The season is nigh for the coming of the Son of Man. He shall arrive as a thief in the night, soon LORD, to receive unto Himself those who have readied themselves to be received unto Him as a bride. For does a bride not ready herself for months before the coming of the day? Does she not prepare her body, and her heart, and her soul? Does she not separate herself unto her bridegroom, making herself set apart for no one else but her husband to be? Making herself as unto a virgin, being both faithful and true unto her husband and no one else? Does she not prepare for herself a garment of fine linen, that she may present herself as beautiful before her husband? Does she not make herself without spot or wrinkle for that day? Does she not walk out from her chambers like the wise virgins and walk down the aisle to be received unto him in his arms? For so it shall be, that we, as Your bride, shall make ourselves ready for the great day of Your coming to receive us into Your arms. For we shall wear the garment of fine linen, one as pure as snow, when we take up our lamp with its oil, and walk out to be received unto You.

For You Yourself have made us ready. You have dressed us in garments of pure white. For we have separated ourselves from all other lovers, from all other fornication and adultery, and made ourselves faithful and true unto You, LORD. Like any bride does in waiting and watching for the day. For is Your name not Faithful and True? Do we not receive unto ourselves a husband who leads by example? And does Your word not say that Your eyes roam to and fro throughout all the earth, looking for those who are faithful to You, so that You may present Yourself strong on their behalf? Which is to present Yourself as a husband. For who else but a husband is strong for his wife? For are You not a strong Husband? Be strong for us LORD. Let us be a wife who is worthy of You, LORD. Which is one who has made herself ready.

For is it not a shame upon a bride who, upon the day of her husband coming to receive her unto himself, has not made herself ready? Is he not publicly ridiculed? Let us not be like the foolish virgins, LORD, who have not made themselves ready for the day of the coming of the LORD. Let us not bring shame upon Your name, and upon Your house, and upon Your heart, LORD. Let us be ready. Incline our hearts to look forward with eagerness to that great day. Let us look forward to the prize of the upward calling of God IN CHRIST (Philippians 3:14). Which is the upward calling of a husband receiving into his arms his bride. For is it not a day on which the bride is exalted? Does she not get acknowledged before all men and creation? Is his affection for her not put on both public display and public record before all of creation? Does the husband not raise a toast and say to all: “This is my bride!”? Does he not declare his love for her before all? Is that not a great day? Is she not put on display before all creation? Does she not feel a sense of great joy and of being held high above all others?

And so it will be, LORD, that You will exalt Your bride. Which is why it is an upward call. For it is a upward call of exaltation “in due time” (1 Peter 5:6) for all those who make themselves ready to be received unto You as Your bride. For on that day, whilst many will be in the pews, watching the spectacle of the bride and the bridegroom, only a few will be called out and received unto their bridegroom on that great day. Though they who are in the pews may be saved, for they have accepted the invitation, for like the foolish virgins, they have the lamp of the Word and the oil of the Holy Spirit, having made themselves as virgins, only those who have readied themselves will be received behind the closed doors of the marriage bed. Two believers will be in the field, but one will be left behind, and another taken (Matthew 24:40). For only those who have been prepared to pay the price for making themselves 100% ready can be received unto their Bridegroom. For can a man receive unto himself a bride on the day if she is not yet ready? So why should it be any different for the LORD?

Thank You Father God for your patterns in the natural, LORD, that open our eyes to the glory of the life in the spiritual. We see your handiwork and Your thoughts ever before us, LORD, in all things. Which is as it is written in Romans 1:20 so that no man is with excuse. For Your word declares the majesty of this in everlasting truth in Colossians 1:17 where it declares that You are ever BEFORE all things. We see You in everything that is before us, LORD. Your heart and Your mind, Your Spirit and Your ways. That we may search Your heart and examine Your mind. Ready us now, LORD, to be received unto You as Your bride. For many will knock on the door, and You will turn and say unto them, “Depart from Me for I know You not.” Which is not to say that You don’t love them, LORD, or that they are not saved as sinners. But the way in which You describe those whom You “know” are by their fruit. Which will be by the fruit of their readiness. So if you don’t recognise them by their readiness, it means You don’t know them by their fruit. And if You don’t know them by their fruit of readiness, then You don’t know them.

