Amen.
Really? I’ll keep the secret.
Let us begin with a word of prayer this morning.
Lord, we come to You this morning. We want to say, Lord, thank You for this table, how precious it is to our lives and to our hearts. Lord, just being with You in that special way is so precious.
Lord, just thank You for Your blessing this morning. And Lord, as I come now, I want to come, Lord, and stand under the precious blood of Jesus. Lord, may Your blood be over every word that is spoken this morning, and over the hearts that are receiving this word.
Lord, I stand in the prayer of the saints this morning. And Lord, I stand under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, which You have provided to each one of us who have been purchased by that precious blood.
So, Lord, we pray: speak, and may Your words not fall to the ground this morning. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
The subject this morning is Preparing to Meet Your God. This has been on my heart for quite a while.
You know, when I was nineteen years old, in 1962, there was the Cuban Missile Crisis, one of the great crises that this nation has been through. Some of you here, of course, probably do not know anything about it, but we came to the brink of nuclear war between the United States and Russia as they were preparing to put nuclear weapons on Cuba. We had put some in Turkey, and so they were putting some in Cuba.
So we came to this great crisis. The world was on the brink of nuclear warfare. After the atomic bomb was developed in World War II, it was greatly enhanced by the hydrogen bomb, which was thousands of times more powerful. At that time, if we ever had a nuclear war, it would probably end this whole world.
It was a great time of crisis all over the world, actually. I remember that we were seeing training films on television. It was called Duck and Cover. So, if you heard the alarm, you needed to duck and cover. They showed it to children in schools, and they would show films of the children ducking under their desks in preparation in case there was this great nuclear war about to begin.
The other thing that happened at that time was that you could see, particularly in some of the larger cities like New York, people carrying signs that said, “Prepare to meet your God.” At that time, it was a very likely, imminent thing that was about to happen.
As I consider the day in which we live now, I would say that the Lord wants us to be prepared to meet Him, because we are in the last stage of transition from the age of grace to the kingdom age. Of course, the Lord will come and reign upon the earth for one thousand years as King of kings and Lord of lords.
We are at that junction in history, brothers and sisters. It is a late hour, right before the Lord’s return. It is on my heart this morning that we be prepared to meet our Lord. Be considering it, because it is imminent, just as imminent as that crisis was in 1962. Brothers and sisters, we need to be prepared.
Now, this is not a strange message for anyone here. Our dear brother Stephen Kong shared “Are You Ready?” many times with us, and that was a great burden upon his heart.
In fact, I looked it up, and the first time he shared on being prepared and the overcoming life was in 1983. That is forty years ago. Brothers and sisters, forty is a special number in the Bible. It is that period of turmoil right before the Lord moves in a mighty way. So it has been forty years since we heard that message on the overcoming life.
Then, in June of 1989, at a summer conference, our brother Stephen shared on the signs of the times, the coming of the Lord, rapture, and the judgment seat of Christ. That was in 1989. He shared things that I had never heard before, frankly, at that time.
He shared that the Lord’s return would actually happen in the same manner as His ascension, which we find in Acts 1. When the Lord was lifted up from the Mount of Olives, they saw Him until He got to the clouds; then He disappeared. They did not know what had happened to our Lord until the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out as He had promised. That assured them that He had made it to the throne, the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
But His coming back would be the reverse of that. There would be a hidden portion, which would occur when He left the throne and came to the cloud. The saints would be raptured to the cloud, and then He would come from the cloud back to the earth, putting His feet on the Mount of Olives.
Brothers and sisters, that was all new to me. I thought rapture was one event. But this period which our brother shared with us was called parousia, which means His presence. His presence would begin from the throne and end with His feet on the earth as Lord of lords and King of kings.
He also said that the visible part of His return, from the cloud to the earth, would be like lightning across the sky. The hidden part, from the throne to the cloud, would be like 1 Thessalonians 5:2, when he said He would return as a thief in the night. So first, He comes as a thief in the night, and then as lightning across the sky.
This was all new to me. I had never heard of that. I just thought there was one event.
Then he shared on the parable of the ten virgins: five wise and five foolish. I had always been taught that the five wise ones were the saved and the five foolish were the unsaved. But brothers and sisters, the Lord really enlightened us at that time to show us that both were Christians.
The five wise ones had oil—ample oil—and they were ready to go out to meet the Lord. But the five foolish ones, though they had oil, were the Lord’s. They were not really ready to meet Him. They did not have enough oil to meet Him and be prepared to enter the kingdom age. They would be in a period of outer darkness under further discipline.
The parable of two servants in the field—one being taken, in Matthew 24, and the other left—was not about saved and lost people, but about Christians. These two living ones were the people living right prior to the Lord’s return. I think that is where we are today.
