Are You Getting Ready?

I know I have not written much in the last few years. Not because of lack of things to say, but of too much to say and the time taken to say it better spent on other things. But this morning in prayer, I felt the unction of the Lord that I needed to put this question out there, so here goes – are you getting ready? The obvious rhetorical question is, ”For what?” The answer is, for a wedding. But not just any wedding, it is THE wedding.

There is so much I could say on this subject, but the Bible has much more to say on it – in fact, it’s really the whole climactic end of the story. And yet for the most part, it’s been almost completely ignored by the western church culture that’s mainly focused on the ”good news” being about making their lives better in the here and now. But allow me to let scripture speak for itself:

Revelation 19:6-8: “Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:
Let us rejoice and be glad
    and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
    and his bride has made herself ready.
Fine linen, bright and clean
    was given her to wear.”
“Hallelujah!
    For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)

Note the key phrase – “The BRIDE has made HERSELF ready.” What bride, in the days, weeks and even months before her wedding, isn’t wholly consumed with getting ready for that day?

If we look at the book of Esther (remembering that everything in the Old Testament was written for our instruction and spiritual application), we can see the amount of preparation that went into her getting ready for her ”night with the king.”:

• Esther 2:12 – “Before a young woman’s turn came to go in to King Xerxes, she had to complete twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed for the women, six months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics.”

So what are we as the ”Bride of Christ” expected to do to “make ourselves ready”? You might say, ”I don’t have to do any work. Jesus did the saving work for me and there is nothing else I need to do.” Really? Let’s look at a few of the many examples in scripture of our part in our preparation:

• 2 Peter 1:5-11 – ”For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith, goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

• Hebrews 4:1-2 & 11 – ”Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed…Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.”
  
  
• Luke 19:11-26 – (I won’t quote the whole thing here – you can read it for yourself, but note that all the servants were each given one “mina” coin – they were each given salvation. Look at the response to the servant who did nothing with it):
  ”Then another servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.’
  “His master replied, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’
  “Then he said to those standing by, ‘Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’
  “‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’
  “He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what they have will be taken away.’”

• Mark 4:18-19 (from the ”Parable of the Sower/Soils” which tells us what causes us to not multiply what God has given us): ”Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word, but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.”

• Matthew 7:24-27 – (at the end of His famous ”Sermon on the Mount” Jesus says): ”Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock…But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.”
  
  
• James 1:22 – ”Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

So friends, how are you doing on your wedding preparations? How much of the Word that you have read do you actually do? Can you say with Job, “My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside. I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.” (Job 23:11-12)

We are living in sobering times. Truly the days of this age are rapidly coming to a close. I hope that you are as serious about preparing yourself for that time as a bride is in preparing for her wedding day. I’ll leave you with Matthew 25:10-13:

“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived.
The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”