Will you please turn to Matthew 24? We will read from verses 38 through 51.
For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark,
and they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall be the coming of the Son of man.
Then shall two men be in the field; one is taken, and one is left:
two women shall be grinding at the mill; one is taken, and one is left.
Watch therefore: for ye know not on what day your Lord cometh.
But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken through.
Therefore be ye also ready; for in an hour that ye think not the Son of man cometh.
Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath set over His household, to give them their food in due season?
Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when He cometh shall find so doing.
Verily I say unto you, that He will set him over all that He hath.
But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord tarrieth;
and shall begin to beat his fellow-servants, and shall eat and drink with the drunken;
the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he expecteth not, and in an hour when he knoweth not,
and shall cut him asunder, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, how we praise and thank Thee that Thou dost gather us together before Thy table. Thou didst say, “Do this until I come.” We do praise and thank Thee that Thou lovest us so much as to prepare us for Thy return.
Lord, we do pray that, as we continue in Thy presence, Thou wilt speak to our hearts. Make us a people who are not only ready to meet Thee, but a people who will hasten Thy return. We pray in Thy precious name. Amen.
The Lord put upon my heart a burden to share with you, dear brothers and sisters, concerning the coming of the Lord.
I believe we all realize that we are living at the end of the end. Everything that is happening in the world tells us that the days are numbered. Sometimes we wonder whether such a situation can last any longer. We do feel that the end is before us.
In Luke 21, it says that, when people think of what is coming into this world, they are frightened to death. But at the same time, our Lord Jesus told us that this should not be our situation. In the same chapter, He says, “When these things are coming to pass, look up, lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.”
To the world, the coming of the Lord is the day of judgment; but to us who are redeemed, it is the day of our redemption. But, brothers and sisters, are we ready? Are we prepared? Are we looking forward to the day of His coming?
Our Lord Jesus, in His Olivet Discourse, tells us that He is coming. “As the days of Noah, so also shall be the coming of the Son of man.”
Now, if you read Genesis 6, you will find the characteristics of the days of Noah. There are certain things mentioned there. Number one, it says mankind began to increase in number. When mankind began to increase in number, what happened? If you look back into Genesis 5, you will find that civilization also increased. But at the same time, you will find that sin also increased.
The Bible says God looked upon mankind and said, “Man has become flesh, and My Spirit will not strive any more with them.” In other words, men became carnal and fleshly. Their hearts were occupied with material and physical things. They forgot their spiritual need.
Wickedness was great on the earth. Violence was everywhere. And more than that, you find the sons of God began to marry the daughters of men. Now, of course, there are different interpretations, but we feel that the right interpretation is that the angels are called the sons of God.
You find in the book of Job, which is the first book written, that “sons of God” is a name for the angels. So there you find the angels. Angels by nature do not marry nor are given in marriage, but somehow you find these angels did not keep their place. They began to come to men and marry the daughters of men, and the result was giants—half man, half angels—out of the order that God has set in the world.
These are the symptoms you find in the days of Noah. Now, brothers and sisters, I think everybody will see how it fits with our days. In a sense, you will find that it is multiplied to the nth degree: violence everywhere, sin, moral degradation, spiritual declension; and yet, at the same time, spiritism grows everywhere.
So, in a very real sense, brothers and sisters, the Lord said, “As the days of Noah, so also shall be the coming of the Son of man.”
But if you read Matthew 24, you find that our Lord Jesus, instead of emphasizing all these characteristics of the days of Noah—because these things are so evident that everybody can see them—shows us the very characteristic, the special feature, of the days of Noah.
In the days of Noah, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. Now, these are common, everyday things. These are legitimate things. As a matter of fact, they are ordained by God.
After God created man, He provided food for man because He knew man had to eat to live. He provided water because men had to live by drinking. He also ordained that there should be marriage, because otherwise man could not multiply. In other words, these are God-ordained things—legitimate things.
But strangely, you find our Lord said these things characterize the days of Noah. Why? Because when people begin to make eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, the very purpose and meaning of life, then something is terribly wrong.
Look at the world today. How people are so completely occupied with eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. In other words, people are so worldly-minded, earthly-bound, and occupied with physical things that they completely neglect their spiritual needs. Now, that is the special feature of the days of Noah. Dear brothers and sisters, if you look at our day, how much more real this is.
And yet this should not be the case with God’s people. The Lord said, when they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, suddenly the flood came and took them all away. On the day when Noah entered into the ark, the flood came.
But we are the sons of light. We are the sons of day, and we should not be in darkness. In other words, judgment should not come upon us unaware. We should be ready for the Lord to come and receive us.
But we have to ask ourselves: is this the case? Are we today living daily, while we are eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, and going through our ordinary daily life—where is our heart?
