Get Ready!

It is a scene that has played out in all of our lives at some point. We enter the classroom and sit down at our desks and prepare for class. The teacher walks in, begins instruction, and announces that there will be a pop quiz on the material assigned previously. Panic sets in-- we have not prepared! What are we going to do?

In the classroom setting, sometimes being unprepared was not the end of the world. The grade could be made up in other ways. Perhaps we did not do so well in certain classes; that does not mean that we have failed in life.

On the other hand, what will be our fate if we are not prepared in our spiritual lives? God has established through the Scriptures that all people are on continual notice-- the end could come at any time, and therefore people must live in a prepared state. How is this so? What can we do?

There are many who deny that the end will come quickly-- they believe that the end will be observable by various signs and that mankind will have many chances to repent before the actual end comes. The Scriptures, however, reveal a different story. The time that mankind has been given to repent is right now (Acts 17:30-31); in fact, the reason why the end has not yet come is so that mankind may have that chance to repent (2 Peter 3:8-9). The end will come "like a thief in the night" (1 Thessalonians 5:2).

How and when the end would come was a concern of Jesus' disciples, and they felt compelled to ask Him about it (cf. Matthew 24:3). Jesus does not give them a fixed moment in time, nor does He establish a particular set of events that would take place that would indicate that the end was coming. Instead, He compares that time to the time of Noah and Lot (Matthew 24:37-38, Luke 17:26-30): just as people were going about their daily lives in the times of those men, entirely unconcerned about God, and calamity came upon them, so it will be in the end. Jesus then establishes in a series of parables His essential message: be ready, for you do not know the day or the hour (Matthew 24:42-25:13). In all of these images, we do not see any "second chances" given: the door is shut, and there can be no entrance!

Let us consider Matthew 24:45-51:

"Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath set over his household, to give them their food in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, that he will set him over all that he hath. But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, 'My lord tarrieth'; and shall begin to beat his fellow-servants, and shall eat and drink with the drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he expecteth not, and in an hour when he knoweth not, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth."

There is a day of judgment coming; we know not when precisely it will be. Nevertheless, we do not have to live in fear of that day-- we can live our lives as servants of God daily and therefore have no need to fear, just like the faithful and wise servant. When we were in school, if we did well at always studying when we ought, we would never have need to be worried about the pop quiz. The same is true in our spiritual lives: if we are always striving to obey God, we have no need to worry about His return. Are you prepared? Consider the fate of evil servant-- do you want to be where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth? Repent today, and get ready for the Lord's return!

Ethan R. Longhenry
evangelist@norwalkchurch.org

The Importance of Preparation

"Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For the foolish, when they took their lamps, took no oil with them: but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. Now while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
But at midnight there is a cry, 'Behold, the bridegroom! Come ye forth 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 going out.'
But the wise answered, saying, 'Peradventure there will not be enough for us and you: go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.'
And while they went away to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage feast: 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 not the day nor the hour" (Matthew 25:1-13).

The church of Christ in Norwalk, Ohio

Thank you for reading the electronic version of our bulletin, Good News for Norwalk. If you live in Norwalk or happen to be traveling in the Norwalk area, we would certainly love to have you visit one of our assemblies!

Our location:

386 North Edgewood Drive (just off US 250 just north of Norwalk's city limits)
Norwalk, Ohio 44857

Our assemblies:

Sunday morning assembly: 10:30am
Sunday evening assembly: 6:00pm

Our Bible studies:

Sunday morning Bible study: 9:30am
Wednesday evening Bible study: 7:00pm

For More Information

If you have any questions or comments about anything you have read here, or desire more information, please contact our evangelist, Ethan Longhenry, at evangelist@norwalkchurch.org.

Please click here to return to the 2007 archive of Good News for Norwalk, or click here to return to the main page of Good News for Norwalk. Thanks!