What the Bible says about Master Delays Coming
(From Forerunner Commentary)
The prophet pronounces God's judgment. Notice the many parallels to Babylon and Laodicea. Also notice what Jesus says in a parable concerning the time just before His return: "But if that evil servant says in his heart, 'My master is delaying his coming,' and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards . . ." (Matthew 24:48-49). Amos and Christ speak about the same sequence of events. The attitude of putting off the day of Christ's return promotes violence and injustice toward one's fellow man. Appeasement, a "strength" of the Laodicean, virtually guarantees violence and war, as happened in the years leading to World War II.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The World, the Church, and LaodiceanismRelated Topics: Babylon | End Times | Evil Servants | God's Judgment | Jesus Christ's Return | Laodicea | Laodiceanism | Master Delays Coming | National Collapse | Parable of the Faithful and Evil Servants
This was a primary problem in the first century church—growing weary in doing well.
The foundation of this problem was the people's perception that the return of Jesus Christ was being delayed. They were weary from suffering, persecution, and other hardships associated with being a Christian. These hardships were social, because their friends, relatives, and others who were not Christians ostracized them. Their persecution was economic as well, in that it was difficult for them to get jobs, just as it is today because of Sabbath and holy day obligations. The combination of these trials brought to them to the point that they were tired of doing well.
We are close to the return of Jesus Christ; the world is filled with all kinds of signs of the end. They wear at us and worry us. We see them on television and hear them on the radio—everywhere we look, we see signs of the times. It is a stressful situation to be in, and still, Christ does not come. We say, "How long, Lord, will it be 'til You come?"
We can become neglectful. We can let our focus slip. We need to be exhorted and stirred.
Christ gives the first-century church a warning in Revelation 2:1-7, His message to the Ephesian church. He points out their problem. He gives them advice as to what they should do, and then at the end, He provides incentive for them to correct the situation that they had allowed themselves to deteriorate into.
John W. Ritenbaugh
How to Know We Love ChristRelated Topics: Delay, Effects of | Distress | End Times | Enduring Persecution | First Love, Losing | Lord "Delays His Coming" | Master Delays Coming | Persecution | Spiritual Neglect | Stress | Weariness | Weariness in Well-Doing
We should add to this their deferred expectation of the return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom of God. In them were high expectations of Christ's return, and conversely, the ever-diminishing hope that He would come in their lifetimes, combined with the difficulties of Christian life.
Does this apply to us today? Could we, too, feel that the return of Jesus Christ may be farther off and be beginning to have somewhat the same attitude as these people did?
John W. Ritenbaugh
How to Know We Love ChristRelated Topics: Deferred Expectation of Christ's Return | Hope | Hope , Deferred | Lord "Delays His Coming" | Master Delays Coming | Weariness | Weariness in Well-Doing