Biblical Essays ARE YOU READY?
StudyJesus.com exists for one reason only – to share the good news of Jesus Christ through the Holy Word of God. We pray that by the power of the Holy Spirit just two words will be burned into your consciousness: Be Ready!
Be ready for the return of the Lord. Be ready for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb because its appointed time is very near.
There are many people on the earth today who don’t believe that. Just as the Scripture prophesies in 2nd Peter, they scoff: “Following after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation” (3:3-4).
But those people are mistaken. Jesus is coming back. There’s a day and an hour appointed for His return. We know that’s true because in Matthew 24 Jesus spoke of it saying, “Of that day and hour no one knows, even the angels of heaven, nor the Son but the Father alone” (v. 36). At that appointed time, He will catch away those of us who are prepared for His coming.
What a day that will be. It’s coming. There’s no doubt about that. The only question is: Will you be ready? Let’s hope we all are! Because when the appointed day arrives, He’ll come – regardless. You see, God has set specific dates for some things. He has appointed times that can never be altered. When the Scripture says, “It shall come to pass,” or “My purpose will be established,” it means that event is eternally fixed. To our limited, human minds such a thing seems almost impossible, but in Isaiah 46, the Lord tells us: “I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, My purpose will be established” (vv. 9-10).
From the beginning, God has declared the end. He has already established how and when certain events will take place.
There was an appointed time, for example, for the children of Israel to come out of Egypt. God set that appointed date in Genesis 15:13 when He said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.”
Sure enough, after the Israelites went to dwell in Egypt, they began to be afflicted. From Exodus 12, we learn that they dwelt there 30 years before the affliction began: “Now the time that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. And at the end of four hundred and thirty years, to the very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt” (vv. 40-41).
Just think, 400 years to the day after Egypt began to oppress Israel, God brought the Israelites out just as He promised. He wasn’t even one day late.
What’s more, He saw to it that the Israelites were blessed, equipped and ready to go on that day. He didn’t just haphazardly rush in and move them from one place to another. Psalm 105:37 says, “Then He brought them out with silver and gold, And among His tribes there was not one who stumbled.”
But if you’ll read Exodus 12, you’ll see that those Israelites had obeyed the instructions of the Lord. They had prepared themselves. They had eaten the Passover supper the night of their departure with their loins girded, their shoes on their feet, and their staffs in their hands. They ate it in haste because they were ready to go.
That wasn’t the last time God instructed them to be ready, either. He told them to be ready whenever He was about to manifest Himself to them. In fact, if you’ll study it through the Bible, you’ll see that’s how God operates. For instance, in Exodus 19, the Lord said to Moses: “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments; and let them be ready for the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people” (vv. 10-11).
In Exodus 34, the Lord again spoke to Moses: “Cut out for yourself two stone tablets like the former ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered. So be ready by morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain” (vv. 1-2).
Just as surely as God set those appointments to meet with Moses and the children of Israel, He has set an appointment with us. As Acts 17:31 says, “He has fixed a day, in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed; having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
The end of things as we know it in the earth is drawing near. God has notified us through His written Word that Jesus is coming back for us. The question is: Will we be ready?
If you’re not ready, the thought of the Lord’s return may not excite you like it should. It may even fill you with dread and anxiety. If so, you need to make some changes. First, you need to be born again by the water and the Spirit in order to have “newness of life” (John 3:1-8). Then, you need to focus your attention and your affection on the things of God instead of the things of this world (see Colossians 3:2).
After all, this world is not our home. It’s not our final destination. We’re just sojourning here, looking forward to the time when we’re at home with the Lord. We need to constantly keep that in mind, so we don’t get entangled in this world’s affairs. We need to constantly look toward heaven so when the time comes to depart, we’ll be ready.
In Luke 14, Jesus told a parable illustrating that point: “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.’ Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’ Another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner’” (vv. 16-24).
Why didn’t those who were invited to the supper go when they were called? They had become too involved in the business of daily life. They had allowed those things to become too important to them. They weren’t ready.
Listen, it’s just about supper time in the kingdom of God. Jesus is preparing a banquet for us in heaven and it’s almost complete. So get ready. Don’t be so caught up in the world’s activities that you can’t hear what He is telling you to do. You don’t want to be out on the fringes when Jesus returns. You don’t want to be off somewhere wasting time when the glory of God is made visible for all to see. You want to be right in the middle of it.
Now is the time to consecrate and dedicate every fiber of your being, every moment of your life and everything you do unto the Lord’s service. You don’t want anything to hold you back in this thrilling hour. You don’t want anything to keep you from walking in the spirit and experiencing the glory God will soon manifest in the earth.
So prepare yourself. Consecrate yourself to God and keep yourself full of the Word and the Holy Spirit so that when you hear the blast of the trumpet announcing Jesus’ return, you’ll be so light on your feet that you’ll just lift right out of here.
Jesus taught about that kind of readiness in Matthew 25, saying: “Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps. Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the prudent, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the prudent answered, ‘No, there will not be enough for us and you, too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut. Later the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open up for us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’ Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour” (vv. 1-13).
There’s one point this parable makes very clear: When it comes to being ready and dedicating yourself to the Lord, you’re the one who has to do it. You are the only one who can do it. Elders can’t do it for you. Deacons can’t do it for you. The preacher can’t do it for you. Your husband or wife can’t do it for you. You must go and buy oil for yourself. You must see to it that you’re ready to meet God. Each of us must make sure there’s nothing in our lives that would cause us to shrink back from His presence.
It’s our responsibility to be prepared. God has given us everything we need. He has put His own Spirit within us. He has given us His written Word. He has given us teachers, preachers, elders, deacons, and evangelists to help us learn how to live by faith, how to live separated from the world, how to walk in the spirit, and how to bring honor to God’s beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Each one of us must decide to make those things the priority in our lives.
One way to keep it a priority is by cultivating the expectancy of Jesus’ soon return. In 1st John, the Bible says: “And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (3:3).
Do you want to be ready? Do you really want to be ready? Then spend time studying and meditating on the Holy Scriptures about Jesus’ coming. Build your hope to the point where you wake up every morning looking expectantly for Him.
Live every day watching for His return. Don’t let it catch you by surprise. It’s not supposed to, you know. Even though God hasn’t disclosed to us the exact day or the hour, according to the Bible, if we’re alert we will know the season of Jesus’ return. In fact, Jesus Himself said in Matthew 24 that His coming would be like the flood in Noah’s day (vv. 32-33, 36-39). Think about that for a moment. That flood took the world by surprise, didn’t it? They were just going about their natural business, not expecting anything unusual when suddenly they were swept away. They were completely in the dark about what was happening.
But Noah wasn’t caught by surprise. He’d been working on the ark for years. He’d been expecting that flood. He didn’t know the day or the hour, but he knew it was coming and he was ready. When it started to rain, Noah wasn’t in the dark, he was in the ark!
That’s how we’re supposed to be concerning Jesus’ return. In 1st Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul said that we’re to be aware of the season (5:1-6). If you’re watching and walking in tune with the Spirit, you won’t be in the dark. You won’t be caught unaware at the time of Jesus’ coming. You’ll know in your spirit He is at the door.
Preparing for Jesus’ return is a personal thing. If you are ready, then on the day He comes, you’ll wake up with the Holy Spirit flowing through you so strongly that you’ll know something is about to happen. Spiritually speaking your hair might be standing straight up. And when you hear the trumpet sound, when you hear that joyful shout, “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh!” you will already have made up your mind – you’ll be ready. Will you be ready? Are you ready now?
(Scripture quotations from the New American Standard Bible)
