Three parables found in Matthew 25 reveal ‘preparation’ mindsets Jesus wants us to possess. He does not want His children to simply take a survivalist mentality or go sit and wait on a mountain top. Nor does He want us to be oblivious to what is happening in the world and miss the signs He described as ‘birth pains.’ I asked our daughter, Kinsey (the midwife), about ‘birth pains.’ “Birth pains come at the end of pregnancy. As time passes, the contractions become more frequent and more intense,” she answered. “Then, when the mother thinks she just can’t make it any longer, the baby comes.”

The parable of the 10 virgins contrasts the difference between being wise and being foolish in the last days. The five foolish virgins were unprepared for the coming of the Bridegroom. They took an emergency outing to buy some oil for their lamps, but didn’t make it back in time. All five were shut out and could not enter the Wedding Banquet. The five wise virgins had already brought extra oil for their lamps; when the Bridegroom came, they were prepared and welcomed in with open arms.

In the Bible, oil usually represents the Spirit, so the message seems clear: Be filled with the Spirit. Have your eyes on Jesus. Be spiritually prepared. God has given us His Holy Spirit, but am I listening to Him? Is God my passion, or do lesser matters consume my mind and energy? How do I spend my time? The Spirit points us to Jesus and helps us know Him better. The Spirit reminds us of the necessity of obeying our Lord. If we don’t understand, we can ask Him for help. The Spirit is our Helper. God is for us! So Jesus warns: “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.” (Matthew 25:13)

The second parable is about using our talents. The question is not as much: how many talents do I have? But rather: what am I doing with what I’ve been given? While Jesus stressed being spiritually prepared as we watch and pray, He did not teach idleness. While we watch, we are about His work. We pray to know God’s will. How do I bless my spouse, my kids, and my friends? How do I serve my neighbor? What type of employee am I? Do I use my abilities and gifts to bring glory to God? Burying my talent brings disaster! Using my gifts and blessings with boldness and wisdom pleases the Lord. “Blessed is that servant whom the Master finds doing his job when He comes.” (Matthew 24:46)

Finally, our Good Shepherd tells a story of Judgment. When you hear people saying: ‘all are going to heaven’ or ‘there is no hell’ or ‘a God of love would never punish’… tell them you prefer to listen to Jesus. He talked a lot about heaven and hell and judgment. This last story in Matthew 25 says there will be a separation. The sheep enter the Kingdom; the goats do not. “How did you treat Me?” was the measuring stick of the Judge. The prepared soul sees one in pain and responds… the hungry, the poor, the heartbroken, the sick, the imprisoned… When we serve the hurting, we serve our Savior. He is everywhere.

Watch. Pray. Obey. Be wise. Be full of the Spirit. Be fruitful. Serve. Love. These are some of Jesus’ instructions on preparation.

“Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” Ephesians 5:15-17

After these last six writings, I’ve concluded that this story is not as much about our experiences as it is about the Kingdom of God. Our part is to believe that “with God, all things are possible,” and to say ‘yes’ when He gives directions. It is also good to remember: “His ways are not our ways.” Sometimes the path is smooth, but as Steven, Paul, Peter, and scores of other believers (many who live today) have experienced, the road is often rocky. Those who are persecuted for Christ and press on are the true heroes. How does one attain such faith? “Jesus is the Author and Perfecter of our faith”… He is our hope. The Spirit wants to guide us all to adopt Job’s mantra: “Though He slay me, still will I trust Him.”

The Good Shepherd may lead us through difficulties, but He does not put to shame those who love Him. I wanted to come back home half-way through the trip, not because I was afraid… I just couldn’t see myself finishing. Since landing in Barcelona, I had gotten progressively worse… but: “If we are we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot disown Himself.” (II Timothy 2:13) After the kind doctor ordered platelets then told us she could not sign the ‘permission to fly’ document, Susan and I knew her solution was God’s answer. “Come back the day before you are to leave. I’ll give you enough platelets to get home.” I started feeling better from that point on.

“The Kingdom of God is among you,” Jesus said. We can’t see it, but sometimes we can sense it. The Father wants the people of Spain to be delivered from the religious abuse that is a part of their history. Jesus is still seeking and saving the lost. The Holy Spirit was working powerfully in L’Arcada. He had chosen to send many American coaches to a different country as witnesses of the love of our Father. He had also chosen many young Spanish followers of Jesus to sacrifice vacation time to pass on to teenagers what they discovered years before at the same camp. God wants His Kingdom to spread throughout Spain and throughout the world. He knows that time is short.

God wants His Kingdom to spread in our land too. He hates hypocrisy and anything else that misrepresents the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He wants us to give up control and trust Him so that one day prodigals from all nations will run to Him. We can’t always discern the ‘wheat and the weeds,’ but He sees perfectly. “The Lord knows those who are His.” (II Timothy 2:19) He longs for His children to listen to Him, to pray fervently, and to live in His Son. Today, Jesus speaks with the same urgency that He had with His disciples. “The Kingdom of God is at hand!”

Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the Kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the Kingdom of God is in your midst.”

