How to be Prepared for Jesus’ Return
- May 22
- 5 min read
“This is why you are also to be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (Matthew 24:44)
Unless you believe that Jesus is a liar, He’s going to return.
Yeah, I know. It’s been two thousand years, and that’s a tiny delay. I get it.
But a divine delay is not a divine denial.
Jesus did promise to return. Jesus did not lie, nor was He confused about returning to reconstitute His ancestor David’s kingdom of Israel, to sit on King David’s throne in Jerusalem and serve as the global leader of His Father’s global reign.
A tall order, right? Absolutely! It’s mind-boggling. We’re talking a radical, global transformation of the world’s screwed-up, humanist, and human-centered system. The world as we know it now will be forever changed as it transitions into the heavily prophesied Messianic Reign.
The problem is that it’s taken so long to see His glory break into our physical realm. Jesus’ return will be unmissable and unmistakable as He descends to earth on a cosmic display of clouds, heralded by angel’s blowing shofarim (ram’s-horn trumpets) and angelic shouting, and accompanied by inestimable number of dead believers suddenly resurrected into some snazzy glorified bodies while joining the entirety of Jesus’ living born-again followers in the air (aka the Rapture) to form a celestial entourage to escort their Lord and Master to His throne. No doubt the Israeli Division of Tourism rep will ask Jesus, “Is this your first visit to the Holy Land, sir?”
All humor aside, yes, Jesus did promise to return at the time that His Father has set in advance (Matthew 24:36; Mark 13:32).
Are you ready?
How will we know when it’s getting close to the time of Jesus’ return? Simple. He told us. He said that there will be signs indicating that we’ve reached the time of the End, the transition point from human dominion on earth to the Father’s dominion through Jesus.
Here are the three major signs from the Bible:
The Jewish people will long for and begin returning to their biblical, covenant homeland. Fulfilled by the waves of immigration starting in the late 1800s and continuing to today.
Israel is reconstituted as a nation. Fulfilled on May 14, 1948.
The Jewish people take back Jerusalem as their undivided capital city. Fulfilled on June 7, 1967.
Interesting prophetic trifecta, isn’t it? For King Jesus to return and take up David’s throne to rule, He needs His people in His land with His capital city in their hands.
Check.
All we need is King Jesus.
A few days before He was crucified, Jesus’ disciples asked Him about the End and the signs that would signal His return (Matthew 24:3). We find His message about that in the Olivet Discourse, so-named because Jesus discussed the End with His disciples on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, while overlooking the magnificent Second Temple (Matthew 24-25; Mark 13; Luke 21).
Jesus revealed the signs signaling the near, mid, and far future stages. I see this as His hint regarding an extended, unknown delay. It’s also intended to prepare His followers who would be alive at His coming. Because of this suggested delay and then the suddenness of His return, Jesus told them that the End Time disciples must be ready. “This is why you are also to be ready (speaking to End Time disciples), because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:44).
Jesus then shared three parables (Matthew 24:45-25:30) about how we are to be ready for His return. That’s what I want to focus on.
The first one, the Parable of the Faithful and Wicked Servants (Matthew 24:45-51), is about being ready by staying on task in God’s kingdom while the Master is away. The Faithful Servant makes sure he’s doing his job. The Wicked Servant takes advantage of his Master’s long delay to shirk his duties and live it up. Which of the two do you think is more prepared to receive the Master when he arrives? Yup, the Faithful Servant. The Wicked Servant is caught by surprise and punished. (One too many movies on Netflix was likely his downfall.)
The second one, the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Bridal Party Attendants (Matthew 25:1-13), is well-known. The parable is about being ready by taking personal responsibility for your readiness. The Ten “virgins” are attendants who will escort the bride to the groom and the wedding festivities. Since weddings were held in the evening in Jesus’ day, and there were no streetlights, small clay bowls with oil were tied to poles along with a small jug of olive oil for refilling, just in case the groom’s arrival was delayed, which happened.
The Five Wise Attendants had supplemental oil, which came in handy due to the groom’s rather long delay. The Five Moron Attendants (yes, moron in English is derived from the Greek word used here) had only lamps. The oil jug slipped their minds (pun intended). Sadly, they found themselves locked out of the marriage dinner.
The third and final one is the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30). This parable is about being ready by remaining productive for the Lord. A Master gave three slaves a measure of money called a talent, an ancient unit of weight. Depending on what kind of money you’re measuring (silver or gold), this could be a very significant sum. The Master told them to put their trust to use (engage in business) while he was away. The Master, too, was away for a long time. (Are you catching the “delay theme” in all three?) When the Master returned, he called all three slaves to account for their trust. While the first two doubled their Master’s money, the third did not. That slave chose to protect it the way many people did in Jesus’ day—he buried it.
Here’s the big problem with that. The Master had given all three slaves a trust and told them to put it to use. At the very least, the third slave should have put it in the bank and let the financial guys put it to work, earning at least a little return for the Master. That was, after all, the assignment. However, the slave was so lazy, he didn’t even do the bare minimum for his Master.
So, what is Jesus’ three-fold point about how to prepare for His return?
Based on these parables, when He returns, Jesus expects His End Time disciples to be prepared by:
Taking personal responsibility for being prepared (Attendants),
Staying focused on Jesus’ work that He’s told us to do until He returns (Servants), and
Making sure we’re as productive as we can be with what He’s entrusted to us (Talents).
Being ready doesn’t mean passivity.
If anything, it means activity, whatever your capacity.
Are you ready?
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Shining the Light of God’s Truth on the Road Ahead
Pastor Jay Christianson
The Truth Barista, Frothy Thoughts