Prepare to Meet Thy God

… There is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return:  ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’ Isaiah 45:22,23

An Allotted Season

God has allotted to each one of us a short season to prepare for eternity. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring, so it is imperative that we act today on His promptings. In Amos 4:12 we are given the command: “Prepare to meet thy God.”  Romans 14:10-12 says, “For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’ So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.”

To the unholy man, the very thought of meeting his Maker is dreadful. Men by nature are not ready to meet God, nor do they have any desire or willingness to come before Him. Nonetheless, God “commands all people everywhere to repent,  because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”  Acts 17:30,31

Soon the Lord Jesus will come a second time, and then the blaze of his throne will supplant the mild radiance of his cross: the Judge will be seen rather than the Redeemer. Now he saves, but then he will destroy. Let us hear his voice at this moment. He hath limited a day, let us be eager to avail ourselves of the gracious season. Let us believe in Jesus this day, seeing it may be our last. These are the pleadings of one who now falls back on his pillow in very weakness. Hear them for your souls’ sakes and live. Charles Spurgeon

The Lord Our Righteousness

Romans 5:19 “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”

Philippians 2:7-11 “[Christ]made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Unfallen man had no greater joy than walking with God. It was heaven on earth to meet in converse tender and sublime with the great Father of Spirits. No marriage bells ever rang out a sweeter or more joyous melody than these glad words as they were heard amid the myrtle bowers and palm groves of Eden by our first parents in the heyday of their innocence, “Prepare to meet thy God.” Then when Jehovah walked in the garden in the cool of the day, he had no need to say aloud, “Adam, where art thou?” This happy creature whom he had made to have dominion over all the works of his hands was waiting for him as a child waiteth for his father when the day’s work is done, watching to hear his father’s footfall, and to see his father’s face. Oh, yes! those were words in fullest harmony with Eden’s joys, “Prepare to meet thy God.” Charles Spurgeon

Man had fellowship and open communication with God, before Adam disobeyed Him in the garden. After the fall, that which was his wonder and joy, and the fulfillment of his need, became the reason for his fear. “He was going to meet God face to face! Once man had shaken his fist in the face of God, what had been so wonderful became a just reason for fear, because God was really there.” Francis Schaeffer

All mankind has been marked by Adam’s sin. Without Christ, you and I are enemies of God and alienated from Him. Each one of us has been the rebel and disobedient. “As it is written: None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” Romans 3:10-12

The God of heaven and earth demands righteousness of all His creatures.  But, in the sight of God “we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.” Isaiah 64:6-7 Righteousness is an impossible attainment by man. We can never gain favor with God through our own merits.

Who then can be saved? Christ answered this question in Luke 18:27, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” In fact, it was Christ who came to give us the righteousness which God’s law demands. Jeremiah prophesied of Christ, “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth… and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”  Jeremiah 23:5-6

When we believe in Christ, by faith we receive our justification. Just as the merit of his blood takes away our sin, so the merit of his obedience is imputed to us for righteousness. We are considered, as soon as we believe, as though the works of Christ were our works. God looks upon us as though that perfect obedience, of which I have just now spoken, had been performed by ourselves,—as though our hands had been busy at the loom, as though the fabric and the material which have been worked up into the fine linen, which is the righteousness of the saints, had been grown in our own fields. God considers us as though we were Christ—looks upon us as though his life had been our life—and accepts, blesses, and rewards us as though all that he did had been done by us, his believing people…

“This is the name by which he shall be called, the Lord our righteousness.” Let us call him by this great name, which the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has named. Let us call him—poor sinners!—even we, who are today burdened with grief on account of sin. I want this text to be fulfilled in your ears and in your case today. You are guilty. Your own conscience acknowledges that the law condemns you, and you dread the penalty. Soul! he who trusts Christ Jesus is saved, and he who believes in him is not condemned. To every trustful spirit Christ is “the Lord our righteousness.” Call him so, I pray you. Do you say, “I have no good thing of my own?” Here is every good thing in him. Do you say, “I have broken the law?” There is his blood for you. Believe in him; he will wash you. “But then I have not kept the law.” There is his keeping of the law for you. Take it, sinner, take it. Believe on him. “Oh, but I dare not,” one says. Do him the honour to dare it. “Oh, but it seems impossible.” Honour him by believing the impossibility then. “Oh, but how can he save such a wretch as I am?” Soul! Christ is glorified in saving wretches…Christ cures incurable sinners; so I now say that he accepts unacceptable sinners. He receives sinners who think they are not fit to be received. Only do trust him and say, “He shall be my righteousness today.” “But suppose I should do it and be presumptuous?” It is impossible. He bids you; he commands you. Let that be your warrant. “This is the commandment, that you believe on Jesus Christ whom he has sent.” If you cannot say it with a loud voice, yet with the trembling silence of your soul let heaven hear it. Yes, Jesus, “All unholy and unclean, I am nothing else but sin; yet I dare with fervent attempt of these quivering lips to call you, and to call upon you now, as the Lord my righteousness.” Charles Spurgeon

Blameless Before God

While most men and women are loath to meet their God, there is another group who longs to be in His presence. Jude 24, 25 says, “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy…” Christians are going to stand before the throne of God as blameless. We have been clothed in the righteousness of Christ and our sins have been forgiven. Now we are eagerly anticipating our Lord’s coming.

1 Corinthians 1:7,8 Waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Colossians 1:20-22 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled  In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight…

The Puritan minister and author, Thomas Vincent, wrote the following anticipatory words in his book, Christ’s Certain and Sudden Appearance to Judgment. Those who belong to Christ look forward to his return with unspeakable joy.

Look for the appearance of the Lord, look with an eye of hope, labor to abound in hope, by the power of the Holy Ghost, and let this hope be an anchor fastened within the veil, to stay your sinking hearts in the midst of these fierce storms, which do, or may beat upon you in the world, and look with the eye of desire. Look and long for Christ’s appearance; dart up your wishes often to heaven. O when shall we see the heaven opened, and behold our Lord in his glory? When shall we hear the trumpet sound, and be gathered by the angels from all quarters of the earth? When shall we put off this dust and corruption, and be clothed with robes of immortality? When shall the Lord Jesus come down and shew us his glory, and receive us to himself, that where he is, there we may be also? Christ hath spoken from heaven to earth, Surely, I come quickly; let there be an echo back from earth to heaven in your desires to this voice: Amen, even so come LORD JESUS, come quickly.

…Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise GOD, our SAVIOR, be glory and majesty, dominion, and power, now and ever, Amen.  Thomas Vincent

To learn more about salvation in Christ, see my post: Christ the Only Saviour.

Photo Credits:
Kevin Tiqui, GreyBlueSkies, Moondole