April 11 - Waiting For The Miracle.

Matthew 12:40
“For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
 
When certain of the scribes and the Pharisees required a sign, Jesus spoke of the only sign given to an evil and adulterous generation…the sign of Jonah.
 
Jonah 1:17
“Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”
 
Sunday School teachers have often taught with flannelgraphs and now digital images of Jonah sitting and waiting inside the belly of that great fish. 
 
Can you imagine how the eleven disciples and all those that believed and followed Jesus felt during the three days and three nights of waiting? 
 
Luke 23:56
“And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.”
 
All four of the Gospel records mention the preparation after Jesus Christ died.
Preparation speaks of making ready or being prepared for what is ahead.
 
They prepared for what was coming, then they waited for the miracle.
What a picture of where we are, or should be, today. 
 
Luke 12:37
“Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.”
 
Our preparation is our salvation that we found by faith in Jesus Christ. 
1 Peter 3:15
“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:”
 
After we are prepared, we wait for His return…while He is preparing for us.
John 14:1-3
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
 
He is coming back…Are you prepared?
 
1 Corinthians 2:9
“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”
 
May we never be ashamed to share the Gospel while we wait.
 
Romans 1:16
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
 
 
Bible Reading:
Joshua 12-13   |    Acts 13