Resources/Articles
He Is Coming!
Therefore be ye also ready;
for in an hour that ye think not
the Son of man cometh.
Matthew 24:44
Excitement usually fills our veins when we hear someone is coming. We anticipate their arrival. We make preparations for their stay. We long for them. We are anxious to see them.
Anticipation was what filled the hearts of those who knew of the coming Messiah - Jesus Christ. His coming was announced years before He arrived. The prophets spoke confidently of His coming although they would not see Him. During this time of year, many wish to recall the events of His birth and the announcement from the angels, “There is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). Is it that coming of Jesus at His birth which needs our greatest attention today?
After the Lord’s ascension, another announcement of His coming filled the pages of the writings of the apostles. There was and is an anticipation of His second coming, but the day and hour is unknown. The arrival day will not be announced. We should wait in hope and be ready for that day when it comes.
The story is told of a man who worked in a bakery who heard the phone ring. One of the other employees answered it. She put the phone down quickly, as if it were hot, and said, “He’s coming!” The man had no idea about whom she was talking. All the employees immediately grabbed hair nets and put them on. Everyone ran for clean aprons. The boss said, “Someone sweep the floor. Cover all the containers.” People were running around everywhere, but this man did not know who was coming.
Within a few minutes, a man in a suit with a briefcase entered the front door. He began walking around, opening doors, checking under tables, looking in the sink, and lifting the container lids. He was the state inspector for the Board of Health. He gave the bakery a grade, and as he left, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and went back to work in their usual way. The warning was appreciated, but once he was gone, nothing really changed. One lady told the man who worked in the bakery that all the businesses look out for one another. The first business to see the inspector coming would always call the other businesses. It was their way of warning each other, “He’s coming!”
Who is going to call us before Jesus comes? Who is going to let us know when to get our “lives in order” before Jesus descends from heaven and “opens the door to our lives” and beings inspecting how we have lived?
Jesus is coming! There will not be time to clean, sweep, or put on a new life. There will not be time to call your friends or neighbors. No excuses for our lack of preparation will be accepted. Neither will there be time to repent. Jesus’ coming cannot be predicted like the weather. We can only be ready today. “So then each one of us shall give account of himself before God” (Romans 14:12).
