Bible Readings — Bible Questions Answered

The Unprepared

Will the world be prepared to meet Him? BR-ASI9 225.3

“Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” Matthew 24:30. “Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him.” Revelation 1:7. BR-ASI9 225.4

Why will many not be prepared for this event? BR-ASI9 225.5

“But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 24:48-51. BR-ASI9 225.6

What will the world be doing when Christ comes? BR-ASI9 225.7

“But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Matthew 24:37-39. “Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” Luke 17:28-30. BR-ASI9 225.8

Note.—These texts do not teach that it is wrong to eat, drink, marry, buy, sell, plant, or build, but that men’s minds will be so taken up with these things that they will give little or no thought to the future life, and make no plans or preparation to meet Jesus when He comes. BR-ASI9 225.9

Who is it that blinds men to the gospel of Christ? BR-ASI9 226.1

“In whom the god of this world [Satan] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” 2 Corinthians 4:4. BR-ASI9 226.2

Note.—“To my mind this precious doctrine—for such I must call it—of the return of the Lord to this earth is taught in the New Testament as clearly as any other doctrine in it; yet I was in the Church fifteen or sixteen years before I ever heard a sermon on it. There is hardly any church that doesn’t make a great deal of baptism, but in all of Paul’s epistles I believe baptism is only spoken of thirteen times, while it speaks about the return of our Lord fifty times; and yet the Church has had very little to say about it. Now, I can see a reason for this; the devil does not want us to see this truth, for nothing would wake up the Church so much. The moment a man takes hold of the truth that Jesus Christ is coming back again to receive His followers to Himself, this world loses its hold upon him. Gas stocks and water stocks and stocks in banks and railroads are of very much less consequence to him then. His heart is free, and he looks for the blessed appearing of his Lord, who, at His coming will take him into His blessed Kingdom.”—D. L. Moody, The Second Coming of Christ (Revell), pp. 6, 7. BR-ASI9 226.3