Prov 27:1 says, “Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” This statement is worth your serious consideration today. Thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. One day we’re rocking along like everything tomorrow is is going to be just like today, only a little bit better. And then something like the coronavirus springs up and the next thing you know, you’re out of a job, someone you know is either very sick or has died from the disease, your investments are bucking like a wild bronco, and you don’t know if or when things will ever return to normal. You’re thinking, man, I didn’t see this coming. Indeed.
You weren’t ready for this, were you? Well, now is a perfect time to start thinking about the answer to this question, “Are you ready?”
Are you ready for eternity? – Amos 4:12 says, “prepare to meet thy God.” You are going to meet him one day. That’s for sure. Are you ready? There are a couple of considerations here.
The first is, are you saved? You are not ready for eternity if you are not saved today. God is ready to pardon you [Neh 9:17]. God is ready to forgive [Ps 86:5]. But are you ready to receive him? I was talking with a fellow about this very subject the other day. He asked about good people in other parts of the world who keep their religious dogma faithfully but don’t know about Jesus. I replied that they know, behind the shadow of a doubt, that their adherence to their religious teachings has not solved their problem with sin. They may be good people, but they are still sinners in need of pardon and forgiveness. They haven’t solved their problem with sin. The only person in the universe who can pardon your sins is God. Even the Pharisees knew this [Mk 2:7]. And the only provision for your eternal forgiveness from sin is the shed blood of Jesus Christ on Calvary [Eph 1:7; Col 1:14]. Any person, anywhere in the world, who wants eternal life and realizes he can’t get it by his own good works will turn to God for help and God will be certain that he hears about Jesus so that he can be saved. That’s Rom 2; that’s Acts 10. Now you’re hearing about Jesus. You need to trust him to save you. He’s the one who died, was buried, and rose again. He’s the only way you’ll be prepared to meet God.
The second is, are you ready to be judged? God is ready to judge every person, whether saved or lost. 1 Pet 4:5 says, “Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.” If you are saved, or if you get saved today, you will miss the white throne judgment because you are now justified [Rom 5:9]. God has judged you “not guilty.” However, you will still face him at the judgment seat of Christ [2 Cor 5:10; Col 3:23-25]. What have you been doing to prepare to meet Jesus at this judgment? He’ll judge your service to him, your love of his appearing [2 Tim 4:8], your building materials in his temple [1 Cor 3:11-15], your testimony and witness to the lost [1 Thes 2:19], and so forth. Are you really ready for this? You need to be prepared for this judgment because it’s coming.
Are you ready for anything in the meantime? – Prov 27:1 – “thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” You don’t have any idea what’s coming your way. You don’t know if you’ll get the virus. If you get it, you don’t know if you’ll recover from it. You don’t know if there will be a rise in the market or a fall. You don’t know if there will be a natural disaster. You don’t know if the rapture is tomorrow. You don’t know if you’ll even live to see tomorrow. You have no idea what will happen tomorrow. But God knows. And the only way to be ready for anything coming your way is to walk with God each day.
What many Christians have discovered in the past couple of weeks is that they only thought they had been walking with God.
Enoch’s translation didn’t come as a shock to him. He had been walking with God [Gen 5:24]. I’ll guarantee you that the rapture is going to be a shock to some Christians. They won’t know what hit them because they haven’t been walking with God.
All those horrible events going on in the Tribulation won’t be a shock to Moses and Elijah. You know why? Because they’ll be walking with God [Rev 11:3-7]. Look at verse 4. When it comes time for them to be killed by the beast, they just die. They know what’s coming. Look at Rev 11:11-12.
Do you know what David said? He said, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” [Ps 23:4]. You know why he wouldn’t be afraid? He said, “for thou art with me.” He was walking with God.
The closer we get to the coming of the Lord, the more things are going to get shaky. You have known this for as long as you have been believing the words of God. Now, if you haven’t been believing the Bible, then you probably don’t know that things are going to get much worse before Jesus comes. The question is, “Are you ready for anything that the Lord allows to happen or that the Lord may do or that the devil might do, while you’re still on this earth?” The Lord could do anything with you or let anything happen to you. Are you really ready for that?You better be ready. And now you know how to be ready for anything coming your way. You must walk everyday with God. That way, if the time of your departure is at hand, you will be ready just like Paul was in 2 Tim 4:6.
Conclusion: you get ready for eternity by getting saved and living with the understanding that you will be judged at the judgment seat of Christ. You get ready for anything that happens between now and then by walking each day with God.