Throughout the scriptures we are told that events will occur in the future. Those promises are appropriate for a religion that is based upon divine revelation. However, the very fact that we in the western tradition believe in prophecy means that we have to accept the limitation of prophecy -- it does not have a time sense. So we find a statement about the most important of all prophecies -- the return or first coming of the Meshiach.

2nd Peter, the last book written of the Christian Writings accepted by the Christians, says:

"Know this first of all, that in the last days scoffers will come to scoff, living according to their own desires and saying, 'Where is the promise of his coming? From the time when our ancestors fell asleep, everything has remained as it was from the beginning of creation... But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day.'" 3:3-4, 8.

Those of us with the prophetic gift often hear the Voice declare that such and such is going to happen, but there is seldom a statement "Today". We learn to recognize when the event will be soon, today, by trial and error. Our faith is tested by the waiting. Our faith tends to dwell in our human failure to be patient rather than in a review of the many times that G-d has come through. But 2nd Peter goes on to inform us that things can be delayed until everything is ripe for the event. Because even prophecy must be subject to free will for some small points, we must wait. G-d is not failing. He is waiting.

Two great figures come to mind when I think about waiting: Abraham and Mary. Abraham was promised that he, a childless man beyond his prime, would become not Abram, the father, but Abraham, the father of fathers. He was told that he would be the father of many nations. We look today and see how true that is, but Abraham had no such ability to look to the coming four thousand years to see the fulfillment of the promise. Yet he had faith in a G-d who did not even have a visible form and believed. His faith defines hope. Believing in something that looks impossible is hope. And the Torah says that his hope, his faith beyond reason, was accounted righteousness. It made him Tzaddik.

And Mary who received the promise of the Archangel Himself, the Archangel Metatron, Vice-Regent of Heaven, King of the Angels and Creator of Heaven and Earth, that she would be the mother of a Meshiach whom she must call yeshua, the savior of G-d. The Gospel of Luke tells us that she pondered all these things in her heart. Mary was the very essence of faith. She believed in an absolute impossibility. And yet she watched it unfold and saw her Son, Yeshua bar David ben Yotzef raised to the highest levels, the Archangel of the Presence. What faith! In my walk, I have often contemplated her faith because I ponder the words of the Voice and wonder how they can come to be.

I believe that I am to do something very important and soon after that I may go home to my promised reward. I see no possibility of doing what I am to do. I have not seen it for 31 years and yet I have faith that in some way it will be accomplished. Recently, when pondering these ideas with one who has the prophetic gift very strongly on her, she said to me: "Your job is to lead these men to accomplish the task. It is not to organize, call, or prepare them." Instead of giving me peace, it made me ponder.

Now, this move is finished and the pondering really begins. How many of you give up on G-d when He does not act as fast as we want? How many of you review Avraham and Mary and the many acts of grace that the Holy Spirit has done in your lives and fail to see that G-d is still working and will accomplish the tasks that seem impossible? Remember, it is not the event that we await. It is ultimately the waiting that builds our character and shows our devotion to the Most High. Wait.