Preparation For A Great Event
Ex 19: 10- 19: “And the Lord said unto Moses, go unto the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. 11: And be ready against the third day: for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai. 12: And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, take heed to yourselves that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death. 13: There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount. 14: And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes. 15: And he said unto the people, be ready against the third day: come not at your wives. 16: And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightning, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. 17: And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. 18: And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. 19: And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.”
ANY event that worth its onus must be prepared for. Nobody wants to organise or attend a half- hazard event. It does not matter the calibre of the event, people must prepare for it, whether it is birthday, wedding, coronation, christening, launching, graduation, matriculation, ordination, among others, some form of preparations mustalways preceding it. What actually is the essence of these preparations? It is to see th at the occasion in question goes as planned, that there would be no hitches on the day of the event. If it is worthwhile to prepare for the mundane things of this world, the secular things of the world so that there will be no disappointmentsor failures in one way or the order, what about meeting God? Do we need to prepare to meet Him?
Moreover, when we want to meet important personalities, we prepare ourselves and do the best we can. Anyone that has appointment with a governor, senator or even the chairman of a local council, prepares himself or herself before meeting such people. Yet, these are human beings that have limitations and can die at any time.
Therefore, the pertinent question at this juncture is, do we need to prepare tomeet our God? And the answer is, yes! God is an Awesome Being in heaven. He has no be
ginning and no ending. The Omnipotent Jehovah, the self- existing God, Who has power to do all things. We need to tremble before Him. Therefore, if we desire to meet God, we must prepare ourselves and make sure that we are immaculately and resplendently dressed.
In our text above, God told Moses to go and sanctify the people and make them wash their clothes, not to come near their wives. Washing their clothes means that they live or appear holy. God is a holy God and for any man to meet with the Lord, such a person must live holy. 1Peter 1v15- 16 says: “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. 16: Because it is written, be ye holy; for I am holy.” God says: “Be you holy because he is holy, therefore, you must not appear before God anyhow. This is the period we usually hold the crusade titled:“… And The Enemies Submitted.” This programme is organised once in two years, so, it is not a common programme. Rather, it is a crusade that we need to prepare with all seriousness, give it all we have. Even the name of the programme is enough to elicit unshakable seriousness in our preparation because your enemies will not treat you with kid’s gloves; theyare facing you with the fullness of their wrath. And if that is the case, will you appear anyhow before God? God forbid!
I want you to see why these enemies will not play with you. Rev. 12v7- 12 says:“And there was