PREPARATION FOR THE LORD’S COMING
J Bruce Ikin
Matthew 25: 1-10
1 John 3: 1-3
Revelation 19: 6-8
Song of Songs 6: 10
I seek help of the Lord Jesus, dear brethren, to speak about preparation for His coming. We read of Mary; when she anointed the feet of the Lord Jesus, He spoke of her keeping that precious ointment for the day of His preparation for burial. We are in a time for preparing for the Lord’s coming as anticipating that this will be soon. It is wonderful to think of what is being prepared on the divine side. Think of the things that God delights to prepare for those that love Him: “Things which eye has not seen, and ear not heard, and which have not come into man’s heart”, 1 Cor 2: 9! Think of how that is revealed, revealed by the Holy Spirit that is given to us. Then there is what the Lord is preparing too. The Lord Jesus is preparing a place for you and for me. What is that going to be like? It will be wonderful because He is there! There is going to be a reception. Who is going to receive us? He will! Think of what it is that He loves us so much that He is going to receive us in this way! And what is the reception going to be? He is going to receive us to Himself to be ever with Him, to belong to that place that He has prepared for us, along with Himself. What glory there is in that! And it is soon to be. The Lord is going to come; the Lord is coming that you and I might go into that place, received by Himself. What a joyous anticipation!
And then there is what the Spirit is doing too; the Holy Spirit is preparing. We read here in Matthew that there was a cry, a cry in the middle of the night. That has already happened, dear brethren. It happened about two hundred years ago. The Holy Spirit has indicated and drawn attention to the Lord Jesus as the Bridegroom: “Behold, the bridegroom”. His service is ever to make much of Christ, and He drew attention to Him as the Bridegroom. And the way He did it was really wonderful. We are in an age when there is instant communication throughout the world through electronic means. This was not so two hundred years ago, and yet throughout the world there was a stirring of heart as to the coming of the Lord Jesus; engaging believers with Himself. So it was the Bridegroom in view and that means the assembly is in His heart. Think of how He has the assembly in His heart! It is His chief interest here.
Well, we are speaking of the coming of the Lord Jesus: what a wonderful thing it will be. He is going to raise those in the graves first. The dead in Christ shall rise first, our loved ones there, those that we have known. Think of the power of His gathering. In 1 Thessalonians 4: 15 we read, “For this we say to you in the word of the Lord, that we, the living, who remain to the coming of the Lord, are in no way to anticipate those who have fallen asleep; for the Lord himself, with an assembling shout, with archangel’s voice and with trump of God, shall descend from heaven; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we, the living who remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we shall be always with the Lord. So encourage one another with these words”. The Thessalonians had thought - had been taught by someone - that perhaps the Lord had already come; they were in despair. What Paul brings in is that He is yet to come, and that He is indeed going to come. Indeed, the Lord is going to come powerfully, not for the world to see, but for every saint in the grave, and those of us who are living to hear. We shall hear His voice - it will be an assembling shout. What a gathering this will be! What a gathering - to Him! And it is by Him. He is the gathering Centre. What a moment that will be! Are you looking forward to it? Are you ready for it? Am I ready for it, ready for His coming, ready indeed to meet Him? So it is not a static thing. It is that we should go forth to meet Him. That is movement, movement in relation to Himself, to be ready for Him.
It says, “Now the bridegroom tarrying, they all grew heavy and slept”. Well, that was the state in Christendom. That is what it was in those ages before, but in the time we are in there is a tendency, I feel it very much for myself, a result of the pandemic perhaps, that we become a little heavy, become a little sleepy, and perhaps influenced by the world around us where there is a lack of responsibility. May it not be so with us as believers but that we may be alert and ready, and ready to take up responsibility in the little time that there may be before He comes. So it says, “Watch therefore, for ye know not the day nor the hour”, v 13.
We may look at the events around us; we may look at what is happening in this dreadful war and we may wonder what is going to happen, development of terrible weapons of warfare and the possible deployment of them. You may say, ‘Surely the Lord is going to come’. In actual fact, dear brethren, these indications are secondary. What is primary is what is in the hearts of the saints as longing for Him - an inkling you might say of the Lord’s coming known by those who truly love Him. It is in the Father’s hands when He will actually come and so it says, “Watch therefore, for ye know not the day nor the hour”. This scripture shows that we need to be ready, need to be prepared, need to be ready to meet Him.
As we read in the earlier meeting, John in his epistle writes, “we shall see him as he is”, 1 John 3: 2. “Beloved, now are we children of God, and what we shall be has not yet been manifested; we know that if it is manifested we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is”. He now has a body of glory, and we shall see Him as He is. There were those who saw Him as He came out of the grave. Now He has a body of glory, and the wonderful thing is that when we shall see Him, there will be a wonderful transformation to become like Him. Morally and spiritually that should be so now. As looking upon Him in the power of the Holy Spirit we can be formed to be like Him, that we may be truly those who could be recognised as the children of God, as having the right to it, the right to it as receiving the Lord Jesus and believing on His Name.