Are we totally occupied with external, physical, earthly, human, fleshly, and self-centered things? Do we neglect our spiritual need? Do we neglect pursuing the real meaning of life and preparing ourselves for the day of redemption? I really feel that we need to be reminded and awakened again.
You know, God is so gracious to us. Actually, September 11 is a wake-up call. God is reminding us that something is going to happen soon, and we need to be prepared.
We need to understand the meaning of the coming of the Lord. The word “coming” used in Matthew 24 is the word parousia, and parousia means presence. So the coming of the Lord is His presence.
In a sense, He is absent today, because after He was resurrected from the dead, you remember that forty days later He gathered His people on Mount Olivet, and there He ascended. So, in a physical sense, He is absent from us today.
Now, even though His Spirit is with us, in one sense He is always with us. He said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” “I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.” But that is spiritually so. In a physical sense, He is absent today. But thank God, He said He is coming. He will be present with us.
But the word parousia, as those who know Greek will tell us, does not refer to one time or one incident. It refers to a period of time that covers a series of events. That is the meaning of parousia.
Unfortunately, we find that among God’s people the concept of the coming of the Lord is not accurate, because in our thinking His coming is one time, one event.
The hymns that we sing about the coming of the Lord usually say that, on the day of His coming, the trumpet sounds, the voice of the archangel is heard, and our Lord will descend with angels and with His saints in glory upon Mount Olivet. That is His coming, and we are waiting for that day. Dear brothers and sisters, that is a little bit too late.
Why? Because His coming covers a period of time and a series of events. What we ordinarily think of as His coming is toward the end of His coming, not the beginning of His coming.
You remember when our Lord was taken up to heaven in Acts 1. The disciples were with Him, and He said, “Wait until you are empowered, and then go and be My witnesses.” Then they saw our Lord Jesus begin to ascend. The Bible says He was taken up. As He was taken up, they saw Him go, then suddenly a cloud came and received Him. They could not see Him any more, but they were still looking upward.
Then two men in white appeared to them and said, “Men of Galilee, why are ye looking up? This Jesus, who has gone up, shall come back in like manner.” In other words, the way that our Lord Jesus went will be the way of His coming.
His going was in two stages. The first stage was from Mount Olivet to the cloud—visible. The second stage was from the cloud to the throne—invisible.
Now we know that He reached the throne. Why? Because on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came down, and that is the proof that He had been anointed in heaven as Lord and as Christ. Then the anointing, the Holy Spirit that was anointed upon His head, began to flow down to the beard and even to the skirts of the garment.
Furthermore, we know that He arrived at the throne because, in Revelation 5, you find a replay of His ascension: a Lamb newly slain, standing before the throne, worthy to receive the scroll, to open the seals, and to execute the will of God—to recover all things back to God. For He is worthy.
So, brothers and sisters, we are told very clearly that the way in which He was taken up will be the way He is coming down. His presence covers the whole period from the throne to the cloud—invisible.
He will come as a thief. Why does the Bible describe His coming as the coming of a thief? Because the thief usually comes unaware, and he will steal away the best that you have before you realize it.
The coming of the Lord is like the coming of a thief: invisible, suddenly, and you do not know where. He has already come, and He has taken that which is precious to Him.
Then you find that His coming is also described as lightning. In Matthew 24 we are told that, when He is coming, it is like lightning that flashes from the east to the west. In other words, everybody will see it—openly.
That is His coming from the cloud to Mount Olivet. Every eye shall see Him. He shall come openly, publicly, and in glory.
So, brothers and sisters, when we are thinking of the coming of the Lord, our thoughts should go back to the very beginning of His coming and not merely toward the end of His coming.
We are told in 2 Peter that we should meditate on the prophetic word of God until the morning star rises in our heart. You know, our Lord’s coming is like the coming of the sun.
We are in the night, in the darkest of the night today. But the day is coming. The sun will arise, and the coming of the Lord is like the coming of the sun. Everybody will see Him.
But only those who are watching, who are waiting, can see the morning star. His coming is like a morning star, seen only by those who are watching and waiting. So we are told that we need to watch until the morning star arises within us.
It is not good enough to see the sun come up. It is better if we can see the morning star. So, brothers and sisters, are we ready, prepared for His coming? He will come at any time, any moment.
All the prophecies that precede His coming have already been fulfilled. There are some prophecies yet to be fulfilled, but these are prophecies that pertain to His coming or to events after His coming. If you read the Scripture very carefully, you will discover that all the prophecies concerning His coming which must be fulfilled before His coming have already been fulfilled.
So He can come any moment—any moment, brothers and sisters.
Matthew 24 says, “Then.” Now, the word “then” refers to the coming of the Lord, because if you read the preceding verses, you will find that they concern the coming of the Lord being like the days of Noah.
