Being Prepared

Have you ever wondered how, in the parable of the 10 bridesmaids, 5 of the virgins were not ready for the Lord? (Mt 25:1-13). Bridesmaids were the attendants of the bride; how could they not know what was about to happen? When the groom addressed them he said he didn’t know who they were (verse 12). Jesus’ last statement on this subject was “keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.” (verse 13).


Jesus wants us to be ready. He does not delight in catching His people unprepared. Just like the 5 prepared bridesmaids told the 5 unprepared bridesmaids to go out and buy oil for their lamps, Jesus also tells unprepared Christians to buy gold, clothes, and eye salve (Rev 3:18). Jesus wants us to be rich in Him, clothed so that we won’t be shamed by our nakedness, and to have good spiritual eyesight. We need these things in order to be ready for Him.

Jesus warned us that He may come at a time we aren’t expecting Him. He said “Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed.” (Rev 16:15). Walking in our flesh is nakedness, and will cause us to war against the Spirit, to our shame. This is because our natural mind is “hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.” (Rm 8:7) We need to be clothed by God’s Spirit, letting all that we do proceed from Him and not from our own desires.

Submitting to God’s will is a joy and the desire of those who love Him. Yet there is what Paul called “lawlessness” and “rebellion” seeping into our churches. It does not seem overt, but rather is an allowing of the blood-bought Christian to walk in the flesh and to seek his rewards from this world. The spirit of lawlessness was identified in the first churches. Paul wrote that the one behind this spirit is being held back until the time appointed for him to be revealed (2 Thess 2:6-7). God’s Spirit holds back the force of this spirit so that men will have the opportunity to choose to submit to Him, and have Life.

Interestingly, the spirit of lawlessness is prophesied to come with a “display of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing.” (2 Thess 2:9-10) Those who do not submit to the cleansing and leading of the Holy Spirit will find a fascination with the display of the lawless one. Those who have not learned to walk in faith will follow things their eyes can see, and be led astray because they lacked a love of the truth; that they must be cleansed (verse 12).

We would like to think that, in the end times God’s power would be displayed and we could see all His wonderful works. What we read is sobering. In Revelation the Holy Spirit is referred to as the “great river Euphrates” (Rev 9:14 & 16:12). One of the Holy Spirit’s functions is to hold back judgment until the appointed time. God’s Spirit labors amongst us to prepare us for His coming, if we will submit to Him. One day God will take His hand away from holding back the coming judgment. Just as God has been preparing His Son’s bride through submission to the Holy Spirit, so satan has been preparing people through resistance to the Holy Spirit, and rebellion. The enemy will prepare people to fall into deception and follow “demons performing miraculous signs.” (Rev 16:13-14). For this to take place, God will dry up the great river Euphrates, the Holy Spirit. In the end, instead of profuse out-pourings of the Holy Spirit, we will see a counterfeit movement of signs and wonders take place. Those who are not clothed with be shamefully naked, and they will follow the wrong spirit.

It is satan’s purpose to deceive whom he can into following lawlessness and rebellion. He will deceive the leaders of churches so that they will give their authority to his counterfeit movement in the churches which have not recognized him (Rev 17:12-13, 17). It is because the leaders give their allegiance to the false spirit that satan’s power grows in the churches, resulting in the people being left naked, and the Church herself being ruined.

Yet God will have a clothed people. Those who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb wear white robes (Rev 7:9, 14). The counterfeit church has deceptions and miracles. Those dressed in white have a relationship with God. They are before the throne of God and serve Him. God spreads His tent over them. They won’t be hungry or thirsty again, nor will they be scorched by the sun. Jesus will be their shepherd and lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes (see Rev 7:13-17).

God prepares His people so that they can spend eternity with Him in a loving and nurturing relationship. We are foolish to prefer our flesh over walking in the Spirit with our Lord. God’s preparations, if we submit to them, will keep us from running after the wrong spirit. Today, let us be ready for Him, valuing our relationship with Him over all else. Amen.