God's Forbearance - Steps to Life

There are three texts of Scripture I would like to tie together in order that an understanding of God’s forbearance may be appreciated and attained.

Romans 2:4: “Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?”
Romans 3:25: “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.”
II Peter 3:15: “And account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you.”

The long-suffering of God is not salvation, but it makes salvation possible. Both Peter and the apostle Paul maintain that in spite of the attitude of ungodly persons toward salvation and accounting the Lord’s delay as proof that His promise would never be fulfilled, it is rather an evidence of the Savior’s merciful patience. He waits that all who will, may have the opportunity to accept salvation.

This leads me to point out concretely that God is indeed a long-suffering God and that this will always be a distinct characteristic of the personhood of God. Even though His long-suffering may find its limit with some of His creatures, yet He will always, throughout eternity, be long-suffering.

I will hasten to present two areas of God’s long-suffering:

God is long-suffering, will always be long-suffering as long as eternity lasts. For as a divine attribute it is a part of God’s nature. It therefore devolves upon us His followers to be like Him!
God will not always be long-suffering!

Study Area #1

God is long-suffering, will always be long-suffering as long as eternity shall last. When I speak of God, it must be understood as speaking of the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In the context of our topic the fruit of the Holy Spirit, long-suffering, has already been established as one of the graces of the Holy Spirit that grows on the tree of love—love being the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, since the Holy Spirit must control the believer in Christ, it stands true that the believer must possess that long-suffering that is of heavenly origin—a divine attribute.

“The Hebrew uses the expression ‘erik’ aph, which means literally ‘long of face,’ and then also ‘slow to anger,’ while the Greek expresses the same idea by the word makrothumia. It is that aspect of the goodness or love of God in virtue of which He bears with the froward and evil in spite of their long and continued disobedience. In the exercise of this attribute the sinner is contemplated as continuing in sin, notwithstanding the admonitions and warning that come to him. It reveals itself in the postponement of the merited judgment.” Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof, Eerdman’s Publishing, Michigan, 72, 3.

Scriptural References To Support This Doctrine Are:

“And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.” Exodus 34:6
“But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.” Psalm 86:15
“Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” Romans 2:4
“What if God, willing to shew His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.” Romans 9:22
“Which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.” I Peter 3:20

“And account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you.” II Peter 3:15

Spirit of Prophecy Also Supports This Doctrine:

“In every age, for the sake of those who have remained true, as well as because of His infinite love for the erring, God has borne long with the rebellious, and has urged them to forsake their course of evil and return to Him.” Prophets and Kings, 324.

“The long-suffering of God is wonderful. Long does justice wait while mercy pleads with the sinner.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 177.

“The law requires righteousness—a righteous life, a perfect character; and this man has not to give. He cannot meet the claims of God’s holy law. But Christ, coming to the earth as man, lived a holy life, and developed a perfect character. These He offers as a free gift to all who will receive them. His life stands for the life of men. Thus they have remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.” The Desire of Ages, 762.

“The forbearance of God caused Hophni and Phinehas to harden their hearts and to become still bolder in transgression.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 582. The Scripture declares in Ecclesiastes 8:11, “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.”

“Our God is a God of mercy. With long-sufferance and tender compassion He deals with the transgressors of His law.” Prophets and Kings, 275.

“The forbearance of God has been very great—so great that when we consider the continuous insult to His holy commandments, we marvel.” Ibid., 276.

“It [the coming of the Lord] will not tarry past the time that the message is borne to all nations, tongues, and peoples. Shall we who claim to be students of prophecy forget that God’s forbearance to the wicked is a part of the vast and merciful plan by which He is seeking to compass the salvation of souls?” Evangelism, 697.

Thus we see the eternal nature of the Almighty revealed. God purposes to be a long-suffering God to His creatures throughout eternity. He says to Moses, as recorded in Exodus 34:6, “The Lord, The Lord God.” This expresses the Deity, the Almighty Eternal One who is always gracious, always merciful, always long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth.

