How to be ready for Jesus' second coming?

The word rapture is not found in the Bible but the process is mentioned in these 2 verses in the Bible:

"Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.  For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality." (I Corinthians 15:50-53)

"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord." (I Thessalonians 4:16-17

There are a lots of controversial on when rapture will happen as well as are all Christians will be rapture.  The reason for the not having a unified view is that it  is not revealed in the Bible  and also depends on how you interpret certain verses.  

The Bible, on the other hand, did spell out how we are to prepare for Jesus' second coming.  Lets examine this in this blog post

Starting from Matt 24:37, it talks about the coming of the Son of Man will be like the days of Noah which no one knows and not prepared.  Verse 40 and 41 talks about 2 men and 2 women one is taken and one is left behind.  Just by reading these 2 verses we can say that one is Christian and one is a non Christian.

In verse 42, it begins with the conjunction "therefore".  which means one is taken one is left behind therefore be on alert with a reason saying we do not know which day the Lord is coming.  In verse 43, it talks about if we know when a thief is coming the owner of the house will be alert as well as be ready for the thief - do whatever is necessary to prevent the thief to take his properties. "For this reason" we are to be READY for Jesus' second coming.  Then the question is how are we to get ready.  Verse 45 tells us that we are to be a faithful and sensible (wise) doing what we are suppose to do and in the case for the slave it was to give out food to the household because the slave is in charge of the the house.

From Matt 24; 37 - 51, what we can tell are 4 things when Jesus comes again:

1. We do not know when this will happen
2. Some will be taken while some will remain
3. Faithful and sensible slave will be rewarded
4. Evil slave will be punished

Up to this point we cannot tell if all Christians will be rapture.

If we continue to read chapter 25, we see "then" but in Chinese it is "那時".  When is 那時呢 ?  It is the second coming of the Lord.  Matt 25:1 said 那時 the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to then virgins ...  We all know the story. 5 are prudent or wise or sensible as mentioned in Matt 24:45 the sensible slave.  Now the 5 prudent virgins are able to go in to be with the bridegroom.  "... those who were READY went in with him to the wedding feast..."

There are 3 things that we can tell from this parable:

1. The wise/prudent virgins can go in with the bridegroom to the wedding feast
2. The foolish virgins are not able to go in
3. The bridegroom said in Matt 25:12 that he does not know those 5 foolish virgins

So far the main theme of the passages that we have read is - Be on the alert.

Be on the alert is how we should be to get ourselves ready for Jesus' second coming.  But do you know exactly what to do?  In a parallel passage Luke 21:36 gives us a clue " .... But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”. This verse tells us to be on the alert at all times and to pray.  What are we to pray?  We are to pray that we may have strength to escape all these things thing that are about to take place and this is also why I think rapture comes in the middle of the tribulation.  Also in Col 4:2 - "Devote yourself to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving."

Usually in sermon or bible study we will look at the parable of the 10 virgins as a single unit but there are more.

Then in verse 14, "For it is just like" in NASB. Chinese translation give us a better clue. "天 國 又 好 比 ..."   This tells us that Matt 25: 14 - 30 is related to Matt 25:1-13 and in fact, Jesus is using another way to illustrate the same thing.  So in Matt 25:14-30 we all know it talks about the "good and faithful" slave.  The out come of the evil slave is to be cast to the outer darkness.

Coming back to how to be ready for Jesus' second coming.  We are to be a Good (best), faithful and sensible slave.  For me it does not matter what our role is the most important aspect to be ready are:

1. Do the will of God 
2. To pray at all times
3. Do our best
4. Being Faithful
5. Be sensible
6. Be a slave of God to do whatever He want us to do

Do the will of God
In Matt 25:12 the bridegroom said to the 5 foolish virgins that he does not know them.  In Matt 722-24, it also talks about this concept.  Only those who do the will of God will be able to enter the kingdom of God and for those that cannot even they have done great things, Jesus tell them - "I never knew you".  Matt 7: 24 - "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock."

To pray at all times
Our whole life should be a prayer. We need to devote ourselves in prayer at all times and in specific to pray for Jesus' second coming and also we will have strength to escape the difficult times during the tribulation.


Do our best
Jesus looks at our heart.  In whatever we do, we give our best.  Picking up trash for God is also a service.  While service and worship is interchangeable, we should bring our best to worship God on Sunday.  Go to bed early on Saturday so that we will not be at the worship service half asleep.

Be Faithful
When we serve God we put in our full attention.  We will stay on our job even when we encounter difficulties

Be sensible
To be sensible means we are to be alert and to pray.

Be a slave of God
Our lives are bought by the blood of Jesus as he die on the cross for our sin.  We are to be slaves of God.  One characteristics of being a slave is obedient and this will include to do ALL the will of God.