One would be taken and immediately raptured to the throne. That is found in Revelation 12:5. The others would remain until the harvest rapture, which is found in Revelation 14:15. They would be raptured to the cloud. So there are two points of rapture: one to the throne and the other to the cloud.
Of course, the ones at the cloud—you will remember—it says in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 that the dead in Christ would rise first. Then the remainder, those who remain, those alive just prior to His return and who had not made it to the throne, would be raptured to the cloud: the great harvest rapture.
Then there would be the judgment seat of Christ at the cloud. All the Christians would be there. That is 2 Corinthians 5:10. It is all about judgment—the family judgment, the judgment for Christians. We would be judged based on how faithful we have been to the Lord, and how we have used the grace and gifts that He has given to us to serve His purposes. We will be rewarded based on that.
The ones who are worthy would be rewarded with reigning and ruling with Christ in the kingdom age. You can find that in Revelation 2:27, Revelation 3:21, and Luke 19:17. The remainder would experience outer darkness, which you find in Matthew 25:30.
Over the years, our brother continued to share on these matters of the Lord’s return until he passed in 2022, at the age of 107 years old, our dear precious brother.
I think most of us here realize our brother Stephen Kong lived with the spirit of rapture in his heart. The spirit of rapture was on his heart. Now, what does that mean when I say that? It means our brother was on earth, but his spirit was in heaven. He was already there. That is the spirit of rapture.
I remember very vividly the summer of 2018. Stephen was 103 years old at that time. He was sharing on the coming of the Lord once again. At the end of his message, he made a closing statement. Some of you may remember that we were there.
He looked out over the audience at Longwood and said, “The Lord may come now. I hope if He does, that this room will empty out and no one will be here.”
But he said, “Brothers and sisters, it is possible that not all will be taken and raptured to the throne in that first rapture. Many will have to wait until the cloud rapture.”
Then he said—and this came like thunder to me out of heaven—his voice was, “Are you ready? Are you ready?”
Oh, that was a heavy burden on our brother Stephen’s heart. From then until his passing five years later, it was a constant burden on his heart. When he would share, he would always seem to end with this thought: “Are you ready?”
Now, brothers and sisters, that should have made a great impact on us. For all of those years, that one constant burden from the Lord that our brother wanted to share with us was, “Are you ready?”
It is on my heart this morning as well. The Lord’s return is imminent. Are you ready? But I had this other thought as well: not only the question, “Are you ready?” but, “Are you preparing to meet the Lord?”
Are you preparing to meet the Lord? Are you the vessel through which the Lord can prepare His way to come back? Prepare to meet Him, but also prepare the way for Him to come back.
The Lord spoke of the sign of His coming with His disciples. You all may remember that three or four days before His crucifixion, He was at the temple in Jerusalem. His disciples were with Him, and they were looking at the temple structure. They were commenting on how marvelous and wonderful the temple was in its beauty.
Then the Lord turned around and said to them the most astounding thought that rang in their ears: “Soon, not one stone will be left upon another.” It startled the disciples. They thought this temple would stand forever, and yet the Lord was saying, “No. Soon, this temple that you so admire will be destroyed, not one stone left upon another.”
When they got back to the Mount of Olives, the disciples began to question the Lord. They said, “Lord, when will this happen? When will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming?”
The Lord began to share the signs. He said there would be wars and rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, and pestilence. But He said, “These are just the beginning of birth pains.” He did not call them tragedies. He called them birth pains.
Today, brothers and sisters, what we are experiencing in this world, with all the turmoil, is birth pains. Something is about to happen. Something is about to take birth.
In our days, we have witnessed the great increase in lawlessness. Lawlessness now prevails all over the world and in our nation. I have never experienced a period in my life when I have seen such hatred expressed all the time: people hating one another, disagreeing with one another to the point of hate.
Jews and Christians are hated. I remember when I was a boy, actually, if Christians stood for the Lord, people kind of admired you. But not today. They call you an outcast and evil.
Brothers and sisters, who would have thought that we would be called evil, that Christian values would now be considered evil, and humanism would be considered good and above the Lord?
The Lord was speaking to His disciples, and He was, of course, concerned for the nation of Israel. Things were about to change for that nation. Israel has always been a sign to the nations. Israel was a nation the Lord chose to put His name there, and they were to carry His testimony and His name.
We know they have failed. But brothers and sisters, the Lord has not failed. He will keep His covenant even with the nation of Israel.
Right now, Israel, as you know, is currently at war with Hamas. The immediate surrounding nations are involved in it as well: Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. Brothers and sisters, they are all involved in this to various degrees.