Then He said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. People will tell you, ‘There He is!’ or ‘Here He is!’ Do not go running off after them. For the Son of Man in His day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

“It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

“It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.” Luke 17:20-33

Jesus knows that the existence of suffering on earth does not prove His Father to be nonexistent or heartless, as some declare today. Jesus also understands the reality of eternity and the foolishness of hoarding wealth and selfish living. He once asked, “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

In his misery on earth, Lazarus lay outside a wealthy man’s gate “longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table.” When this man who “dressed in purple and fine linen” also died, he found himself in torment… where one’s wardrobe has no bearing. “Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.”

“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received good things while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.” (see Luke 16:19-27)

In a parable about Judgment Day, Jesus shared more about ‘the least of these.’ “Come, you who are blessed by My Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I needed clothes and you clothed Me, I was sick and you came to visit Me.” (Matthew 25:34-36)

If only the rich man had recognized that Lazarus was really God in disguise…

Here are a few takeaways:

• Years, or even decades of suffering on earth will pale in comparison with the billions of years God’s children will spend in eternity.
• The Father intends for His children who have food, shelter, clothing, and comfort to be diligent in helping those who do not.
• The Father blesses those who love and serve ‘the least of these’ as if they love and serve His only begotten Son.
• Those who despise, ignore, and fail to help ‘the least of these’ despise, ignore, and fail to help Jesus.
• The time to change the way we live, think, and use our money is while we are still alive.

“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you did for Me.” Matthew 25:40

A few days ago we had a reunion at an Atlanta Braves baseball game. Twenty-five years after the fish picture, everyone looks different… and the children of our children play together. What will be the picture twenty-five years from now?

We may have a hard time imagining the future, but God sees it plainly. Throughout Scripture, He speaks or lets His servants speak about the future. Sometimes words of prophecy bring hope and comfort for the days ahead; other times prophecies bring consternation.

Walking with Jesus, the apostles admired and praised the beautiful Temple Herod had improved in Jerusalem. Their Teacher spoke about things to come: “I tell you the truth, not one stone will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” (Matthew 24:2)

This prediction did not come to pass until 70 AD, around forty years later. The Roman general Titus led a ruthless army to conquer Jerusalem. The Temple was totally destroyed and the precious articles inside were marched out of the city.

When Jesus’ words were fulfilled, many of the apostles had already given their lives for the Gospel. If most were not even going to be alive during the destruction of the Temple, why did Jesus reveal the future? Perhaps He wanted to remind them to shift their eyes from the ‘seen to the unseen.’ “This world is going to pass away; but My Kingdom will last forever. So seek My Kingdom first.”

The Second Coming is closer now than ever, but Jesus claimed even He did not know the exact time. He instructs us to watch and pray. “Though you do not know the day… be alert, be sober minded, and don’t be caught off guard. Stay close to Me and learn to shift your eyes from the seen to the unseen.”

Jesus teaches us to ask for daily bread while living in the light of eternity. He lived this way… while healing the sick, casting out demons, befriending the outcast, and pointing to His perfect Father in Heaven. “Lord, help us do the same…”

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man… Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him.” Matthew 24:36-44

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” II Corinthians 4:8

As a teenager, Hugh was gaining a reputation as one of the top rock climbers in the United States. In 1982 at age seventeen, he was caught in a storm with a fellow climber on Mount Washington in New Hampshire and endured four subzero days before being rescued. Due to frostbite, both his legs were amputated below the knee. Not being deterred by what others said, Hugh quickly invented prostheses that enabled him to climb again. After receiving graduate degrees from MIT, Dr. Herr has continued to advance the capabilities of technology for amputees.

I am also a beneficiary of research. My doctor at Emory is one of the world leaders in developing ways to defeat multiple myeloma. We are currently discussing options for me as the drug I’ve taken for almost two years has lost effectiveness. Susan and I appreciate your prayers.

Other pursuits highlighted in The Future Factory almost defy imagination, but one quote caught my attention on 60 Minutes. In describing the building where research is done and ‘impossibilities’ are pursued by 230 graduate students, the reporter said it was a “six-story tower of Babel.”

The story of Babel is the history of God’s judgment on humanity after the flood who were saying to one another, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves…” (Genesis 11:4) God confused their language… which stopped the completion of the city. “That is why it was called Babel [which sounds like the Hebrew word for confused] — because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:9)

Why, I asked myself, did the reporter describe the MIT research building as a tower of Babel? God can judge motives and intentions, but it is important for us to remember lessons from Scripture so we will not misplace trust or allegiance. Regarding Babel, Michael Youssef writes, “It is not the height of the tower that is significant. It’s the purpose of the tower. The Babylonians were building the tower of Babel as a monument to their own brilliance and glory.”

It is an easy trap to fall into: “I want to be the best ever!” God asks, “Why? Do you want others to look at you and say, ‘Wow!’? Have you not realized My Son’s secret was becoming nothing so all could know Me?”

God alone knows the future. When Jesus returns, may He find a Church consumed with Him and nothing else.

“Now listen, all who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’” James 4:13-15

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross!” Philippians 2:5-8

(Quote from The Hidden Enemy by Michael Youssef, 2018, p 163)