Do you lay out your clothes the night before? I often remind our kids to lay out their clothes the night before so they are ready to get dressed quickly in the morning. However, Edmund couldn’t find his favorite pair of shorts last night. He wanted to lay them out to wear for today, but he couldn’t find them in his closet, drawer, hanging up in the basement on his clothesline, or in the basket of dirty clothes. He had to settle for a different pair.
As Christians, we’re commanded
to remain “dressed” and ready for Jesus’s return, which could happen at any moment.
By staying close to Jesus and His Word, we won’t be caught off guard, unprepared,
or deceived by Satan and his spirits. In contrast, the rulers at the end of the
world will be arrogantly deceived by Satan, foolishly gathering for battle
against God.
Revelation 16:12-16 12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river
Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the
kings from the East. 13 Then I saw three impure
spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the
dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the
false prophet. 14 They are demonic
spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole
world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God
Almighty.
15 “Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays
awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully
exposed.”
16 Then they gathered the kings together to the place that
in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
The blessed in verse 15 have
repented and remained faithful to God. They are clothed in Jesus’s robes of
righteousness. We can’t earn our place in heaven before a Holy God, but we can
accept Jesus’ sacrifice in our place and His garments of salvation.
Isaiah 61:10 I delight
greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me
with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a
robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like
a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
Have we humbly accepted Jesus’
robe of righteousness, so God sees us as He sees Jesus? Or, do we arrogantly
think we can outsmart God, like the kings gathering for a doomed battle against
God Almighty?
Instead of fighting against
God, we can enjoy Jesus’ victory over Satan through accepting His salvation via
the cross. Jesus has laid out His righteous clothes for us, so we are ready to
be clothed for the New Day when He takes us to Heaven.