It appears to be the beginning of the war that is described in Psalm 83 and Zechariah 12:1-2. This, in turn, will lead to a greater war called the Gog-Magog war in the Bible. It is described in Zechariah 12:3-8 and Ezekiel 38-39.
It will include the larger ring of nations outside of the ones I have just named: Russia, Turkey, Iran, Libya, and Sudan. They will lead the final battle, the battle which will lead to the battle of Armageddon, which we find in Zechariah 14, Revelation 16:14-16, and Revelation 19:11-21.
In our day, we see the biblical signs of the Lord’s return. All of these signs are coming to fruition, even in things concerning the nation of Israel.
It is interesting: after He shared these signs with the disciples, He gave a word of prophecy, the parable of the fig tree. The Lord, in Matthew 24:32-33, said this:
Learn the parable of the fig tree.
When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves,
ye know that summer is nigh:
So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things,
know that it is near, even at the doors.
Now, this is the Lord’s response to the question, “When will be Your return?” He said, “When you see the fig tree begin to bud, know that I am at the doors.”
A few days before that, you will remember, the Lord had gone to the temple. On the way, He saw a fig tree, and He went to the fig tree to try to find some fruit there. But there was no fruit. You remember that the Lord cursed the fig tree.
Israel was now coming under the curse, under the discipline, for turning from the Lord. He cursed the fig tree because there was no fruit. Now, the Bible said it was not harvest time. But even before the time of harvest, if there are leaves, there should be some small figs on the tree called winter figs.
If there are no winter figs on the tree, then it means there will be no figs in the summer. There will be no harvest. And so the Lord cursed it.
Once again, the fig tree, we know, is a symbol for the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel is a sign to the world. It is a sign to His people.
A few days before, the Lord had cursed the fig tree. Now, only two days later, He talks to them about the fig tree budding. What does this mean? I mean, they could not have forgotten about the fig tree being cursed. But now the Lord is saying, “The fig tree will once again bud.”
What was He saying? He was saying, “Yes, the nation of Israel will disappear, but it will once again come to life, and it will bud once again.”
I believe, brothers and sisters, this prophecy has been fulfilled, at least in my generation. It occurred in 1947, when the nation of Israel was once again declared a nation by the United Nations.
What had happened, of course, was World War II. Six million Jews had been executed and lost their lives, mostly in the gas chambers in Germany. Out of sympathy, the United Nations, led by the United States, by the way, agreed to once again recognize Israel as a nation and a land for them.
The Lord had disciplined the nation of Israel, as He said He would. In Psalm 89:30-32, it says:
If they forsake My law,
and walk not in My ordinances;
If they break My statutes,
and keep not My commandments;
Then will I visit their transgression with the rod,
and their iniquity with stripes.
The nation of Israel was conquered by the Babylonian Empire in 586 BC. Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed by the Babylonians, and the Jewish nation went into exile. They were beginning at that point, of course, to be scattered.
That was followed by the Persian nation conquering Babylon, and the Jews were still captives. But under Cyrus, the king of Persia, you will remember the story of how they were released to go back and build the temple. But out of probably a million or so Jews at that time, only fifty thousand returned to rebuild that temple. But they did return, and they rebuilt it.
Then there was the Greek Empire, and finally the Roman Empire. Under the Roman Empire, there were many Jews, of course, in Jerusalem and in that area. But under the Emperor Nero, from AD 60 through AD 70, they came under great persecution, and they began to scatter.
As a matter of fact, in AD 70, Titus destroyed that rebuilt temple, resulting in the scattering of the Jews among the nations and the loss of their sense of nationality. The Lord’s prophecy was fulfilled because the temple was covered with gold. When Titus came in and set fire to the city and destroyed the temple, the gold melted into the cracks between the stones.
The soldiers began to try to get the gold off the stones, so they overturned all the stones of the temple to get at this gold. Thus, the Lord’s prophecy was fulfilled in AD 70 as far as the temple being destroyed.
But the people scattered. The Jews began to assimilate into the life and culture of the nations to which they went. In general, they prospered. The Lord still looked over them. They were still mostly prospering.
The nation of Israel itself disappeared. It was nonexistent, and it appeared that it would never be a nation again because nowhere in history, once a nation disappeared, did it ever reappear except for Israel.
God disciplined as He said He would in Psalm 89. They were still under discipline in World War II, as we see; many were destroyed. But the Lord’s discipline is not for punishment. The Lord’s discipline is to draw their hearts back to Him.
They should see their desperation and, in desperation, turn back to the Lord. But we know that did not happen even then, brothers and sisters. Yet the Lord is faithful.
