“As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, ‘Tell us,’ they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?’ …Jesus answered: ‘Watch out that no one deceives you… then the end will come’ ” (Matthew 24).
Out of Matthew twenty-four and twenty-five come a diversity of eschatological schemes. The major divisions are known as premillennialism, postmillennialism, and amillennialism. Common to each one is the belief that certain things need to come to pass and then the end of the world and the final judgment. This is not the place to discuss all these views. But we will try to understand what Jesus was teaching in His final discourse recorded in this Gospel.
His return would be without warning, and the disciples needed to be concerned about being ready for it whenever it took place.
What does it mean to be ready? The setting of these chapters is the time leading up to Christ’s return. So we must conclude that there will always be people in the Church who have heard the Gospel invitation, have responded in some sense, and may even have some affection for Jesus, but who are not born again.
But what does it mean to be ready? Charles H. Spurgeon saw it as an inner change brought about by regeneration or new birth. He wrote, drawing on a good deal of Bible imagery: “A great change has to be wrought in you, far beyond any power of yours to accomplish, ere you can go in with Christ to the marriage. You must, first of all, be renewed in your nature, or you will not be ready. You must be washed from your sins, or you will not be ready. You must be justified in Christ’s righteousness, and you must put on His wedding dress, or else you will not be ready. You must be reconciled to God, you must be made like to God, or you will not be ready. Or [referring to the parable of the ten virgins] you must have a lamp, and that lamp must be fed with heavenly oil, and it must continue to burn brightly, or else you will not be ready. No child of darkness can go into that place of light. You must be brought out of nature’s darkness into God’s marvelous light, or else you will never be ready to go in with Christ to the marriage, and to be forever with him.”
Which brings us back to the pressing question: Are you ready? I am not asking, “Have you responded to a Gospel invitation? Have you joined a Church? Or do you believe in Jesus’ second coming?” I am asking, “Have you been born again? Have you believed on Jesus as your Savior from sin? Are you living for Jesus now? Are you truly ready, or are you among those who only seem to be prepared?”
Maranatha!
(mar-uh-nath-uh – “Our Lord Comes”) Pastor Steve can be reached at PastorSteve@MaranathaBibleChurch.org