The most critical thing that Jesus Christ warned all His disciples about for His second coming was readiness. He warned us all to be ready, and maintained that our readiness is of paramount importance. And He used different situations and parables to demonstrate to us what really constitutes readiness. His second coming was supposed to bring us joy and relief; and we do not have any role to play once He got here. Why them is it important that we get ready and waiting?
Once He shows up, He initiates the recovery of all His saints from all corners of the globe by His angels. And this is automatic, and we have no active role to play in it; yet He warned us about being ready. That is a clear demonstration that our readiness is not something we can put on when He gets here.
Our readiness is something we spend our lives putting on ourselves so that the moment Jesus Christ shows up we are in that ready state and will automatically be taken as planned. If anyone has any misunderstanding of what constitutes readiness, it is not because Jesus Christ was not clear enough. Rather it is because we read the wrong meaning into the things He taught us. He used Noah and the great flood to illustrate this. (Luke 17:26-27).
He illustrated with Lot and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. (Luke 17:28-29). He said it will be the same way in the day of His second coming. He specifically pointed us to Lot’s wife, “Remember Lot’s wife!” (Luke 17:32), who received God’s grace and was led to safety by the angels of God, but at the last minute lost the same life the grace was supposed to preserve because she looked back at the burning city of Sodom against the instructions of the angels of God.
If this readiness that Jesus Christ warned us about is not that critical, He would not have stressed it so much. And from the parable of the ten virgins, it becomes very clear that this readiness is not on-the-moment kind of thing; it is how we live our lives up to the moment Jesus Christ shows up --- or up to the time of our death, in the event we are no longer alive when He returns to the earth.
It then behooves us to go through life obeying the commands of Jesus Christ so that we would be ready when He shows up. Obeying all His commands does not only get us ready for His second coming, it also equips us with the tools we need to defeat the devil and all his evil schemes, thereby permitting us to live the abundant life on earth and be salt and light to the world. That is why the Bible tells us: “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” (Ephesians 6:13). After we have done everything to stand! To stand proudly face to face with Jesus Christ as He judges humanity! The rest of this chapter will help you to be ready as Jesus Christ commanded.
If you believe you were not going to be around for the tribulations and you end up being around, you may be in over your head in difficulties. ‘Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen.’ That is the warning. But if you feel it does not pertain to you, how can you be ready for it? You would not and that is the tragedy of believing incorrectly.
We saw from the parable of the ten virgins that their readiness was not from being awake and watching for the arrival of the bridegroom. Their readiness was from something they did well in advance: purchasing extra oil and bringing it with them. All ten virgins fell asleep because it took longer than expected for the bridegroom to arrive.
Yet when the bridegroom finally arrived, all ten virgins woke up to the call about his arrival, but only five were ready to go in with him and did. If you believe that tribulations would happen before rapture and you prepare yourself for the worst, if Christ shows up ahead of it, you have lost nothing. So do not be misled. It is your life and your salvation; not anybody else's.