‘Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.’ How do you keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book? You keep your eye on future things. Patience must be exercised, but it is not an unreasonable patience. The Lord is aware of how much his children long for his coming and he will not unduly keep them waiting. In view of the emphasis on patience in the second half of the verse, the Lord’s words are best understood to mean that he will come soon. The child in trouble wants to know that his father is anxious about him and does not unnecessarily delay in coming to help him. Christ will not come too late, though he seems to delay longer than we understand at times. So he delayed long enough for Lazarus to die, yet he was not too late to raise him from the dead. He will delay even to the point that his church is overpowered and almost annihilated from the earth, yet not too late to totally turn the tables on his enemies. The coming of the Lord is to be the great focus of the Christian’s life. All that he hopes for can be resolved into this simple formula, that he will see his Lord face to face and be with him. Why do we keep God’s commandments, if not to please Christ? Why do we witness to the world, if not because we desire men and women to bow the knee to him? Why do we suffer for our faith, if not because he has suffered so much for us and knows that we owe him everything. All service and duties of the Christian life must be expressed as a personal response to our Lord. We perform all this service in his absence. Most believers have never seen him visibly. They serve one whom they read about in Scripture, and one whom the Spirit of God has revealed in their hearts. But they can never remain satisfied with this. Just as we are not solely spiritual beings, but we have a body and soul, so, though now we know him by faith, we long to see him face to face.