The Number?

[Guest truthseeker007]

Is there a particular number of people who are going to replace satan and his angels? Is God waiting till this number is attained?

[John317]

I would say no. God is not waiting for a certain time or a certain number of people.

[Woody]

He is waiting for the Maximum number possible.

[Marie]

I only knew of two things God is waiting for. One is that the gospel is preached to all the world, and the other, that His people are ready for Him to come.

To think He is waiting for us to shape up is not too great a feeling. But we need to face the fact that He is waiting on us.

Any thoughts on this?

[Marie]

I only knew of two things God is waiting for. One is that the gospel is preached to all the world, and the other, that His people are ready for Him to come.

To think He is waiting for us to shape up is not too great a feeling. But we need to face the fact that He is waiting on us.

Any thoughts on this?

[doctorj]

I am not sure that I like the concept that God is waiting at all. God has His time and we are admonished to be vigilant for we know not the time when he will come. It is stated somewhere that we will be surprised when He comes.

Can anyone show from the Bible that God is waiting on us to do anything?

[Woody]

Quote:

I am not sure that I like the concept that God is waiting at all.

He is waiting for us to open the door. He will not force himself on us.

[doctorj]

He is waiting for us to open the door. He will not force himself on us.

AND where do we find that in Scripture? Is this just a concept we pull from the air or is there some support for this idea in the Bible? Quotation please!

[Liz]

Originally Posted By: Redwood

He is waiting for us to open the door. He will not force himself on us.

AND where do we find that in Scripture? Is this just a concept we pull from the air or is there some support for this idea in the Bible? Quotation please!

Revelation 3:20

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

[doctorj]

Originally Posted By: doctorj

AND where do we find that in Scripture? Is this just a concept we pull from the air or is there some support for this idea in the Bible? Quotation please!

Revelation 3:20

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

Really, is that the best you can do? I don't see from reading the context of this verse that it is talking about the Second Coming. Rather, this is a promise to you and me about our personal spiritual lives.

[Liz]

Originally Posted By: Liz

Revelation 3:20

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door' date=' I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.[/quote']

Really, is that the best you can do? I don't see from reading the context of this verse that it is talking about the Second Coming. Rather, this is a promise to you and me about our personal spiritual lives.

Sorry, I thought you were talking about a personal relationship. I re-read this thread and realize you were not. I really need to learn to read the threads from the beginning. (I need an embarrassed smilie but can't find one)

[doctorj]

Sorry, I thought you were talking about a personal relationship. I re-read this thread and realize you were not. I really need to learn to read the threads from the beginning. (I need an embarrassed smilie but can't find one)

Yes that's OK. I would like to know if there is a text that tells us that God is waiting on us to end the world as we know it. I can't find one. But maybe there is a better Bible Student than I who can put a finger on such a text and let us all know where it can be found.

[Marie]

Quote:

As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. Luke 17:26.

Quote:

My brethren and sisters . . . , I make my appeal to you. . . . The lives of many are too delicate and dainty. . . . They think themselves Christians, but they do not know what practical Christian life signifies. What does it mean to be a Christian? It means to be Christlike. . . . Co-operate with God by working in harmony with Him. Expel from the soul-temple everything that assumes the form of an idol. Now is God's time, and His time is your time. Fight the good fight of faith, refusing to think or to talk unbelief. The world is to hear the last warning message. {Mar 137.3}

In the time of Noah

1. Preaching was going on while they waited

2. They had to be right with God in order to make the right choice to go in the ark, otherwise they would have also stayed out because of unbelief.

This is also true of the end of time.

[doctorj]

In the time of Noah

1. Preaching was going on while they waited

2. They had to be right with God in order to make the right choice to go in the ark, otherwise they would have also stayed out because of unbelief.

This is also true of the end of time.

BUT we cannot assume that God waited because the people were not ready. God had his timetable and effected the flood at his appointed time. Where does it say that God waited because the people were not ready. AND how do we suddenly apply the same set of conditions to our time at this end of the world's history.

I feel that we have this idea that God is waiting for us to preach the Gospel to the world before He will come again. I don't know that God is waiting for anything. He will come when the time is right.

I still do not have a text from anyone that says God is waiting to come, and he is waiting for us to be ready. We should live everyday as though this is our last day on earth before He comes. This is Biblical . . . BUT to say God is waiting for us . . . I dono't know anywhere in the Bible where it indicates that God is waiting for anything. He will come when the time is right!

Or am I wrong?

[John317]

It is true that Jesus won't force himself on us in the sense of a relationship. But when it comes to the Second Coming, the Bible is clear that He won't wait indefinitely. When He does come, the Bible says that He will find most of the world unprepared and evidently Jesus will not find many people with genuine faith in God at that time.

There will be millions of people saved in God's kingdom, but the Bible definitely shows that the vast majority of the world will be lost.