If you continue to read Psalm 89:33-34, the Lord says, “Even though I discipline you, nevertheless, listen to this: My lovingkindness will not be utterly taken from you, nor will I suffer My faithfulness to fail. My covenant I made with Israel, I will not break, nor alter the thing that has gone out of My lips.”
The Lord had also spoken to them through Isaiah the prophet, in Isaiah 43:5-6:
Fear not: for I am with thee:
I will bring thy seed from the east,
and gather thee from the west;
I will say to the north, Give up;
and to the south, Keep not back:
bring My sons from far,
and My daughters from the ends of the earth.
This was fulfilled in 1947. As the United Nations recognized Israel once again, the Jews from all over the world began to return to their homeland. But it was barren. It was a desert. There was not much there. They had to begin to repopulate the cities, as the Lord had prophesied to them.
Interestingly enough, it was a desert area, but they discovered a body of water underneath the nation of Israel. It had a little salt in it, but not so much that it could not grow crops. So they began to grow crops. In fact, they produce as much fruit and vegetables as they need and are able to export it.
In other words, the desert blossomed as the Lord had said it would, in Amos 9:14-15:
And I will bring again the captivity of My people of Israel,
and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them;
and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof;
they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
And I will plant them upon their land,
and they shall no more be pulled up
out of their land which I have given them,
saith the Lord thy God.
Brothers and sisters, it does appear that the fig tree budded in 1947, and it was once again declared a nation. The Jews from all over the world did regather there and begin to build.
Now, brothers and sisters, we need to be very clear: that was a political restoration. It was not a spiritual restoration. That spiritual restoration will not take place fully until the Lord returns.
We are so thankful today that the gospel has reached many Jews, and they call themselves Messianic Jews. Thank the Lord for that. The Lord is still reaching out to them. That was Paul’s heart: to pray for the Jews, that they would come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The restoration that we see is mainly a political restoration. But, brothers and sisters, it is very important because it is a sign to the nations that God will keep His word. God will keep His covenant with Israel. Brothers and sisters, He will keep His covenant with you and me. This is proof of it.
It is assurance that all of the prophecies in the Bible will come true. The word of God is true. It is a sign that the Lord’s return is imminent. The Lord said this Himself: “When you see these things coming, My return is near, even at the doors.”
Now, I have been told that in the Far East, a lot of times people who have some money build a house, but they put a wall around it. Of course, there is a door in that wall. Some who are rich have two walls, and so there are a number of doors before you actually get into the house.
The Lord says, “When you see this, I am at the doors.” Now, is He at the door of the outer wall? Is He at the door of the inner wall? Or is He at the door of the house? We do not know.
But we know He wanted us to know that when we see these things, His return is imminent, and we need to be prepared.
Another prophecy of the Lord is in Luke 21:24. It is called the times of the Gentiles. The Lord gives another prophetic word in Luke, and it says this, speaking of the nation of Israel:
They shall be led away captive into all nations:
and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles,
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
The nation of Israel was at its peak under King Solomon. But after that, their spiritual condition quickly deteriorated. As I mentioned earlier, under the disciplining hand of the Lord, they were conquered by the Babylonian Empire in 586 BC. That began the time of the Gentiles, the biblical time of the Gentiles.
The Gentiles ruled over Jerusalem, actually, from that time until 1967. Now, in 1947, when they were declared a nation, the Palestinians in the area and the surrounding Arab nations would not recognize Israel as a nation. They gathered together around Jerusalem and attacked Jerusalem.
They would not recognize the 1947 edict from the United Nations. At that time, the Jews only had partial control of Jerusalem. But this began Israel’s War of Independence. Israel prevailed, and it was a miracle. They were way outnumbered, but they prevailed.
Actually, at that point in 1967—it is called the Six-Day War—they gained complete control of the city of Jerusalem. They expanded their territory by five times, almost back to the borders of the nation of Israel in the time of Solomon.
The Arab nation of Jordan controlled East Jerusalem until that war. But in June of 1967, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia joined forces to prepare to attack Israel once again with an overwhelming force.
If you read the history, you will find it was an overwhelming force right at the borders of Israel. Israel, seeing this, instead of waiting to be attacked, made a preemptive strike and, with their air force, commanded the field. In six days, they defeated the coalition of nations, and they gained complete control of Jerusalem in that time.
They gained control over the Golan Heights from Syria, over the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, from Jordan, and over the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt. The territory of Israel was now similar to the territory during Solomon’s reign.
Brothers and sisters, this was once again the hand of God. It was a miracle. They were now back in control of Jerusalem.
Brothers and sisters, it appears that the times of the Gentiles came to an end in 1967. I say “appears,” but certainly we can say the times of the Gentiles are coming to an end. If it did not happen in 1967, I strongly believe that their time is up in controlling Jerusalem and that nation.
