ARE YOU READY? By Raphael ben Levi
Here are some interesting thoughts from the Babylonian Talmud, (Tractate Shabbath 153a) that are particularly relevant for the times we are living in:
Rabbi Eliezer said: “Repent one day before your death.” His disciples asked him: “Does one know on what day he will die?” He replied: “Then all the more reason that he repent today, lest he die tomorrow, and thus his whole life is spent in repentance.”
Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai explained it with a parable:
There was once a king who summoned his servants to a banquet without appointing a time. The wise ones adorned themselves and sat at the door of the palace enquiring: “Is anything lacking in a royal palace?”
The fools went about their work, saying: “Can there be a banquet without preparations?”
Suddenly the king desired the presence of his servants. The wise entered adorned, while the fools entered soiled. The king rejoiced at the wise but was wroth with the fools saying: “Those who adorned themselves for the banquet, let them sit, eat and drink. But those who did not adorn themselves, let them stand and watch. Does not Scripture say: ‘Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: ‘Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed; behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart.’” (Isa.65:13ff).
The righteous were commended by the king because they had prepared themselves well with garments undefiled, single-minded, living righteous and pure lives as they eagerly awaited the fulfilment of the king’s promise with patience and expectancy. They echoed the sentiment of the psalmist who, in his desire to live a righteous life, declared. “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.” (Ps.84) However, the fools soiled their garments by pursuing their own self-interests and agendas convinced there would be sufficient advance warning to prepare themselves when it was time. They were wrong…
Here is the rub. The amazing love of God is demonstrated in a Divine reversal as Yeshua now stands at the door of your ‘palace’ seeking to make good the deficit in your life that He might make His dwelling place in you wherein you will discover a feast indescribable! (Rev.3:20)
Many are called but few are chosen…. (Matt.22:14)
