WAIT -- a small word that is almost as strong as another four letter word -- LOVE; and it seems just about as hard to apprehend, that is, in its truest form. Due to the inborn lack of patience in people, waiting can be a most tormenting thing. When babies want something they want it NOW! -- not in a little while, but right now! Some will cry until they get their way, others will scream, while a few will throw a tantrum, depending on how much they rule the house. A large segment of our youth today find it next to impossible to wait upon the growing process of becoming an adult. This very often causes them to try their hand in "acting" grown-up which in turn produces a world of hurt in their lives and those close to them. And the average adult has yet to lay hold of patient waiting as well.

There is virtually no area of our existence in which waiting is not applied. Right when we think we have mastered this elusive art, one of our kids will deliberately drag his feet when he is asked to do something that we feel is immediately critical, and we pop off like a pressure cooker over a blazing fire. Or the guy in front of us at a traffic light doesn't begin to move at the exact instant the light turns green. If we are falling short in this area it quickly becomes apparent, for our stomachs will begin to boil. With some it is not just a boiling within but an outward explosion equal to the eruption of Mt. Saint Helens a few years ago. It is really a wonder that more people are not killed at traffic lights, not from accidents, but by enraged motorists who have been delayed one or two seconds after the light turns green. We may not realize it, but other than regulating the flow of traffic, God made these lights as one of the final testers of our patience. About the time we think we have come to the place of perfect patience, He will not only place one of these long red lights in our path, but He will make sure a day-dreaming Grandma Moses is in the car ahead of us. And of course, we groan, we mumble, we grumble, we spew and we complain; or perhaps we curse under our breaths (or over them). Incidentally, when this happens we fail to realize that we are railing against God, not giving any thought to the fact that He is the one who has put this timely indicator in our paths to show us where we are, or rather, where we are not.

Indeed, patience is a genuine virtue of the rarest kind, and he who possesses it rules his own soul. Even so, there is more to waiting than what we may think. There is a type of waiting everyone must partake of, and those who will learn by it will prosper greatly; yet there is another waiting that brings forth the untold riches of God's blessings in people's lives. Isaiah 29:14 & 18 gives us a couple of examples: "Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder....And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness."

The next chapter follows with what precedes the opening of the blind eyes: "And therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for Him. For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when He shall hear it, He will answer thee. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes (the ones who were blind, 29:18) shall see thy teachers (In the Hebrew teachers is in the singular rather that the plural.) (Isa. 30:18-20).

In the above verses we can see how God's marvelous judgment comes upon the blind, that they may behold their Lord. It is through WAITING. Although our gracious Lord has heaped unfathomable revelations upon us, and at times His works were unsurpassed, and there have been seasons that His Holy Spirit swept over us like a flood tide of Life, we still find ourselves forever waiting. As appreciative as we have been of all those great and mighty things, we have been waiting for the revelation of our hope to become a manifested reality; namely, the manifestation of the Sons of God in glory (Rom. 8:17-23).

Many have waited in hope for so long that they have become weary; weary enough to be able to relate to the proverb of Solomon, "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick" (Prov. 13:12). They have cried out, "How long O Lord? How much longer must we wait? When shall we see the promise of your coming? When shall we ascend from the mountains of Zion unto Mount Hermon? When shall we arise above the heavens to be no more shaken? When will it be that we can breathe a word as the dew of life to the groaning creation who are in waiting for us. When shall this be, that they too may be delivered from the bondage of corruption? How much longer, O Lord, must we wait?" The answer is simply this -- WHEN WE HAVE WAITED UPON THE LORD!

Frustrating cries can be heard rising in the night, "But we have waited, and still do not see that which we have waited for!" And in part I must agree, for it does appear that much is lacking in the body of Christ today. For one thing, it is very evident that more than a few are blind and fail to see their teachers; or we should say, they fail to see their "TEACHER." They may indeed look upon their teachers, such as old Brother Joe Blow and Sweet Sister Susie Cue as being great orators, ones who can really tickle their spines and send goose bumps racing over their bodies in mad profusion. And these teachers may indeed be ministering directly from the throne of God; but the masses very often fail to see the only TEACHER who can truly teach them anything -- JESUS CHRIST, THE ANOINTING! This is probably the most common shortcoming in the Church today -- the saints failing to recognize their Teacher. In essence they are either blind, deaf, or they have flat noses (the lack of discernment), as Leviticus 21:17-24 mentions.

