Presented to the Swift Current Corps, 27 June 2010
and TSA Alberni Valley Ministries, 30 November 2025
By Captain (Major) Michael
Ramsay
This is the 2025 version, to view the 2010 version, click here:
https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2010/06/matthew-2436-51-revelation-227-21-he-is.html
I remember
watching a YouTube video with my older children when they were just little. There
is this duck. He walks up to a lemonade stand and he asks the boy there,
“Excuse me sir, do you have any grapes?” The boy says, “No” and the duck goes
away. Twenty minutes later the duck comes back. He walks up to the lemonade
stand and he asks the boy there, “Excuse me sir, do you have any grapes?” The
boy says, “No” and the duck goes away. Twenty minutes later the duck comes
back. He walks up to the lemonade stand and he asks the boy there, “Excuse me
sir, do you have any grapes?” The boy who is getting a little agitated now
says, “No and if you ask me again I will tape your beak closed and then tape
you to a tree”; the duck goes away. Fifteen minutes later the duck walks up to
the lemonade stand again and he asks the boy there, “Excuse me sir, do you have
any… tape?” The boy says, “no” and the duck says, “Do you have any grapes?”
My
children saw this on a YouTube. just loved it and retold this joke over and
over again.
Speaking
of children, about this same time (more than 15 years ago), Susan was pregnant
and we were waiting for our third child, Baby Heather, to make an appearance. Heather
was taking her time arriving. Mom was understandably getting a little bit
impatient. Baby Heather was more than 2 weeks late and everyday was a day
closer and everyday we knew that baby was coming very soon…. We didn’t know
exactly when but we knew she had to come and we were ready. Our bags were
packed and in the car. I kept the camera and phone list by my side. My parents,
Grandma and Boppa, came to town just before baby’s first due date to help look
after the children when baby arrives. We knew baby Heather was coming soon,
sooner than ever before…but baby Heather just wasn’t here yet. We thought a
doctor said that baby was coming on June 16th, but the 16th came and went and baby
Heather hadn’t come yet. We saw a doctor had written that the baby was coming
on June 17th, but June 17th came and went and baby Heather hadn’t come yet. I
thought the ultrasound technician said Baby was coming on June 20th or the 21st;
Susan thought they said the 22nd - but June 20th came and went and
the 21st came and went and the 22nd came and went and Baby Heather hadn’t come
yet. We were prepared for the baby many days before all those dates, in between
all those dates, and after those dates. We knew the baby was coming soon but Baby
Heather hadn’t come yet.
Revelation
3:11, Jesus says, “I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one
will take your crown.” But Jesus hasn’t come (back) yet. Revelation 22:7, Jesus
says, “Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the
prophecy in this book.” But Jesus hasn’t come (back) yet. Revelation 22:12,
Jesus says, “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to
everyone according to what he has done.” But Jesus hasn’t come (back) yet. And
Revelation 22:20, “He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am
coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” But Jesus hasn’t come (back) yet.
The
people in the first years after Jesus rose from the grave – when the early
church was formed - expected him to come back soon, any minute, but Jesus hasn’t
come back yet. The people in the first decades after Jesus rose from the grave
– when most of our New Testament was written - expected him to come soon, any
minute but Jesus hasn’t come back yet (cf. Luke 17:26-27).[2] The people in the
first centuries after Jesus rose from the grave – when most of our church
fathers lived - expected him to come soon, any minute but Jesus hasn’t come
back yet.[3] The people through the first millennium after Jesus rose from the
dead – when the church continued to spread through North Africa, Europe and
Asia - expected him to come soon, any minute but Jesus still hasn’t come back
yet. The people through the second millennium after Jesus rose from the dead –
when the church experienced its Renaissance and Reformation - expected him to
come soon, any minute but Jesus still hasn’t come back yet. And now we are into
the third millennium…and still Jesus hasn’t come yet.
The
longer we waited for Baby Heather to come the more we could have kept to our
regular schedule and stopped be ready. When we were waiting for Baby Heather to
come, we were living in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. I was asked to speak at a Salvation
Army conference at Beaver Creek Camp in Saskatoon – but I couldn’t be away when
Baby came. I was also asked to lead an Emergency Disaster Services team in
Maple Creek. They needed someone who had experience. I was needed I was told,
but if I went I risked missing out on Baby Heather’s arrival; so, I decided to
stay near home – still ready, watching and waiting for Baby. I was still
working of course, fulfilling my duties in this post-modern age of laptops and smartphones,
but I remained in town, minutes away, waiting, ready for Baby Heather to
arrive.
