Is there a particular number of people who are going to replace satan and his angels? Is God waiting till this number is attained?

I would say no. God is not waiting for a certain time or a certain number of people.

He is waiting for the Maximum number possible.

I only knew of two things God is waiting for. One is that the gospel is preached to all the world, and the other, that His people are ready for Him to come.

To think He is waiting for us to shape up is not too great a feeling. But we need to face the fact that He is waiting on us.

Any thoughts on this?

I only knew of two things God is waiting for. One is that the gospel is preached to all the world, and the other, that His people are ready for Him to come.

To think He is waiting for us to shape up is not too great a feeling. But we need to face the fact that He is waiting on us.

Any thoughts on this?

I am not sure that I like the concept that God is waiting at all. God has His time and we are admonished to be vigilant for we know not the time when he will come. It is stated somewhere that we will be surprised when He comes.

Can anyone show from the Bible that God is waiting on us to do anything?

He is waiting for us to open the door. He will not force himself on us.

AND where do we find that in Scripture? Is this just a concept we pull from the air or is there some support for this idea in the Bible? Quotation please!

Revelation 3:20
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

Really, is that the best you can do? I don't see from reading the context of this verse that it is talking about the Second Coming. Rather, this is a promise to you and me about our personal spiritual lives.

Sorry, I thought you were talking about a personal relationship. I re-read this thread and realize you were not. I really need to learn to read the threads from the beginning. (I need an embarrassed smilie but can't find one)

Yes that's OK. I would like to know if there is a text that tells us that God is waiting on us to end the world as we know it. I can't find one. But maybe there is a better Bible Student than I who can put a finger on such a text and let us all know where it can be found.

In the time of Noah
1. Preaching was going on while they waited
2. They had to be right with God in order to make the right choice to go in the ark, otherwise they would have also stayed out because of unbelief.

This is also true of the end of time.

BUT we cannot assume that God waited because the people were not ready. God had his timetable and effected the flood at his appointed time. Where does it say that God waited because the people were not ready. AND how do we suddenly apply the same set of conditions to our time at this end of the world's history.

I feel that we have this idea that God is waiting for us to preach the Gospel to the world before He will come again. I don't know that God is waiting for anything. He will come when the time is right.

I still do not have a text from anyone that says God is waiting to come, and he is waiting for us to be ready. We should live everyday as though this is our last day on earth before He comes. This is Biblical . . . BUT to say God is waiting for us . . . I dono't know anywhere in the Bible where it indicates that God is waiting for anything. He will come when the time is right!

Or am I wrong?

It is true that Jesus won't force himself on us in the sense of a relationship. But when it comes to the Second Coming, the Bible is clear that He won't wait indefinitely. When He does come, the Bible says that He will find most of the world unprepared and evidently Jesus will not find many people with genuine faith in God at that time.

There will be millions of people saved in God's kingdom, but the Bible definitely shows that the vast majority of the world will be lost.

This is very strong evidence that there is much more involved in being ready for Jesus to come than simply claiming that we have accepted Jesus Christ. There are also many illustrations of this in the Gospels. Not all who call Him Lord will be saved.

How, then, do we prepare for Christ's return?

I do not believe that God is waiting for a certain time, as if He is watching a big clock which must strike a certain hour before God will come for His people. It is not an arbitrary decision on God's part that will determine when it is right for Christ to return.

One of the most important texts shedding light on this point is found in Rev. 19:7. This verse shows that Jesus comes back when His bride-- His church, us-- "has made herself ready." Compare Ephesians 5:27.

Matt. 24: 14 along with such verses as Mat. 28: 19, 20 and Mark 16:15 also show that God's plan is for the gospel to be preached to the whole world before He returns. Rev. 14: 6 and Rev. 18: 1 contains a reference to the plan of God to have the everlasting gospel as well as certain warning messages proclaimed throughout the whole world before the seven last plagues fall and before the Second Coming. (Read 14: 6-14.)

So it is clear to me that God is waiting for SOMETHING to happen both in the church and in the world before He comes. That makes perfect sense because after all the whole purpose of Christ's life and death and work in heaven has been to save people and prove God's righteousness. God is waiting, then, for a demonstration of something. What is it?

Ellen White makes the statement to the effect that God is waiting with longing desire for the character of Christ to be perfectly reproduced in us-- those who claim to be His and waiting for His return from "a far country"-- and then He will come for His own. Also see GC 425.

A good question to ask and answer is, why is God waiting for Christ's character to be perfectly reproduced in us before Jesus will come back?

A very good book which describes the evidence and reasoning for this view was written by Herbert Douglass and is entitled, Why Jesus Waits. Definitely worth studying.

What does it mean for the bride of Christ to make herself ready? How does she get ready? To put it personally, what must I do to make myself ready?

Very good post. I'm sure God will not wait forever, but knowing all I'm sure He won't need to. The Bible gives us many points to think on concerning our knowing when the time is getting close, yet without telling us the time. I feel there is a time, but that this goes along somehow with our doing our part too. To say God has a time (only) and that we don't have a part in this is to teach people that it don't matter about us, when that is the whole reason for Jesus first coming, to help us to be ready when He comes again. To give us hope and direction, a path, a light to follow, and that light is Jesus.

I don't believe God is waiting for anything. He is omniscient, beyond time or space. It is we who are waiting, not Him. He has a plan, and that plan will happen.

Neither do I believe there is a particular number that will replace Satan and his angels. I can't think of a reason why that would be necessary or desirable.

Interesting that you would say he is not waiting for anything just when I quoted EGW saying that he is waiting. Do we have a disagreement here?

Maybe, but I'm pretty sure this was already discussed not that long ago.

Yep, that's the quote. Thanks! All I knew was that it was in COL.

Excellent point.

