Those Who Wait Upon The Lord

Isaiah 64:1-4

God works for those that wait upon Him! That is a powerful thought!

There is something to be said about this, even though most of Israel and most of humanity fall short of this waiting!

Those that wait upon the Lord is a simple meaning.

The word waits in the Hebrew is “hakah”

It carries the meaning: “continue to be in a certain state until an expected event, implying a desire to see the event occur”

Now, this specific passage is to Israel and it speaks of the promise of the Messiah, the Deliverer that was to come to redeem Israel and give them an expected end!

That is exactly what is referenced in Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”

The thoughts of peace is speaking specifically when Christ will rule in the millennial reign of Christ, where the nation Israel will rule with Christ during that time.

Simeon spoke of this when he held Jesus in Luke 2:25–26 “And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.”

Luke 2:28–30 “Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart In peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,”

Waiting for the Messiah, that meant deliverance for Israel and graciously the Lord has given that deliverance to us, as well!

Truly, as Paul tells us in Romans 2:28–29 “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.”

The Jew (descendants of Abraham) is of the heart not ethnicity or ritual!

Now to the important part of this passage......Jesus has already come and we believe He has completed what all of humanity needs for salvation, we simply must believe! Then what are we waiting for? What does this passage mean to the NT church?

I go back to the meaning of the Hebrew word for wait (Hakah): “To continue to be in a certain state, until an expected event.....a desire to see an event.”

We talked about this a few Sunday nights ago when we read in Matthew 24:13 “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

To continue in faith, through trials and temptations, just keep on believing! That seems like a simple statement but it has powerful encouragement to us!

Back to our text, “God works for those who upon Him”

Isaiah tells Israel to review history and see the works of God for them! It is never in doubt that He has worked for them!

God works for those who wait upon Him, even today! You might say, well wait a minute, I can take you through my life and show you that God hasn’t worked for me......

In lies the problem...........what are waiting on God for?

You see, the devil has cleverly disguised the reality of humanity and this world. He has made it seem like it is going to be here for ever and that we are too.

That puts us in either of 2 camps:

A life lived for the world, the desires of the flesh seem to please us and want to keep us here. Comfortable in the world.

Or a life lived in anxiety.....worried about the next thing, thinking that something is coming to take your world away!

Either way, we have fallen for the deception of the devil, when we are dictated by these things!

There are probably other things, but mostly from those 2 mindsets all the other things come!

Depression, loneliness, anger, warring, filthy desires, etc......

2 Corinthians 4:4 “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”

This is a powerful verse because satan has blinded the eyes that cannot see past this world, if their hope in God, in Jesus is in this life then as Paul said they will be a man/person to be pitied the most!

The text in Isaiah 64 is telling us, encouraging us that there is no other God that has done the things that God has done and He has acted on behalf of those that will wait for Him!

It doesn’t say wait on Him to fix a certain earthly problem, but that waits on Him!

For the one that glorifies God, by living for Him, that trusts in Him, that longs for His presence!

I tell you it is easy to fall for the deception of satan.....especially when we see all the craziness in the world or just when you see calamity in your life!

I have told you many times about the man I took medical equipment to, that was just told he had 3 months to live! He was shattered, all he could do was stare off!

His health deteriorated, a few weeks after that initial visit, I was carrying him to another room because he couldn’t walk!

Now, I ask you, what do you see out of that?

Some might think different things.......what I saw, what I learned is that all my hopes and my faith cannot be placed in this world, because in a moment it can be all destroyed, everything that i lived for and worked for will be no more!

What I can always count on is the Lord.....you might say Heaven, well the only reason Heaven is Heaven is because of the Lord, so the one that truly waits on the Lord is waiting to be with the Lord!

The great and awesome truth of this is that to all of us who believe, we have seen God work on our behalf, He is acted because of us!

Romans 5:8 “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Galatians 1:3–4 “Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:”

This present evil world! There is a life greater than this present world, it is with God and His Son Jesus!

Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:12 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

Our battle is not in the flesh because the flesh is going to die anyway, it is the spirit that lives forever........so, the real battle is spiritual, whether you believe that or not that is the truth!

Hamas attacks Israel, evil is at our capital doorsteps, but the real battle, the one that is for eternity is spiritual!

Paul states in 2 Corinthians 11, that he was beaten with rods, he was stoned, he was shipwrecked, perils from his own people, criminals, and others, he was hungry, in pain, all for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, stating once that his life consisted of this: Philippians 1:21 “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

He also said in 2 Corinthians 10:4 “(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)”

Our weapon is our trust in God through Jesus Christ!

The word faith is used over 300 times in the NT, believe is used over 200 times.

That is what waiting means to us today! Believing and trusting that there is no other God, there is none like Him and the this God acts on our behalf!

Everything is for our good and to bring us to an expected end!

We can stand in the face of trouble and believe in the truth of God!

Jesus told the woman at the well in John 4:23–24 “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

In Spirit and in Truth......no other way to worship, our worship, our belief, our hope is not of this world it is in Spirit, a spirit life is a life not of this world, the truth of God is so far different from this world

So, our worship and our lives are not in what the things of this world holds, but in God Himself!

We don’t look for something to happen, we long for the day that we can be with God and that overrides every earthly desire or feeling!

I was thinking about this spirit and truth, the spiritual warfare.......we see a lot of evil in the world, and what we have discussed today is that God works for those who wait upon Him.....

I thought about Jesus when He came to the Gadarenes across the sea of Galilee....you can find it in Luke 8, Mark 5, and Matthew 8.......

Luke 8:26-33......the only thing I want you to see out of this is how the demons responded when Jesus came........at the true presence of God the enemy cannot stand, God is working for those, who in truth worship the True Lord Jesus Christ and there is no evil that can break that seal!

One more example......the thief on the cross..........Luke 23:39-43............

Matthew’s account has both thieves railing on Jesus at the beginning, but one thief saw something in this man on the middle cross maybe He was the Christ, maybe He was the Son of God.........somewhere on those crosses, he saw Jesus differently......He asked the other do you not fear God?

He recognized that Jesus did not deserve this death, the thief’s belief seems to become more about saving his spiritual life than his earthly one!

Jesus’ response is the most powerful..........Just by the thief’s recognition of Christ, Jesus granted this thief, who had never waited on Jesus til now, entry into Paradise!

No accusation could stop Jesus, none of the evil that this thief did could stop Jesus, no evil thought about this man could stop Jesus from giving the gift of grace!

He is always working on the behalf of those that wait on Him and nothing can stop or thwart Him!

No matter how this earthly world is going for you, God is for those that believe in Him and long to be with Him!