The budding of the fig tree and the times of the Gentiles were prophecies from the Lord Jesus Himself—not from the prophets, but from the Lord Himself. He was responding to the questions that the disciples asked: “When shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of His coming?”
Brothers and sisters, this morning I am convinced more than ever that He is at the doors. The day of His return is imminent. He is not going to knock on the door, brothers and sisters. It is going to be like the days of Noah.
He said everyone would be eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage. Everything will be going on as usual. Everything will kind of be normal. The world will just be going on without any awareness that the Lord is at the door. They will be going about their routines, unsuspecting.
But suddenly, all over the world, some Christians will disappear and be raptured to the throne. This is the beginning event of the Lord’s parousia, of His return.
Brothers and sisters, we need to be aware of the signs. The Lord wanted us to be aware of the signs. There is nothing wrong with prophecy. But the Lord wants us not just to be aware of the signs, but to be aware of what the signs point to.
What is that? The Lord said this: “When you see these things, look up; for your redemption draweth nigh.” But are you ready to meet Him? That was our brother’s burden.
Today, I would like to say: not only, “Are we ready?” I know that is a question we will always ask and probably not be as sure of until He comes back. But we should be preparing to meet Him. We should be preparing not only to meet our Lord, but to be at the judgment seat of Christ, brothers and sisters.
How should we be preparing? I want to say this too: preparing to meet the Lord will only happen if our heart is right with the Lord. It is a heart issue fundamentally.
In 2 Peter 3:12, I think there is another astonishing statement:
Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God.
Not only are we to wait for His coming, but we are to hasten His coming. Now, that may seem strange to some of us.
Brothers and sisters, we are not to passively just wait for the Lord to show up at an appointed time. I know everybody says, “Well, there is an appointed time, and that is when He is coming, regardless of what we do.” That is just not true, brothers and sisters.
His timetable is spiritual. Brothers and sisters, it is not a calendar; it is a spiritual calendar. We cannot just passively wait and say, “Well, at His appointed time, He is coming.” Not at all.
We must be preparing, and preparing for His return, preparing the way of the Lord to come back, to hasten His coming. Now, how will this be? How do we prepare?
Number one: by keeping the word of His patience. Revelation 3:10 says, in His words to the church in Philadelphia:
Because thou hast kept the word of My patience,
I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation,
which shall come upon all the world,
to try them that dwell upon the earth.
This was a word given to the church of Philadelphia: “Keep the word of My patience.” Now, what does that mean? Brothers and sisters, it means this.
The Lord has given us His word, and He is patiently waiting for the day in which He can come back and manifest His glory upon this world as the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He is being patient.
He is the Bridegroom, patiently waiting for His bride to be ready. That is us. That is the church—not only ready individually, but ready as His church corporately.
He is patiently waiting for the Holy Spirit to do the transformation in our lives so that we will not only have a golden robe of righteousness in which we can meet Him. Today, you are able to come before the throne because you have been given the righteousness of Christ. It is the golden robe of righteousness.
But, brothers and sisters, Psalm 45:9, 13-14 speaks of the queen standing in the gold of Ophir. Her wedding garment is of the gold of Ophir, that golden robe. But then it also speaks of an embroidered wedding garment—embroidered linen, brothers and sisters.
That is found in Revelation 19:8. This embroidered wedding garment is the righteousnesses of the saints. In other words, it is the righteousness of Christ worked out in your life, that you become righteous not because you work it out in your own strength, but because you are exercising His life in your life.
We need that wedding garment, brothers and sisters. It is just not good enough to have the golden robe of righteousness. Yes, that gets us into heaven. That gets us before the throne. But when the wedding comes, when the wedding feast comes, He is going to be looking for that embroidered linen garment: the righteousness of Christ worked out in your life.
If you want to follow up on that, you will find it in Matthew 22:8-14, where the Lord told His servants, “There are not enough for the wedding feast yet. Go out into the highways and byways and bring them in.” They did; they brought them in.
Then the Lord of the feast looked around, and He said, “Look, I see someone here without a wedding garment. You have to put him out. He cannot stay during the wedding feast.”
Now, what is the wedding feast? It is the one-thousand-year millennium, brothers and sisters. That is the wedding feast. He was not worthy to be at the wedding feast. He had a golden robe. He will be in the New Jerusalem, but not able to participate in the wedding feast.
Also, in this Scripture, He speaks of the trial that will come upon the habitable earth. We know that, brothers and sisters, to be the great tribulation. It says the trial will come upon the whole habitable earth, which will be a great trial to those who dwell there.
