Prepare to Meet God

Prepare to Meet God

Prepared on May 25, 1934 at 10:30 p.m. by W.H. Wood

Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.  Amos 4:12

Amos was pleading with the children of Israel to prepare to meet God.  He had warned them of the many things God had done to arouse the spirit within them; but yet, they were not willing to return to the Lord.  “Preparedness brings confidence and peace and poise and joy.”

“You can’t get insurance on your house when it is in flames; neither can you get into the heavenly feast when the door is shut”.  Jesus taught in the parable of the ten virgins one of the world’s greatest lessons on preparedness. 

      Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.  And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.  They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold , the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.  And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.  But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.  Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.  But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.  Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh. Matthew 25:1-13

There are 4 things found in this parable that we want to discuss at this time:

Character contrasted.  “And five of them were foolish, and five were wise.” In order that the contrast between the two groups of girls may be more fully realized.  Let us first note certain respects in which they were similar.  They all desired to honor the bridegroom and to attend the wedding feast.  They all had lamps.  They all slumbered and slept while the arrival of the bridegroom was delayed.  Not until his approach was announced did the difference between them appear.  Then it was disclosed that the five of them were foolish and five were wise; that five of them had no oil for their lamps and five of them did; that five of them were prepared and five unprepared for the bridegroom’s coming.  Externally, they were alike.  The difference was internal. 

Character revealed in crisis.  Let us remember that the main point Jesus was making was that Christians should be prepared at all times, since the particular time of crisis which is either their death, or His second coming, would thrust upon them was uncertain.  Sooner or later the crisis hour will come to all – that hour which will reveal character and fix destiny.  How we shall meet that hour and stand the test of its disclosures will depend upon previous preparations.  It will be too late then to remedy the neglect of past opportunities.  It should not be difficult to persuade us of this truth as it relates to the spiritual realm because we know that it is true in other realms. 

Who are they who meet the crisis of life successfully?  Well, do we know that it is those who have stored up a reserve supply of physical or mental or moral or spiritual strength upon which they may draw?  When the testing crisis comes, a study of our record in meeting the crisis hours of life will furnish a good index to our characters.

Character is nontransferable.  “Give us of your oil….not so”.  The failing lamp at midnight brought home to the foolish virgins their lack of the one essential to qualify them for the occasion at hand.  To their sorrow, they found that they could not borrow from the wise virgins.   It will be that same say in the kingdom of heaven.  The essential for welcoming the coming of heaven’s bridegroom and the entrance to the joys of His feast will be the brightly burning lamp of an abiding Christian experience.  Faith must be shining still.  Character must have undergone the transforming touch of the Holy Spirit in the new birth and the sustaining and sanctifying influence of His continued presence.  Character is an individual thing.  It is personal.  It cannot be transferred.  The lack of the foolish virgins cannot be supplied by the wise.  Each one shall have to meet the test for himself.  It will then be too late to draw upon the goodness of others.  Neither mother, nor father, nor brother, nor sister, nor pastor, nor loved one, nor saint, nor apostle, nor angel can help us then.  Their examples can and should influence now to see to it that the right sort of spiritual preparation is made that faith in Christ shall become the chief cornerstone in the foundation of our character.  Character is a man’s untransferable possession.  There are some things which can be neither loaned nor borrowed.  Character is one of them.  This is just another way of saying that we must meet the high moral and spiritual tests of life and of death alone. 

Lost opportunities cannot be recalled.  “And the door was shut”.  Agonizingly, the foolish virgins sought to gain entrance to the feast.  Their cries pierced the night.  But they were not admitted.  “Sad, sad, that bitter wail – almost – but lost!”  This truth applies to the opportunities of the here and now.  Once lost, they do not return.  Other opportunities may come, but they are not the same.  The gospel of Christ may be presented to a sinner and he be urged to repent of sin, and accept and confess Christ as his Savior and Lord.  He may reject the offer of salvation.  Perchance ten years may go by and that same sinner may have the same gospel proclaimed to him by the same preacher.  The terms of salvation are announced as just the same and such they are.  But even though, that sinner accepts Christ as his Savior on the latter occasion, he has lost ten years of Christian life and joy and service.  That first opportunity passed never to return in all its fullness.  But death shuts the door finally on all opportunity of becoming a new creature in Christ Jesus.

At the midnight hour, the foolish virgins tried to remedy their lack of preparedness, but it was too late.  He who deliberately or even carelessly postpones his preparation to meet Christ, foolishly hoping that somehow in the crisis hour he can make things right, will in all likelihood find the door shut and himself standing without in the blackness of the night, while the voice of the long neglected savior will say: “Verily, I say unto you, I know you not.”  But less any should have that terrible experience, that same blessed Savior said then, and He says now, “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh”.  Oh, that today all would hear His voice and harden not their hearts, as He says, “Watch and pray”, He also says, “except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish”; again He says, “Ye must be born again”; Once again He says, “except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”  He says again, “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”  He says again, “I am the way, the truth and the life:  No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”  And He says, “Be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye thing not the Son of Man cometh.”  Matthew 24:44

For those who are prepared, death is not an enemy, but a friend who swings wide the door to a higher life.