“Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” (James 5:7-8)
For nearly two-thousand years Christians have been looking and longing for the second coming of Jesus. We have anxiously awaited the “dead in Christ rising first,” at the resurrection of the dead in Christ, and also the rapture of the church when living Christians will be “caught up” to meet the Lord in the air. (I Thessalonians 4:13-18)
James addresses the persecuted Christians and tells them to be patient as they wait for the Savior’s return. We are to be as the farmer who has planted his soy-bean seeds following a successful harvest of wheat. The farmer knows his fields with their seed need the proper rains at the proper time for a good crop. So the farmer waits. He does not disk up his fields if he fails to see soy-bean plants grown to maturity the next day after the seeds are planted.
James knows that at the return of Christ wrongs will be made right and so he encourages all his readers, including you and me, to wait patiently for the Lord’s return.
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