Similarly
relating to our Lord Jesus, Matthew 24:42-51 that we read from earlier, records
(cf. also Luke 12:42-46):
42"Therefore
keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But
understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the
thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be
broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an
hour when you do not expect him.
"Who
then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the
servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will
be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. I
tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But
suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, 'My master is staying away
a long time,' and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and
drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he
does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to
pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping
and gnashing of teeth.
Let us
look a little closer at this story. What is it about? It is about the fact that
Jesus is coming soon now and we – even more than doctors and ultrasound
technicians - we really don’t know when Jesus is coming but we need to be ready
because, like Heather was, Jesus is coming (Matthew 24:26, 25:13; Mark 13:32;
Luke 12:39-40, 46). He is coming like a thief in the night (Matthew 24:34) and
we should be ready (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:2-4; 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 3:3,
16:5). This is important. We know this is important for a couple of reasons -
not the least of which is the fact that Matthew records for us that Jesus says
this is important and he repeatedly makes this very point in a number of
stories placed back to back to back here in the text.[5] This story of being
ready for Jesus to come because he will come like a thief in the night is in
the context of a number of similar parables about Jesus’ immanent return.[6]
Matthew
25:1-13 compares Jesus’ immanent return to bridesmaids waiting for the
bridegroom and the whole wedding celebration to begin (cf. Luke 14:16-24).[7]
This is a big deal. It is the party of the year and no one wants to miss it and
their ticket in, in this case, is to be prepared by having oil in their lamps
when the groom returns. There were those who started waiting but they weren’t
prepared to wait quite long enough and then the bridegroom shows up when they
have already gone to do something other than wait for him so they don’t get to
celebrate with the groom upon his arrival. They weren’t prepared and, like an
out-of-town father when his baby is born, they missed their opportunity to
greet him (cf. Heb. 3:7–4:13).[8]
There
is also the so-called, ‘Parable of the Talents’, Matthew 25:18-30 (cf. Luke
19:11-26).[9] Remember that story about waiting and being prepared, about being
ready? An employer, a master divides his investment portfolio between his
employees, giving them responsibility for it. He gives his servants, his slaves
some money, some talents, to be in charge of while he is away. He tells them to
take care of his talents. Two of the three servants do just this and thus they
are ready for their master’s return. The third – he is thrown into the darkness
where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 25:31). He is not
faithful with a little when the master was away so how can he be trusted with
the treasures of heaven when the Lord returns (Matthew 25:21,23, 30)? He was
not prepared for his Lord’s coming.
And we
all know the parable of ‘The Sheep and the Goats’ (Matthew 25:31-46). Here,
when the Son of Man comes, he divides the nations on his right and his left.
Those who are prepared to reap the benefits of his Kingdom took care of the
hungry, the thirsty, the strangers, the naked, the sick and the prisoners while
they were waiting for Him. They were prepared and, to them, He said ‘take your
inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world’ and
he said ‘well done my good and faithful servant’. However there were those who
did not do this and as such they were not ready to meet their maker and they
did not celebrate at his return (Cf. Exodus 23:6,11, Lev. 19:10,15,
23:22, 27:8, Deut. 15:7, 15:11, 24:12-15, 1 Samuel 2:8, Psalms 22:26, 34:6,
35:10, 82:3, Ezekiel 16:49, 18:12, 22:29, Amos 2:7, 4:1, 5:11-12, 8:4-6, Isaiah
3:14, 15, 10:2, 11:4, 26:6, 32:7, 41:17, 58:7, 61:1; Zechariah 7:10). He
still came but they did not celebrate. They were cast aside. They were not
prepared for his return so they miss out on the blessings of the coming of his
kingdom.
It is
like with Baby Heather. When the first due date came and went, we could have
taken the camera out of the baby bag and put it where it usually belongs; when
the next anticipated due date came, we could have taken the baby clothes,
Susan’s magazines, and toiletries out of the baby bag. When the next day came
and went, we could have taken the very baby bag itself, in which we held
everything in anticipation of baby’s arrival, and filled it with various work
or play related items instead so that we were no longer prepared. If we did all
of this it wouldn’t have stopped Baby Heather from coming. We just wouldn’t be
prepared for baby’s arrival and even if I was looking for everything that we had
unpacked and I couldn’t find what I needed in time to be there, baby still would
have come at the pre-appointed time, I just may have missed out on that moment.
