How are you at waiting? I for one do not enjoy waiting very much, and I suspect I am not alone in that sentiment.

There is a lot of waiting going on now. Some people have gotten their stimulus checks, but many others have not received them yet. Small businesses are waiting for their loans or grants from the Small Business Administration, but the initial appropriation has run out and unless Congress approves additional funds, there are no monies available, and all new applications are on hold. Those small businesses are waiting in desperation.

We are all waiting for the economy to reopen, but the waiting is particularly onerous for people who have lost their job or who have been laid off. Many of them are still waiting for unemployment benefits to arrive. Some have not even been able to apply because the system is so overwhelmed.

I can only imagine the angst people have who are awaiting COVID-19 test results or the poor who are waiting in long lines for hours for food to sustain them through this crisis. We are all waiting for daily life to return to normal.

Waiting is hard. There is no way around it.

The apostles were also in a waiting mode. In fact, they were under a shelter-in-place order from Jesus! In verse 4, Luke records “While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem.” It does not sound like they were practicing social distancing either. Look at vs. 13. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.” We do not know how large the “room upstairs” was, but you had the remaining eleven apostles (Remember that Judas Iscariot had committed suicide.) and certain women including Jesus’ mother and his brothers too. It sounds like pretty close quarters to me.

The apostles and the larger group were waiting, but they were impatient. In vs. 6, Luke records the apostles' question to Jesus: “So when they had come together, they asked him, 'Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?'"

I was reminded of what the throng shouted as Jesus approached Jerusalem. “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!” Amazingly, the apostles still seem to expect the restoration of David’s kingdom. They ask, “Will you restore the kingdom to Israel at this time?”

In verse 3, Luke tells us about the time Jesus spent with the apostles after the resurrection. “After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them for forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.” Jesus spoke with them about the kingdom of God for forty days, but the apostles were still conceiving of the Kingdom in terms of David’s reign. The days of David were a time of security and peace and prosperity for the nation. They were a time of national and political autonomy. The apostles still seem to be thinking about the overthrow of their Roman overlords as the coming of the Kingdom of God.

But no measure of national peace, prosperity, security, or autonomy is synonymous with the Kingdom of God. God’s kingdom will come to earth, but it will be a radically new and different natural, political, and social order.

In Isaiah 11:6-9, the prophet gives us a glimpse of what the kingdom of God on earth will look like. “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

The impulse to hurt or destroy in the natural order and in human civilization will vanish. Why? Because the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as waters cover the sea.

The apostle John envisioned the coming of the Kingdom of God to earth this way: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.' And he who was seated on the throne said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.' Also, he said, 'Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true'" (Rev. 21:1-6).

Given the current situation on planet earth, it is exceedingly difficult to imagine this new reality. We should not be too hard on the apostles for their lack of vision. Like them, we are only able to see in a mirror, dimly. We know only in part. We prophesy in part.

But Jesus was totally focused on the coming Kingdom of God. From the very start of his earthly ministry, Jesus announced, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near.” He taught the disciples to pray, “Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” And even after his resurrection, Jesus was still talking about the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God is not a place. We tend to think of it as heaven, but the kingdom of God is God’s activity in the world. The kingdom of God is God ruling and reigning over planet earth unchallenged or hindered by sin, death, and evil.

We cannot establish the kingdom of God. We have no choice but to wait for it, but our waiting is not passive. Like the first disciples, we must await the “promise of the Father.” What was that promise? Clearly, it was the baptism of the Holy Spirit, who empowers us to become witness to God’s coming kingdom.

The apostle Paul describes the presence and work of the Holy Spirit in the human heart in Galatians 5:22: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” The fruit of the Spirit is singular: love. The Greek word is agape. It is selfless, self-giving, sacrificial love. Joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control follow close behind love.

The fruit of the Holy Spirit is not something we can produce ourselves, just as we cannot establish the kingdom of God. But as the Spirit works in our hearts, we can embody at least some of God’s good and peaceable kingdom. I love the words of the hymn “Lead on, O King Eternal.” It reads in part, “For not with swords’ loud clashing or roll of stirring drums, with deeds of love and mercy the heavenly kingdom comes.”

We must bear witness to the facts of our faith: Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again. But we must also bear witness by the quality of our life together.

The place to start is the same place that the apostles and the women started. They were under a shelter-in-place order, but they were waiting for the promise of the father. They were not passive in their waiting. Luke records in vs. 14: “All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer.”

In this time of social distancing and isolation, let us constantly devote ourselves to prayer so we may emerge ready to meet the future God has prepared for us. People will need, more than ever, to hear the facts of the gospel: Christ died for them, Christ rose for them, Christ will come again for them. But they will also need to see the fruit of the Spirit displayed in our work and worship.

For now, we wait. We wait for the end of the pandemic. We wait for the promise of the Father, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We wait for the coming of the kingdom of God.

Waiting is hard work, but it is necessary. William Willimon in his commentary on Acts writes, “Waiting, an onerous burden for us computerized and technically impatient moderns who live in an age of instant everything, is one of the tough tasks of the Church. Our waiting implies that the things which need doing in the world are beyond our ability to accomplish solely by our own effort, our programs, our crusades. Some other empowerment is needed; therefore, the Church waits and prays.”

We have the sure promise of the Father. God is more than willing to pour out the Holy Spirit on us who wait, in order to make us effective witnesses in the places where we live and even unto the ends of the earth itself.

We have one other all-important thing to remember as we wait. Jesus Christ is not only risen from the dead, but he has also ascended to heaven to rule at God’s right hand. “When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight" (vs 9). Jesus Christ is ruling and reigning even now, and this is essential to remember as we wait.

As one commentator observes, “When things go poorly, when the world falls apart, and chaos threatens, it is good to know who is in charge, who rules. In the worlds of the ancient Ascension Day anthem, Deus Ascendit, 'God has gone up,' not gone away from the Church but gone up to be the empowerment of the Church.”

So brothers and sisters, friends, as we wait for the pandemic to end, as we wait for the promise of the Father, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, as we wait for the coming of the kingdom of God, let us constantly devote ourselves to prayer, even as the first disciples did. Let us be witness to the facts of the Gospel too: "For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me" (1 Cor. 15:3b-8). Do not forget that Jesus has appeared to us too, those who have not seen and yet believe.

And let us know for a certainty that Jesus is ruling and reigning even now, and at the end of this evil age, he will come again with clouds descending to establish God’s good and peaceable kingdom on earth.

So, as we sang last Sunday, “Alleluia, give thanks to the risen Lord. Alleluia, alleluia, give praise to his name. Jesus is Lord of all the earth. He is the king of creation. Spread the good news o’er all the earth. Jesus has died and is risen.”

And Christ will come again. Alleluia! Amen!