Many people are great procrastinators. There is a time called “Too Late.” The experience of death is the great hope of the Christian and the great fear for the sinner. The second coming of Christ will be with finality and power. Someday there will be a reckoning, and no tomorrow.” The foolish bridesmaids cried for the door to be opened to them, but their cries were insincere, for even though they said they wanted in, they never made preparation to enter. Their preparation would have been the proof of their true desire.
In this parable the groom represents the approaching Jesus and the bridesmaids are the people of the Christian community. The foolish bridesmaids’ being locked out is symbolic of judgment, a continuing theme throughout Matthew. The wise bridesmaids represent those who have accepted God’s free gift of salvation and are living righteous and holy awaiting Christ’s return. The lack of oil on the behalf of the foolish virgins represents not being ready when the bridegroom arrives.
No one knows when Jesus will come back so He says to be ready for any hour. Matthew 24:36 says, “But of that day and hour knoweth no [man], no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” An expectant mother usually has her bags packed long before the arrival of her child. Are your bags packed and ready? Are you ready to leave this earth by death if Jesus tarries or to be caught up and to take flight with Jesus when He descends from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel? Are you ready to hear the trumpet sound and see the dead in Christ arise? (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18)
Don’t get distracted by what seems to be a delay. Those who are ready will join the celebration and the feast in the kingdom of God, while those who are not prepared will be shut out. You must be, you got to be ready when Jesus comes! Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. Look at how the Earth is crying out for us to get ready.
The year 2011 has been a year of unexplainable disaster upon disaster.
January
- Earthquakes in Argentina (2), China, Chile, Japan, East Iran, & California.
§ Dead birds found in Arkansas, Louisiana, Canada, South America, Kentucky, Texas, Sweden, Maryland, New Zealand
§ Dead fish found in Arkansas and Brazil
§ Yellow fever kills more than 40 in Uganda
§ Major flood in Australia & Brazil
§ Shift of the Earth’s magnetic pole
§ 40,000 crabs found dead in England
§ Huge waves destroy homes in Indonesia
· February/March
§ Thousands of marine animals found dead in the Amazon.
§ Earthquakes in New Zealand, Japan (3), California (2), Vanuatu (South Pacific Ocean), Burma & Thailand,
§ Dead fish found in Florida, California, Texas – Fish & frogs dead in Marquette Lagoon
§ Tsunami in Japan
§ Highway falls into the Pacific Ocean in California
· April /May
§ Earthquakes in South Sandwich Islands, Fiji, Indonesia, Mexico, Japan (2), New Guinea
§ Dead birds in Kansas
§ Dead fish in Texas, Connecticut, New York, Philippines,
§ Deadly Tornados in North Carolina, Virginia, Alabama, Tennessee, New Zealand, Minneapolis, Missouri, Oklahoma,
§ Major flooding in Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas
§ Volcano in Iceland followed by small earthquakes
§ Typhoon in the Philippines
· June
§ Deadly tornados, earthquakes, tsunamis and floods
Don’t ignore the warning. God is speaking very loudly do you hear what He’s saying? GET READY!
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