*How many times does the universe raise a hallelujah in Revelation 19:1-9? Give verses.
*Who is the focus of the thunderous, universal praise? Give verses.
*What are some of the stated reasons for raising these hallelujahs? Put them in your own words, with the verses.
*What are four reasons for the last hallelujah? 19:7-9
*Is there any doubt that one day the Bride will be ready as she enjoys the wedding feast with the Bridegroom? Give the phrase and the verse
*What further insight do you gain from Matthew 24:42-44? Matthew 25:1-13? Ephesians 5:25-27, 32?
*Are you ready to meet the Bridegroom? Five minutes before you do meet Him, what will you wish you had done differently?
*As you daily live out the difference with the expectancy of seeing Him face to face, list as
many reasons as you can for raising a hallelujah now. Then don’t stop…
This Bible study was prepared especially for the Fall 2023 Newsletter.
Take a moment to close your eyes. Can you visualize the clouds of glory? Can you hear the universe reverberating with the praise of millions of angels singing “Worthy is the Lamb”? As you are drawn into the presence of the One who is clothed in splendor and light… who stands in the center of the throne…who is worshipped by everything that has breath in the entire universe…the One who is the beloved only Son of the Father and who inherits all things…the One who is the most powerful, most important, most successful, wealthiest man in the universe…do you see His eyes searching the throngs of adoring angels until they rest on you? What does He see? What will He see?
Praise God! That moment has not yet come. There is still time to prepare. Still time to move your faith from salvation to transformation. Don’t settle for just squeaking through the door of your heavenly Home. Instead, commit to living your life from this moment forward so that five minutes before you see Him you have no regrets because you have made yourself ready, because you are a bride who confirms the Father’s wisdom in choosing you, because you are worthy of His Son, the Bridegroom.
Lover of my soul,
While my heart aches with longing to see You, the thought of the moment when I do see You puts this present moment in perspective. I am so humbly grateful that You have not come for me yet. There is still time to prepare. Please bring to my mind anything that is not pleasing to You. As I confess it, cleanse me of all my sin and imperfections. Clothe me in Your own spotless garments of righteousness. Use me to help others prepare for that heart-stopping, irreversible moment. With all my heart, on that day, I want to be beautiful in Your eyes. For the sake of You, my Bridegroom, And in Your name—Jesus, Amen.
For His Glory,
Adapted from Preparing to Meet Jesus, 2023, pages 177-178.
Click here for the Bible Study especially developed for this newsletter.
Left: Our late summer and fall have been filled with media promotion for Preparing to Meet Jesus. The effort has been very fruitful as this small devotional book has been at the top of two major best seller lists, Amazon and Publishers Weekly. One significant opportunity was to appear on The 700 Club, which was bittersweet as the founder, Pat Robertson, has moved to Heaven.
Right: This is the behind the scenes look from a producer’s viewpoint as Rachel-Ruth and I were interviewed on The 700 Club.
Rachel-Ruth and I traveled to Dallas to be on Life Today with James and Betty Robison, which is always a blessing. Susie Larson, who has interviewed me multiple times on her radio program but whom I had never met in person, was also present with her husband. We were richly blessed as she shared her testimony. And James was so taken with Rachel-Ruth that he has already run the televised interview twice!
Kathy Ireland is a former supermodel who is now a very successful entrepreneur who founded her own licensing company, kiWW. She is also one of Rachel-Ruth’s beloved prayer partners. She was so enthralled with Preparing to Meet Jesus that she offered to record a brief video promo, which we were excited to post.
This summer and fall were not completely taken up with book promotion. One privilege I had was to speak three times to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Southeast Staff Summit. It was held about 200 yards from where I had met Danny Lotz fifty-eight years ago! After the first message, one of the attendees took this picture of a rainbow coming down over where our meeting had just taken place, giving all of us a visual of God’s blessing and favor on what we were about.
Two thousand years ago, an angel appeared to the shepherds and announced: I bring you good news of great joy…a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord. The angel was joined by a host of other angels, proclaiming: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace… The shepherds then hurried off to find the baby lying in a manger. The Bible says, When they had seen Him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child. This Christmas, let’s spread the word to the family and friends we love! In these troubled times, join with the angels in sharing the good news that Jesus has come to offer peace. (Luke 2:10,11, 14, 17)
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My oldest granddaughter just got married in my backyard! The detail of preparation was intense, but so worth it when the moment came for the “first look”. Our Bridegroom, Jesus, is coming! What are you doing to prepare for the first look? While no one knows the day or the hour of His return, Jesus Himself instructed His disciples repeatedly to be ready….