These are the things that we need to do to be ready for Jesus' second coming as revealed in the Bible.  There could be more but at this time this is what I know.

Let's be ready for Jesus' second coming.

The Bible - an important item in my life.

How important is the Bible to you?  Why?

image source: http://www.lambsongs.co.nz/Activities%20Bible/Bible%20Love.jpg

The Bible is an important item in my life is because it is God’s Word.  We can know more about God and what He wants, likes and doesn't like by reading the Bible. It also teaches us how to live a life that is pleasing to God.

I know the importance of God’s Word and I have personally been blessed by God’s Word and thus I have dedicated all my available time in the teaching ministry trying to bless others with God’s Word.

How has the God's Word blessed me?

II Timothy 3:16 talks about the power of God’s Word. It says that His Word is profitable

• for teaching,
• for reproof,
• for correction,
• for training in righteousness

and that man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work (II Timothy3: 16 – 17).

There is yet another verse that I would for us to take a look today and it is:

Hebrew 4:12

¹² For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

¹² 神 的 道 是 活 潑 的 ， 是 有 功 效 的 ， 比 一 切 兩 刃 的 劍 更 快 ， 甚 至 魂 與 靈 ， 骨 節 與 骨 髓 ， 都 能 刺 入 、 剖 開 ， 連 心 中 的 思 念 和 主 意 都 能 辨 明

In this verse God’s Word is described as “living” and “active” or in Chinese “活 潑” and “有 功 效” and sharper. Original Greek text is “zaō” for living and “energēs” for active.  The English translation of living is closer to the original mean and for active the original text is translated as effective in other places in the Bible so I think in this case the Chinese translation "有 功 效"is closer to the original text. Effective God’s Word being effective is self explanatory in the immediate text of Hebrews 4:12.  God’s Word is able to touch our soul as well as the spirit and is to provide a measuring stick for our thoughts and intentions.  And also in II Tim 2:16-17 God’s word is also profitable to us.

Living

How is God’s Word alive? Have you seen God’s Word move or grow?   

My interruption of God's work is that it is alive and has the ability to interact with us.  Often times we say that the Holy Spirit uses God’s Word to prompt us.  Yet, this still does not explain what God’s Word to be living.

To me, God’s Word is very much alive and is able to interact with us.  God’s Word has the ability to give us insight and conviction. It can comfort us and it can give us confirmation.  Have you heard about missionaries saying “Oh, I read this verse and this became my calling to the ministry”?

The very first time I experienced God’s Word talking directly to me is when I had a relationship problem and I was feeling lost and sad.  In the school library, I was reading Psalms 34 and when I read Psalms 34:9 “O fear the LORD, you His saints; For to those who fear Him, there is no want”.  It was just like Jesus was standing next to me telling me with an assuring tone that He will deliver me.  I did not feel lost nor sad anymore. There were two things that I realized.  The first was that the Bible is not just information written in the form of a book. It is filled with inspiration from God.  When I read Psalms 34:9, it was like a person speaking to me.  The second thing was that God’s Word has the power to heal, in this case, my emotions.  It was like taking cough medicine and my coughing stopped.

From that day on, I looked at God’s Word in a whole new way. The Bible is not just filled with rules that we need to follow, nor is it simply a storybook detailing events of the past.  God’s Word is a living Word that speaks to us.

There is another way to look at God’s Word as living.  In the New Testaments there are 2 Greek words that are translated to English as “word”.  These 2 Greek words are:

1. rhema
2. logos

When we look up the meaning of these 2 words we can see that “rhema” refers to the spoken word and “logos” refers to the written word.  I believe the following verse best illustrates the usage of these 2 Greek words:

² in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. ³ And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; ⁴ as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, ... (Luke 3: 2 - 4)

While the original meaning of these two Greek words is universally accepted, there are different views about “rhema and logos.”  Some say that the spoken word (rhema) is more important and others say that these two words are the same and are interchangeable.

I believe that one is not superior over the other when they are used in the Bible because every word in the Bible has its purpose.

In the context of Bible Study, Sunday school or preaching, we need rhema - We need God to speak to us.  Again, God’s word is living and is able to speak to us.

Someone who has impacted my life greatly is Dr. Timothy Lin, who often says “Turn the objective truth into a subjective blessing”. This is more than just drawing application points from the Bible.

The objective truth is what is written in the Bible and will be the same for everyone.

The subjective blessing is how God speaks and convicts our heart and sometimes changes our lives in a personal way.

With God speaking to me, I am blessed by studying, practicing and teaching the Bible just like Ezra in the book of Ezra 7: 10 "For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel."

 

The Bible is important to me because it is able to give me conviction, comfort, calling  and in some case give me direction in life.