Get Ready

Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

Matthew 24:44 (KJV)


Get ready for what?  Jesus' Return!

Although this message is for the Christian, it very much applies to the secular, but for this article we'll stay how this is applicable to the Christian.

The verse above is followed by the parable of the Ten Virgins in chapter 25, which we'll be exploring as means to understanding how to get ready for the Lord's return.

I believe that every church should be covering these three elements on every sermon, how to be ready, how to be courageous or to encourage and how to rejoice or be joyful about what's to come.

But just because we want people to come to the Lord, I'll ask this question for you:  What's the big deal about being ready?  Well, let me be blunt with my answer, nevertheless truthful:  The Bible was inspired by God, our maker, and because He made not only us, but the Earth, everything belongs to Him, this gives Him right to do as He pleases with everything that belongs to Him, the good news is that He is good and just, these things are written in the Bible, He also tell us that He will judge the world, yes right and wrong will come to the table, who says what's right and wrong, God says what's right and wrong, in fact, He has given us that information in the Bible, so that we be ready!  Because if we're not, His judgement will bring wrath upon those who disobey His word, simple.  What is wrath?  The wrath of God is basically punishment for disobedience despite giving us patience, love, nurturing, and a taste of life, but if we keep going in wrong direction we'll experience His wrath which includes Hell, no good at all, no good for the soul.
The good news is that God made Salvation fool proof, meaning that you don't have to do anything, Jesus finished the required work for you and I on the cross, all we need to do is believe as mentioned in John 3:16 and understand what John 3:18 means, once we believe, and understand, we begin to be grateful and we begin to rejoice, this is what it means to be born again, then we get Baptized, expressing our public committment to obey the Lord, to seek Him and walk in the right direction.  But once you become a Christian the walk isn't over, which is the subject of this article to be ready, which we'll talk about next.

John 3:16 (KJV)  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:18 (KJV)  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Okay, notice how in the parable of the ten virgins, let's try to cover as much as possible, I guess I should post the parable here:

Matthew 25:1-13 (KJV)  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. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

As I was saying, notice how it refers to "virgins", what kind of people are this?  people that have no husband, meaning they are waiting for their husband, which in the parable is the Lord Jesus, so these were Church going people, now in the Bible we read the following verse:

Psalm 119:105 (KJV)  NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

So the Word of God, in the Bible is the lamp, but the lamp needs light, because without light, the lamp is useless, and you cannot go anywhere, the Bible tells us that we must live by faith, and living by faith means that we ought to move, but as mentioned we cannot move without light, so what do we need?  Oil!  

It says that the wise virgins took oil in their vessels with their lamps, but the foolish ones did not.  So how do we get the oil?  Oil is obtained through the process of applying God's Word in our lives after we've been sanctified by it, what does this mean?  It means that you read your Bible, and to put it simply, say your read a verse, for instance the following:

Matthew 4:4 (KJV)  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

If you truly believe the verse above, and you apply it in your life, meaning you start reading God's Word in the Bible with the sincere hope of being nourished as the Word says; then you've been sanctified, this process has different angles, for instance, the wanting to put away things of this world is a sign that you're going through the process of sanctification.

So being cleansed from the things of the world is part of the equation, the other part is to be comitted to God's Word, this is where at some point we'll be given the opportunity to make oil for our lamps, how so?  This is where the rubber meets the road, through trials and tribulations, but it's not enough to go through trials and tribulations, the question is what are these trials and tribulations producing? Anger? Complaining? Lack of patience?  Feelings of revenge? This things are not of God, therefore they won't power your lamp, meaning you'll have no oil.

But how can you produce good things from trials and tribulations? By applying God's Word to our lives and... and filtering our response through God's Word, so for instance in Matthew chapter 5 we read "Blessed are the...", poor in spirit, they that mourn, the meek, the ones who hunger for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peace makers, the persecuted and: Blessed are ye, when...

...men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Matthew 5:11 (KJV)

It follows by saying:

Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Matthew 5:12 (KJV)

So the verses in Matthew 5 tell us that our response is key, if our response is aligned with God's Word, we're making oil, notice how it says: Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, they wouldn't be hungering and thirstying have they had taken revence, right?  Well, that brings us to another level of understanding how we ought to obtain our oil, which is through the application of Faith, you see, being meek, and basicaly applying the tools God has given us, namely forgiveness, patience, kindness, praying for our enemies, all those things don't come natural, they come because we've read God's Word and we understand them, but the understanding of Faith is that we've come to the place where we also understand that the battle belongs to the Lord, that revenge belongs to Him, that we're not along, and He is watching over us.

I think this verse sums it up, when we come to understand the following verse not just with our minds and hearts, but also with our Christian walk, living it out, we'll be producing oil for our lamps:

Romans 8:28 (KJV)  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Furthermore, the understanding on how to produce oil is not confined to what I mentioned above, although it all has to come from God's Word, within the pages of the Bible, there are more elements that can help us better produce oil, and perhaps faster and of better quality, something to think about, for instance:

The fruit of the spirit
The armour of God
Romas chapter 8
Matthew chapter 5 (Blessed are they...)

Applying the tools God gave us in His Word according to His Word, is what produces oil, remember that the Lord was displeased with the Israelites that were complaining about not having water or meat, we read in the Bible that many of them went back to Egypt in their hearts, instead of being thankful that God not only took them our of slavery, but had promised them a beautiful land, and that is what's in front of us today as well, we can either complain or understand and believe that ALL THINGS WORK FOR THOSE WHO LOVE THE LORD! And therefore we have peace and joy!

Now let's wrap it all together for better understanding, long time ago, the Israelites used to crush olives to make oil, this is what they used to lit their lamps, having this understanding brings to life the parable of the ten virgins, because in order to get oil for a lamp, you would need to crush some olives and I believe this is exactly where Jesus was leading us in our thinking, to realize that we need to go through that process, the process of crushing the olives to produce oil, but that He Himself was going through that process, who are the olives?  Jesus was the first Olive, sort of speak, but we are too, think about this, the olives are placed on the stone, then comes this giant wheel rolling about to crush us, what do we do? what do we say? perhaps we out to ask what did Jesus say, because He was going through the same thing:

John 12:27 (KJV)  Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.

It wasn't an easy thing for the Lord Jesus to produce oil, He was crushed, but what a marvellous and wonderful light we have now in this world, we need to be at peace with God's will, because there's a reason why sometimes we go through difficult things, but we must trust in Him, because He loves us.  Before going to the cross, the Lord Jesus went to the garden of Gethsemane, where He expressed the weight of the burden, He was being crushed, interestingly the word Gethsemane means "olive press", a place of agony and arrest and finally, when His work on the cross was finished, it is written:

Isaiah 53:10 (KJV)  Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

I hope this article was encouraging to you, but I also wanted to share the following video, I watched it last night and afterwards I thought, this video would have been even greater if followed by the reading of the Parable of the Ten Virgins, and although there are many sections in the Bible that can help us Get Ready, I think by reading this article, watching the short movie below and reading the parable in Matthew 25, you'll have a very good start to producing oil for your lamp, and I hope you do so, just as I hope I do so when the time comes, we all need to be in prayer, that the Lord will make us stand in the day of adversity, to be ready and worthy before Him, King Jesus.

God bless you!