My brother, my sister, Jesus will return soon, on a day you and I don’t know. So, we should be prepared and be preparing ourselves always. You see, on the day of His return, the door of the Kingdom will be shut forever. Let’s move to the story of Noah’s ark to understand this.
Noah was given a mission by God before the flood and once the time of the mission was accomplished, the door of the ark was shut, yes, shut to stay shut throughout the flood. In today’s verse, the Bible says: “So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in” (Genesis 7:16). All the pleading in the world would not have been able to open the ark’s door to others after it was shut! And it will be the same when Jesus returns.
Once Jesus has returned on earth or we have died, nobody will ever have the opportunity to be among the firstfruits of the Kingdom and our eternal future would have been decided. So don’t count on the prayers of lyour oved ones to open the doors of heaven for you once you are no longer on this earth or if Jesus returns before that. When the doors of the Kingdom closes, it is fair because everyone would have had enough time to prepare for the bridegroom’s coming. You see, He does not come early in the evening but late… He is even delayed (Matthew 25:5), which is giving extra time for all of us to be ready. God has given us our whole lives, all these years of Christ’s longsuffering with us, to prepare. Therefore, it is just and fair that the door is shut when our last hour comes! The problem is that man always tend to procrastinate, thinking he has time. That is the reason why the Bible is warning us: “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near” (Isaiah 55:6). My friend, it is now that the Lord is near you, so don’t let yourself down. One day soon, He will shut the door for His purposes to be accomplished on earth.
Jesus also gives us the Parable of the Ten Virgins for us to understand that we always need to be prepared and preparing for the future, namely His coming. Many people are active about how to prepare for their future on earth (they save money for a house or a car, to send their toddler to university, etc…) but they all become drowsy and fall asleep (Matthew 25:5) as regards their life after this earth. Yes, so many people have little trouble preparing for everything, except for meeting the Lord who is already on His back, while we are clearly warned: “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour” (verse 13). Remember the church of Laodicea that thought that they needed nothing else spiritually, but the Lord warned them of their unpreparedness (Revelation 3:14-22). Thus, anyone, the same as any church, that does not prepare for the future to come is spiritually making himself/herself bankrupt of vision and foresight and exposing himself/herself to lukewarmness! And even opportunities come they miss them, because of their own attitude that makes them to be like the foolish virgins who failed to realise that the bridegroom would probably come later than expected and therefore lacked faithful perseverance in their way of thinking and acting, and finally became lukewarm, negligent or asleep. So, my friend, from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed, “Prepare to meet your God!” tirelessly, every day as if there is no tomorrow. (Amos 4:12). Stay blessed in Jesus’ name.