Incidentally, although there are those in the congregations who fail in having spiritual sight, hearing, and discernment -- there are countless "teachers" who are afflicted with the same handicaps; and as a result they are ministering, or allowing to be ministered from their pulpits, a profuse amount of rancid teachings. These are three of the twelve blemishes, as recorded in Lev. 21, which were reasons enough to disqualify a priest from ministering the bread of the Lord. Nevertheless, it doesn't seem to have slowed the people down, for our land is overrun with handicapped priests of the Kingdom.

The dangers are numerous. For instance, if they are blind they can't tell the goats from the sheep, because their bleating is the same except to the trained ear, nor can they distinguished the wolves in sheep's clothing from the real sheep. If they cannot hear by the Spirit, those who have the horns of the lamb will move in their midst -- appearing to be Christlike -- but the deaf cannot hear that they speak with the voice of the dragon. Likewise, if they have no discernment they cannot perceive whether the spirit of a man is that of the fragrance of the sweet Rose of Sharon or it is the rank odor of a skunk. When they speak, regardless of how beautiful their rhetorical words may be, if they have been eating the leeks of Egypt, those whose noses are not flat will be able to smell the foul breath of the carnal spirit and be repulsed by them. On the other hand, if they have been eating the sweet fruit of the Kingdom, the Spirit of their words will be pleasant, they will breathe the breath of Life, sweet smelling and appealing. Those with a sense of smell, they who have discernment, will know from what spirit a person is ministering, whether it is from Christ as a result of receiving communion from His Body, or whether their hype and excitement is from drinking too much carnal wine of hypothetical ideas. The breath and body odor of an intoxicated person is nauseating, but flat nosed students, and teachers alike, are oblivious to it. Those who are without discernment will forever be looking hither and yon to this teacher and to that teacher, never coming to the knowledge of the truth. They never really see their Teacher.

If, however, we find ourselves lacking in any of these three areas which would prevent us from recognizing the anointing of our Lord, there is hope; and that hope is in being healed through WAITING. That waiting, however, as you may have guessed by now, is not the type of waiting that many have been doing. It is not totally as we understand this English word.

In the Hebrew resides a nugget of truth that greatly enhances the meaning of this small, seemingly insignificant word. There are two common words used in this ancient language, and they both do mean to wait, but the scope of their definitions are much greater than this alone. One of the words is qavah and means TO BIND TOGETHER BY TWISTING, which we covered in Publication #47. The other is chakah, which means, TO ADHERE TO THROUGH THE IDEA OF PIERCING. Chakah is used in Isa. 30:18: "And therefore will the Lord wait...blessed are all they that wait for him."

When it was time for the meat offerings unto the Lord, the priest would take a large, three-pronged, brass flesh-hook and cast it into the large pot of meat and drag it out to be offered. The meat was pierced, harpooned if you will, and seized unto the Lord to be consumed by fire.

Jesus said, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will DRAG all men unto Me. This He said, signifying what death He should die" (Jn. 12:32-33). Some are saying, "Wait a minute, Brother Roach, the word in this verse is `DRAW' rather than `DRAG.' Let's not get careless with the word, now." Not so, for the Greek word is helko and according to Strong's and other Greek references, it means TO DRAG. It is the same word as when Peter drew the sword from its sheath and cut off the ear of the high priest's servant.

It has been common practice to use the above verse, "I will DRAW all men unto Me," as a word of invitation, as a call for the world to come, "if they will," and give their life to Jesus. If this is what the word entails, can we imagine Peter having done the same with his sword, as many Christians do with this scripture when trying to get people saved? With his hand six inches from the handle, "Sword," he would have tearfully said, "our Master is in trouble. It is time for your service to be rendered unto Him. I, therefore, invite you into my hand." With his first attempt failing, he would have then put the next tactic into practice. "Sword, I beg of you, I implore you to come into my hand before it is eternally too late! Can't you see the desperate situation we are in?" Of course, the shiny blade would have remained where it was. In a last ditch effort to accomplish the job, he would have done what the Church has been doing for so many centuries -- THREATS! "Sword, if you don't come into my hand by the time I count to three (i.e. `People if you don't give your life to Christ by the time you die.'), with the excruciating pain of eternal hellfire, I will melt you down to a puddle of shapeless nothing! The flames will never be removed from you; therewith, it will be impossible for you to ever be poured and remolded as another useful instrument of any kind!" He would have continued with such horrendous warnings as: "Think about it, Sword, THROUGHOUT ETERNITY, and FOREVER and EVER shall you abide in those tormenting flames of sulfur if you fail to ascend into my waiting hand!" (As if more time could be added to something that has not end).