So You will refuse those who are not ready to be Your bride, but You will still receive those who You refuse upon a later time on the occasion of them being ready to be received unto You, and although not as the bride, but as sons and daughters. The rest of those received unto You will be Your sons and daughters. For does a husband having received unto him his bride then not later, after a time, receive unto himself his sons and daughters? So too shall the LORD receive unto Himself His sons and daughters, after a time of being made ready in the womb of life according to the the three trimesters of maturity of a Christian. Being the 30-60-100 fold maturity of the seed of Christ according to Matthew 13:8. For just as a husband receives unto himself just one out of the many as his bride, so too shall the LORD receive unto Himself the “few that are chosen” as His bride out of the “many that are called” (Matthew 22:14). Which will be by the yardstick of those who as in the natural have made themselves ready.

The rest shall be Your sons and daughters, and will be loved no less. Just like a father loves his sons and daughters no less than his wife. But a special place is held in Your bosom for Your bride, LORD. Just like there was a special place for the three of the twelve disciples, where twelve represents the whole body of Christ. For does a bride not know the heart of her husband better than anyone else? Even those of his sons and daughters? And was the one whom He loved not John, who was the one who was chosen out of the twelve to prepare the revelation of Christ? Because he knew Your heart better than any other? For did John not incline himself on the bosom of his Jesus whereas the rest were content to be in His presence? For though all sat at His table, being a function of proximity, only one sat on His lap. So too, does a bride have a special place in the heart of a husband. Though he loves his children with all his heart, all his soul, all his mind and all his strength, he still has a special place for his helpmeet on his side, which is his bride.

Thank You, Father God, that we are being made as pure and as white as snow. That at the coming of the LORD, which is in the middle of the night, which represents the dark night of the tribulation, which will be the occasion upon which You come to receive unto Yourself Your bride. And for those who are ready, which as the word shows, many will be called, but only a few will be ready at the first taking, it will be these who will be whisked away by their knight in shining armour from the perils and travails of the tribulation as their great reward for being ready, as unto the tranquility and joy of their honeymoon. The others will be left behind and not accompany the bride and her Bridegroom on their honeymoon. But for the greater body of Christ, they who have not made themselves ready, though they have the lamp of the Word and the oil of the Holy Spirit, they shall be ripened as fruit of the seed of righteousness by the heat of the tribulation and the rain of the latter rain. For is there not a former rain and a latter rain? And is the latter rain not heavier than the former, representing the larger harvest that follows the first fruits of the bride?

Which is why the coming of the LORD as a thief in the night is at different watches of the long night of the tribulation. “WATCH therefore: for you know not when the master of the house comes, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming sud­denly he find you sleeping. And what I say to you I say to all. WATCH." (Mark 13: 33-37). Under the Roman rule at the time, the night was broken up into four watches of “three-hours” each, lasting from 6pm to 6am. The Lord’s exhortation to "watch" refers directly to the "watches of the night” applied during that time. And His reference to the uncertainty of what time the Lord is coming is equally deliberate, because His coming will not be at one specific time, but as a phased event that is fulfilled during the four watches of the night. This requirement to be ready and watch, just as a bride in the natural needs to watch the clock and be ready, is pointed out by Paul in I Thessalonians 5:5-6: "You are all children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. There­fore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us WATCH and be sober."

What is clear is that not all will be received unto You during that time. And what is clear is that some will be left behind. So let us be of those who do not miss Your coming in the first watch, please LORD. Let us be ready to be received unto You upon Your coming right at the first watch of the long night of twelve hours (with twelve representing the whole night). For in Revelation it says the Spirit and the bride say come! (Revelation 22:17). Who else, but to the rest of the people, are they talking to when in Revelation it says that the Spirit and the bride say come? For when they say come, does it not mean that the Spirit and the bride are already together? Has the Spirit not received unto Himself the bride already? Have they not then already been betrothed that they might say as one voice, “Come, come, all you who hear, come!”? For the whole church is not the bride. For whilst the bride is part of the church, not all of the church is the bride. For whilst the bride is part of the sons of God, not all sons of God are the bride.

Just like at the first coming of the Lord, where there was a voice crying out in the wilderness to make straight the paths for the coming of the Lord, so too with the second coming of the Lord, is there a requirement for many voices to be crying out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the LORD. Make straight His paths.” (Mark 1:3). Which is to be made ready for Your coming. Which will be as a thief in the night for those who are ready. That You may steal away for Yourself the precious treasures of those who are watching and not sleeping, being those who are ready.

Let us Father, who have an ear to the ground — being those who have humbled themselves, since an ear to the ground depicts those who bow before the LORD, being exactly the posture of those who hear from You — know the seasons and the times. That they may be ready when the season and the time comes, that the Bridegroom will receive unto Himself His chosen bride. For Your word says that the LORD makes everything beautiful “in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

Just like a bride is made beautiful in her time.