Be ye ready

Readiness is an act of vigilance. Every man with the intention of achieving success must be prepared to embrace in order to arrive at desired result.

In Christendom, watchfulness must be characteristic of everyone striving to make heaven, because the hour and the time the Trumpet shall sound for the rapture is not known.

So, the Bible admonishes us to be ready at all times.

To watch for Christ’s coming, is to maintain that state of mind we would want the Lord to find us in. We know that we have a little time to live.

After that would come the judgment. But nobody knows the time fixed for the judgment.

Our Lord will be happy with those that shall be found ready, but very displeased with those who choose this world as their portion in life.

Matt. 24:36-39 says, “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”

In the above verses, our Saviour declares that the world’s final dissolution on the Last Day, would be much like the destruction of the old world; they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage.

They were sold out to sensuality and debauchery, and did not know of the flood until it swept them away.

The reason the sinners were drowned in sensuality was because they did not believe the certainty or proximity of the approaching judgment.

Matt 25: 1-5 and 13 says, “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept… Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”

The highpoint in the above verses is that the bridegroom represents the Son of man; the time of the marriage is the coming to judgment; the tarrying is the long and unknown period between His ascension and His return; the virgins represent the waiting Church; the wise virgins represent Church members who are always ready and whose lights are shining; the oil in their vessels is the means by which their light is supplied.

While the foolish virgins are Church members who have become cold and lifeless; the midnight cry is the summon of death, or the trump of judgment; the cry for oil is death-bed repentance, or an attempt at preparation in the face of judgment; the shut door is a declaration that such repentance is too late to be of avail.

The great lesson is to be always in a state of readiness.

Now the question is, are you ready? God says be ye ready!