The Completing Work of Patience

     King Belshazzar stood trembling violently, his face ashen, his finger pointing eerily to the wall. He stared at the handwriting where, just moments ago the letters, large and imposing, had been etched into the plaster. 
     All night long they had feasted, Belshazzar with his nobles, his wives and concubines. A thousand and more, drinking, celebrating the vastness of the empire over which he ruled.  As they drank, it had come to him…he should toast the gods who had given him this success! He could earn their continued favor, and what better way to do that than with the goblets from the temple of the God they had conquered! 
     He had ordered that they bring out the golden goblets, and he and his thousand nobles had praised the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone, and offered them tribute—perhaps they would receive this work and grant him more favor and complete his kingdom.
    Suddenly, the fingers of a hand had appeared and written on the wall while Belshazzar watched, his stomach churning and his face draining of its blood. 
     No one could tell him what the words even meant.  The queen had suggested a man, Daniel, a Jew.  She said he had the spirit of the holy gods residing in him.  She said he was insightful, intelligent, and wise as the gods.  That he possessed the power to understand deep puzzles and riddles, and to interpret dreams. 
     And now, there the man stood: confident, quiet, and filled with the wisdom of the aged.  Then Daniel answered the king, “You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means.
  “Your Majesty, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor. Because of the high position he gave him, all the nations and peoples of every language dreaded and feared him. Those the king wanted to put to death, he put to death; those he wanted to spare, he spared; those he wanted to promote, he promoted; and those he wanted to humble, he humbled. But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. He was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal; he lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like the ox; and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and sets over them anyone he wishes.
      “But you, Belshazzar, his son, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your very breath and owns all your ways. Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription.

 “This is the inscription that was written:

                   MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN

 “Here is what these words mean:

     Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.
     Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.
      Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

     “Mene.”  It was fifty shekels. Fifty shekels on one side of the balances, and fifty on the other side.  “Tekel,” a shekel on the first side, but yet on the other side of the scale only an “upharsin”-divided, split—a mere half shekel.  He had come up short by just a half shekel.  No matter what he had done to please the gods, no matter the tribute he had brought, the victories he had won, the amassed wealth, power, fame and women, Belshazzar knew in that moment that he had come up short in the only test that would ever matter, in the eyes of the only One who could ever truly judge. 

    That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain.   

​ὑπομονή:
A steadfast remaining in obedience under the authority of God. 
 
TThe Greek word for patience (G5281 hypomonḗ) is sometimes translated as perseverance, or endurance.  It is a cognate of two Greek words: "hypo," meaning under, often meaning "under authority" of someone working directly as a subordinate; and "Mone," which means to remain, abide, dwell, live. Together, and in a Biblical context, it means to remain or abide under the authority of God in obedience.  
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       In the final analysis of his life, it didn’t matter how much Belshazzar worked to get favor, without Jesus he had fallen short. 
     While this is tragic, the good news is that it doesn't have to end this way!  Through the Holy Spirit that God gives us when we receive Jesus as our Savior and Lord, we can receive a precious gift that enables us to always measure up. 

     This gift is patience. 

     Patience is not merely speaking nicely to my kids when they are grabbing at my legs during dinner time.  It’s not a mere politeness of talking, or even merely waiting for something longer than I'd like. 

      Let’s take a deeper look at a passage in Scripture that tell us what it really does mean, and about the beautiful end result of this gift of patience: 
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“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces patience. Let patience finish its work so that you may be mature and complete,
​not lacking anything.”
​ James 1:2-4

     Now, when we study translated passages, we must understand that while it is convenient and helpful to translate an ancient language word for word in English, the translation process is not and cannot be that simple.  Languages do not have a perfect word scope and definition for each word in an original language.  Instead, the range of meaning in the original word may be substituted for a range of words within the English, which is ultimately better understood with a deeper study into the meaning behind each word. 
     For instance, the Greek meaning of the word “testing” in this passage has more of the idea of a testing of the genuineness of something, perhaps of gold, or a precious stone, to see if it is real or a substituted fake, in order to obtain the approval of the expert. 
    Similarly, the words for mature and complete used in this passage, can seem repetitive or redundant in English, but a look into their Greek counterparts is anything but: “mature” comes from the same root word that we use for telescopic, and indicates a stage by stage lengthening or developing until at full capacity for usefulness, while the word for “complete” indicates a divinely appointed wholeness by allotment (the casting of the lot: used in ancient times to divide generational inheritance lands or to determine the will of God). 
     Finally, the word for “lack” denotes the idea of making choices, such as leaving behind, or abandonment, that cause one to fall short of a standard.  It applies to a race that was never completed, as well as the self-choice of an abandonment of a goal. 
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     Without Christ we fall short.  When tested, we cannot meet the standards and requirements of holiness and submission to God.         With Christ, we will be found in Him, with nothing lacking in our patience endurance  sovereignty of the Lord God as we remain in submissive obedience!  

