Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains.

Certain events in creation are destined to occur, but not before certain other events are played out. A butterfly will eventually emerge from its chrysalis, but not before a butterfly egg hatches into a caterpillar and the caterpillar forms itself into the chrysalis. A salmon will eventually lay its eggs in a stream, but not before it has attained maturity in the ocean and has swum up the stream. A farmer will eventually reap a harvest, but not before he plows the land, plants, and fertilizes the crop.

It’s the same with the coming of the Lord. It is destined to occur, but not before certain other events are played out. Jesus’ prophecy that the Gospel must be preached “to the ends of the earth” must be fulfilled (Acts 1:8). The church, the bride of the Lamb, must make herself ready (Revelation 19:7). And the “man of lawlessness” must be revealed—the man “doomed to destruction,” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3). Many other events must occur as well.

Given the order and structure of creation, you have to wait for various events to play themselves out. You can’t rush the processes. You can’t catch a butterfly for your collection before it emerges from the chrysalis. You can’t gather salmon eggs for the dinner table before they’re laid. And you can’t harvest a crop before it’s planted. You have to wait for all these things, being patient, to allow things to develop.

It’s the same with the Lord’s coming. He will surely come, but you have to wait for the antecedent events to play themselves out. Although you may pray like the Apostle John, “Come, Lord Jesus,” you can’t do anything to force the coming of the Lord. Just because you’re ready for Him, just because you’re suffering, doesn’t mean that the Lord is obligated to make His appearance. There are things that must happen, and plans that must be fulfilled.

We must be patient, then, like the farmer. We must wait for everything to happen in its time. And we must interpret the times properly, so that we’ll know how to live in them (Luke 12:56).

By John Huisman, friend of Bible League International