Jesus is Coming!

Luke 19:5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” 

With all the talk in the last few weeks that Jesus is coming and some have predicted dates that the Eastern Sky will break open with our Lord, one of the things that we should be doing is preparing for our Lords coming. Now I have said that I hope that those who predict a certain date for the Lord to come are right, but Mark and Matthew tell us that no one knows the day or the hour.   

One thing that all of us have in common regardless of our view on the second coming and the rapture of the church, is that He is coming. Therefore, preparations must be made.   

Zacchaeus was a short man, and I understand how he felt. When I get to Heaven I will be able to dunk. Being short Zacchaeus could not see over the crowd who had gathered when Jesus was passing by. So, Zacchaeus climbed up a tree to get a better view. How the Lord will stop and pay attention to us when He sees that we are trying to see Him more clearly.   

Jesus looked up and saw Zacchaeus in the tree and, shock of all shock, Jesus told Zacchaeus to hurry down, for today He wanted to stay at his house. 

Suppose that you were Zacchaeus and Jesus told you that He was coming to your house, how would you feel? But guess what? That’s exactly what Jesus told us in the Rapture and Second Coming, He is coming back to be with you. 

Now this was a shock to all those in the village because Zacchaeus was not just a tax-collator but he was the chief tax-collector and they were hated. But you know Jesus didn’t care, and one of the first criticisms the Pharisees had of Jesus was that He ate with sinners and tax-collectors. But thank God our Lord said “he didn’t come to call the righteous to repentance but the sinners and tax-collectors”.  

Now when Zacchaeus heard those words what do think was his first thoughts? He’s coming to my house and my house is a mess, but thank God Jesus didn’t come to see his house, just like the Lord didn’t come to spy on you. He came to see Zacchaeus just like He came to see you.   

Now if we know that the Lord is coming because we do have an advance notice that Jesus is coming whereas Zacchaeus didn’t, don’t you think that we need to prepare? 

There is a wonderful little book that I have given away to many people and it is called Jesus My Home. In the book Jesus comes to visit your home and He goes room by room to look into ever niche and corner. But then He comes to a closet and the door is locked. He asks you why? Because that those things you don’t want the Lord to see. Those things that the Bible says “what profit in those things that you are now ashamed of”. We need to prepare and to chuck all those things in our lives that we would not want the Lord to see.   

That is exactly what Zacchaeus did, he told the Lord in Luke 19:8 Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” 

Pastor Lee Cruse we talk a great deal about the Lord coming back but are we preparing for Him.  I John 2:28 tells us And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. Let’s get ready!