The key word is “those who dwell there.” Brothers and sisters, we are not called to dwell on this earth. We are not called to be worldly or part of the world. We are called to be strangers and sojourners, not dwellers.
If your hopes and desires are for the things of the world—to get all you can, all the pleasure, all the power, all the wealth, all the recognition, all the acceptance of the world—you are rooted and grounded in the world, and it will be difficult to pull you up. Let me put it that way. So you have become a dweller.
How can you escape when He says, “Come up”? We must actively press on, and we must become a sojourner. That is the patience of the Lord: keeping the patience of the Lord.
Number two—I see I have a long ways to go, brothers and sisters—Luke 21:34-36:
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.
There is a warning and there is an exhortation. The warning is, “Take heed.” Brothers and sisters, if our life is occupied with the world, if we are living a self-centered life occupied with our desire and our pleasure, brothers and sisters, we will be caught off guard.
I was thinking about this, and I said, I have to think that includes becoming self-satisfied with your spiritual life. We can never become self-satisfied with our spiritual life. We must always be pressing on. We must always be watching. That is what it means. You cannot be passive; you must be watching.
The exhortation is watching and praying always. Brothers and sisters, we must be concerned about the Lord’s concern, concerned and occupied with the Lord’s desires, watching and praying about His interests.
What are His interests? Excuse me, I am too excited. In Isaiah 45:11, He was speaking to the nation of Israel, and He says:
Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker,
Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons,
and concerning the work of My hands command ye Me.
That is what the Lord is interested in. Brothers and sisters, look at the end times. What are the three things that the Lord deals with?
He deals with His church. His church is the first one coming under judgment. We are even under His judgment right now. The Lord wants His church to be made ready.
The Jews have a political restoration, but He is looking for that spiritual restoration among the Jews. We know that with the world and the nations, He says in Matthew 25:32 that He is going to judge the nations. He is going to have goat nations and sheep nations.
The sheep nations will be earthly people going into the millennium, the one-thousand-year age, and the goats will not do that. They will come under further judgment at the great white throne.
Brothers and sisters, He is concerned about His people. He is concerned about you and me. He is concerned about His church. He is concerned about the Jews and the nation of Israel, to be a testimony for Him during that one-thousand-year millennium period. He is also concerned about the world.
God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.
These are the things we need to be watching and praying about.
Number three: we need to be living an overcoming life. Revelation 12—I am going to read verse 4 and then verses 6-11. I kind of blended it together.
And the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered,
for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
And she brought forth a man child,
who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron:
and her child was caught up unto God, and to His throne.
And the woman fled into the wilderness,
where she hath a place prepared of God,
that they should feed her there
a thousand two hundred and threescore days.And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb,
and by the word of their testimony;
and they loved not their lives unto the death.
That is three and a half years. That is the last half of that tribulation period, the great tribulation.
John saw a picture of a woman in travail, brothers and sisters. We see the dragon, Satan, before her. You have heard this before: he is not interested in the woman; she is ineffective. The church is ineffective as a testimony these days. But he is waiting for that man-child.
Who is that? That is the remnant of God’s people who are faithful to Him, brothers and sisters—those that are ready for Him, those that are preparing for Him. That is the ones who are the man-child. He says they will immediately be raptured.
Now, where are they taken to? It does not say the cloud. It says the throne. Immediately, a group of Christians, the remnant, will be raptured to the throne.
But the Lord is faithful to the rest of the church. He says, “I am going to keep them during that three-and-a-half years. I am going to protect them. I am going to keep them.” He is faithful, brothers and sisters.
They will have to suffer through some of that persecution. Some may even be martyred during that time. But it is another chance for them to turn to God and to overcome.
Near the end of that three-and-a-half-year period, the seventh trumpet will blow. You find that in Revelation. It says those who are dead in Christ and those who remain will be caught up to the cloud. The Lord has moved to the cloud.
Then, as we are caught up to the cloud—those who remain and those who are dead in Christ—the judgment seat of Christ will begin. We will be judged, brothers and sisters, as I said earlier, on our response to the Lamb, on our willingness to yield and be submissive to the Lamb and serve His purposes.
But then, as the judgment seat of Christ is going on, the seven bowls of God’s wrath will be poured out on this earth. Now, that is near the end of the three-and-a-half years.
Brothers and sisters, the remnant who are able to be raptured to the throne—the Christians who are alive at Christ’s return—are able to do that because they have lived an overcoming life. Revelation 12:11 describes that life.
It says three things. You have heard this before, but I remind you: they overcame by reason of the blood. Brothers and sisters, they were not perfect. They were not sinlessly perfect, these overcomers. But they knew the preciousness and the power of the blood, that it could obliterate their sins.