Study Area #2

God will not always be long-suffering!

Scriptural References To Support This Doctrine Are:

“Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.” Exodus 20:5
“Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.” Exodus 34:7
“And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke Me? and how long will it be ere they believe Me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they. And Moses said unto the Lord, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for Thou broughtest up this people in Thy might from among them;) And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou Lord art among this people, that thou Lord art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which He sware unto them, therefore He hath slain them in the wilderness. And now, I beseech Thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as Thou hast spoken, saying, The Lord is long-suffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. Pardon, I beseech Thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of Thy mercy, and as Thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word.” Numbers 14:11–20
“For the Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim, He shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that He may do His work, His strange work; and bring to pass His act, His strange act.” Isaiah 28:21
“The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet.” Nahum 1:3
“For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him.” Hebrews 2:2, 3
“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.” Revelation 14:9, 10

There are many more scriptural passages that strongly support the teaching that God will not always be long-suffering. This needs proper understanding lest there be misunderstanding. Scripture shows that while God by His very nature is long-suffering and will always be long-suffering, yet He will not always be long-suffering to the unrepentant rebellious sinner. God by His righteousness and justice must reward sin and its originator, as well as all sinners who side with the originator of sin. This, however, does not mean that His nature has changed; He is still a long-suffering God. In His rewarding the originator of sin as well as sinners, He is demonstrating respect for His creatures’ right to choose—their power of choice. The Scriptures state in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Also, in Deuteronomy 30:19, “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.”

Spirit of Prophecy References On This Doctrine:

“God is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish; but His forbearance has a limit, and when the boundary is past, there is no second probation. His wrath will go forth and He will destroy without remedy.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol 7, 946.

“The end of God’s forbearance with those who persist in disobedience is approaching rapidly.

“Ought men to be surprised over a sudden and unexpected change in the dealings of the Supreme Ruler with the inhabitants of a fallen world? Ought they to be surprised when punishment follows transgression and increasing crime? Ought they to be surprised that God should bring destruction and death upon those whose ill-gotten gains have been obtained through deception and fraud? Notwithstanding the fact that increasing light regarding God’s requirements has been shining on their pathway, many have refused to recognize Jehovah’s rulership, and have chosen to remain under the black banner of the originator of all rebellion against the government of heaven.

“The forbearance of God has been very great—so great that when we consider the continuous insult to His holy commandments, we marvel. The Omnipotent One has been exerting a restraining power over His own attributes. But He will certainly arise to punish the wicked, who so boldly defy the just claims of the Decalogue.

“God allows men a period of probation; but there is a point beyond which divine patience is exhausted, and the judgments of God are sure to follow. The Lord bears long with men, and with cities, mercifully giving warnings to save them from divine wrath; but a time will come when pleadings for mercy will no longer be heard, and the rebellious element that continues to reject the light of truth will be blotted out, in mercy to themselves and to those who would otherwise be influenced by their example.” Prophets and Kings, 276.

“God waits long for the sinner to repent. He manifests a wonderful forbearance. But He must at last call the transgressor of His law to account.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 3, 1147.

“In His dealings with the human race, God bears long with the impenitent. He uses His appointed agencies to call men to allegiance, and offers them His full pardon if they will repent. But because God is long-suffering, men presume on His mercy. ‘Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil’ [Ecclesiastes 8:11]. The patience and long-suffering of God, which should soften and subdue the soul, has an altogether different influence upon the careless and sinful. It leads them to cast off restraint, and strengthens them in resistance. They think that the God who has borne so much from them will not heed their perversity. If we lived in a dispensation of immediate retribution, offenses against God would not occur so often. But though delayed, the punishment is none the less certain. There are limits even to the forbearance of God. The boundary of His long-suffering may be reached, and then He will surely punish. And when He does take up the case of the presumptuous sinner, He will not cease till He has made a full end.

