For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24: 37-39 ESV)
Fear Not… Then Be Ready
Yesterday, a warning light came on my dashboard. It was yellow, and had the shape of a flat tire. My wonderfully advanced electronic sensing system was telling me that I needed to check the air in at least one of my tires. I stopped at one service station, but their air pump was damaged.
So, I drove on.
After all, the warning light was not red… or flashing… or getting brighter.
As it happened, everything was fine. I expect it was the cold air of the morning that slightly deflated my tire, and a few miles on the highway took care of the air pressure.
Jesus is giving a warning in Matthew 24 to be ready. We usually read these particular verses and assume that Jesus is warning us to be ready to meet Him in person when things get really, really bad. And as bad as you think things are, a part of you realizes that things could easily get worse. So, like me, we see the yellow light, and drive on.
But that is not what Jesus really says here. When mentioning the times of Noah, Jesus does not draw our attention to how wild and lawless things were during Noah’s time, although He could have. Instead, Jesus points out that people were simply living lives in mundane normalcy. There is nothing shocking or evil about eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. Those activities indicate that society was just going on about society’s business.
Even though a flood was coming.
Like those ancient folk, we live pretty casually. We eat and drink. We merrily marry and give in marriage. We focus on today, and we make plans for tomorrow. We ignore the absolute warnings that we are going to encounter Jesus… at any time. And I am not writing about some sort of end of time encounter. I am writing about closing our eyes in death, and opening them in The King’s presence.
Being ready for that is both easy and necessary.
All it takes to be ready, is to know that you need Him, know why you need Him, and cling to Him as the only hope today and tomorrow.
Fear not, then be ready.