“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come,” (Matthew 24:14).
As the end of the age starts to unfold, the true Bride will be busy proclaiming the soon return of her King and the good news of His coming kingdom upon earth! God will not spring the Lord’s return upon mankind without warning. His witness will go throughout the earth!
In the Song of Solomon, two Brides are presented in dream-like sequences. The first bride is so eager for the return of her Groom that she braves the danger of a city at nighttime, to wander the streets seeking “the one I love,” (Song of Songs 3:2). She finally finds him, “Scarcely had I passed by them, when I found the one I love. I held him and would not let him go,” (Song of Songs 3:4). Her overwhelming joy was at the reunion with her love! The passage goes on to culminate in a magnificent wedding!
In another sequence we find a second bride, also seemingly in love with her groom. Yet when He returns to get her, she finds His coming an inconvenience: “I have taken off my robe; How can I put it on again? I have washed my feet; How can I defile them?” (Song of Songs 5:3). She is not prepared for the arrival of her groom. And worse, His coming seems to have interrupted her comfortable state of sleep! When she does arise to open the door to him, she finds her groom is gone. Frantic now, she goes about the city streets searching for her love. But, she is caught & beaten by the city’s guards. It is too late for her.
We have turned the bend in history where this present corrupt age is fast approaching its end. The true bride of Christ is eagerly looking for the return of her husband, while the carnal bride remains comfortable in this present world.
In the New Testament, Jesus warned that half the church will not be able to see through the spiritual darkness at the end of the age. As foolish virgins, they will have neglected the Holy Spirit (the oil) in their study of the Word of God (the lamp), and listened to false assurances of “peace & safety” instead. As a result, they will be spiritually unable to see through the deceptiveness of Satan until it is too late!
When a sudden turn in world events heralds the return of the Bridegroom, the foolish will turn in panic to those who have practiced spiritual preparedness. But the foolish virgins will be told to return & buy enlightenment (oil) from the same religious hawkers who had been promising them good times. And so, while the foolish go out, the Bridegroom comes for the wise virgins and the door is shut tight. The foolish are left behind to face a world in its death throes. There will be great weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Are we sitting under anointed teaching today that will prepare us for what is coming?
John the Baptist, son of Zachariah and heir to a Levitical priesthood, had to leave Jerusalem with all its religious traditions to go out to the desert. There he was free to proclaim what God had called him to proclaim. In essence, his message was “Get yourselves ready. Repent of your sins. The King is on his way.”
In John’s day, many ordinary people had paid attention to the prophecy given to Zacharias, John’s father, by the angel at the Temple. It was said that John would go before the Messiah “in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord,” (Luke 1:17). So when John started preaching, the people came.
There was also recorded in Jewish scripture a 500 year-old prophecy from the prophet, Daniel (Daniel 9:24-26) which counted out the years until Messiah’s appearing. The time was now at hand. Messianic expectation among the common people in 1st century Judaism was running high.
So the spiritually hungry left and went out to the desert to hear a weird prophet proclaim what they knew in their hearts to be true. It was not a new revelation, but simply that which had already been recorded in scripture over 700 years earlier by Isaiah the prophet, “Prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
Many who listened to John’s message repented of their sins, among them some future apostles. Those who acted upon John’s message were ready & prepared for the Messiah when He came.
Yet, the religious establishment chose to dismiss the warnings of John.
Today, the old order of things seems to be falling apart as the signs of Christ’s return grow stronger. What are we to do?
The answer is a return to John’s message. “The voice of one crying in the wilderness. “Prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God,” (Isaiah 40:3). Seek out those who are teaching preparedness for the King’s return. And if you can’t find them in Jerusalem, look to the desert…or a home group.
As an engaged bride of Christ, are we longing for His return? Or is talk of His return an unwanted interruption to our comfortable lives? As wise virgins, are we sufficiently anointed with the oil of the Holy Spirit to keep the Word blazing until His return? Or are we simply engaging in dead religious exercise?
Two thousand years ago In the Judean desert, John the Baptist cried out to prepare the way for the Lord. Maybe it’s time for a road trip.
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