"In Such An Hour As Ye Think Not, The Son Of Man Cometh"
Matthew 24:44
By W. C. Moore
A man was addicted to drinking wine, and getting drunk. He was asked, "Do you have the victory?" He replied, "No, but be patient with me."
The answer was made: "If the Lord came and found you in that drunken condition, would He be patient?" This is a terribly sobering thought!
Now, today, is our day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:1-2; Heb. 3:7-15).
Are we trifling with the things of God? Are we treating God as though He does not mean what He says?
The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, has said: "The one shall be taken, and the other left" (Matt. 24:40, 41). And this statement is true, 100 percent now – regardless of all the "explaining away" that all the Bible teachers down the centuries have been guilty of!
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Head of the church – and the church is subject unto Christ (Eph. 5:23, 24). And He told His disciples to go and teach all nations – "to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you" (Matt. 28:19-20). Jesus is the Mediator of the New Covenant (New Testament) under the provisions of which we are living now, today! (Heb. 8:1, 6, 13; 9:14-15).
God Help Us!
It is a terrible thing to miss God's plan ourselves, and horrible beyond expression to mislead others! I say: "God help us!"
The Lord is coming back for His own, and it is fearful to contemplate – the consternation, the terror, the awful agony – of those who are not ready to meet Him when He comes!
Friends, we must have the oil of the Holy Spirit if we are going to be ready when the Lord comes!
In Matthew 25, we are told of ten virgins, and all went forth to meet the Bridegroom. Five were wise, and five were foolish, the difference being, as stated, that the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps, while the foolish "took no oil with them."
The Lord Is Coming!
"At midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him" (Matt. 25:6). All those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps, but terrible discovery, the foolish found that their lamps were gone out, or as the marginal reading has it, "were going out."
And while they went to buy oil, "The Bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with Him to the marriage: and the door was shut" (Matt. 25:10).
"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" (Matt. 25:11-12.)
"Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh" (Matt. 25:13).
The Lord meant what He said!
"Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man" (Luke 21:34-36).
We can get drunk on other things beside wine and strong drink. We can get intoxicated by listening too much to the radio – not to mention the great danger of letting television scenes surfeit us. There is such a thing as getting drunk on newspaper reading.
Many things can take a place in our thoughts and desires that God, and His glorious service should have – and thus unfit us to be ready when the Lord comes for His own.
Jesus is coming for those who are "looking for" His appearing – those who are making themselves ready, those who are purifying themselves, even as He is pure! (Heb. 9:28; Rev. 19:7; 1 John 3:2-3).
"Exhort one another daily, while it is called today" (Heb. 3:13).
Put not off another moment this essential matter of being filled with the Holy Spirit and being ready for the coming of the Lord! See Eph. 5:18; Matt. 24:44. "For the coming of the Lord draweth nigh" (Jas. 5:7-8).