“Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you; and therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you, for the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for Him.” 

The Hebrew word is “chakhah” which means to wait for/ to long for. That should be our situation right now; longingly waiting for the return of the Lord. But whilst we wait, we can have joy in what he bequeathed to us at His departing and the inheritance we already enjoy.  

From verse 18, we should note the grace and mercy of God who will wait for us to come to Him and give Him the glory which is rightfully His. And when we do, the blessings of our inheritance pour out on us. 

The Lord waits to be gracious. 

Adonai’s gracious character and His mercy are balanced through their interaction with His justice; thus, He will be “exalted”. 

Isaiah 33: 2. 

“O Lord, be gracious to us; we have waited for You. Be their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.”  

These people have trusted in Him and patiently waited, longing for Him to reveal Himself.               

Proverbs 16: 20.  There is satisfaction in searching out the word of the Lord. 

“He who heeds the word wisely will find good, and whoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he.” 

Jeremiah 17: 7. Devotion to the Lord is never misplaced 

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is in the Lord.” 

Isaiah 26: 8. A restless search for Adonai. 

“O Lord we have waited for You; the desire of our soul is for Your name and for the remembrance of You.” 

Adonai is gracious. He will wait for us until the disaster of our choice has taught us the foolishness of ignoring Him. Then He will become our teacher, our guide, our provider, our healer and our rock. 

Isaiah 25: 9. 

“And it will be said in that day: “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”                                                  

As we see above, the outcome of waiting for the Lord is to give Him praise, thanks and to exalt Him. 

Exodus 15: 2. From the Song of Moses. The omnipotent God is a cause for singing in wonder, awe and loving adoration. 

“The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; my father’s God and I will exalt Him …” 

Psalm 34: 2 – 4. Determination to praise Adonai and to encourage others to join in. 

“My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” 

Psalm 18: 46. Sometimes you just have to shout “hallelujah”. 

“The Lord lives! Blessed be my Rock! Let the God of my salvation be exalted.”              

Nehemiah 9: 5,6. Praise Adonai, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, through all eternity. 

“Stand up and bless the Lord your God, forever and ever! Blessed be Your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise! You alone are the Lord; You made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and everything in it, the seas and all that is in them, and you preserve them all. The host of heaven worships You.” 

It could make you smile when we consider that Nehemiah is telling Adonai things we may presume, He already knows. But he does not try to hide his joy at his own realization about the power and majesty of the Lord. 

Thus, we have seen how a gracious God will wait for us to realize our need for Him, and when we finally do, we will want to give Him praise and glory. But our verse (Isaiah 30: 18), also speaks of all those who wait for Him being “blessed”.             

In this section I want to look at the Lord Yeshua’s parting words of comfort for His disciples. We can see what he bequeathed to us and our inheritance which comes from His victory, His favour, His love, His joy and His matchless companionship. Part of that inheritance we can receive right now. We will be looking at the Gospel of John Chapter 14. 

John 14: 1,2. 

“Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe in Me … I go to prepare a place for you.” 

Chapter 14 sees the Lord giving comfort to his disciples. Although it is He who is facing the bitter agony of Golgotha, He wants to reassure His followers of His legacy for them; “… the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve.” 

Of course, He had nothing of a material nature to leave them, but He left His divine promises. He called on them to believe in Him as they believed in God; a claim for equality with Adonai that gave them every reason to trust in HIs promises. 

His first promise was that there was a purpose and a benefit for them in His departure. Yes, one of them would betray Him, and yes, even Peter would deny Him, but they were not to be troubled. He was going to His Father in heaven to prepare a place for them (and for us). 

Matthew 25: 34. 

“Then, the KIng will say to those on His right hand, “Come you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” 

Hebrews 11: 16. 

“…  He (Adonai) has prepared a city for them.” 

Revelation 3: 5. 

“He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” 

“White garments” partly symbolise the Lord’s recognition of godly character and faithfulness in this life. A divine journal records the names of all Adonai has chosen to save, who therefore will possess eternal life. Under no circumstances will their names be erased. What an honour to have oneself publicly named by our precious Lord! 

Matthew 10: 32,33. 

“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” 

Our inheritance is the same promise of glorious eternal life which the Lord made to His disciples. 

John 14: 3,4.                                                                                                                   

“I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.” 

The Lord’s second departing promise was that He would return for them that they might be with Him. This is the Lord’s desire, to have His own with Him for eternity. 