Just as Noah was suddenly called into the ark, and when Noah was called into the ark the flood came, so, brothers and sisters, it is a “then.” Two are in the field: one is taken, and one is left. Two are grinding at the mill: one is taken, and one is left.
If you read Luke 21:34, it adds one more thing: two are in the bed; one is taken, and one is left. Now, that is what is going to happen at the coming of the Lord. Or, to put it another way, when this thing happens, the coming of the Lord has begun.
So what are we looking for today? We are not looking for the appearance of the Antichrist. Now, it is true that the Antichrist will come first, before our Lord Jesus comes on Mount Olivet. That is true. But remember, that is toward the end. We are not waiting for the Antichrist; we are waiting for Christ.
If we are waiting for Christ, then we have to remember that one day, suddenly, throughout the whole world, some are taken. The word “taken” is the same word used of our Lord Jesus when He was taken up to heaven. So it does not have a bad connotation.
In other words, those who are taken will be taken just as our Lord was taken up to the throne. They will mark the beginning of the parousia.
Two in bed—that is night. Two working in the field—that is daytime. Two grinding at the mill—that is morning. Because the earth is round, when He shall come, some are in the morning, some are at noon, and some are at night.
The two represent the number of plurality. In other words, if two or three agree, or two or three are gathered together unto the name of the Lord, there will be the presence of Him. So He refers to the church.
It refers to the church at the time of His coming. It refers to those who are living at the time of His coming.
You know, throughout the ages, even in the first century, the saints were looking for His return. Sometimes people say, “No, they were wrong, because the Lord could not come in the first century.” But, dear brothers and sisters, they were not wrong.
Even in the first century, when they were looking for the coming of the Lord, they were right, because the Lord could come in the first century if the fullness of time was right. But unfortunately, God’s people—the bride—were not ready.
During the second and third centuries, when the church was under persecution, their only hope was the coming of the Lord. The Greeks greeted one another, “Maranatha—the Lord returns.” That was their blessed hope. They were not wrong; they were right, because their hearts were looking for His return.
And now, brothers and sisters, we are in the twenty-first century. How much nearer His coming must be. Everything indicates that He is coming in a moment. And when He shall come, this will happen: one will be taken, and one will be left.
We are living at such a time. Brothers and sisters, it is the greatest privilege that a believer can look forward to, but it is also a very great responsibility. What if He should come and we are left?
He will come like a thief. Suddenly He will steal away the treasure of His heart. You know, a thief will never blow a trumpet and say, “I am coming.” A thief will never come and steal away your garbage. He seems to know exactly where your treasure is, and that is all he wants.
So shall be the coming of our Lord Jesus. Awkwardly, you find the two are all working in the field. It is not that one is working and the other is leisurely doing nothing and being lazy. Both are working. Those who are grinding at the mill are doing the same thing. And both are sleeping.
I often tell people, do not be afraid to sleep. Do not think that because the Lord is coming you must not go to sleep, lest He comes while you are sleeping. It does not matter. Even if you are deeply asleep, you will be taken if you are ready.
In other words, life will go on as usual. Some people, when they think of the coming of the Lord, do unusual things. Many years ago there was a group of people who said the Lord was coming, so they left and migrated to the wilderness in Canada just to be ready for the coming of the Lord.
There were also people who said the Lord was coming, so they left their jobs, sold their property, and went to a mountain to wait for the coming of the Lord. And the Lord did not come. That is not the way to prepare for the coming of the Lord.
Life goes on as usual. If the night comes, we have to sleep. If it is daytime, we have to work and fulfill our responsibility and our duty. Yet there is a difference: one is taken and one is left. Why?
Now, even though in this case we are not told exactly why, it only tells us the fact: one is taken and one is left. But as you read on, you will find that the Lord does show us why this should happen. Why is one taken and one left? There must be a reason for it.
So the Lord said, “Watch therefore, lest the day shall come upon you unaware.” Watch. The difference is that one is watching and the other is not.
Watching is not an outward thing; it is an inward attitude. So you can go to sleep and still be watching. You know, just as in the Song of Songs, you find that the virgin was sleeping, but she could hear the voice of the Beloved. It is an inward attitude.
Brothers and sisters, are we watching? What are we watching? Are we watching terrorism come? Are we watching the world situation? Well, we should be watching, but what should we be watching? We should be watching for the Lord. Watch, lest He come suddenly. Watch for Him.
The word “watch,” as you read on in the parables, means to be ready. Be ready. Watching is more than an attitude; it is also an action. Be ready. Prepare yourself. Be ready for Him.
You know His character. You know what He likes. Be ready to be like Him, to be transformed and conformed to His image. Let the Holy Spirit work in your life. Let the cross deal with you and cut off your flesh, the things of this world, sin, and the work of the devil. Let all these things be dealt with.
