Preparing for His Return by Pastor Mhel Chiao

In Matthew 25:1-13, the Lord Jesus Christ narrated a parable to His disciples about the ten virgins who were waiting for the bridegroom to take them. All waited until all of them drowse off to sleep. At midnight a loud cry sounded the coming of the bridegroom. When the ten virgins trimmed their lamps, five found out that they ran out of oil while the other five were ready with their lamps lighted up. The five who ran out of oil, the foolish ones as they were referred to, asked the other five, the wise ones, for some oil but what the five had was just enough for themselves. So the five without oil ran out to buy some, and while they were at it, the bridegroom came and took the other five who were there with their lamps still burning. When the five who went to buy more oil came back, the door of the wedding feast was already shut. They knocked hard at the door to let them in but the bridegroom did not open the gate for them for as he said, he did not know them.

The parable used the marriage tradition during the early times in the East to highlight how the church should be waiting for its groom, the Lord Jesus Christ. The procedure starts with the betrothal stage, where a virgin is promised to a groom in marriage. When the day of the wedding comes, the virgin will prepare herself at her house and would wait until the bridegroom comes to take her to his house, where the whole wedding procedure will be completed. The same principle is being paralleled to that of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and His church, which the book of Revelation refers to as the Bride. The Church is already betrothed to Christ so it is expected to be faithful as it awaits the coming of its groom, its Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. The fact that the wise virgins did not give spare oil to the foolish ones showed that neither man nor anything can save us except that relationship with the Lord, one that practices the hearing and obeying principle of the Word.

There are three things that we should remember as we prepare for Christ's return. (1) Preparation for His return is every day. We should not miss a day without it being counted for God. As Moses, the man of God, prayed, "So teach us to number our days..." (Psalm 90:12, NKJV). Each day should be lived as to the purpose God made it to be. (2) To look at things as a part of a destiny that will end with the Lord, in eternity. All the decisions, actions, words, anything that we do should be focused on how it is going to be used or how am I going to be judged by this particular action or decision. Everything has an ending and it is important that we do things that will matter in eternity. (3) To live one day at a time but living today for tomorrow’s judgment. All the short-term goals we have set up should be in the direction that will put your plans forward, the long term plan of eternity.

Matthew 9:16 instructs us not to sew old patch to a new clothing, nor put new wine into old wineskin, for the old might ruin the new material. We cannot live our old lifestyle in the new life that the Lord had given us, nor can we live new lifestyle in the old life that we had. This is not going to work for we will always have a struggle if we resist such transformation. We have to yield and be changed in the life-transforming power of the life of our Lord.

The coming back of the Lord is near. The Lord had already revealed in the Bible everything that will happen in the end. If we would look around or be sensitive to the things happening in our world, we would feel that such a time is coming soon. No one knows when, but it definitely is soon. We are called, as His church, to prepare for His coming. The Lord wants us to be faithful to Him as we wait. He does not want us to be idle but productive for His kingdom. Our preparation for His coming is now, not tomorrow or the day after or next week. Procrastinating will lead us nowhere. We have to be ready anytime. For we do not have the time, but we know it is coming soon!

Prayer: "Lord Jesus, I want to be ready when You come back again. I confess that I am a sinner and ask Your forgiveness for all my sins. I ask You to cleanse me with Your precious blood as I now open my heart to You and receive You there as my Lord and Savior, accepting Your gift of salvation. Thank You Lord. In Jesus name, this I pray