9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
In making yeast breads you have to get everything just right, or it won’t rise. The water has to be the right temperature or the yeast won’t active. You have to give it enough sugars to feed. You have to put the mixture in the right moisture and temperature environment to rise. If you get all these things right, then it should rise. But rising takes time. You can’t rush it. It is going to take hours! If you try to bake it too soon, your bread will not be the right consistency. There will be too many air bubbles or it will be too heavy. You have to wait. The first Jesus-followers were getting impatient with Jesus’ delay of His return. They were under tremendous persecution and wanted relief. There were some teachers who decided to make some money off this discontent. They began teaching the Jesus would not return. We must be careful when someone begins teaching to our discontent. Chances are pretty good that they are going to twist theology at that point. It has happened with the ‘Prosperity Gospel’ crowd, the Brownsville and Toronto Blessing movements, and even the ‘King James Only’ crowd. Don’t get sidetracked from the Truth. The Truth does not change with the winds that blow. The Truth just is. We can take it or leave it. But it still is Truth. Jesus is going to return, just like Scripture says. As the world gets more and more broken, don’t get discouraged with what we view as a delay. His purpose in delay is the salvation of souls. He wants to give opportunity for repentance.
The Arnold Journey 