The word of God says, “If you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins,” because His blood was shed for those sins. We must constantly avail ourselves of the blood of Christ in order to be ready.
In other words, we need to keep short accounts with our Lord and come under the cleansing power of the blood of Christ daily. In other words, they come; they are always cleansed.
Number two: the word of their testimony. What is the word of the testimony of the saints? Jesus is Lord. Jesus is King. But brothers and sisters, our words can be meaningless if our life does not back up those words.
So what does that mean? When we say, “Jesus is Lord,” that means that He should be Lord of our lives—not just our Savior, but our Lord, Lord of our lives. We live in submission and obedience to Him. That is the life that overcomes.
It says they loved not their lives unto death. The life here is their soul-life. They take up their cross daily, willing to satisfy the Lord instead of themselves. They are willing to die to their self-life and let the life of the Lord be transformed in them, that they can be made ready.
Okay, I have about fifteen more minutes. Can I continue?
Otherwise, I will give you a fifteen-minute message next time.
Yes, at least fifteen. Let me finish. Let me finish. We had not really gotten to the burden on my heart yet.
So I have until twelve o’clock. Remember, it is a spiritual clock. It is not an earthly clock here we are dealing with.
Brothers and sisters, I had mentioned earlier that living an overcoming life is going to get down to your heart—your heart for the Lord.
I just wanted to share that at the Lord’s first coming, the Lord was actually drawn to the earth by the hearts of those who were ready and were preparing for Him. I will give you some examples.
Zacharias and Elisabeth—you remember them, John the Baptist’s mother and father. In Luke 1:5-25, the word says that they were both righteous before God, walking in His commandments and ordinances, blameless before the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, they had served the Lord their whole life. Zacharias was a priest, and he had drawn the lot that year to go into the holy place, offering incense and to offer up the prayer of the nation.
Now, what was that prayer? It is easy to know: “O Messiah, come. Come, Lord Messiah.” That was the prayer of the nation that had to be prayed each year as the priest went in to the most holy place.
Most of the whole nation of Israel was praying for the Messiah to come. They wanted the Messiah to come. That was in their mindset. They were looking for the Messiah. The whole nation was looking for the Messiah.
But, brothers and sisters, here is the problem: their spiritual condition was contrary to their thoughts and prayers. Though they wanted the Messiah to come, it was really for their own personal good. They wanted the Messiah to come to get the Romans off their back, to overthrow the Roman Empire, and set up His kingdom.
That was their heart, but not with Zacharias and Elisabeth. Their heart was indeed for the Messiah Himself, and that was the key. Their heart was for the Messiah Himself.
Now, brothers and sisters, you might remember they were childless. That was a real shame in that day. The people looked down on them because they did not have any children. So they probably prayed for many, many years, but they were very old now, beyond being able to have any children. They had probably even given up on that prayer.
But they had been praying that, I believe, not only to remove the shame, but because they wanted a child for God’s glory. Their prayer was not just selfish. Their prayer was for the glory of God.
They had probably, as I said, maybe even quit praying. I do not know. But they were still praying that the Messiah would come. Brothers and sisters, they are examples of keeping the patience of the Lord, watching and praying. They lived an overcoming life.
We remember that Gabriel appeared to Zacharias while he was praying and said they would have a son. Who was that son? John the Baptist, the one who would prepare the nation for the first coming of the Lord Jesus.
I just want to say this: Zacharias and Elisabeth’s heart is the kind of heart that draws the Lord back.
Mary and Joseph. Six months later—this is in Luke 1:26-38—the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary. She was young and betrothed to Joseph, a virgin.
The angel said, “Blessed are you. You are favored of God, and you shall conceive a son and bear a son, the Son of God.” Startling to this young woman. She was betrothed to another man, and now this angel was talking about her becoming pregnant.
She would be considered by her people as a harlot. She would be stoned to death, and Joseph would probably be the one throwing the first stone. In other words, if she accepted what the angel said, this message from the Lord, her life was truly in jeopardy, brothers and sisters.
But her response was beautiful. She said:
Behold the handmaid of the Lord;
be it unto me according to thy word.
She was giving up her own life, basically, that the Lord’s will might be done. She is an example of one who loves their life not unto death.
Sacrificial love. That is what draws the Lord back: sacrificial love.
Simeon—you remember him. He was a godly man, was he not? What was it? He hoped for the consolation of Israel, and that was the Messiah. He was hoping for the Son.
So much was this on his heart that God revealed to him that he would not die before he had seen the Messiah. This was his hope. I think every day he probably got up and went to the temple, looking for when the Messiah would be there.
