How much longer do you think God will have to wait? Well, we can trust God to wait just as long as there is hope for anyone. We can also trust God not to wait a moment longer than makes sense. After all, who longs more than God to bring everything to an end, recreate this world, and give it to His trusting saints? When, then, will it end? Only God, the One who reads our every thought, will know when all final decisions have been made. That’s why Jesus gave this advice in Matthew: “So then, you also must always be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you are not expecting him” (Matt 24:44, GNB).

We are not entirely in the dark about this, however. Paul counsels us in 1 Thessalonians 5: “But you, brothers, are not living in darkness, and so the day will not like a thief take you by surprise.” 1 Thess 5:4, Kleist and Lilly. You see, like the angels, we do not know the exact day or hour. But we do know what will take place before the End comes. We can count on it. After all these years and after paying such a price, God is not about to change His way of leading the family. Nor is He about to fail. Consistent with the way God has always handled this conflict in the family, He never asks us to believe without evidence. He does not offer claims, but rather demonstration, and this takes time. We know that God will not come until the world has been warned. And He will not come until His children are ready. But when they are ready, He will waste no time. He will come.

So how soon do you think the conflict will be over?