03.15. Get Ready for Christ's Coming

CHAPTER FIFTEEN Get Ready for Christ’s Coming

SINCE JESUS is coming, I beseech you to get ready. The wise virgins had oil in their lamps; the foolish had no oil and were left behind. Jesus said, "Be ye therefore ready."

First of all, those who know they are saved should so live that they will not be ashamed before Christ at His coming. This duty of all Christians to be ready for Jesus is expressed in 1Jn 2:28, which says, "And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming." I know I am saved, and therefore when Jesus comes, I will go with Him. But a child of God who is not on duty, not winning souls, not living right will be ashamed before Christ when He comes.

We will go with Christ to the wedding supper, but we should also remember that we go to the judgment seat of Christ. We must give an account of our stewardship and receive our reward. One for his faithfulness is to rule over ten cities, and another over five cities (Luk 19:17-19). We are to be rewarded every man according to his works. But our works shall be tried by fire (1Co 3:12-15). Our works may be gold, silver, and precious stones, beautiful things that abide, or they may be wood, hay, and stubble, temporary things that will burn and be destroyed. 1Co 3:14-15 says: "If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire."

Even a child of God, saved by the blood, who is caught up to meet Christ in the air but finds all of his works burned up and with no treasures in Heaven, will be ashamed before Christ at His coming. I am not talking now about salvation, for that is forever settled when one believes on Christ. Salvation is given alike to all who trust in Christ and on the merits of the shed blood of Jesus. But after our bodies are glorified and after we are entered into everlasting life, then those who have labored well will have their rewards, and those who have none will be ashamed before Jesus at His coming!

Then Christian, do not waste the hours, but redeem the time, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh!

I recall some years ago in Fort Worth, Texas, a man had lost his little son twelve years old. It had been my privilege to win the boy to Christ, and the mother and father clung to me for comfort in their loss. I remember that the father came to me and told me how he had found the little boy’s toys in the garage, lying where he had left them when he went suddenly and unexpectedly home to be with God. Then the father said to me, "Brother Rice, I have just realized that this business that I have built up and all my property and my interests here on earth are nothing but toys. One day I will go away and leave them just as my son left his skates and wagon and ball and bat."

Dear brother, the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are unseen are eternal. Jesus is coming! Let us lay up treasures in Heaven while we can, and then we will not be ashamed before Him when He comes.

Get Unsaved Loved Ones Ready

Several years ago after I had preached in a great church several times on the second coming of Christ, I went through the audience as they waited for a baptismal service, and a woman plucked me by the sleeve. I looked down and the tears were running down her face. Her voice trembled as she said, "Brother Rice, do you think Jesus is coming soon?"

I answered, "I do not know, but I hope and believe that He is. There are many signs that Jesus is likely to come soon. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, I am afraid He is!" she said. "You and others have been preaching on the Second Coming, and I have been reading my Bible, and I am afraid He is coming soon."

"Why are you afraid?" I asked. "Aren’t you a Christian? Wouldn’t you be glad to see Him?"

"Oh, I am ready myself," she said, "but my husband is lost, and I am afraid Jesus will come before he is saved, and I will have to leave him behind."

I urged the dear woman to do what she could to win her husband now. Her tears and her deep concern over her husband impressed me greatly. We talk about how terrible it would be for a sinner to be left behind when Jesus comes, and that is true. But we must not forget that much of the responsibility is on us. If you who read this have loved ones unsaved, I beg you, do your best to get them saved now. Jesus said, "I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work" (John 9:4). So let us win them while we can.

One of the greatest joys of my heart as I look forward to the rapture and the meeting of Christ in the air is the thought of seeing those whom God has helped me win to Christ. That is what Paul meant, too, when he said in I Thessalonians, "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?" (1Th 2:19).

I want to see Jesus first, of course, see the scars in His hands and kiss His feet. But then I want to see them as they meet Jesus, those to whom God has let me preach the gospel, those whose hands I have taken as they have taken Christ, those who came with penitent tears and surrendered hearts in country brush-arbors, in churches, in tents and tabernacles, open-air and theatre meetings all up and down this land! Oh! what a joy when I see them everyone greet the Saviour to whom I first introduced them in my poor ministry! That is my crown of rejoicing! That is my glory and joy when Jesus comes. And I want to win as many as I can, knowing that my joy and my reward at the coming of Christ will depend largely on how many others I have brought to Jesus. But Are You, Yourself, Ready to Meet Jesus?