In this connection, 2 Peter 3: 12 is a very interesting and exciting verse to study because it indicates that the church can "hasten" the Second Coming. By the same token, it also implies that the church can delay the Second Coming by being disobedient or rebellious. Either way, the verse seems to show that God does not have a particular time He is waiting for in order to come. It shows, as you've said, that the church has to part to play in when Christ returns.

I think it may be compared to the children of Israel's having their entrance into the Promised Land delayed by their lack of faith and rebellion. As I study Adventist history, I've come to the conclusion that we as a people are repeating the experience of ancient Israel.

NIV-- as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming....

English Standard Version-- waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God...

The word translated here as "speeding" and "hastening" can also mean to "urge on," but it is the same word that occurs as "hurrying" (NIV) in Acts 20: 16 and as "quick" (NIV) in 22: 18.

I see God as outside of time and space, but part of the incarnation was that Jesus gave that up and became like us. He's stuck inside time like us, and is therefore waiting...

I find it amazing, comforting, and assuring to know that as a member of the Godhead, Jesus the man knows what it is like to be "stuck inside time" like all of humanity is. There is a very real sense in which God the Father enters into humanity's subjective experience through Christ, so that He knows what it is like to be human in all of its aspects, including temptation.

Amen

OK so I now can see some evidence that God is waiting on us for the final events to occur. BUT there are other things to happen in the end of the world which surely have little to do with God's faithful, such as final day events to do with the Papacy, The USA and other players.

Do we have any choice in the matter? I dont want to be an angel! mel

I agree with you in two ways.

First one is that we have already seen the Second Coming of Christ. He has been to Earth far more times than twice.

Second. This verse is talking about Christ standing at the door of the church and knocking. He wants to come in and fellowship with us. But so many churches want to have their own traditions ... just like the Jews. It has come to the point that Christ is shoved out in favor of traditions.

However ... The "is this the best you can do" could be taken a little harshly.

Sorry for the comment. However, what I often see is texts quoted that have little relevance to the discussion. Sorry about making my reply to harshly though.

The Bible and Ellen White both plainly speak of the next appearance of Christ as the Second Coming.

To tell people we have already seen the Second Coming may only cause confusion in some people's minds. After all, there are those who do believe the parousia (presence or coming) of Christ has already occurred.

It is not called the Second Coming because Jesus has only been on this earth twice. The Second Coming is a reference to how many times he has appeared (or been manifested) to the world. It will be the second time in that sense, the first time being when he was born as a human. 1 Tim 3:16-- God appeared in a human body (Majority Text-- See Darby Trans.). Next, according to Acts 1: 11, "this same Jesus" will come back just as He went away, and this second time He will also have a glorified human body.

"Even so it is that Christ, having been offered to take upon Himself and bear as a burden the sins of many once and once for all, will appear a second time, not to carry any burden of sin nor to deal with sin, but to bring to full salvation those who are [eagerly, constantly, and patiently] waiting for and expecting Him." Hebrews 9: 28.

Christ upon the Mount of Olives rehearsed the fearful judgments that were to precede His second coming: "Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: . . . Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows" [Matt. 24:6-8]. While these prophecies received a partial fulfillment at the destruction of Jerusalem, they have a more direct application in the last days.--Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 753 (1899).

The terrible reports we hear of murders and robberies, of railway accidents and deeds of violence, tell the story that the end of all things is at hand. Now, just now, we need to be preparing for the Lord's second coming.--Letter 308, 1907 (Last Day Events, p. 23).

Great points.

Bible Authors were not always good with Math. Just look at the accounts of how many people were in a crowd. So, it figures they could not keep track of how many times Christ has physically come to this earth.

I'm really not understanding what is being said about Jesus coming already in the 2nd Coming, and claiming that He has come several times. Where does this idea come from? The Bible does not say Jesus came different times than His coming to this earth as man, and then coming again for His people, and then coming the third time after the 1000 years with the New Jerusalem. Where does the idea come that Jesus has been here any more than this??

The pre-incarnate Christ, before He was born as a baby, came to this world during the time of Moses. He was the One who appeared in the cloud by day and in the fire by night over Israel in the wilderness. He's also referred to under the name of the Angel of Yahweh in Judges 2 and 9.

There are other instances where the second member of the Godhead came to this world.

However, all of those times are not relevant to the issue of the Second Coming. There is no evidence that the reason it is called the Second Coming is that the Bible writers were poor counters or were poor at math.

The reason it is called the Second Coming is due to the fact that it follows His first coming. His first coming was when he came as a baby, fulfilling all the prophecies about the Messiah, such as that in Gen. 3: 15. That is the key. All of those other times when the Son of God came-- such as in the time of Moses-- it was not as the Messiah, the descendent of David, etc. At His Second Coming, he will also come as the Son of Man, the glorified Messiah, who comes to take home His church. It has nothing to do with math but it has everything to do with the purpose of His appearing. Again see Hebrews 9: 28 where it refers to His coming to "manifest Himself the second time."

Jesus also came to earth evidently in the time of Paul, meeting him on the road to Damascus. Did that count as a "coming"? No, of course not. And the reason it doesn't is simply that it was not the coming that Jesus had in mind in Matt. 24: 3 and John 14: 3, 28, and that the church anticipates in Hebrews 9: 28, etc., when He returns for His glorified church.

Quite simply put, when Jesus talked about coming back for his friends, in order to take them home with Him, He was obviously not referring to His coming to talk to Paul on the road to Damascus. And when the prophets wrote about the Messiah coming to this world, they were not referring to the second member of the Godhead coming to talk to Gideon. They were talking about the Messiah coming to fulfill the Messianic prophecies.

Very well put. Thank you. :)

I don't believe He is waiting for a number. I believe He is waiting for Satans full character to be exposed.