SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/11/2024 11:26 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “Readiness”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
24:43-44
Message of the verses: “43 "But be
sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night
the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have
allowed his house to be broken into. 44 "For this reason you also must be
ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He
will.”
John MacArthur writes about the context of being
ready: “seems to refer primarily to
being saved, of being spiritually prepared to meet Christ as Lord and King
rather than as Judge. As Jesus had
already warned (Matt. 24:37-42), everyone in the end time should be expectantly
alert for His appearing, and as He mentions in verses 45-51, faithfulness to
Him by those who are already saved is commanded. But the indispensable preparation for His
coming, apart from which expectancy will be pointless and faithfulness will be
impossible, is the preparation of salvation, of being redeemed through the
blood of Christ. Otherwise a person will
be ready only for judgment and damnation.”
This certainly makes a lot of sense as it does shed light on this very
important subject for those who have missed the rapture, but by the grace of
God are saved during the Tribulation period.
Now I have mentioned a number of
times that from my early study of this time period that will take place called
the Tribulation period, that when I first became a believer that I thought that
this chapter and also chapter 25 were written about the church age, thus I did
not truly understand how people could miss out on the exact day and time that
the Lord would return in the Tribulation period. I prayed and wrestled over that and then the
Lord began to work in my heart to show me that indeed chapters 24-25 are not
about the church age but about the last seven years of Daniel’s 490 year
prophecy which is found in Daniel chapter nine.
(I have been posting my Spiritual Diaries from the year 2013, which is
my study on the book of Daniel on my other blog which can be found by scrolling
down this blog until you find the other blog.
Today I just posted the second to last SD on the ninth chapter of
Daniel.)
MacArthur writes “The Lord
reemphasizes the fact that no one on earth will know exactly when He is coming,
not even by an accidental right guess.
He proclaims categorically: The
Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will. In divine fury and glory, the Son of Man will
come in total surprise to every human being.
Even believers who are expectantly and faithfully ready for His coming
will nevertheless be astonished when He actually arrives. Their readiness will enable them to meet the
Lord with gladness and without shame, but it will not provide advance knowledge
of His precise arrival time.” Again this
all makes sense to me as the Lord has opened my eyes to understand that the
people in the tribulation will know that the time is near, but will be so busy
trying to keep alive that they will not know the exact day or time when the
Lord will return and when He does come they will be “astonished.”
Let us look at the gospel of Luke to
finish up this section. Luke 12:35-37 “"Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps
lit. 36 “Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the
wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he
comes and knocks. 37 “Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the
alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve,
and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them.” This section
of Luke is a warning that Jesus gave on another occasion. “When the Lord returns, those who are ready
not only will find themselves in their Lord’s gracious presence but will be
served personally by His own divine hand.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I have
written over and over again about chapter’s 24-25 are about the Tribulation
period, but the fact remains that the Lord will return to the clouds of the
earth to take His bride home to be with Him which will end the church age, and
so we as a part of the church need to be ready too. We certainly don’t know the day or the hour
as to when He will return for His bride, but we should be about the business of
telling others that this will happen, so that person needs to realize that they
are a sinner, and can do nothing on their own to be forgiven of their sins, but
confess them to the Lord so that because of His shed blood on the cross will
forgive them and welcome them into the family of God. The great gracious benefits is that when He
comes in the clouds to take His bride that they too will be a part of that
wonderful experience of going in the Rapture of the church, and not have to go
through the awfulness of the Tribulation.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to cause me to live a life that
is pleasing to Him, and be ready to tell others about the great salvation that
He has provided through His Son, Jesus Christ.
2/11/2024
12:21 PM
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