Read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and Matthew 25:1-13
I. BY BEING FOCUSED ON THE FUTURE
*In your own words describe the event Paul is referring to in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
*Do you think this event is symbolic, spiritual, or a literal event that will take place in human history? Give Biblical reasons for your answer.
*What additional information about this future event do you learn from 1 Corinthians 15:51-57? Matthew 24:36-42? Matthew 25:1-13?
*How are we encouraged to use this information? 1 Thessalonians 4:18; 5:11; John 14:1-3.
*If Jesus returns tomorrow what will you wish you had done differently today?
II. BY BEING FAITHFUL IN THE PRESENT
*How should our focus on the future impact the way we live today? 1 John 2:28-3:3.
*According to the following verses in what other ways are we to be faithful in the present? Matthew 24:42-44; 25:13.
*What do you think it means practically to “watch”?
*Why do we need to be intentional about watching? 1 Thessalonians 5:1-4; 2 Peter 3:10; Luke 12:38-40; Revelation 16:15.
*What are some of the consequences of not watching? Matthew 24:48-51; 25:1-13.
*What is another way we can be faithful at present? Matthew 24:45-47; John 9:4; Luke 12:35-38.
*If Jesus returns tomorrow, what will you be glad you did today?
III. BY BEING FILLED EVERY MOMENT
*Read Matthew 25:1-13.
*What did all 10 of the virgins have in common?
*How are all 10 virgins representative of the organized, church today?
*What was the primary difference between the two groups of five?
*What do you think the oil represents?
*How does this difference also exist in the church today?
*In light of 1 Thessalonians 4:16, what do you think the midnight cry represents?
*What was the reason the bridegroom didn’t let the foolish virgins into the wedding banquet?
*Relate this to Matthew 7:21-23; John 3:5-6; Romans 8:9; 2 Corinthians 1:21-22.
*Give one action item from each pair of verses that, taken together, insure you are one of the wise virgins: Romans 3:23 with 1 John 1:9; Acts 2:38 with Acts 3:19; John 3:16 with Romans 10:9-10; Revelation 3:20 with John 1:12; John 14:16-17 with Ephesians 1:13-14; Ephesians 5:15-18 with 2 Peter 3:14.
*If Jesus returns at midnight, are you ready?
If you are ready, what will you do to help others get ready? And if you are not ready, what will you do to get ready yourself? Do it now.
This Bible study was prepared especially for the Summer 2023 Newsletter.
The fact that Jesus is coming for His bride isn’t debatable. The Bible is clear. He will come for us in one of two ways. Either He will come for us at our death, or He will come for us at what is referred to as the Rapture—when believers will be caught up to meet Him in the air, as Paul described in 1 Thessalonians 4. While old age or infirmity may alert us that our physical death is near, the return of Jesus at the Rapture will occur suddenly, with no warning beyond the signs given in Scripture. How do I know? Because He said so! And He is The Truth. He clearly stated that He would come again to receive us to Himself.1 If I believe what He said about sin, salvation, forgiveness, the love of God the Father, eternal life, His own identity, and all the other big truths,2 then it stands to reason that what He said about His return is equally true. Jesus is coming! “The glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” is imminent!3
We live in a world filled with blasphemy, obscenity, profanity, and outright rebellion against God; a world that is morally, spiritually, and environmentally filthy; a world of selfishness, greed, pride, abuse, where the family unit is being destroyed;4 a world of hate, rage, lies, corruption, cruelty, confusion, lawlessness, and delusion. But make no mistake: our blessed hope is that a new world is coming! Even now it is being prepared as a Home for the Son’s bride. And when all preparations are complete, He will come, whether or not we are ready.
The ten young women in Jesus’ story in Matthew 25:1-13 had several things in common: Each had a lamp, which represents a profession of faith. Each believed and expected that the bridegroom was coming. Eventually, all grew so tired of waiting when he seemed to tarry that they went to sleep. But there was also one life-changing, destiny-altering difference: Five of the young women had oil for their lamps, and five of the young women had none. Throughout Scripture, oil represents the Holy Spirit. In other words, half of those waiting for the bridegroom’s coming were ready because they had a personal relationship with Jesus and were indwelt by the Holy Spirit, while the other half had only a profession of faith. They looked the part, they were religious, but they had no oil—no indwelling of the Holy Spirit. They had never been born again. Jesus said earlier that while some people may know His Word, they don’t live it out.5 The apostle Paul described such people as “having a form of godliness but denying its power”.6 In His story, Jesus called them “foolish”.
