In the Waiting Room

Last week, we looked at the apostle Paul as he approached the end of his life. The focus was on finishing strong—straining toward the finish line. This week we look at another man who was facing the end of his life…Jacob.

I wait for your salvation, O Lord.
– Genesis 49:18, ESV

Damon’s Quirk(s)

Alean and I have an occasional, odd discussion about one of my quirks (I have many). To her, it is an eye-roller, but to me it is like grinding the gears of the car when people say, “Oh, I can’t wait…” Yes. Yes, you can and, really, you have no choice but to wait. “Oh, I just can’t wait to see you.” Well, you have to. You must wait. There is no other option available to you. “I just can’t wait for the conference this weekend!” Well, you can wait, and you must wait. You’re going to have to find a way to do so, because the conference is not until this weekend and the conference organizers are not going to move that date up on the basis of you believing you can’t wait.

Now, I’m not so obtuse as to not realize what people are saying, but imprecision in language is a peculiar difficulty for me. It is one of my quirks, not unlike the mental recoil many experience at the current societal misuse of the term, “literally.” I literally die every time I hear that.

Jacob’s Wait

In the Genesis quotation above, Jacob has expressed his own, “I can’t wait” statement. He longed for the salvation of God. He had waited, and he continues to wait, but his wait is almost over.

The brief statement above falls in the middle of a longer discourse that Jacob delivered to his twelve sons, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Joseph, and Benjamin. You likely recognize these as the forefathers of the twelve tribes of Israel. Jacob was passing some final exhortations to his sons before leaving this life behind. The final verse of Genesis 49 records that Jacob finished speaking to his sons, he drew up his feet, breathed his last breath, and was gathered to his people,¹ a poetic way of saying, “he died.”

Our Wait

There is something in that cry from Jacob to which every sincere Christ-follower can relate. Many are the times I have prayed to God a similar prayer, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation,”² borrowing that gut-wrenching heart cry from David. We long for the salvation of God and the joy that exudes from it. We long for Christ’s return. We look at the chaos and filth around us and wonder how much longer it can continue before God intervenes. You’ll recall that God did reach a breaking point with Sodom and Gomorrah.

When Jacob said, “I wait for your salvation O Lord,” it is the first recorded instance of that word, “salvation” in scripture. It is yashuah, or some will say, yeshuah, essentially the same Hebrew term from which we draw the name “Jesus.”. Jacob has looked for, longed for, waited for that salvation. It is the same longing, groaning, and patient (hopefully) expectation with which we look for the coming of Jesus, a confident expectation that burns in the heart of every believer this present day.

John Waited

In a New Testament event we find that John was looking, longing, patiently waiting as well. And when Jesus did come, but things didn’t unfold as expected, John looked for confirmation of that longing fulfilled. John couldn’t wait!

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”
– Matthew 11:2-3, ESV

The Creation Waits

It’s not just people who are waiting. The entirety of creation waits, groaning and travailing, looking for that day of redemption.

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
– Romans 8:19-23, ESV

I have been reading those verses for decades and I am astonished each time I read them.

Keep Waiting, but Keep Alert

But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
– Jude 1:21, ESV

I know the wait seems painfully long and difficult, but God’s promise is secure.

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
– Hebrews 9:27-28, ESV

1. Genesis 49:33
2. Psalm 51:12