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     Something that I find intriguing in my study of ancient literature, is that in ancient writings the authors did not follow a linear outline like we do in western or modern cultures.  Rather, they followed a chiastic structure, that is, a structure that makes a point, and then illustrates that point in a sort of V pattern (think of the flight structure of geese), with the main crux of the argument or message being in the center, and then backtracking its steps of logic through to the beginning again.  Chiasm is a fascinating study, but more importantly, it is an aid to see better the flow of thought and emphasis that the author originally intended:
   

1. Joy—Rejoicing in God’s favor toward us
   1. Trials 
      1. Testing/proving of our faith
         1. Produces through a finished work
            1. Patience—Abiding submission under God’s authority
            2. Patience-- Abiding submission under God’s authority
         2. Produces through a finished work
      2. A finished maturity of character and usefulness
      3. A whole restored person in God’s will and inheritance
   2. Believer's faith fully approved!

    

   From the chiastic structure of the verses outlined below, what is the at the point of the V?  Patience!  And the end result is a faith in the finished work of Christ that is so genuine that God, our Creator and Judge, approves and delights in it!
     But you know, God never left us with just a command.  

     Instead, He Himself demonstrated to us what remaining in submission, the action of patience, looks like: 
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During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect [mature], he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him....”
​Heb. 5:7-9
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     Even though Jesus had the rights of a Son, that did not exempt Him from testing and hardship as a Son. Because Jesus demonstrated patience, because He made Himself entirely submissive to the will of His Father, he became both the source of salvation for all who submit themselves to His Lordship and the source of power and grace to submit in patience to His Lordship
   
      Without Jesus, we cannot measure up.  Our works will never balance the scales.

     Through faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit uses trials—tests of temptation to go outside of obeying God’s authority in our lives—to do the WORK for us, with a full, complete, finished, end point. 
     The end point is patience---perseverence—endurance.  It is living in submission to the will of God and remaining under his authority—all the way until we meet Jesus face to face. 
   In turn, this patience produces (works) with the same finishing, completing properties to fully and completely bring us to maturity in Christ, from stage to stage, ever growing into the image of Jesus until we are at optimum capacity for usefulness to share God’s love with the world. 
     Patience ALSO produces (works) to bring our spirit, our soul, and our body into complete wholeness and healing until we are restored completely in God’s will and the inheritance He has marked out for us. 
  

And the joyous end result?     
    
​     Because of the completing work of God's gift of patience, we will not fail or fall short of God's approval. 

     As we are tested, we will “come forth as gold,” (Job 23:10) fulfilling the entire standard of obedience and submission, and finding ourselves both proved and approved as God's children!
 

                                                May your faith come forth as gold! 

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     I want to invite you to join me in this personalized prayer:
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 “Father, I choose to consider it a happy experience that You so favor and delight in me whenever I have hard tests of submission!  Why? Because I know that these tests will prove the genuineness of my faith so that I may be approved by You at the end!  I ask in Jesus' Name that this proving of my faith would work in me a definite and absolute patience that remains in constant submission to Your authority in my life. 
     I now choose to let this patience finish doing that work in me, so that I may go through the necessary stages of maturity in order to be fully mature, phase by phase, stage by stage, until I can function at a full-strength capacity and effectiveness as I serve You, Lord.  As I choose to allow patience to  finish its work in me, I ask that You would cause me to be completely whole--fully everything that You created me to be and in line to fully receive my allotted inheritance with Christ in heaven.  With these two qualities that you are giving me, maturity and completeness, I thank you that I will not come short in any way of meeting Your standard or in failing the test of my faith’s genuineness, but will rather be fully approved by God through the atoning blood of Jesus.”