old proverb (Are there such things as “new” proverbs?) cautions, “You can't push the river.” A theologian might say that providentially all things happen according to God's design and desire at the kairos moment appointed for them. Truly, waiting upon the LORD brings better results than taking matters into our own hands. (Isaiah 40.31) If there is a season for everything, and a time for every purpose under heaven (Ecclesiastes 3.1), then surely the Son knew better than anyone the wisdom of waiting upon the Father.

The sisters of Lazarus fully expected that their brother's dear friend would respond immediately to their summons to come and help him as he lay dying. But Jesus waited upon the Father. (John 11.6)

Herod was anxious to get the Lord in his hands, but the Son knew His fate was in the Father's hands alone, so He faithfully finished His course. Jesus waited upon the Father. (Luke 13.31-32)

His birth occurred in “the fullness of time” (Galatians 4.4); His His arrest and crucifixion had to coincide with the Paschal feast (Mark 14.12). Jesus waited upon the Father.

Anxious as they were for the coming of the kingdom, Jesus told His disciples to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit, and then take up the work of witnessing to the world. (Acts 1.4-8) Waiting upon the kingdom is not inactivity, but acting in the Spirit under the authority of the Father who has appointed all times and seasons. As the Lord waited upon His Father, so too His disciples.

Waiting was obviously not an easy thing to do in the ancient world, Jesus had to urge His anxious disciples to be patient and wait upon the Father. Today, when we expect meals to be microwaved in minutes, if not seconds, when we demand faster and faster transmission of data along the information highway, when instant gratification has all but become a right people demand, waiting is intolerable for many people. Why scrimp and save for months, much less years, when you can buy on credit today? Why spend weeks, if not months, exercising and eating right to lose a few pounds when you can pop a pill today? Purveyors of the so-called “Prosperity Gospel” even spur us on: Why wait upon the coming of the kingdom for your reward from heaven, claim your riches here and now!

Thankfully, Jesus waited. If the Lord had been impatient, or unwilling to submit to His Father's will and timing, there would never have been a Crucifixion, and with no Crucifixion there would be no Resurrection, and with no Resurrection there would be no promise of eternal life for any of us. But, waiting on the Father's timing, and acting in the Father's will, the Lord fulfilled all righteousness, that we should be accounted righteous in Him. Indeed, those who wait upon the LORD shall be lifted up. That's what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4