Are You Ready?

Readiness and preparedness are important aspects of many endeavors, whether business, military, government, or everyday life and livelihood. Are you ready for the unforeseen things that lie ahead?

We ready ourselves for many everyday things: for work or school, for taking exams, for having company for dinner, for going on trips, or for having a big event like a wedding. Being ready requires work and effort and attending to detailed preparations.

One example of detailed preparation is a pre-flight readiness check. Airplane pilots have critical checklists for preflight, startup, and landing, and for engine failure and other emergencies. Readiness checks are crucial for safe and successful flights.

What about readiness for prophesied events? Are you ready for Jesus Christ’s return—and the events that will precede it?

Those who would truly follow Christ’s teachings must be prepared for this most profound event. When Jesus answered His disciples’ questions about the end of the age, He gave an overview of events and concluded by warning: “Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:44).

Jesus followed this statement with the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. The wise virgins were ready with oil for their lamps, while the foolish virgins were not, having failed to prepare with sufficient oil. When the bridegroom came, those who were ready went in with him to the wedding and the door was shut (Matthew 25:10). The foolish virgins were excluded because they were not ready.

Another example of readiness is that of preparedness for war, mentioned more than several times in the Bible. For example, Joshua told his troops to be ready (Joshua 8:4). Another example is the story of Queen Esther, wife of Ahasuerus (thought to be Xerxes I), king of Persia. Esther helped save her people from Haman’s conspiracy to destroy the Jews through an official decree of the king. When the heinous conspiracy was revealed, a new decree was written that enabled the Jews to prepare and be ready to defend themselves (Esther 8:13).

Being prepared and ready is shown in Christ’s statements in Luke 14 where He says: “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate (love less) his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple…. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish…. Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? … So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple” (vv. 26–33).

When it comes to preparing for a wedding, there are myriad details to get ready. The Parable of the Wedding Feast states, “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son” (Matthew 22:2). The marriage of the Lamb (Christ) to His Bride (the Church) describes the bride as having “made herself ready” (Revelation 19:7). As with most weddings, it is the bride who does most of the “getting ready.” The bride—the church—has a great deal of preparation to do in getting ready for the wedding to the Lamb.

John the Baptist turned many people to Jesus as a part of his “job description” in making “ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:15–17). Each member of the Body of Christ must do his or her part in “getting ready” by striving to live a righteous life—which includes the foundational principles of repentance from dead works. “Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Luke 12:40).

Will you be ready?

For more on this topic, check out the article “Prepare for Christ’s Coming!” and order or read online What Is a True Christian?, available right here at Tomorrow’s World.