Let His life grow within you, so that you are being transformed to be like Him. That is the preparation. That is to be ready.
To be ready means to be like the servant who is entrusted by his lord to take care of the household. If he is faithful and prudent and distributes food in season, when the Lord shall come, he will be rewarded with the whole household.
But if this evil servant—the servant here is singular, the same person—can be a faithful and prudent servant or a wicked servant, an evil servant. The same person can become either one.
The evil servant says in his heart, “The Lord delays. He will not be coming.” So he begins to beat his fellow-servants. He begins to eat and drink with the drunkards. Suddenly, at a time when he is not aware, the Lord comes. He will be cut in two and treated as a hypocrite. There will be gnashing of teeth and darkness.
Brothers and sisters, we can be either. You can be that evil, wicked servant because you think the Lord is not coming, and you just do whatever your flesh wants to do. Or you can say, “Well, the Lord said He is coming, and His promise is true. He can come at any time. I must be prepared. I must be wise. I must be faithful. Whatever He has entrusted to me, I have to be faithful.”
And if you are doing that, you will be taken.
Then you read on into Matthew 25, the parable of the ten virgins. From that parable, you can see why five virgins are called wise and the other five are called foolish.
They are all virgins. They are all believers, because the Bible never labels an unbeliever as a virgin. An unbeliever is an adulterer, an adulteress, with the world. But those who are cleansed by the blood of the Lord Jesus are virgins.
As virgins, we are engaged to one person, our Lord Jesus. We are supposed to be chaste virgins, waiting for the time when the Bridegroom will come to receive us.
Some people think that the five foolish virgins are not Christians, but that is not true. Why? Because they all have lamps, torches with oil burning. In other words, they have the Holy Spirit in them, the indwelling Holy Spirit. They all went out to meet the Bridegroom.
If you are not saved, you do not know who the Bridegroom is, and you will not go out to meet Him. It is because of the delay, because the time prolonged, that they all fell asleep.
Strictly speaking, in strict interpretation, the ten virgins refer to the saints who have died throughout the ages, from the first century down. They have been waiting and going out to meet the Bridegroom, but because the Bridegroom delayed, they fell asleep. In other words, they died.
But one day they will hear the shout, “The Bridegroom cometh!” They will all awake. And that is the difference: the wise have extra oil in their vessels, so they can pour the oil into their torches and go out to meet the Bridegroom.
But the foolish ones have vessels too. Their vessels are filled with gold and silver and other precious things to them, not oil. But it is the extra oil that matters.
Brothers and sisters, that extra oil is the fullness of the Spirit. We all have the Holy Spirit. Every believer has the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. We have the anointing within us. He is there teaching us in all things. He is there trying to transform us and conform us to the image of Christ.
But, brothers and sisters, not all believers have extra oil in the vessel. You have to pour out the things that fill the vessel first before you can fill it with oil. In other words, what is more precious to you?
The fullness of the Holy Spirit means letting the Holy Spirit control your life and rule over your life. You are filled with the Holy Spirit. You know, brothers and sisters, to be filled with the Holy Spirit is an experience.
But “be filled with the Holy Spirit,” in Ephesians 5, means continually be filled with the Holy Spirit. It becomes a state. It means to be ruled by the Holy Spirit throughout your life. That is the extra oil.
If you have that extra oil, then you are able to enter into the marriage feast of the Lamb. So, dear brothers and sisters, the Bible shows us in many different ways how we should be prepared for His coming.
Are we ready? Ever ready, and never ready. You know, if you think you are ready, most likely you are not.
But if you realize that you need to be ready constantly, you are not ready yet. Thank God, when He shall come, He knows our heart. God looks upon our heart, and He chooses according to the condition of our heart. What is our heart condition today?
When we were first saved, we were in our first love. We were willing to give up everything for the Lord. Nothing was too costly to us. When we were first in love with Him, how we loved His Word. We loved to pray. We loved to witness for Him. We loved to be together with the saints, pursuing the Lord.
But where are we now? Are we ready? We need to repent and do the first works. Then, when the Lord shall suddenly come, to those who wait, it is not a surprise. We are ready for Him.
You know, the apostle Paul was always looking forward to the day of Christ. His desire was that, on the day of Christ, when he should see Him, he would not be put to shame. That was the passion of the apostle Paul.
Not until just before his martyrdom was he sure.
So, dear brothers and sisters, the Lord is coming. May we be ready. Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, how Thou lovest to receive Thy bride. We pray that the same love with which Thou dost love us will give us that love to see Thee face to face.
Do remind us day by day that Thou art coming to receive us. By Thy grace, by the Holy Spirit, make us ready at any moment.
Lord, it is the cry of our heart: come quickly. Come, Lord Jesus. In Thy precious name. Amen.