Why Prepare For
The End Of The Age

When is the end of the age?

The end of this age is when Jesus returns (Jesus’s second coming).

Matthew 24:3 (NASB1995)
As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

Matthew 24:30-31 (NASB1995)
30 And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. 31 And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

Jesus’s return will fulfill the prophetic meaning of Day of Trumpet and complete the Day of Redemption.

His return will also begin the Day of Vengeance and God’s bowls of wrath will be poured to the earth.

(Read more: Prophetic Fulfillment of Day of Trumpet)
(Read more: Prophetic Fulfillment of Day of Atonement)

On this day, the glory of the Lord will be revealed as the resurrection of the dead in Christ and transformation of physical bodies happen.

For those who are in Christ, the dead will arise, and mortal will be put on immortality.

1 Corinthians 15:51-54 (NASB1995)
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory.

1 Corinthians 15:42-44 (NASB1995)
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

It will not just be a resurrection but transformation of perishable physical bodies to imperishable spiritual bodies.

The Wedding

Jesus is the Lamb of God who was sacrificed for the redemption of the world.

John 1:29 (NASB1995)
The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

The day of Jesus’s return is the day when He comes to “fetch” His bride for the marriage supper.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (NASB1995)
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

Revelation 19:7 (NASB1995)
Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.

Who is the Bride?

The bride of the Lamb (Jesus) is the church – not refer to any earthly organizations or building, but those who are in Christ. (Ephesians 5:25-27, 2 Corinthians 11:2, John 3:29, Matthew 9:15, Mark 2:19-20, Luke 5:34-35, Matthew 25:1-10)

Notice in the book of Revelation said the bride has made herself ready.

How did she make herself ready? Scripture continues to say the bride wears fine linen which is the righteous acts.

Scripture also continues to say blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper.

Revelation 19:7-9 (NASB1995)
7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” 8 It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. 9 Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.”

Prepare Your Garment

God has made an open invitation for all to come to the wedding feast.

But not all can be qualified to enter the wedding feast, we need to wear proper garment.

Matthew 22:1-2, 10-14 (NASB1995)
1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.

10 Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests. 11 “But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, 12 and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”

The bride of the Lamb has a bright and clean garment (Revelation 19:8). She is the one that made herself ready.

Unrepented sins and being spiritually asleep are what soil our garments.

We need to live a repentance, spiritually awaken lifestyle so that we can be clothed in white garments.

Revelation 3:3-4 (NASB1995)
3 So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. 4 But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. 5 He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NASB1995)
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

With the repentance lifestyle, we go through sanctification, so that our spirit and soul and body be sanctified entirely.

God has given us free will to choose. Each day is a decision to follow the Lord or to go away from Him. Either we serve Him as our Lord, or we serve other stuff. There is no middle ground as the spiritual reality is either for God or against God.

God extends His grace and mercy to adopt us to be His children, but we can reject His sonship.

Let’s not be lukewarm and live a compromised lifestyle.

Let’s not take salvation for granted.

Let’s be watchful to keep our garments.

Revelation 3:16-18 (NASB1995)
16 So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, 18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.

Revelation 16:15 (NASB1995)
“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.”

Prepare For Your Reward

Yes! You will receive reward when Jesus’s return!

Each of us the believers will receive different rewards according to what we have done in our lives. By the grace of God, we can all be saved. But the reward that each of us going to receive will be different! Let’s press on towards the goal for the prize!

Revelation 22:12 (NASB1995)
Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.

1 Corinthians 3:8 (NASB1995)
Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

Philippians 3:14 (NASB1995)
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Not all believers will shine with the same light though; some will shine brightly and some like stars. There will be rankings.

Daniel 12:2-3 (NASB1995)
2 Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. 3 Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.

Prepare Your Oil

Jesus taught in the Parable of Ten Virgins that the wise has oil.

Matthew 25:1-13 (NASB1995)

1 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. 3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps. 5 Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. 6 But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish said to the prudent, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the prudent answered, ‘No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ 10 And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut. 11 Later the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open up for us.’ 12 But he answered, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.