1 Thessalonians 4: 16, 17. 

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” 

This of course is the Rapture. Messiah will return firstly for His people, and only later with His people. The Lord comes back to take believers to live in heaven. This is not His coming to earth to establish His kingdom; here there is no mention of judgment on the unsaved. 

After the Rapture the church will celebrate the marriage supper (Revelation 19: 7 – 10), be rewarded (1 Corinthians 3: 10 – 15; 2 Corinthians 5: 9,10) and later return to earth with Him to set up His kingdom (Revelation 19: 11 – 20: 4).       [SLIDE 8] 

His next promise is that He is the gateway to heaven; the one and only gateway. 

John 14: 6. 

“Jesus said to them, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” 

This verse emphasises the exclusiveness of the Lord Yeshua as the only approach to Adonai. 

John 10: 9. 

“I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and go in and out and find pasture.” 

The Lord was clearly telling them that He is the way to heaven. He is “the way”, because He speaks the truth and has demonstrated the correct way of life. 

He does not just show them “the way”. He is “the way”. Salvation is in a person. Accept that person as your own, and you have salvation.  The way to heaven is not through the law or church membership. It is through the Lord Yeshua alone. He is “the truth”. He does not just speak the truth. He is the embodiment of truth; it is not found anywhere else. He is “the life”; He is the source of life both spiritual and eternal. Those who receive Him have eternal life because He is life. 

Acts 4: 12. The words of Peter before the Sanhedrin. 

“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” 

The Lord’s next promise must have been a hard one for the disciples to believe. 

John 14: 12. 

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” 

They had already experienced something of His power. 

Luke 10: 17. The seventy who were sent out returned in joy.  

“Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” 

He had previously spoken to them of their future works, and He again repeated these words after the resurrection. 

Mark 16:17. 

“And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will hold up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means harm them; they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.” 

The Lord Yeshua has shown countless miracles even raising the dead. How could the apostles do “greater works”? 

It seems likely that the Lord Yeshua did not mean greater works in power, but in extent. His work had been confined to the land; they would become witnesses to the gospel throughout the known world through the power of the indwelling and infilling Holy Spirit. They would bring many people to salvation. Peter’s message at Pentecost brought more people to faith than the Lord had done through His earthly ministry. Their miracles would be more spiritual than physical. It is greater to save souls than to heal bodies. 

John 14: 13, 14.                                                                             

“And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” 

What a promise! This is how they would achieve the “greater works” of verses 12. 

Matthew 7: 7. This was not a new idea but astonishing, nevertheless. 

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” 

In the hour of their loss at His departure, the Lord Yeshua comforted His disciples with the means that would provide them with the necessary resource to accomplish their task as He was leaving them. This task they would need to accomplish without His immediate presence which they had relied on. 

To ask in the Lord’s name, is to ask in accordance with His mind and will. It is to ask for things which will glorify Adonai, bless mankind and to be for spiritual good. 

John 15: 16. 

“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

The Lord’s next promise is the coming of the Holy Spirit. 

John 14: 16, 17. 

“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, because He dwells with you and will be in  you.” 

When the Lord says that He will “pray the Father”, we should not take this as any normal request. The Lord knows the outcome; He can therefore promise that Adonai “will give you another Helper”. The promise is absolute because it comes from the request of one equal to another who share the same outlook and purpose. 

The promise is that the Holy Spirit will be in them. That is the sure pledge which was fulfilled at Pentecost. 

The Holy Spirit, being of the same divine essence as the Lord Yeshua, will take His place and do His work. Like the Lord Yeshua, He will be perfectly at one with Adonai. 

The Holy Spirit is referred to as the “Spirit of truth”. 

John 16: 13 – 15. 

“(The Spirit of truth) will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak in HIs own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.” 

The Spirit of God is active in the world, but His actions go unnoticed by the world. 

1 Corinthians 2: 14. 

“But the natural man does not receive the Spirit of God … nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 

For the followers of the Lord, the Holy Spirit “will be in you.” This indicates some distinction between the ministry of the Holy Spirit to believers before and after Pentecost. While clearly the Holy Spirit had been with believers as a source of trust, faith and life, the Lord Yeshua is promising that something new will be coming to His ministry. 

In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come upon men at various times but would then leave. After Pentecost, however, He would remain permanently with believers who would enjoy a unique fullness and intimacy with Him. He would never be taken from them although He may be grieved, quenched or hindered by us. 

The disciples already knew the Holy Spirit. They had known Him to work in their own lives, and they had seen His work through the Lord Yeshua.                                                                                

The next promise to them is His permanent companionship. 