Not for a second did Peter entertain the thought of inviting the sword into his hand, nor did he think that threats would do any good. Not at all! He knew that the sword had no power of its own to fly into his hand. Therefore, of HIS OWN WILL and determination, he placed his strong hand upon the handle of the waiting sword, and with a firm grip, he DREW, he PULLED, he DRAGGED his sword from its resting place and put it into active service.

Again, " And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, WILL DRAG ALL MEN UNTO ME." Once more, and expanded: If I be lifted up from the earth, upon the cross, upon the altar of sacrifice, I will drag all men along side me. With the flesh-hook of the high priest, I shall thrust into the earthen pot of humanity. With its three hooks of brass I shall seize your flesh, your soul, and your spirit; and I will drag all men upon the cross with Me -- but every man in his own order. This, dear saints, is the type of drawing, or dragging that Jesus has been doing, is still doing, and shall continue to do until He in effect has brought all men to that same place of sacrificial waiting, where our nature is changed from earthly to heavenly. It is then that we enter the more pleasant place He is preparing for us -- the place of permanent abiding, the place that some Bibles have erroneously translated as mansions. (Jn. 14:2).

When we now read His inspiring words, can we not hear the Spirit of our Lord saying? "If I be lifted up I will pierce you, I will hook you, I will drag all, i.e. I WILL WAIT FOR ALL IN YOUR DUE SEASON! It is in this waiting that places you upon My Father's altar of blessing, which will enable you to see Me face to face, your long awaited Teacher. It is here that your spirit, your soul, and your body is seized, consumed, and transformed -- becoming one with Me. Do you not remember? `He who is joined to the Lord is ONE SPIRIT!"

Dear friends, we may have come to the place of knowing that we shall not fly away some glad day, but did we ever expect the brazen flesh-hooks of the Lord? Some refused to believe such traumatic things could ever befall "overcomers" like themselves, but a few are beginning to understand -- as they are now WAITING UPON THE LORD! In some, one prong of the hook has pierced down to the bone marrow of their fleshly bodies; others are feeling the sharp pain deep within their souls; with a few the painful hook has penetrated to the very quick of their spirits; while a number of others are being grappled by all three prongs -- seizing the entirety of their being -- their bodies, their souls and their spirits. It matters not, however, of its severity, they are all finding that they are being dragged from their resting place and laid upon the fiery altar of God. In this awesome waiting they are finding how helpless they truly are. They are beginning to see the vanity of things that were before thought to be so precious. And they are coming to the absolute realization that God does rule in the kingdoms of men -- and they are saying AMEN to it all, especially now that they are truly seeing their Teacher in the midst of His corporate body as well as within themselves!

We have heard a handful of people make statements in the past year which has led us to believe that they thought the price of waiting would be much to high to pay, that they would prefer to forgo the prize of the high calling of God in order to abide comfortably in the flesh pot of humanity. Although this is probably the feeling of more than we would like to imagine, there are those who have counted the cost -- and it doesn't matter. They are here for the duration! They are determined to finish the race!

At times they may find themselves sitting in meetings and enduring the rhetoric of lifeless teachers. It matters not how academically qualified a man or woman might be, if the Teacher is not speaking, it is lifeless.  To those who are accustomed to hearing voice of the Dove, if the word pouring forth is not that of the Teacher, the sound to them can be more akin the braying of an ass.  In "spirit-filled" meetings, when the majority are "worshiping," singing the "Song of the Lord," as it is called -- those who know what it is to wait upon the Lord will sometimes hear the howling of dogs instead of what it is supposed to be. While everyone else is getting goose bumps, those in waiting will know that their Teacher is not in the midst of the word or the song. One the other hand, regardless of the setting, the circumstances or the vessel, when no one in the multitude of a thousand can see anything good, if the Teacher is present the pierced ones will see Him and learn.

Therefore, brethren, despise not the waiting upon the Lord. When you find yourselves seized by His grappling hook to be dragged into the fire of His altar; but rather, be quick to echo His humble words, "...Not my will but Thine be done." For it is then that your Teacher shall be removed from a corner and clearly seen. "...Though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide Himself anymore...And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way, walk in it, when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left" (Is. 30:20-21, Amplified.).

To be continued...