There are so many stories in the Bible about the subject of waiting. I could have written many more blog posts about this subject, but I won’t. I will write just two more blog posts about the subject of waiting, 即: Waiting for the promise of the Messiah and waiting for the promise of the return of the Messiah (which is still to come). The most important promise of God to man was the promise of the coming of the Messiah: 耶稣基督.
God’s first promise of the Messiah
I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel (创世纪 3:15)
After man sinned, by disobeying God, man became separated from God, God had already a new plan to redeem man from evil, and reunite them back to Him. Because all He wanted, was to have a relationship with man.
God had already created a plan, to take the authority from the devil and give it back to man. The devil had taken it wrongfully, but God would take it back in a legal manner.
The first time that God spoke about the promise of the Messiah is in Genesis 3. He spoke about the One, that would deliver the people out of satan’s hand and bring them back to God.
The One, Who would take the keys of authority from the devil, and would reign together with man. The Messiah, of Whom God spoke, was Jesus.
After God told the serpent (恶魔) that the seed of the woman would bruise his head, the serpent tried everything he could, to prevent this from happening. He tried to destroy the seed of the woman (I will write about this in the near future), but he did not succeed.
The coming of the Messiah
Did the Messiah come right away? 不, it took more than 2000 years before the promise of God; the coming of the Messiah came to pass. But despite the fact, that it took more than 2000 年, God kept His promise.
At the perfect time, the Messiah came. All the prophecies regarding the birth, 生活, 死亡, and resurrection of the Messiah, have ALL come to pass.
因为事实, that all the prophecies came to pass, and are still coming to pass regarding the end of times and the return of the Messiah, proofs, 那 Word of God is reliable, and is the Truth.
The birth of Jesus Christ
In Isaiah 7:14 we read the prophecy about the birth of Christ: Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; 看哪, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
The life of Jesus
Many prophets wrote about the life of Jesus, IE. the prophet Isaiah:
看哪, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: 看, his reward is with him, and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young (以赛亚 40:10-11).
(I would like to encourage you to study Ezekiel chapter 34 和 37 as well)
But ofcourse, there are many more scriptures about Jesus Christ, 弥赛亚. The whole Word testifies about Jesus, 神的儿子.
The death of Jesus
In the Book Isaiah, we read about His death:
他诚然担当我们的忧患, 并承载了我们的悲伤: 但我们确实认为他受了打击, 被神击打, 并受苦受难. 但他因我们的过犯而受伤, 他因我们的罪孽被压伤: 我们的平安的惩罚落在他身上; 因他受的鞭伤，我们得医治. 我们所有的羊都迷失了方向; we have turned every one to his own way; 主已将我们众人的罪孽都归在他身上. 他被压迫, 他受了苦难, 但他却没有开口: 他像羔羊一样被带到屠宰场, 就像一只羊在剪羊毛的人面前哑口无言, 所以他不开口.
He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? For He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of My people was He stricken. And He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth. 然而主却乐意伤他; 他使他陷入痛苦: 当你将他的灵魂作为赎罪祭时, 他将看见他的后裔, He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 他必看见自己灵魂的劳苦, 并应满足: by His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many; 因为他必担当他们的罪孽.
因此我要把他与伟大的人分享, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He hath poured out his soul unto death: 他被列在罪犯之中; and He bare the sin of many, 并为违法者代求 (以赛亚 53:4-12)
In Psalms 22, we read about the crucifixion of Jesus, and what He endured during the crucifixion.
Jesus confirmed, what the prophets wrote about the Messiah and said:
I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep (约翰 10:11).
The resurrection of Jesus
For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption (诗篇 16:10)
Not only in Psalm 16:10, we read about His resurrection, Jesus also confirmed His resurrection to the people, in Matthew 12:40:
For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
There are many more Scriptures about the birth, 生活, death and resurrection of Jesus (关于 44 Scriptures), but I won’t overload you with all 44 Scriptures. You can look them up and study them for yourself.
We can read about the promise of the Messiah and the fulfilment, throughout the Bible. God never forgot His promise, even though it lasted more than 2000 年.
God repeated His promise many times. He spoke through the mouth of His servants, to the people, to remind them of the promise. God didn’t lie, He spoke the truth.
The promises of God will come to pass
我想鼓励你, that when God gives you a promise, He will make sure that it will come to pass. But sometimes it may take a while. It will happen at His time, and not your time.
All you have to do, is to trust Him completely, and wait. Stay in His Word, and get to know Him better. The more you will know Him, 你越会信靠他, and the stronger your faith will become. Don’t do anything stupid, don’t take matters into your own hand, but wait….
‘成为地球之盐’
