…hath made herself ready.

…hath made herself ready.

“Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.” (Rev. 19. 7).

There is danger in becoming morbid even in preparing for the Lord’s coming. We remember a time in our life when we had devoted ourselves to spend a month in waiting upon the Lord for a baptism of the Holy Ghost, and before the end of the month, the Lord shook us out of our seclusion and compelled us to go out and carry His message to others; and as we went, He met us in the service.

There is a musty, monkish way of seeking a blessing, and there is a wholesome, practical holiness which finds us in the company of the Lord Himself not only in the closet and on the mountain-top of prayer, but among publicans and sinners, and in the practical duties of life.

It seems to us that the practical preparation for the Lord’s coming consists, first, of a very full entering into fellowship with Him in our own spiritual life, and letting Him not only cleanse us, but perfect us in all the finer touches of the Spirit’s deeper work, and then, secondly, getting out of ourselves and living for the help of others and the preparation of the world for His appearing. 

Meditation:

When Jesus comes to reward His servants

Whether it be noon or night

Faithful to Him will He find us watching

With our lamps all trimmed and bright?

Oh, can we say we are ready, brother?

Ready for the soul’s bright home?

Say, will He find you and me still watching

Waiting, waiting when the Lord shall come?

If, at the dawn of the early morning

He shall call us one by one

When to the Lord we restore our talents

Will He answer thee, “Well done”?

Have we been true to the trust He left us?

Do we seek to do our best?

If in our hearts there is naught condemns us

We shall have a glorious rest

Blessed are those whom the Lord finds watching

In His glory they shall share

If He shall come at the dawn or midnight

Will He find us watching there?

Culled from Days of Heaven on Earth by A.B Simpson