“Very few realize the sinfulness of sin; they flatter themselves that God is too good to punish the offender. But the cases of Miriam, Aaron, David, and many others show that it is not a safe thing to sin against God in deed, in word, or even in thought. God is a being of infinite love and compassion, but He also declares Himself to be a ‘consuming fire, even a jealous God.’ Deuteronomy 4:24.” The Review and Herald, August 14, 1900.

“Men are prone to abuse the long-suffering of God, and to presume on His forbearance. But there is a point in human iniquity when it is time for God to interfere; and terrible are the issues.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 372.

“God’s judgments will be visited upon those who are seeking to oppress and destroy His people. His long forbearance with the wicked emboldens men in transgression, but their punishment is nonetheless certain and terrible because it is long delayed.” The Great Controversy, 627.

“The forbearance of God was very great toward the children of men; but when they stubbornly persisted in their impenitence, He removed from them His protecting hand. They refused to listen to the voice of God in His created works, and in the warnings, counsels, and reproofs of His word, and thus He was forced to speak to them through judgments.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 588.

For us living in the period of the end of this world, what will be the sign that the limit of God’s forbearance is reached? “By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near.

“As the approach of the Roman armies was a sign to the disciples of the impending destruction of Jerusalem, so may this apostasy be a sign to us that the limit of God’s forbearance is reached, that the measure of our nation’s iniquity is full, and that the angel of mercy is about to take her flight, never to return.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 451.

This will be the visible sign for us here on earth to know that God’s longsuffering for the unrepentant sinner is reached. There will also be a sign in the courts of heaven that establishes that God’s forbearance has ended; this, of course, is the invisible sign for us.

“When the third angel’s message closes, mercy no longer pleads for the guilty inhabitants of the earth. The people of God have accomplished their work. They have received ‘the latter rain,’ ‘the refreshing from the presence of the Lord,’ and they are prepared for the trying hour before them. … Christ has made the atonement for His people and blotted out their sins. …

“When He leaves the sanctuary, darkness covers the inhabitants of the earth. In that fearful time the righteous must live in the sight of a holy God without an intercessor. The restraint which has been upon the wicked is removed, and Satan has entire control of the finally impenitent. God’s long-suffering has ended. The world has rejected His mercy, despised His love, and trampled upon His law. The wicked have passed the boundary of their probation; the Spirit of God, persistently resisted, has been at last withdrawn. Unsheltered by divine grace, they have no protection from the wicked one. Satan will then plunge the inhabitants of the earth into one great, final trouble. As the angels of God cease to hold in check the fierce winds of human passion, all the elements of strife will be let loose. The whole world will be involved in ruin more terrible than that which came upon Jerusalem of old.” The Great Controversy, 613, 614.

How Can We Apply This?

As God is long-suffering, so we must always possess this divine grace.
As God bears long with the unrepentant sinner, so we also should bear patiently with each other.
As God cut off His long-suffering from the unrepentant sinner by virtue of the sinner’s right to choose, so we as children of God must show respect to the unrepentant and their right to choose to persist in sin. While showing them love, we must leave them in the hands of God who only can read the heart!
That we as God’s professed people can, by our continuing in sin, disobedience and rebellion, most surely grieve the Holy Spirit and terminate our chance for eternal salvation.

Christ, God’s dear Son, who became our Redeemer, was cut off because He became sin for us. Thus a statement was made at Golgotha’s hill! What was that statement? What really happened at Calvary?

Calvary demonstrated that there is a limit to the long-suffering of God. Sin calls into operation the long-suffering of God, but God’s love dictates that sin must be forever destroyed!

“But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children’s children; To such as keep His covenant, and to those that remember His commandments to do them.” Psalm 103:17, 18.

Today it is so important that we all remember that, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” II Peter 3:9, 10.

Today, if you hear His voice harden not your hearts, for today is the day of salvation; tomorrow might be too late!

Pastor Ivan Plummer ministers through the Emmanuel Seventh Day Church Ministries in Bronx, New York. He may be contacted by telephone at: 718-882-3900.