Ready Or Not, Here He Comes! Are You Sure You're Ready?

By: Michael Lee

My brother, Michael Lee at the Dome of the Rock and Western Wailing Wall, Jerusalem, Israel, August, 2000.


Scripture: Rev 6:12-17 (GNV):

“And I saw the Lamb break open the sixth seal. There was a violent earthquake, and the sun became black like coarse black cloth, and the moon turned completely red like blood. The stars fell down to the earth, like unripe figs falling from the tree when a strong wind shakes it. The sky disappeared like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the rulers and the military chiefs, the rich and the powerful, and all other people, slave and free, hid themselves in caves and under rocks on the mountains. They called out to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the eyes of the one who sits on the throne and from the anger of the Lamb! The terrible day of their anger is here, and who can stand up against it?"

When I was a child, all of the kids in the neighborhood spent many summer days and evenings playing games. The girls would play jump rope, hop scotch, jacks, and sing those songs like "Oh, Mary Mack, all dressed in black...." I have two sisters, so I had to listen to all those songs that drove me nuts.

The boys would play basketball on tire rims or plastic crates, pitch up tackle football, and when we were a little older, we would play concrete tackle in the middle of 20th street in west Louisville. When we all would get together to play, the boys and the girls, we would play games like Softball, Tag, Frozen Catcher, and Red Light.

There was no game I liked more than "Hide and Go Seek." Whoever was “it” would have to put their face up against a tree, close their eyes, and count to 100 or what ever number everyone agreed upon. That person had to go and find everybody, and when he or she saw somebody they would shout, “I see you, Michael hiding behind that bush. You are going be it!” And the person who was found would run back as fast as he or she could to touch base before the person who was “it” got there.

The New Testament is very clear about the fact that Jesus is coming back. He’s coming back for two reasons, to get his Church and bring wrath and Judgment. The Bible says, "No man knows the day or the hour, not the angels, not the Son, but the Father only." Are you ready?

Noah preached for decades the same message. It’s going to rain. For decades, he built a ship on dry land. He had one message. It’s going to rain. Jesus says that it was just like any other ordinary day. People were eating and drinking and getting married and being given in marriage. They didn’t have a clue that God had had enough! Then the rains came suddenly and washed everyone who was not in the arc away.

When Jesus came the first time, he came as a humble servant. Revelation 5:9 says He was killed, and by his sacrificial death, he bought for God people from every tribe, language, nation and race. But when He comes again, He’s coming in great wrath, anger and judgment.

The scene depicted in Revelation chapter 6 tells of a time of great trouble. All the man made institutions are turned up side down. Natural disasters and great calamity were the order of the day. The turmoil will be such that all of the Kings of the earth, rulers and military chiefs, the rich and the powerful and all other people slave and free will try to hide themselves from God in caves and under rocks on the mountains. But you can never win a game of "Hide and Go Seek" when the one who is “IT” is the One with all seeing eyes! Are you sure you're ready?

Michael will be preaching his initial sermon on April 23rd at 4:00 p.m. at Joshua Tabernacle Baptist Church, 426 South 15th Street, Louisville, Kentucky.

(An abbreviation of a message delivered on March 19, 2006 to Joshua Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church, Louisville, Kentucky. Michael Lee is an ordained deacon at Joshua Tabernacle Baptist Church, a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, and brother of Angela Lee Price.)