Ready?

A friend remarked recently that there are so many berries this autumn that she fears we are going to have a hard winter.  To me, it always seems more logical that a good harvest of berries is the result of the weather we have had rather than a sign of the weather we are going to have, but it’s a piece of weather folklore I’ve heard many times.  I wonder where it comes from?  Perhaps it stems from times when people acknowledged that the Creator God who controls our climate and sends all our weather also cares for the birds and makes provision for them!  Mind you, I do remember once encountering someone who informed me that we were going to have such a hard winter that he was telling everyone he met to stockpile tinned food.  When I asked how he knew, he told me it was because of the way the frogs were jumping.  Regretfully, I was so surprised that he had gone on his way before it occurred to me that I hadn’t asked which way that was!  Not that it mattered in the end, as that winter was no worse than usual.

These days the world seems to be increasingly chaotic and ever more blatantly opposed to the Lord and to His people.  Surely, we think, the Lord Jesus must return soon.  Then comes the temptation to look for signs and portents and to make predictions.  In Matthew 24, the Lord Jesus specifically warned His disciples, and us, to be on their guard against such things.  He also made it clear that we cannot know the time of His return: But of that day and hour no one knows, no, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.

Yet He promised that He will certainly return – and Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no mean pass away.  So while we wait for Him, we must keep alert, be faithful and wise servants, living to please Him so that we may not be ashamed at His coming.

And there will be no mistaking that day: For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.  But know this, that if the master of the household had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.  Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Matthew 24:42-44

We know the Lord Jesus is coming:

We look for His clouds in the sky

And long for the sound of the trumpet

Announcing the Judge from on high.

Through suff’ring and fierce persecution

God’s people can sing this refrain:

Take courage amid tribulation -

For Jesus is coming again!

A day is appointed for judgement,

Affirmed when He rose from the dead.

Yet those who have trusted the Saviour

Have no need of terror or dread.

But those who have scorned and defied Him,

And treated His cross with disdain,

Will tremble and quake when they see Him,

For Jesus is coming again.

The chains of creation will shatter,

The long years of bondage will cease;

Our mighty Creator remaking

A dwelling for justice and peace.

All things shall be new in His kingdom,

No trace of the curse will remain,

And death will be banished for ever.

Praise God! He is coming again!

The Church has been watching and waiting

Through sorrows and trials holding fast.

But then with elation and wonder

She’ll gaze on her Bridegroom at last:

The Saviour who loved and redeemed us,

Who bore all our sin and our shame,

Revealed as the King in His glory.

Rejoice! He is coming again!

Today He is softly entreating,

With words full of sweetness and grace,

That sinners might trust in His mercy,

His promise of pardon embrace.

Come now, in true faith and repentance,

Bow down, and acknowledge His Name -

Christ Jesus, our great God and Saviour:

Make haste! For He’s coming again.

-Colin R Reeves