To be honest, it can be very difficult for you and me to tell the difference between wise and foolish people, between those who have an authentic relationship with God through faith in Jesus and those who are simply outwardly religious. Jesus told this story not to prompt us to speculate about or be judgmental of others, but to stir us to examine our own hearts. From His point of view, are you wise or foolish? Do you have the oil of the indwelling Holy Spirit? If the answer is yes, praise God! And do all that you can to get someone else ready, too!
For His Glory,
Adapted from Preparing to Meet Jesus, 2023, pages 186-188.
1 John 14:3; Revelation 22:20.
2 John 3:16–17; 5:17–21; 11:25–26.
3 Titus 2:13.
4 2 Timothy 3:1–4.
5 Matthew 7:26–27.
6 2 Timothy 3:5.
My oldest granddaughter just got married in my backyard! The detail of preparation was intense, but so worth it when the moment came for the “first look”. Our Bridegroom, Jesus, is coming! What are you doing to prepare for the first look? While no one knows the day or the hour of His return, Jesus Himself instructed His disciples repeatedly to be ready….
Read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and Matthew 25:1-13
I. BY BEING FOCUSED ON THE FUTURE
*In your own words describe the event Paul is referring to in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
*Do you think this event is symbolic, spiritual, or a literal event that will take place in human history? Give Biblical reasons for your answer.
Four days after returning from Israel, my oldest granddaughter, Bell, was married in my backyard. The preparation for that moment was intense, but well worth all the time and effort. I love this picture when she and her father stepped out of the house. We could all see that she was excited and ready to meet her bridegroom.
One of the highlights of our Refresh Your Faith tour in Israel was the boat ride we took on Galilee. I encouraged the ladies to remember that when storms arise in our lives as they did for the disciples, the wind and waves still obey His voice.
One of the joys of the Israel tour was to share it with my daughters, Rachel-Ruth and Morrow, and two of my granddaughters, Sophia and Riggin. They all took good care of me as was evident as we walked down the steep Palm Sunday road.
On our Israel tour we crossed into the Palestinian territory of Jericho. Rachel-Ruth taught on Bartimaeus as the crowds who had gathered for an environmental rally swirled around her. She kept her focus and concentration in the midst of the chaos and delivered a moving message of hope.
Writing a book is like having a baby! It requires enormous time and effort. When it’s published, we are excited and can’t wait to find out what everyone thinks! How we pray you will be as excited and blessed in reading Preparing to Meet Jesus as Rachel-Ruth and I were when writing it!
My daughter, Morrow, and her husband, Traynor, hosted my entire family for my 75th birthday dinner! Front row, from left to right: my son Jonathan, my granddaughter Bell and her fiancé (now husband) Sean; second row, my granddaughter Sophia, me, and my granddaughter Riggin; third row: Traynor and Morrow; top row, Steven and Rachel-Ruth. Being together was the best birthday present ever!
Preparing to Meet Jesus is based on the Biblical account in Genesis that describes Abraham sending his servant to find a suitable bride for his son Isaac. It details how the faithful servant found Rebekah, a woman of remarkable character who met the father’s criteria. That story is an allegory of God the Father who sends His Servant, the Holy Spirit, to find a desirable Bride for His Son Jesus. With this in mind, Anne and Rachel-Ruth explore 21 characteristics of Rebekah that the Father desires to be found in the Bride of His Son. They have used each of these characteristics as the basis for a twenty-one-day challenge, with prompts for reflection and prayer, to prepare you for the critical moment of the “first look”, so that you are transformed into a beautiful “Bride who has made Herself ready” (Revelation 19:7).
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As our world melts down into chaos, corruption and confusion with disasters, dangers, and disease all around us, we need to know where we are headed.
REVEALED BY GOD Revelation 1:1
*Who is revealed by God? v.1; John 1:1-5,14; Hebrews 1:1-3; Revelation 22:13
*What is revealed by God?
*What detail does Jesus reveal concerning the End? Matthew 24:14
*How does Jesus encourage us as we look to the End? Matthew 28:20
RECORDED BY JOHN Revelation 1:2
*How does John describe his authorship of the book of Revelation? v.2
*What difference does it make to you that Revelation is John’s eyewitness account of the End?
READ BY YOU AND ME Revelation 1:3
*Why is it important to know the End? v.3; Hebrews 2:1; 1 Corinthians 1:8; 1 Peter 4:7; Titus 2:11-13
*What do you think is the unique blessing given to those who continually read and study Revelation?
Make time to read the book of Revelation, focusing not on all the symbolism, but focusing on Jesus. You will be blessed!
This Bible study was prepared especially for the Spring 2023 Newsletter.
