Topical Bible: God: Longsuffering of

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The concept of God's longsuffering is a profound theme throughout the Bible, reflecting His patience, mercy, and enduring love towards humanity. Longsuffering, often synonymous with patience, is an attribute of God that demonstrates His willingness to bear with human sinfulness and rebellion, providing opportunities for repentance and reconciliation.

Old Testament Foundations

The Old Testament frequently highlights God's longsuffering nature. In Exodus 34:6, God reveals Himself to Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and truth." This self-revelation underscores God's patience and readiness to forgive, even as He maintains His justice.

The narrative of the Israelites in the wilderness is a testament to God's longsuffering. Despite their repeated disobedience and complaints, God remains patient, guiding them towards the Promised Land. Numbers 14:18 reiterates this attribute: "The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion, forgiving iniquity and transgression."

The prophets also speak of God's longsuffering. In Isaiah 30:18, it is written, "Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore He rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him." Here, God's patience is linked with His desire to extend grace and compassion.

New Testament Revelation

In the New Testament, the longsuffering of God is vividly portrayed in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul, in his letters, frequently emphasizes this attribute. In Romans 2:4, Paul asks, "Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?" This passage highlights that God's patience is intended to lead sinners to repentance.

The Apostle Peter also addresses God's longsuffering in 2 Peter 3:9, stating, "The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." This verse underscores God's desire for all to be saved, demonstrating His patience as an expression of His love and mercy.

Practical Implications

The longsuffering of God serves as a model for believers. Christians are called to emulate this divine attribute in their interactions with others. In Colossians 3:12-13, Paul exhorts believers, "Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone else. Forgive as the Lord forgave you."

Furthermore, the recognition of God's longsuffering should lead to a response of gratitude and reverence. Understanding that God's patience provides the opportunity for repentance and transformation, believers are encouraged to live lives worthy of His calling, as seen in Ephesians 4:1-2: "I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have received: with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love."

Conclusion

The longsuffering of God is a testament to His enduring love and mercy. It is a divine attribute that not only reveals His character but also calls believers to reflect His patience in their own lives. Through the lens of Scripture, God's longsuffering is a profound reminder of His desire for all to come to repentance and experience His grace.

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Genesis 6:3
And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
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Genesis 15:16
But in the fourth generation they shall come here again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
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Exodus 34:6
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,
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Numbers 14:18
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 on the children to the third and fourth generation.
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Psalm 86:15
But you, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, long suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.
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Psalm 103:8-10
The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
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Isaiah 5:1-4
Now will I sing to my well beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well beloved has a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
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Isaiah 30:18
And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious to you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy on you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.
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Isaiah 42:14
I have long time held my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.
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Isaiah 48:9,11
For my name's sake will I defer my anger, and for my praise will I refrain for you, that I cut you not off.
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Jeremiah 7:13,23-25
And now, because you have done all these works, said the LORD, and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you heard not; and I called you, but you answered not;
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Jeremiah 11:7
For I earnestly protested to your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice.
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Jeremiah 15:15
O LORD, you know: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in your long-suffering: know that for your sake I have suffered rebuke.
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Ezekiel 20:17
Nevertheless my eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness.
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Joel 2:13
And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn to the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repents him of the evil.
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Habakkuk 1:2-4
O LORD, how long shall I cry, and you will not hear! even cry out to you of violence, and you will not save!
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Matthew 19:8
He said to them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
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Matthew 21:33-41
Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and dig a wine press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to farmers, and went into a far country:
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Matthew 23:37
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kill the prophets, and stone them which are sent to you, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not!
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Mark 12:1-9
And he began to speak to them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and dig a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to farmers, and went into a far country.
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Luke 13:6-9,34
He spoke also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none.
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Luke 20:9-16
Then began he to speak to the people this parable; A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to farmers, and went into a far country for a long time.
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Acts 14:16
Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.
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Acts 17:30
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commands all men every where to repent:
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Romans 2:4
Or despise you the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
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Romans 3:25
Whom God has 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;
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Romans 9:22,23
What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
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Romans 15:5
Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:
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1 Peter 3:20
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.
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2 Peter 3:9,15
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.
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Revelation 2:21,22
And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
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Library

God Proclaiming his Own Name
... 'The Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful
and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.'"Exodus 34:6 ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture k/god proclaiming his own name.htm

The Hindrances to Mourning
... The sinner thinks thus: God has spared me all this while; he has eked out patience
into longsuffering; surely he will not punish. ... God's longsuffering hardens. ...
/.../the beatitudes an exposition of matthew 51-12/9 the hindrances to mourning.htm

God's Love to Fallen Man
... resignation, our confidence in God, our patience and fortitude, our meekness,
gentleness, and longsuffering, together with our faith, and love of God and man ...
/.../wesley/sermons on several occasions/sermon 59 gods love to.htm

Parable of the Importunate Widow.
... [Though a beloved people cry continually unto a just God, yet will he in mercy be
longsuffering to their enemies, and because of the longsuffering he will seem ...
/.../mcgarvey/the four-fold gospel/xcvi parable of the importunate.htm

Why is it that Our Lord Has Tarried Till Now? Why Has not the ...
... his angels"? Why? Ah! why? Because the Lord God is longsuffering to usward,
not willing that any should perish. Suppose that Christ ...
//christianbookshelf.org/pink/the redeemers return/4 why is it that.htm

April 30 Evening
... The Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful
and gracious, longsuffering."The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as ...
/.../anonymous/daily light on the daily path/april 30 evening.htm

A Voice from the Hartley Colliery
... Fix'd is their everlasting state,. Could man repent, 'tis then too late; Justice
has closed mercy's door,. And God's longsuffering is no more. ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 8 1863/a voice from the hartley.htm

Unity of the Faith of the Church Throughout the Whole World.
... and explain [with special clearness] the operation and dispensation of God connected
with human salvation; and show that God manifested longsuffering in regard ...
/.../irenaeus/against heresies/chapter x unity of the faith.htm

Against those who Say that Demons Govern Human Affairs, and who ...
... they who were not chastened are in no way unjustly treated; for it was possible
for them, had they wished, to have used the longsuffering of God, to accomplish ...
/.../chrysostom/on the priesthood/homily i against those who.htm

The Second Epistle of St. Peter
... The thought of God's longsuffering is more prominent in Romans (see ii.4, iii.25,
ix.22, and xi.22) than in any other of Paul's extant epistles, but the writer ...
/.../moffat/the general epistles james peter and judas/the second epistle of st.htm