John says, “every one that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure”, v 3. So as looking at the Bridegroom, looking at Him, let our lamps shine that we might show forth our appreciation of Him. Looking up spiritually upon His face: what do we see there? We see the glad tidings of the glory of Christ; we see His glory there. What we see in the shining of His face is we see the outshining of God. That is to be in our vessels. So the Holy Spirit would help us that we may look upon Him and shine, shine in testimony, shine in appreciation of Him. What is the power for that? It is the oil. The oil is needed in the lamps. That is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the power for shining - the power for testimony until He comes.
Purifying ourselves is a testing matter and it comes right down to me and comes right down to you. “Purifies himself”. What is the standard? “Even as he is pure”. This is a necessary part of readiness for meeting Him resulting from having the hope of His coming in us. I feel the test of that - “even as he is pure”. What is the power for that? It is in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the One who is against the flesh. What a friend we have in Him! He is the One who is able to empower us that we may judge what is wrong in ourselves and that we may purify ourselves according as “he is pure”. That is the Lord Jesus in His purity. That is the individual side.
What we read of in Revelation is the preparedness of the bride, and the clothing that will be given to her. The reference is to the righteousnesses of the saints. Think of that. That is practical righteousnesses, what is actually seen practically in your life and in my life. There is an opportunity for every man, woman, child in this hall that through the display of righteousness according to His assessment, you might be a contributor to this wonderful clothing the Lord Jesus will present to His wife. It says, “his wife has made herself ready”. There is always an opportunity for the fulfilling of righteousness. In every relationship that God puts us in, husband or wife, or parent or child, or employee, whatever it might be, we need to fulfil righteousness. You may say, ‘Well, that is impossible’. If we try to do that in the flesh we will fail, but it is possible because we are given the resource of the Spirit. That is practical righteousness.
There are other ways too in which we can fulfil righteousness - by remembering Him. An opportunity is given every Lord’s day to remember Him. The Lord Jesus puts His own value on your simply remembering Him, in allegiance to Him in a dark scene. And thus, you and I, however old or young we may be, can be a contributor to the wedding garment. This wedding garment is being prepared now. It is now, dear brethren. It is now that it is being formed; it is now that it is being woven. Now that it is being prepared for the Lord’s own pleasure and He is going to assess it. What is assessed as approved by Himself according to His own evaluation will be put into the wedding garment.
Then in the Song of Songs we see again the thought of the bride. “Who is she that looketh forth as the dawn …?”. Her longing is for Him; her longing is for Him as coming in into this scene as the dawn. “Who is she that looketh forth as the dawn …?”. Think of the countenance of the bride here. The Lord’s desire is expressed in chapter two; He says,
Let me see thy countenance,
let me hear thy voice;
For sweet is thy voice,
and thy countenance is comely, v 14.
Her countenance is as the dawn, “looketh forth as the dawn”, showing her longing for the Lord Jesus to come. And how does she express that? With the Holy Spirit. Think of how the Holy Spirit is with the bride saying, “Come”, Rev 22: 17. John testifies, “Amen; come, Lord Jesus”. What an expression - she
… looketh forth as the dawn,
Fair as the moon, clear as the sun!
It shows what the assembly does in faithfulness in His absence, until He comes. She is fair, clear as the sun. What does that convey? It conveys that she is drawing her strength and vitality from Him. Christ is spoken of here as the sun and the clarity of His shining is expressed in His assembly.
Then it says, “Terrible as troops with banners”. Think of that, that there is a power, power in the saints, power given of the Holy Spirit against the great tide of evil that is flooding into this world. Isaiah says, “When the adversary shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of Jehovah will lift up a banner against him.” chap 59: 19. That is what He is doing. There is “that which restrains”, 2 Thess 2: 6. We are thankful when we pray - and we should pray for governments - that there is what restrains, but then “there is he who restrains” (v 7); and that is the Holy Spirit. How wonderful to see how active the Holy Spirit is in the last days before the Lord comes. He can be working directly; He can also be working through the prayers of the saints. How vitally important it is to be at the prayer meeting - to arrange our circumstances to be there - and with our brethren express resistance against the adversary and seeking that there should be that which restrains. When the prayers of the saints are no longer here, the Holy Spirit having completed His work in relation to what He is doing now, the power of the devil will come in like a flood. The awful course of apostasy is fast coming upon us; it has already begun. “The mystery of lawlessness” has already begun and there is what is restrained through the presence of the Holy Spirit here as expressed by the saints.
What is precious according to what the Lord is looking for in His saints in the assembly is to be maintained. The enemy is against that; the enemy is against that in many, many ways and he is getting more and more active in resisting and opposing what is of Christ as seen in His saints. Well, there is provision for that too. There is provision for that through overcomers. The Lord would speak to every place where believers are as having His own assessment of the conditions there. What He is looking for in each place are overcomers. Are you an overcomer? I feel tested in standing here to speak of it, but what the Lord is looking for is that you and I might be overcomers. What is the power for that? Again, it is the Holy Spirit. I find the main battleground is in myself. I find there that what is of the flesh is opposed to God, but the Spirit’s power is available that I might judge that and that I might be seen here as an overcomer. The Lord in that letter to Laodicea in appealing for overcomers says, “as I also have overcome”, Rev 3: 21. So we can look to Him as the Overcomer as the One who is seeing His testimony through until He comes.
May you and I have a vital part in it in readiness, in preparation for His coming.
For His Name’s sake.
Glasgow
23rd April 2022