Are You Ready?

Verse: Matthew 11:9-10
Then what did you go out to see?  A prophet?  Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.  10 This is the one about whom it is written: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.”

Devotion
In these two verses, we have Jesus talking to a crowd of people about John the Baptist.  He asks the crowd if they thought John the Baptist was a prophet.  Then he makes the bold statement that John was more than a prophet.  He said that John was the prophet that was written about 400 years earlier in Malachi 3:1, “See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me.”

John the Baptist was fulfilling the Old Testament scripture that says there will be a messenger sent by God to prepare the way for God to come to earth.  Someone needs to come to declare he is coming and to allow us to repent and be baptized, cleansed.  Implied in these two scriptures is a statement by Jesus to the crowd saying that he is the Messiah, sent by God.    

What does this say to you today?  The people of Israel had to wait 400 years for the prophet and then Jesus to come.  Those that lived in Isaiah’s time had to wait 700 years after Isaiah spoke about the suffering servant that was to come to bear our sins.  We have been waiting 2000 years for Jesus to return.  Are we ready?  Do we need to repent, to be baptized, to be cleansed?  Are we wise, like the five virgins who had extra oil for their lamps (representing the Holy Spirit) so that they were ready for Jesus’s return?  

Today, consider if you are ready.  Have you turned your life over to God?  Are you following the Holy Spirit?  Are you growing in your faith?  Not only will these help you be ready but they will make living so much more joyous and meaningful.  

Prayer
Lord, help us to be ready.  Let us know what you want us to do to be closer to you and to follow you so that we will know you now and when you return.

Author: Brad Dunn