We Must be Ready

When Jesus spoke of His return,  He warned His followers that they must be ready.  He instructed them to stay alert,  keep watch and not to be caught sleeping. Jesus instructed and warned His followers like this.

So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him (Matthew 24:44).

But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. "Later the others also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’ But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don't know you’ (Matthew 25:10-12).

Be on guard! Be alert ! You do not know when that time will come. It's like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. ‘Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back--whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch’' (Mark 13:33-37)

Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him (Luke 12:35-40).

One day when Jesus was teaching, He said,

“I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power."  After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them.  His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.  And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.  Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters--one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) Mark 9:1-6

Even though Peter didn’t know what he was saying, it’s wrote that the people of God will be sheltered in the Day of the Lord.  Here is what they wrote.

Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident. One thing I ask of Yahweh, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of Yahweh all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of Yahweh and to seek him in his temple. For in the day of trouble [Great Tribulation] he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock (Psalm 27:3-5).

Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me. I said, "Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest-- I would flee far away and stay in the desert; I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm (Psalm 55:5-8).

Psalm 55 may be referencing this description as recorded in Revelation.

The woman [Israel] fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days. … When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman [Israel] was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time [3 ½ years], out of the serpent's reach (Revelation 12:6, 13-14).

Your country is desolate, your cities burned with fire; your fields are being stripped by foreigners right before you, laid waste as when overthrown by strangers. The Daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a field of melons, like a city under siege. Unless Yahweh Almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah (Isaiah 1:7-9).

Give us counsel, render a decision. Make your shadow like night-- at high noon. Hide the fugitives, do not betray the refugees. Let the Moabite fugitives stay with you; be their shelter from the destroyer." The oppressor will come to an end, and destruction will cease; the aggressor will vanish from the land. In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it-- one from the house of David-- one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness (Isaiah 16:3-5).

But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead. Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by. See, Yahweh is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her; she will conceal her slain no longer (Isaiah 26:19-21).

Gather together, gather together, O shameful nation, before the appointed time arrives and that day sweeps on like chaff, before the fierce anger of Yahweh comes upon you, before the day of the Lord's wrath comes upon you. Seek Yahweh, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord's anger (Zephaniah 2:1-3).

Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber. Let the priests, who minister before Yahweh, weep between the temple porch and the altar. Let them say, 'Spare your people, O Yahweh. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'' Then Yahweh will be jealous for his land and take pity on his people (Joel 2:15-18).

Again, Peter said. “Let us put up three shelters--one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah” (Mark 9:5). It’s possible that Peter was making reference to the shelters which are part of God’s Feast of Tabernacles. The Israelites lived in tabernacles before they entered the Promised Land. Yahweh may expect His people to live in booths just before they enter the promised coming Kingdom of God on earth.

Below are two Old Testament references regarding the Feast of Tabernacles.

So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to Yahweh for seven days; the first day is a day of rest, and the eighth day also is a day of rest. On the first day you are to take choice fruit from the trees, and palm fronds, leafy branches and poplars, and rejoice before Yahweh your God for seven days. Celebrate this as a festival to Yahweh for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month. Live in booths for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in booths so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God (Leviticus 23:39-43).

They found written in the Law, which Yahweh had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to live in booths during the feast of the seventh month and that they should proclaim this word and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem: "Go out into the hill country and bring back branches from olive and wild olive trees, and from myrtles, palms and shade trees, to make booths"--as it is written. So the people went out and brought back branches and built themselves booths on their own roofs, in their courtyards, in the courts of the house of God and in the square by the Water Gate and the one by the Gate of Ephraim. The whole company that had returned from exile built booths and lived in them (Nehemiah 8:14-16).

Christ fulfilled the first Festivals of Yahweh including - Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits and Weeks - at His First Coming. 

He will also fulfill the final festival of Ingathering including - Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles - at His Second Coming.

During the Feast of Tabernacles, the people of God are to live in booths for seven days.

Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him (Luke 12:35-40).

Richard H Perry