Habakkuk 2:3
These things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed.
Luke 21:9
These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.
We read many exciting, even frightening things that God says will yet happen. But when the time comes for them to come to pass, God will not be late, He will be just in time. Habakkuk knew that God is never in a hurry, and Luke records Jesus' words about the "end times." There are many specific events we can look for to let us know that "the end is near," and we can make ourselves ready for His Glorious Appearing; but we are not to sit and wait, we are to "occupy" until He returns. We need not fear what is to come, as God has promised that His wrath will not come near us, we will only see it happening to the wicked who have refused to turn to God. They will certainly persecute us, as bearers of the Truth, witnesses of what Jesus has accomplished in us, and wants to do for others, too. They will even martyr God's people, as is already happening today, more so than in any other time in history. But God's wrath for us was poured out on Jesus on the Cross, not on us. And we who are left to witness That Day, will meet the Lord in the air, in the clouds, and be changed, glorified as He is glorified by His Resurrection, and then we will ever be with the Lord forever.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