The oil represents the anointing and is the Holy Spirit.

Acts 10:38 (NASB1995)
38 You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

1 John 2:20 (NASB1995)
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.

1 John 2:27-28 (NASB1995)
27 As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. 28 Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.

1 John 2:25 (NASB1995)
This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life.

John 17:3 (NASB1995)
This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

In other words, being wise means to abide in Him by living and walking by the Spirit, such that His anointing can be constantly poured onto us.

The most important thing is to know Jesus – have an intimate relationship with Him.

Just as it takes time and effort to build relationship with a person, you also need to invest time and effort to spend time with Jesus. This is why the virgin needs to “buy” the oil. It implies a cost.

Eternal life is God’s biggest promise to us: to know the Father and the son, Jesus Christ.

Going to a Sunday church doesn’t mean you know Jesus.

Serving in ministries also doesn’t mean you know Him.

Read a lot of Bible and have the full knowledge of Him doesn’t mean you know Him.

Spend time hang out with Him, sit with Him, let Him talk to you.

The Bride Knows The Time

Many people use Matthew 24:36 to dismiss the preparation for the end of the age.

Matthew 24:36 (NASB1995)
But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

In fact, “that day and hour no one know” could be a Hebraic idiom that talks about the Day of Trumpets. The Day of Trumpets is the only day that lands on the first of the month and thus requires careful observation of the moon to declare the official occurrence of that day. Only in the modern times the moon cycle can be calculated down to minutes.

Daniel and Paul said actually the wise and those in the light would know the time.

Daniel 12:10 (NASB1995)
Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight [prudent or wise (Strong’s 7919a. sakal)] will understand.

1 Thessalonians 5:4 (NASB1995)
But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief

Revelations 3:3 (NASB1995)
So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.

Revelation 16:15 (NASB1995)
“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.”

Those who are asleep will not know and feel the coming like a thief. Not so for those who are awake.

Also, Jesus was trying to say “that day and hour no one knows” so to make a point to remind his disciples to stay awake, for His coming will be like the days of Noah (Matthew 24:37-39, 42-44) and the days of Lot (Luke 17:28).

Because of unbelief, people did not understand until the flood came.

The days of Noah and Lot also implies people will engage in immoralities that result in mixed genetics (with fallen angels).

Since the ancient times, the devil has been working on defiling the body of man, as he knows our body has the capacity to be transformed into the temple of God and put on immortality at the day of the Lord.

Let us not live in unbelief!

Let us keep the guard of our own house – the house is our body. Let no thieves broke into our house. Who are the thieves? The devil, Satan. It could refer to foreign genetics and/or demons.

Jesus reminded us to guard our house and be on the alert.

Matthew 24:42-43 (NASB1995)
42 “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. 43 But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

Luke 12:37-40 (NASB1995)
37 Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them. 38 Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

39 “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 40 You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.”

Repentance Prayer of Lukewarmness

Prayer:

Father God,

I repent for partnering with fear to live my life.

I repent for worrying about the things of this world and forget You are my provider and my Shepherd.

I repent for not prioritizing You in my life and did not consult you for all the decisions in my life.

I repent for my self-righteousness and pride.

I repent for partnering with the religious spirit and not follow the lead of the Holy Spirit.

I repent for my lust of the pleasures and wealth of this world.

I repent for my lukewarmness in not living a set apart lifestyle.

Jesus, I nail all these at Your cross and in Your name I break all lies about preparing for Your return.

In Jesus’s name, I renounce the spirit of pride, self-righteousness, fear, worry, laziness, lust, and any unbelief to get out of me and my life, be pierced through, thrusted down and go to where Jesus is to hear your judgement.

Holy Spirit, help me to live a sanctified lifestyle and let Your light shine upon me to lead me to repentance. Please search in me any blind spots and areas that I shall repent until I am fully aligned with You.

Father, I ask You to give me encounters of who You are and Your love. I want to not just hear about You but see You as Job 42:5 said, "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You;"

I also ask You to give me Your grace so I can live a life that honours You by Your truth.

I bless Your name.

In Jesus name I pray, Amen.