One day, it says in the Word, through the urging of the Holy Spirit, he went to the temple. And guess what? Mary and Joseph showed up with the baby Jesus to be consecrated according to the law.
Oh, brothers and sisters, this is amazing. This man immediately recognized this as the Messiah. He was just a baby in swaddling clothes, but he knew it was the Spirit. The Spirit had moved on his heart.
He said, “Lord, I have seen the consolation of Israel. Lord, now You can let Your servant go. I have seen Your salvation.”
His life’s hope had been fulfilled. He had seen the Messiah before he passed away.
You know what? I say this with all reverence and tears in my heart: that was our brother Stephen Kong’s hope. He said it to me personally, and I think to other brothers and sisters. He may have even said it in a message; I do not remember. But he said that was his hope: that he would see the Lord before he died.
He did pass away, but he left us with this message: be prepared for the Lord’s return. Are you ready?
Well, a heart full of hope—that is what will draw back the Lord. Hope to see Him. Do you wake up in the morning and the first thing you think about is, “Is this today, Lord?” I have to admit, I do not.
But that was the heart of Simeon. The heart of Anna. She was the widow. Her husband had died eighty-four years before. Amazing.
But she did not just sit around and become passive, waiting for people to bring her something to live on. She went to the temple, and she prayed daily. It says she actually lived there day and night, giving herself to fasting and prayer, waiting for the hope of Israel.
That was her heart, giving praise and thanks. Unwavering hope, brothers and sisters, is what draws the Lord back. She persevered in full hope, praying. Brothers and sisters, oh, the Lord is looking for that today.
The shepherds in the field—most scholars probably think these were the shepherds who were herding the sheep that were going to be sacrificed.
As you know, shepherds were not learned people. They were simple people, pious people, just pure-hearted for the Lord. I think you have known some people like that. They are just simple, love the Lord, and have a pure heart.
Well, the angel appeared to them and said a child would be born in Bethlehem, in a manger, and this child is the Son of God. Boy, they did not wait around. They did not question the angel.
With simplicity of heart, brothers and sisters, they just believed. It was in their heart. They believed, and they immediately went and found the baby in the manger, and they worshiped Him.
They went around the city spreading the good news, the ones who first carried out the gospel of the good news. A simple and pure heart, an undivided heart, is what the Lord is looking for.
1 John 3:2-3 says:
We shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.
And every man that hath this hope in Him
purifieth himself, even as He is pure.
A simple, pure heart. We do not have to be learned or scholarly. We just simply need to love the Lord, brothers and sisters, as these shepherds did.
May our hearts be like the hearts of these ones. Oh, if we look inside, brothers and sisters, we will probably despair of our own hearts. But the Lord is faithful if we look to Him.
The Word says the Lord is the strength of our heart. Do you believe that? Do you believe the Lord can get to your heart? Do you believe the Lord can cause your heart to seek Him like these ones sought Him, looking for His return?
This is the burden.
I shared at the West Coast Christian Winter Conference over the holidays. I was sharing the history of the assembly in Richmond and the lessons learned. It was four messages. The last message I shared was on “Are You Ready?”
I had to do that, brothers and sisters, because in our history here, through our brother Stephen Kong, the Lord left a burden with us. He was so burdened for those last five years. He left that burden with us, and that burden was, “Are you ready?”
So, in faithfulness to our history here, in the testimony of the Lord here, I felt I had to share that message out there at the very end. And I did.
This is what really touched my heart and convicted me. The next morning, as in most conferences, a couple of brothers—one who spoke English and one Chinese—would stand up and kind of lead that initial time in the morning and make some announcements.
This young brother, I think he was probably in his late thirties or early forties, stood up with tears running down his face. He said, “I heard this message many times through Brother Kong: ‘Are you ready?’”
He said, “You know, I confess, I even wearied of the message. It became a weariness to me. But last night, the Lord convicted me.”
He said, “I really saw what the Lord was saying to me: ‘I am looking for a response. I am looking for a response.’”
I think, brothers and sisters, that is a burden on my heart. We have heard this message ourselves many times. We have heard the exhortation. It did not just come through Stephen; it was from the Lord Himself to us.
Why today? Why share it again? Because my heart was convicted. He is looking for a response.
Lord Jesus, we just come to You today. We look to You. Lord, we want to be a ready people. We really do, Lord.
As I said earlier, sometimes we despair of our own heart when it comes to desiring and looking for You, for Your return. Lord, forgive us.
But we ask, Lord, that You would press upon our hearts, that You would not let us get away from this burden until it is fulfilled. Lord Jesus, we come. We pray that You might find a response in our hearts. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Hang on a minute. I got you. Thank you.