This is very strong evidence that there is much more involved in being ready for Jesus to come than simply claiming that we have accepted Jesus Christ. There are also many illustrations of this in the Gospels. Not all who call Him Lord will be saved.

How, then, do we prepare for Christ's return?

[John317]

....I feel that we have this idea that God is waiting for us to preach the Gospel to the world before He will come again. I don't know that God is waiting for anything. He will come when the time is right.

I still do not have a text from anyone that says God is waiting to come, and he is waiting for us to be ready. We should live everyday as though this is our last day on earth before He comes. This is Biblical . . . BUT to say God is waiting for us . . . I dono't know anywhere in the Bible where it indicates that God is waiting for anything. He will come when the time is right!

Or am I wrong?

I do not believe that God is waiting for a certain time, as if He is watching a big clock which must strike a certain hour before God will come for His people. It is not an arbitrary decision on God's part that will determine when it is right for Christ to return.

One of the most important texts shedding light on this point is found in Rev. 19:7. This verse shows that Jesus comes back when His bride-- His church, us-- "has made herself ready." Compare Ephesians 5:27.

Matt. 24: 14 along with such verses as Mat. 28: 19, 20 and Mark 16:15 also show that God's plan is for the gospel to be preached to the whole world before He returns. Rev. 14: 6 and Rev. 18: 1 contains a reference to the plan of God to have the everlasting gospel as well as certain warning messages proclaimed throughout the whole world before the seven last plagues fall and before the Second Coming. (Read 14: 6-14.)

So it is clear to me that God is waiting for SOMETHING to happen both in the church and in the world before He comes. That makes perfect sense because after all the whole purpose of Christ's life and death and work in heaven has been to save people and prove God's righteousness. God is waiting, then, for a demonstration of something. What is it?

Ellen White makes the statement to the effect that God is waiting with longing desire for the character of Christ to be perfectly reproduced in us-- those who claim to be His and waiting for His return from "a far country"-- and then He will come for His own. Also see GC 425.

A good question to ask and answer is, why is God waiting for Christ's character to be perfectly reproduced in us before Jesus will come back?

A very good book which describes the evidence and reasoning for this view was written by Herbert Douglass and is entitled, Why Jesus Waits. Definitely worth studying.

What does it mean for the bride of Christ to make herself ready? How does she get ready? To put it personally, what must I do to make myself ready?

[Marie]

Very good post. I'm sure God will not wait forever, but knowing all I'm sure He won't need to. The Bible gives us many points to think on concerning our knowing when the time is getting close, yet without telling us the time. I feel there is a time, but that this goes along somehow with our doing our part too. To say God has a time (only) and that we don't have a part in this is to teach people that it don't matter about us, when that is the whole reason for Jesus first coming, to help us to be ready when He comes again. To give us hope and direction, a path, a light to follow, and that light is Jesus.

[Woody]

Quote:

"Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church. When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own." COL 69

[carolaa]

I don't believe God is waiting for anything. He is omniscient, beyond time or space. It is we who are waiting, not Him. He has a plan, and that plan will happen.

Neither do I believe there is a particular number that will replace Satan and his angels. I can't think of a reason why that would be necessary or desirable.

[Woody]

Interesting that you would say he is not waiting for anything just when I quoted EGW saying that he is waiting. Do we have a disagreement here?

[carolaa]

Maybe, but I'm pretty sure this was already discussed not that long ago.

[John317]

Quote:

"Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church. When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own." COL 69

Yep, that's the quote. Thanks! All I knew was that it was in COL.

[John317]

...To say God has a time (only) and that we don't have a part in this is to teach people that it don't matter about us, when that is the whole reason for Jesus first coming, to help us to be ready when He comes again...

Excellent point.

In this connection, 2 Peter 3: 12 is a very interesting and exciting verse to study because it indicates that the church can "hasten" the Second Coming. By the same token, it also implies that the church can delay the Second Coming by being disobedient or rebellious. Either way, the verse seems to show that God does not have a particular time He is waiting for in order to come. It shows, as you've said, that the church has to part to play in when Christ returns.

I think it may be compared to the children of Israel's having their entrance into the Promised Land delayed by their lack of faith and rebellion. As I study Adventist history, I've come to the conclusion that we as a people are repeating the experience of ancient Israel.

NIV-- as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming....

English Standard Version-- waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God...

The word translated here as "speeding" and "hastening" can also mean to "urge on," but it is the same word that occurs as "hurrying" (NIV) in Acts 20: 16 and as "quick" (NIV) in 22: 18.

[Bravus]

I see God as outside of time and space, but part of the incarnation was that Jesus gave that up and became like us. He's stuck inside time like us, and is therefore waiting...

[John317]

I find it amazing, comforting, and assuring to know that as a member of the Godhead, Jesus the man knows what it is like to be "stuck inside time" like all of humanity is. There is a very real sense in which God the Father enters into humanity's subjective experience through Christ, so that He knows what it is like to be human in all of its aspects, including temptation.