John 14: 18.       

“I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” 

The Lord had previously referred to them as “little children” indicating His love and care for them. He would not abandon them; they are still His children. They would see Him at the resurrection, and He would be with them from Pentecost in the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Matthew 28: 20. 

“… I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” 

Romans 8: 9,10. 

“… if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ in them, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness…” 

The next promise is that they would see Him spiritually. 

John 14: 19, 20. 

“A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” 

They would see Him in a spiritual sense. As the believer lovingly obeys the Lord’s commandments, he or she will experience a more intimate knowledge of Him; John 16: 16, “… you will see Me because I go to the Father.” 

No unbeliever saw the Lord after His burial. After He was raised, He was seen only by those who loved Him. But even after His ascension, the disciples continued to see Him by faith; their lives were commanded by Him through the indwelling Holy Spirit. 

Because of His resurrection and the indwelling Holy Spirit, the believer is “in Christ” in the sense that he stands before Adonai in all the merit of the Person and the work of the Lord Yeshua. 

The next legacy promise was that, if they kept working as He had taught them, they would enjoy the favour of Adonai and feel the close presence of the Lord Yeshua. 

John 14: 21. 

“He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” 

Adonai has a special love for those who love His Son. They are also loved by the Lord Yeshua who will make Himself known to them in a special way. As the believer lovingly obeys the Lord’s commandments, he or she will experience a more intimate knowledge of Him. True saving faith is manifest in works inspired by Adonai in the transforming, regenerating power of the Spirit as Adonai pours out love on the believer’s heart. 

Romans 5: 5. 

“Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” 

1 John 2: 5. 

“But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.” 

As the believer pursues fellowship and obedience with Adonai, love for the believer from Adonai becomes more complete and this is seen in the life of the believer. 

Galatians 5: 22. 

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control …” 

The next promise of the Lord was that they should not panic if they felt ill-prepared, further teaching was coming their way. 

John 14: 25,26. 

“These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” 

The Holy Spirit energised the hearts and minds of the apostles, helping them to produce the New Testament scriptures. Matthew and John wrote about the works of the Lord and what He taught.  Peter wrote about the gospel in two letters and dictated to Mark some of his memories of the Lord. 

Before the coming of the Holy Spirit, the apostles had failed to understand many of the things which the Lord had taught them and He had taken them as far as they were ready to go. But. because of the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, they would come to an inerrant and accurate understanding of the Lord and His work. 

1 Corinthians 2: 13. 

“These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” 

2 Timothy 3:16. 

“All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 

2 Peter 1: 21. 

“… prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” 

The final promise from John Chapter 14 is peace.  The Lord Yeshua could give peace as He had purchased it with His own blood at Golgotha. 

John 14: 27. 

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let your heart not be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” 

As we have said, the Lord did not bequeath any material thing, but He did bequeath His Peace; an inward peace of conscience that arises from a sense of pardon from sin and reconciliation with Adonai. This is surely a most precious inheritance. 

The word “peace” of course reflects the Hebrew word “shalom” and became a greeting among the disciples after Pentecost (John 20: 19 – 26).  

When the Lord says in His farewell, “My peace”, the word “My” is emphatic. This is no conventional wish; this is the Lord’s personal granting of peace. This peace secures composure in troubles (verse 1), dissolves fear (Philippians 4: 7) and rules in the hearts of the people of Adonai to maintain harmony. (Colossians 3: 15). 

Colossians 3: 15. 

“And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body and be thankful.” 

Philippians 4: 6, 7. 

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” 

But the greatest reality of this peace will be in the millennial kingdom. 

Isaiah 9: 7. 

“Of the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever.” 

Conclusion. 

We started from that glorious verse in Isaiah Chapter 30 (verse 18).  This verse showed us how great is Adonai’s desire to be gracious to us. He will wait for us to see sense and realize our great need of Him. And when we eventually do, we will want to glorify His name and exalt Him. 

The verse also tells us of the blessings that become available to those who wait on Him i.e., those who trust in and rely on Him. This led us to John Chapter 14 where the Lord just prior to His death sought to comfort His disciples by outlining the inheritance which He was bequeathing to them.  

He left them not material things but divine promises: that He was going to prepare a place in heaven for them; that He would return for them and that He would always be with them; that Adonai would provide another Helper of the same nature as Him; that they would do great works; they would continue to enjoy His love and that of Adonai; and that they would enjoy a kind of peace not previously known to mankind. 

What a superb inheritance! 

AMEN.