Prepare to meet your God

“Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel; Because I will do this to you, Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!” – Amos 4v12

We have all seen variations of the old cartoon. Some old guy is standing on a corner with a sign. Sometimes the sign days ‘The End is Near’ and sometimes it says ‘Prepare to Meet Your God.’ It has played so much that it is easy to forget the importance of the message.

The message here is to Israel. It is a challenge to turn from sin and return to God. God had laid out the destruction He had planned for the nation. It was going to happen. In order to escape it the people had to make preparation by getting their hearts and actions right. If they did that they would escape God’s wrath.

God hasn’t changed. His holiness still demands payment for sin. He cannot tolerate sin. He still demands that people prepare to meet Him.

However we have a great blessing. The prep work has already been done for us. Jesus went to the cross in payment for our sins. He has cleared the way. He has opened up the access. He has pioneered our salvation. He is the captain of our faith.

Since the preparation has been done all we have to is apply it. Accept the preparation that Christ has done by acknowledging our sinful state and put our faith not in our preparation, but in His.

For those of us who already have done this we can rest in full assurance that Christ’s preparation is enough.

But there are many who are trying to do all they can do to prepare to meet God. We must share with them the joyous news that the work in indeed done, all they have to do is apply it.