It may be that some nominal Christian has read this book, some church member who is not sure he has ever been saved. Perhaps some casual reader has picked up this book who has never claimed to be a child of God and who has never been born again. If so, I beg you in Jesus’ name, get ready, get ready, for Jesus is coming! The foolish virgins went out to meet the Bridegroom with no oil, and the door was shut in their faces. Their lamps went out.

Nothing will take the place of the oil of salvation, and I urge you today to put your trust in Jesus. You are a sinner. Your sins have brought condemnation upon you and the greatest of all sins is that you have not trusted in Jesus as your Saviour. John 3:18 says: "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

If you have not trusted Jesus, then you are guilty of the same kind of sin as will be the Man of Sin, the Antichrist. The ruin that will come on the Man of Sin may be yours too, for if Jesus comes today and you are unsaved, you will be left behind to go into the reign of the Man of Sin and the Great Tribulation on this earth.

If you are left here when the Christian people are taken away, you are likely to commit the unpardonable sin.

Multitudes will, for every one whose name is not written in the book of life will take the mark of the beast, the Man of Sin; and when one does, he will be forever lost with no chance to escape. When mother and sister and wife are taken away, when every true church is closed, and when every saved person is gone, what will you do? Some will be saved, but many, many more will not. And if you miss the rapture, you miss the wedding feast in Heaven. Then, suppose you should be saved in the Great Tribulation, you would be marked for destruction, for persecution, and torture and death. For the Bible teaches that those who will not take the mark of the Antichrist will not be allowed to buy nor sell, will not be allowed to make an honest living, and will be hunted and hounded and must hide themselves in the caves and mountains because of the persecution. There is everything to lose if you are not ready when Jesus comes. And the most likely thing is that you will lose your soul. It is wicked to delay. The Scriptures say: "Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." Now is God’s time. You can be saved right now if you will in your heart put your trust in Jesus. I hope you will. Nothing can make you ready for the coming of Jesus-not baptism, nor church membership nor moral integrity -no, nothing but being born again, born of the Spirit, becoming a child of God. And you can have that new birth today if you simply trust in Jesus Christ as your Saviour, depending on Him with all your heart. He loves you, and He died for you. Trust Him for salvation and be ready for the coming of Christ.

"Even So, Come, Lord Jesus!" When Handel had finished his oratorio, "The Messiah," and the glorious climax of the Hallelujah Chorus rang in his mind and heart and ears, he was transported with joy, and almost he could see the glorious coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I remember when after five years of toil I completed preparation of a correspondence course on the whole Bible with my lessons on the Book of Revelation. As I dictated the comments on the last two chapters I was so exalted and so thrilled I walked up and down in my study as I dictated. Tears ran down my face, and my voice trembled as I realized a little of the marvel of the glorious rapture of Christians.

What must have been the feeling of the beloved John when on the Isle of Patmos he wrote down the words that were given to him by Jesus Christ? The book of Revelation tells us of the coming revelation of Jesus Christ to all the nations of the earth.

John wrote down the plagues that would come on this earth.

- He wrote down the glorious return and the rapture of Christians.

- He wrote down that august scene of the twentieth chapter when he said, "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God!"

- He tells us how the New Jerusalem is to come down out of Heaven to a new earth.

- He tells of a new earth surrounded by new heavens, and how God the Father and the Son are to be forever on this glorious paradise that needs no sun, for they are the light of it, and needs no temple, for they are the temple!

- He tells us how God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes, and how there shall be no more death nor pain nor sorrow, for the former things are passed away. And then the exultant John, on the highest mountain peak of divine inspiration ever given to mortal man, tells us, "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely" (Rev 22:17).

Then John writes down the solemn warning from God that no man is to take from or add to the words of this prophecy. And then he tells us how the Lord Jesus said, "Surely I come quickly." And finally when the words of Jesus rang out, "SURELY I COME QUICKLY," John answered back with all the inspired passion of his soul, "Amen! Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" So my heart cries it today. Come, Lord Jesus, come! The drought of a seared and parched land calls for You! The hatred and bloodshed and disappointment and terror of war call for You! The hungry hearts of Your children bleed! The whole world groans in travail! This earth which was once the paradise of God longs to be made whole! The desert should blossom like the rose! Instead of the thorns should come up the fir tree! From Jerusalem should go out the law! Thy saints should reign with Thee! The meek should inherit the earth! Wrong, now reigning, should be put down!

Come, Lord Jesus, come! Come! Amen!

AMEN JOHN R. RICE Wheaton, Illinois