The Time of Preparation*

     

    

     Jesus told a parable of ten virgins, five wise and five foolish, who were expecting the bridegroom to arrive. In the meantime, they all fell asleep. At midnight, they heard the cry "Behold, the bridegroom cometh," and they arose and prepared their lamps to go to meet him. The five foolish virgins found that they did not have enough oil for their lamps, and they asked the five wise virgins to give them oil. The five wise virgins said that the foolish ones must go and purchase oil for themselves. While the foolish virgins went to purchase oil, the bridegroom came, the five wise virgins had gone out to meet him, they had entered into the marriage, and the door was shut. When the five foolish came to that shut door they said, "Lord, Lord, open to us.' But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.' Jesus then said: "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh." (Mt. 25:1-13). Half of those who had been intended for entrance to the marriage, were unprepared for His return, and were shut out of the marriage as being "unknown" by the Lord.

     We are in the Hebrew month of Elul. this month plus the Ten Days of Awe, forty days in total, precede the Feast of the LORD called the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). During these forty days, the shofar trumpet is blown daily calling God's people to prepare themselves with prayer, introspection, repentance, and good works. This daily trumpet blast is called the "wake-up trumpet." The Feast of Trumpets, which is the first of the fall Feasts of the LORD, involves the blowing of shofar trumpets. If the Church, as all of the ten virgins, is sleeping, this is the time to "wake-up" and be prepared with oil in your lamps in order to meet the Bridegroom, Jesus. Once the door is shut, there is no entry.

     We read in Isaiah that the LORD loved Israel and assured her that although He was angry, He would show mercy because He was Israel's Husband and had called her while she was forsaken: "For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD, my redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so I have sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee... For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee." (Isa. 54:1-10, excerpt). We often focus on the Rapture of the Church, but we are to be repentant witnesses to the mercy of God. The blood of the Lamb, Jesus, is a precious gift. Are we foolish or wise? Are we prepared and ready? or are we saying, "Where is the promise of His coming?", as Peter wrote of the scoffers of the last days. We are being given this appointed time before the fall feasts begin to prepare with prayer, introspection, repentance and good works.

     Moses repeatedly interceded with God on behalf of a rebellious Israel. Twice he spent forty days on the Mountain with God after God had announced His presence with loud trumpets, smoke, fire and quakes. After receiving the Ten Commandments on the stone tablets while on the Mountain, he returned to find that the people had molded a golden calf as an idol of worship. The LORD was about to consume the people in wrath and start again by creating a nation out of Moses. Moses reminded the LORD of His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Israel (Jacob): "And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people." Moses also sought to make an atonement for the great sin that the people had committed. He said to the LORD: "...if thou wilt forgive; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them." (Ex. 32:13-14).

     During these days of preparation in Elul, it is said among the Jewish people, "May your name be inscribed in the Book for a good year." This is the Book of which Moses mentions to the LORD above. Moses is willing to have his name removed from the LORD's Book in order to advocate for forgiveness for the people of God. Believers in Jesus Christ would say, "May your name be inscribed in the Lamb's Book of Life forever," because Christ's atonement does not last for just a year, but is an eternal atonement by His blood.

     Even after this terrible sin of the golden calf, the LORD agreed to go with the Israelites through the wilderness, as Moses requested, the LORD saying: "...for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name." (Ex. 33:12-17).

     Moses then asked the LORD to show him His glory, but there had to be a place prepared for Moses upon a rock in order to survive the display of the LORD's glory: "I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy....Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock....while my glory passeth by...I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover (meaning shut in, shut up) thee with my hand while I pass by." (v. 18-22).

     The LORD proclaimed His name as He passed by Moses: "The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and fourth generation." (v. 5-7).

     There is a day of visitation, as the LORD mentioned above, and a day of wrath coming. We must understand this and prepare beforehand. Peter wrote this about that day: "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evil-doers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation." (1 Pet. 2:11-12). Prayer, introspection, repentance, and good works is what the Church is to do in order to testify of God's glory in the day of visitation.

     As Jesus entered into Jerusalem humbly riding on an ass, which had prophetically been provided for Him by the Word of the LORD (see Zech. 9:9), the crowd began to hail Him as the King that comes in the name of the LORD. The religious leaders said that Jesus must rebuke these people, but Jesus said: "I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." (Lk. 19:28-40, excerpt). Then Jesus "beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee: and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knowest not the time of thy visitation." (v. 41-44). 

     There is a set time of the visitation of the Lord. Jerusalem was destroyed utterly because they had not spiritually prepared themselves during the time allotted by the LORD. We are given, in the month of Elul, before the fall feasts of the LORD, which include Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles/Simchat Torah (Rejoice in the Torah or Word of God), begin, a time of preparation. As Jesus fulfilled the spring feasts with His first appearing, He will also fulfill the fall feasts with His second appearing.

     David wrote about the importance of the Tabernacle of the LORD, represented by the third fall feast, to him: "Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock...therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD...When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek...I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD." (Ps. 27, excerpt).

     This is the ninth day of Elul. The wake-up shofar trumpet has been blowing daily. We are in those precious days of preparation for the feasts. Pray, repent, do the good works that glorify the Father during this time of mercy, forgiving and grace, as the LORD declared to Moses.

*Based upon Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson, Jr.'s 8/23/26 message to the church. If you would like to hear the complete message, you can find it on the Facebook page of Kenneth E. Stevenson Jr. Dr. Stevenson's video messages are also found on You Tube at the Kenneth Stevenson channel. To contact or support this ministry, or to request prayer, you can write to PO Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705. To find out more about the Shroud of Turin, which is evidence of Christ's suffering, death, and resurrection, and to receive a free e-book now available in several languages, go to http://www.theshroudofturin.org/freebook. Also the book NAZAH: White Linen and the Blood of Sprinkling, written by Dr. Stevenson, is available on Amazon.