Tension Theology
The Tension Is in the Scriptures . . . When We Remove It, That Makes for More Tension Between Us
by
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Chapter VIII
Waiting: Are We Waiting Upon The Lord Or Is He Waiting Upon Us?
Ps 27:14 Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!
Isa 40:31 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.
Ps 37:7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
There is a strong understanding from the Old Testament of our need to wait upon the Lord. We are to wait for the Lord’s intervention and salvation. We must not go ahead of Him, but wait for His timing. In His time, God will move. In His time, God will answer. In His time, all things will work for our good (Rom. 8:28).
Now, consider some of these verses from the New Testament that share something quite different:
Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
Col 1:9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
Col 1:10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Things have changed since the atonement! Under the Old Testament, we are to wait for God to move. We were waiting for God’s salvation; however, in the New Testament, we are no longer waiting. Under the New Testament, we are to put on Christ! We are to walk as Christ walked in the light of God’s will. We are to be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding (Col. 1:9). We are to be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18). We are to walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him (Col. 1:10). All of these things point to a new day that the Lord has made. In this new day, grace has moved, accomplished, and fulfilled salvation—it is finished (John 19:30).
So, which is it now? Do we wait upon the Lord, or is the Lord waiting on us? When we experience the New Testament phenomenon of the new birth, but maintain an Old Testament mindset, we are missing something. We are to renew our minds to conform to the will of God (Rom. 12:1-3). The Old Testament has been updated by the most important event in human history—the crucifixion of Christ!
Under the Old Covenant, we were waiting on God’s power, presence, deliverance, and redemption. Under the New Covenant, these things have already been provided in His grace through the cross. All of these things have now become subject to us. That is an incredible truth!
Mt 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Ac 1:8 "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
1Co 14:32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.
God is now waiting on us! He is waiting on us to believe, to be established in grace (Heb. 13:9), and to work the works of Christ through His power (John 14:12). The following statement becomes true, if we affirm both sides of the tension in regards to waiting: God isn’t the one who determines when His blessings are manifested.
When we wait upon the Lord, as in the Old Testament situation, we are waiting for Him to move (as if He hasn’t)! When we wait upon the Lord as in the New Testament situation, we are only waiting for Him to fulfill promises not yet kept (i.e. the rapture, the second coming, and our new glorified bodies).
What about salvation? What about the atonement? What was finished when Jesus said, “It is finished?” What God did in Jesus, fulfilled the law, took away our sin, brought us peace and rest, and established us in Christ as new creations. What is the new creation? What has grace already given us, as Peter wrote?
2Pe 1:3 “…as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue…”
What more can God do than give us Jesus? Therefore, it isn’t up to God when we get saved, healed, provided for, protected, or experience His presence since the cross. This has been and is a major stumbling block for the body of Christ. We keep waiting on God from an Old Testament mindset, when this is the day of salvation!
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About the Book
This book is about the tension revealed in scripture. Our efforts to systematically understand spiritual truth have often meant removing the tensions found in the Bible. We sometimes ignore passages we don’t like or understand in order to make things fit together. We practice, to our harm, the “either/or” response to most of these conflicting biblical issues. When we remove the tensions present in scripture, we’ll find ourselves to the right or the left, instead of being on the straight and narrow road that leads us to life in His grace.
When we remove the tension found in scripture (and there is a lot of it), we end up creating more tension between each other. As we embrace both sides of the spiritual revelations regarding any subject, the answers will come. The tension provides safety, balance, protection, and keeps us in a place to receive.
With this in mind, I address the problem, present the theology of tension, and begin to apply it to many familiar, but often controversial, doctrines. Amazing answers are revealed not by choosing sides, but by affirming both, even when our natural minds cannot discern them. In essence, we short circuit the purpose provided by these tensions when we dismiss them. The tension is in the scriptures: we need to live in it and remain in grace.
About the Author
Pastor B. D. Tate has served in the Christian church for over forty years—from youth group leader and Sunday school teacher to men’s group leadership to assistant pastor and, finally, as a senior pastor for twenty-eight years. He has been married for thirty-seven years to Valerie, with four grown children and ten grandchildren. He has been involved with Assemblies of God, Christian Missionary and Alliance, Word of Faith, United Methodist, and nondenominational churches. He received his MDiv degree from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (1992). He was ordained in the UMC (1996) and continues to serve as founding pastor of Lord of Lords Bible Community Church, where he has taught for the past eleven years. He has written over one hundred booklets, many Bible studies, and is published on his website, Lordsbdt.com . He is a graduate of Penn State University, where he played quarterback for the late Coach Joe Paterno.