Are You Packed And Ready To Go?

Uplook – April 2013 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Are You Packed And Ready To Go?

“In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” — John 14:2-4 NIV

My daughter told her two children that they were going to see grandma and grandpa when school stopped for holiday. At that point there were two more weeks to go, but both boys were ready immediately.

With a fortnight still to pass, they both had their toys packed and were wriggling with excitement and raring to go. Our daughter and son-in-law had their work cut out for them, to keep the boys focused on school for the days before their vacation.

God used this scene as an example to challenge me. When our Lord Jesus said, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you may also be where I am” (Jn. 14:3 NIV), I asked myself some questions:

• Am I excited about Jesus’ coming back to take me to be with Him?
• Should He arrive tomorrow, are my affairs in order?
• Have I trusted my life to Jesus, the only one who can save me from paying the price of my own sin in the hands of the holy God?
• Am I “spiritually” packed and ready to go?
• Do I often think about what awaits me in heaven?
• Will I have a place in God’s many-roomed mansion house?

Christians will either rise from the dead at the “loud command” from God, or those “who are still alive ... will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Th. 4:16-17).

We will hear heavenly voices saying, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they were created and have their being” (Rev. 4:11).

We will see Jesus, the Lamb once slain, open the scrolls to the accompaniment of great music. “From every tribe and language and people and nation” people will arrive having being saved from sin by the application of the Savior’s blood (Rev. 5:6-14).

My ears will be bombarded with “a great multitude in heaven shouting: “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are His judgments” (Rev. 19:1-2).

Then there will be the biggest wedding party ever (Rev. 19:7-9). We don’t know how long it will last because there is no time in eternity. But best of all, we do know we will live with God, because a loud voice will announce: “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Rev. 21:3-4).

I ought to be considerably more excited than my grandsons about what is to come! You should be as well. That day is near. Keep a loose hold on all the things of this world. Instead, open your heart to enjoying the things of heaven.

Jesus said it Himself: “I am coming soon!” (Rev. 22:7). That word “soon” means in a short time or in a little while.

Are you packed and ready to go?

By Colin Salter