Watch therefore for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into, Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Matthew 24:42-44
I was working on my article before work two weeks ago and I got a call from our daughter. She said, “Mom, do you have a bag packed? I have been having contractions about ten minutes apart all night and I wanted to give you time to get everything together so you can come and help with Stratton.” Even though her due date was still a week away, I knew that at any time we could get the exciting news that she needed my help because she was going to the hospital. Needless to say, I quickly finished my article and got busy packing a bag so I would be ready to leave whenever I got the call from her that it was time. I called her a few hours later to see how the contractions were going, and she told me when she got up and started moving around the contractions stopped, and she did not think it was necessary for me to head her way that afternoon. I left my bag packed that night, only taking out the things I needed to wash my face that night and my makeup for the next morning. The next morning, I put all my skincare and cosmetics back in my bag before I left the house. I did not hear anything from her on that Friday or all day long on Saturday, but my bag was packed and ready to put in the car so I could go and keep our grandson while they were at the hospital. Both days, I went about my regular routine and fulfilled my obligations and making sure that life would go on without me the days I would be needed at my daughter’s house. At the shop, I finished all the quarterly reports and sent them in, paid payroll so they guys would have a check the following Friday if I got the call for help the first part of the week. I spent Saturday cleaning the house really well and making sure that the laundry was all done. I knew there was a special day coming and I did not want any unfinished business to cause stress or put a damper on my time with our daughter and son-in-law. Saturday evenings J.D. always grills the best steaks and we were just finishing our weekly steak when Jacelyn called and said her contractions were seven minutes apart so they were going to the hospital and their neighbor was going to stay with our grandson until I could make the two hour and fifteen minute drive. All I had to do was grab the packed suitcase I walked by for three days and load it in the car and I was ready to go.
When a woman is pregnant, the doctor will give her a due date, an estimated time of when the bundle of joy will actually arrive. Unless a c-section is scheduled, the date is just an estimate, some babies show up weeks ahead of the due date while others take their sweet time to make their grand appearance. A good doctor and birthing classes will teach the parents what signs to look for to give them a better idea of the time of birth by the symptoms the mother is experiencing. Jacelyn’s doctor told her to go to the hospital when her contractions were consistently seven minutes apart for over an hour. Even when the contractions are that consistent, that does not mean the baby is ready to be delivered. The contractions can slow down, become less intense and even stop for days. The contractions are a sign that a mother’s body is preparing for the grand debut of her baby. Just because the contractions slow down or the mother’s body has not changed enough for the baby to be born, does not mean that the birth of her baby will never happen. The baby will leave the comfort of the mother’s womb and get introduced to life outside of the mother.
The disciples asked Jesus for a due date. “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the signs of Your coming and the end of the age?” Matthew 24:3. Just like a doctor does not know the exact day and time a baby will be born naturally, Jesus does not know when He will return, He told the disciples in Matthew 24:26 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.” While Jesus could not give them an exact time, He gave them signs to look for, “And you will hear of wars and rumors or wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilence, and earthquakes in various places. All these are Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of man will grow cold. the beginning of sorrows. Then they will deliver you to tribulation and kill you and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. He endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations and then the end will come.” I was raised believing that Jesus could come any minute and to be ready to meet Him in the air, I was to live a holy life (and yes, it is scriptural to be holy!) 1 Peter 1:16 “For it is written, be you holy for I am holy.” Over and over in my lifetime, you could take God’s checkoff list about the things that must happen first and the signs could be checked off the list while listening to the news and the things that were going on around us. Although I have lived my life in the expectation that I could hear the trumpet sound at any moment and I would be called to meet Jesus in the air and go to heaven with Him. I do not let the delay discourage me into believing Jesus will not come again. He promised His disciples in John 14:2-3 “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am there you may be also.” Jesus is coming again! Just like a woman’s birth pains may come and go several times before she finally delivers, the signs of Jesus coming may come and go before the trumpet sounds and the archangels call us to meet Jesus in the air. Jesus is coming to get His bride! In Ephesians 5:25-27 Paul admonished the church at Ephesus, “Husbands love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her by the washing of the water of the word, that He might present her to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.” Jesus is coming back for a holy spotless church without spot or wrinkle.
Just like I needed to be ready to leave quickly when my daughter called, as followers of Jesus, it is our job to be ready to leave when He calls. Jesus told the parable of the wise and foolish virgins in Matthew 25. There were ten virgins who took their lamps to go and meet the bridegroom. All ten were intentional about their lifestyle, the Bible tells us they were all virgins, but not all of them were prepared to meet the bridegroom and go into the wedding, only five of them had oil to keep their lamps burning. When they heard the sound of the bridegroom, the foolish virgins realized their mistake and tried to borrow oil from the wise virgins. The wise virgins told them to go and get some oil of their own, When the foolish went to get their own oil, the bridegroom came and took the five wise virgins into the wedding and shut the door leaving the foolish virgins locked out. The oil we need to keep our lamps burning cannot be borrowed or belong to someone else. We are called to keep the oil in our lamps burning and have extra to make it until He comes if He tarries. It is interesting that the Bible refers to the Holy Spirit as oil and the oil we need to keep our lamps burning strong is the Holy Spirit living in us and our relationship with Him. The time we spend in God’s word and in prayer, produces an abundance of oil and keeps us prepared for the moment of Jesus' return, no matter when it is. Is your lamp burning? Do you have your own oil, a personal relationship with God? Are you anticipating the greatest wedding of all times? Our Groom is in heaven preparing a place for us and when the mansions are complete, He will return for us and take us to heaven. God is calling all of us to get prepared, 2 Peter 3:9 tells us that He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Will you take the time now to make sure things are right between you and God? Ask for forgiveness of all sins 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Then keep the oil flowing with a vibrant relationship with God.
Cathy Nesmith