Am I Ready for the Judgment?

Sometimes we sing a song entitled, “There’s a great day coming”. It is song we have known for many years and the words are quite simple, but they pack a powerful message. The third verse is perhaps the most sobering as it reads, “There’s a sad day coming, a sad day coming, there’s a sad day coming by and by, when the sinner shall hear his doom, ‘Depart I know ye not’, are you ready for that day to come?”. The words of this song cause all to ponder whether or not they are ready for the judgment day. We understand that sin is the only thing keeping man from standing ready before God on that day, yet so many will be labeled as a sinner and hear those words when that time comes. Are we ready? That’s not only a question that we sing, but it is a question we read by implication in 2 Peter 3:10. Peter, by inspiration says, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” (NKJV). Peter is reminding the brethren that the Lord will return, and he describes the second coming in such a way that we must ask ourselves, “Am I ready?”. Peter says, “the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night”, and he makes it very clear that the judgment day is on the Lord’s timetable. Jesus will say in Matthew 24:42, “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.”. The reality is mankind has no idea when the second coming will be. There are not going to be any signs, there is not going to be a prophet of God warning the people as in the days of old, and so we must all ask, “Am I ready?”. This morning, from the book of 2 Peter, let us spend some time finding a Biblical answer to that question, so that when judgment day comes, we can all be prepared to meet our God.

In the first place we must be living a holy and godly life. Immediately after Peter reminds the brethren that the Lord will return, he says this in verse 11, “Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness.” Holiness is a principle that is intertwined all throughout Scripture. Moses was told to remove his sandals because he was standing on holy ground (Ex. 3:5), holiness is the only quality of God that is 3-peated (Isa. 6:3), and because that is the case He has called us to be holy too (Lev. 11:44, 45). Holiness is something that God expects of His people, it is no wonder that those who are children of God are called saints in the New Testament (Acts 9:13). Literally a “saint” can be translated, “a holy one” or “a set apart one”. God wants His people to have the quality of holiness and strive for godliness each and every day. If these things can be said about us, we can say we are ready for the judgment.

Second, we are to always look and hasten for the second coming. Peter says in verse 12, “looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?”. The idea is, the holy and godly conduct that exists within your life (v. 11), will allow you to be seeking the second coming or to be patiently waiting for it. Is that not what every Christian should desire to say? We should be the kind of people who have such a great trust in God and His Word and are living the way that we ought so when we think about going home to our Father we can say, “I cannot wait”. If we live this way, the day of the Lord will not overtake us as a thief, because we will actively be looking and waiting for the Lord’s return.

In 1887 as Will L. Thompson penned the words on the page for the song, “There’s A Great Day Coming”, he desired men to ponder their state with God. Today we still sing that song, and we are forced to ask ourselves the question, “Am I ready?”. Only you can answer that question, and only you can prepare yourself for the day of the Lord. God’s Word gives us the instructions needed to be right with Him. May we all strive to do just that as we prepared and wait on the coming of Christ.