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Preparing for the Soon Appearing of Our Lord
(Overcomer Wu)

"Awaiting the blessed hope, even the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.” Titus 2:13

The waiting disciple, the ready disciple is not an idle disciple but one who is constantly occupied with the Lord's business, as opposed to our own business. “Occupy till I come” (Luk 19:13) is the Lord’s command. And he is not only to be occupied, busy, but to be busy about the very tasks/functions (1 Cor 12:11) based on the grace the Lord has given each one of us (Eph 4:7). He says, “To every man his work” (Mk 13:34). We must each one give an account to God for the deeds done in our body that each one may receive his reward according as his work (2 Cor 5:10). Please don't misunderstand me here as teaching that we need to be saved by work, certainly we are saved by grace through faith both initially and in our progressive salvation; however, there is a need for the work of cooperation on our part for our continual salvation of our souls as is made clear to us by verses such as Philippians 2:12. Also, this line of work required that we depend fully on Christ, for apart from Him we can do nothing (Jn 15:5). Therefore, it is crucial that we constantly pray and wait on the Lord even as He says emphatically, "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” (Luk 21:36). (For the sake of avoiding confusion, let us refer to this kind of work that we've just described as “God-ordained work”.)

Someday we shall all receive our reward based on how we carry out the God-ordained work. This reward is only applicable, of course, to those who first have been genuinely saved, born again. We are saved by grace through faith. After that, we are rewarded according to our works. God’s plan is that we keep busy with His ordained work; Hence, the saints are often refered to in the New Testament as His “servants.” May we be found of Him as His faithful servants carrying out in His will and engaged in the King's privileged and glorious service till He comes again.

How easy it is for us to get caught up in making provision for temporal needs especially to the point of hoarding riches that are well over and above our necessity for existence. Yet it is far more important and necessary to our spiritual and eternal well-being for us to spend more time in knowing God’s will and His kingdom and to walk accordingly; For this reason, Jesus exhorted us to “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matt 6:33). “Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Eph 5:17). How shameful it would be for you and I in that great day of accounting (Rom 14:10,12) if we should have to tell the Lord that we never spend sufficient time to find out what His will is and to pray and walk accordingly. “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” (1 Jn 2:28). Now is the time to take heed to ourselves and see to it that we are ready for the soon coming of the Lord, occupying until He comes.

One reason that some Christians once used of God are now ineffective is because their passionate first love for the Lord is gone and they are now just carrying on their own ministry. “Let all things be done by you in love” (1 Cor 16:14). Since God’s Word tells us to do all things in His love, for love is the fulfillment of the law; if we are devoid of the divine love for God, for other Christians, and for sinners, it is no wonder that God cannot use us, for we would be doing something inconsistent with God's character and He cannot be a partaker of our fleshly endeavors by helping us to carry on our own works. Deep and sincere repentance is the only way to to restore us in such case. “You have left your first love. Remember therefore from whence you have fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come to you quickly, and will remove your lampstand out of its place, unless you repent” (Rev 2:4-5). “Behold, I come quickly.” Dear saints, I believe it is going to seem very sudden when we discover that the end has finally come. The Lord Jesus Himself said in Matthew 24:44, “Therefore,... be ready, for the Son of Man comes in an hour that you do not expect!” Now is the time for you and I to be aroused out of our spiritual stupor. While there's still time, we need to seize every opportunity to do the God-ordained work! “I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be” (Rev 22:12).

Each one is not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but we are to walk humbly before God and see His work made manifest through our lives. We should each read the twelve chapter of Romans in this connection. Dear saints, now is the accepted time, and now is still the day of salvation for our souls (2 Pet 1:9). We should all redeem the time and attend to the matter of doing God’s will and our respective function in the building of the Church. Oh, the rude and fearful awakening which will overtake those who think that our Lord and Master still delays His coming and trifle with the warnings in God's Word! Walk while we have the light that we may be the children of light. Care not and fear not what people may think, say or do to us. But we need to be deeply concerned and even be fearful of God who is able to kill not only the body but also the cast the spirit into Gehenna (Luk 12:4-5)! I think part of the reason why we spend so much time being enslaved to this world is because we are fearful what people might think of us... that we're not trendy, not sociable, not fitting in with the rest of the world and be despised by the people around us. It is all too prevalent to see Christians living like they're more fearful of man than God. They are more fearful of their manager/supervisor's review of their work than God's review of their work someday. Or they are more fearful of not passing a school exam or a board exam than passing the ultimate test of our faithfulness as servants of the Lord at His coming. As Christians, we are a people called out of this world and meant to live differently from the worldly people around us. In fact, our separation from this world is a condition of our acceptance as children of God by our Father in heaven (2 Cor 6:17-18). “They that were ready went in with Him to the marriage: and the door was shut” (Matt 25:10). These words serve as both an encouragement and a warning from the lips of Him Who will either be our Rewarder or our Judge!