Also if I was in Maple Creek or Saskatoon when baby came, I would have missed
the occasion or if baby had come early, a few days before the due date instead
of over 2 weeks after the due date, my parents wouldn’t have been a part of it.
They would have missed out on her arrival. Baby was coming whether we were
ready for her or not and if we weren’t ready we would miss out.
In our
spiritual life and our everyday life today, are we ready for Jesus’ return? We
don’t want to miss out! Are we ready for him? Are our spiritual bags still
packed? Or have we in the weeks, months and years since we started following our
Lord, have we been slowly unpacking our heavenly baby bags? Do we still have
our Bibles that we read daily (hard copy or online) in there or did we put them
back on the shelves because Jesus hasn’t come just yet? He’s still coming. How
about our incessant, fervent prayers: do we still prayer daily or have we put
them away until we feel we need them? How about our offering of food, clothing,
and love to the least, the lost, and the last: are we still doing this; is this
still w in our spiritual baby bags or have we filed these away somewhere;
leaving us unprepared for the immanent arrival of our Lord Jesus Christ who is
coming soon?
Jesus
is coming soon. What about all of us here today? If Jesus comes like an overdue
baby tonight, are we ready? Today, are our bags packed with our prayers, Bible
study, and love and service for our neighbour? Are we ready to meet him? As
sure as Baby Heather eventually came, at just the right time, Jesus is indeed
coming at just the right time - very soon. So when he does, let’s make sure we
are ready? When he shows up like a thief in the night let’s ensure we are prepared,
when he comes like a bridegroom, let’s ensure we have spiritual oil for our
lamps like the bridesmaids; Let’s keep investing the talents God is entrusting
us with so we are fully prepared when he returns; Jesus is coming soon. We know
this, so let’s all be prepared to meet him so that when he does return, he will
indeed greet us with, ‘take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you
since the creation of the world’ - and ‘well done my good and faithful servant’
Jesus
is coming very soon, whether we are ready or not so let’s be ready!
Let us
Pray
www.sheepspeak.com
---
[1] Bryant Oden (
Music) and Forrest Whaley (Animation) ‘The Duck - Hey! Got Any Grape's ?’,
available on-line: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hiimc8u5P4
[2] Cf. Douglas R.A.
Hare, Matthew (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky: John Know Press, 1993),
p.281.
[3] Volume 120 of The
Expository Times has a good series of articles on the church fathers. See for
ex. Judith L. Kovacs ‘Clement of Alexandria’ in The Expository Times, Vol. 120,
No. 6 (March 2009), pp. 261-271
[4] Information about
the team and their mission is on-line at:
http://renewnetwork.blogspot.com/2010_06_01_archive.html#1586402264514679316
[5] Cf. R.T. France,
‘Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary’, Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity
Press, 1985 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 1), S. 342. Endurance is a
prominent apocalyptic theme (cf. e.g. Dan. 12:12–13).
[6] Cf. Michael Ramsay,
'Jesus use of Parabolic and Metaphorical Methods to Affect the Listeners of the
Parable of the Wicked Tenants', Presented to William and Catherine Booth
College (Fall 2006). Available on-line at http://sheepspeak.com/NT_Michael_Ramsay.htm
[7] Luke includes the
parable of the Marriage feast – the third of Matthew’s three (Matt. 22:1-14) -
in an entirely separate setting (Luke 14:16-24); it is not mentioned at all in
the account of Mark and neither Mark nor Luke mention the parable of the two
sons (Matt 21:28-32).
[8] Cf. Donald A.
Hagner, Matthew 14-28. (WBC 33B: Dallas, Texas: Word Books, 1995), 612.
[9] There are several
commonalities in the parable’s contextual setting. It is recorded after the
triumphal entry when the people proclaim ‘Hosanna’ or ‘blessed be the king’ and
that Jesus is the ‘Son of David’ (Matthew 21:10-11, Mark 11:9-10, Luke 19:38);
the clearing of the temple (Matthew 21:12-13, Mark 11:15-19, Luke 19:45-46);
and Mathew and Mark’s account of the fig tree (Matthew 21:18-26; cf. Mark
11:12-14, 20-22).
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