What if Jesus said to you “That’s a WRAP!”?
What does that mean to you?
In today’s vernacular, He would be telling you that “a situation, project, or event is finished, concluded, or over” (Googled)
Many Christians are beginning to ponder seriously, if the return of Christ is imminent.
i.e. – ‘That’s A Wrap’.
Jesus made it perfectly clear that only the Father knows when He will give the ok for Jesus to return. (Matthew 24:36)
God, the Father, may be very close to telling His Son, “That’s a WRAP!”
It’s time for you to return.
I will leave the pondering of how close that is; and under what circumstances, Jesus will return.
As we embrace the turmoil in our world, the words of Jesus spoken to His disciples in Matthew 24 ring out loud and clear.
In the midst of the troubles, the ‘unprecedented unrest’, the lawlessness, the chaos, confusion, feelings of anxiety, dismay, and shock caused by something unexpected, God is moving, in midst of all this, throughout the nations of the world by the Holy Spirit.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is being preached, people are being saved, healed, delivered, water baptized, and filled with the Spirit.
Matthew 24:14, NKJV says, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world, and then the end will come.”
And when the end comes, ‘That’s A Wrap’!
The Gospel is being preached.
This is happening throughout the world and most of the known world is oblivious to it; even the Church.
When God is present one of two things takes place.
The first is John 3:16-17.
This results in justification as mentioned above.
The second is John 3:18-20.
This is the reality of God’s justice.
God is Sovereign over all the nations of this world.
We are living in an hour of increasing unrest, uncertainty, and upheaval.
The nations of the world have witnessed the judgment of God against evil this past weekend on February 28, 2026 in the nation of Iran.
This teaching of justification and judgment is found in the Word of God.
God’s redemptive plan of salvation and His judgment against sin, are clearly taught throughout the Word of God.
Both of these issues and the increase of evil at the ‘age’ are clearly taught in the Word of God.
2 Timothy 3 is one such passage of scripture.
In a little over a month*, many throughout the world will focus upon Jesus’ last week in Jerusalem prior to His crucifixion on the Cross.
*Palm Sunday is March 29, 2026, Good Friday is April 3, 2026, and Easter Sunday is April 5, 2026.
On the Cross, the wrath of God against sin, and the love of God for humanity intersected in the Person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
The result of this Seismic Spiritual Shaking completely satisfied the wrath of God and provided justification through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ that was declared totally righteous and justified by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
That is the message of the Gospel of G.R.A.C.E.-
God’s Redemptive Activity Changed Everything
In an upper room, the night of His betrayal, Jesus said to His disciples, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, “I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, NKJV)
I do not think it is unreasonable to believe that many Christians today are not at peace in the midst of the tribulation that is happening in our nation and in the nations of the world.
Therefore what would Jesus say to us in this ‘hour’?
Remembering the words of Francis Schafer, he said, “How Shall We Then Live?”
Jesus, will tell us, “How Shall We Then Live?”
Jesus has a WRAP!
His W.R.A.P. consists of four words.
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Jesus taught us four important words.
In Matthew 28:16-20, Jesus speaking to His disciples prior to His ascension gave them instructions which have been identified as the great commission.
What we must must keep in perspective is that before the disciples embarked upon the great commission, Acts 1:4-8, NKJV, says that Jesus, “being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which”, He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (emphasis mine)
I wonder how many times, we (me included) have hurried off to accomplish the work of the Lord, we have been assigned to do, and have not stopped long enough, to be sure that we are prepared to move forward ‘in’ and ‘by’ the Spirit of God.
We just take it upon ourselves to go ahead and do the work.
The Lord had, commanded, them to wait.
What if they had just run off in their own strength?
What would be the outcome?
Do believers do that today?
Does the Church do that today?
I suggest that much activity done by the Church is not governed by the Holy Spirit.
I believe that the Lord is going to ‘shake’ His Church during the coming ‘Seismic Spiritual Shaking’ and realign His Church so that it will accomplish the great commission as He intended it to be done.
This realignment will be part of the Seismic Spiritual Shaking in 2026.
Like the disciples in Acts, the Church needs to wait in their ‘Jerusalem’ for the Promise of the Father.
The Church cannot do the ministry of the Lord, as He intended it to be done without the governing direction of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the CEO of the Church–the Chief Executive Officer.
The Promise of the Father was explained to the disciples in the Upper Room the night of Jesus’ betrayal and arrest.
Please Read John 13-17.
The Promise of the Father, was the ‘rain’ of the Holy Spirit that came down on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem to ‘reign’ in the Church.
The pouring out of the Holy Spirit was to empower His followers to do the work of ministry.
The coming of the Holy Spirit was the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to enable believers to live the new life that now resided in them in this world of darkness.
Jesus had told them in the Upper Room in John 14:15-18 NKJV, “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever–the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”
Acts 2:1-4 records the coming of the Holy Spirit.
At this time, they were filled with the Holy Spirit.
Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, rises (Acts 2:14) to the occasion and says, “But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ”And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh…*The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon into blood, Before the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Acts 2:16,17a,20-21 (NKJV). (See *Matthew 24:29)
As we begin this new year, let us wait on the Lord; let us ask Him to pour out His Spirit upon us; let us be empowered by the Spirit to do the works of the Lord during the ‘unprecedented unrest’.
Let us identify Jesus’ four words.
I want to turn our attention to Matthew 24:42-44 (NKJV), it reads,
“Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour Your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
What instructions is Jesus giving to His followers?
What words in the text would you underline and/or highlight in your Bible?
I would like to suggest the following:
In Matthew 24:42, underline “watch”, Strong’s Concordance #1127, it means to keep awake, be vigilant, wake, (be)watch(ful). This is the same word Jesus used speaking to Peter, James, and John in the Garden of Gethsemane. He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death. Stay here and watch with me.” (Matthew 26:38 NKJV) In Matthew 24:43, He uses the word watched speaking to them, the exact same word that He used previously.
In Matthew 24:44, underline be “ready”, Strong’s Concordance #2092, it means prepared, (make)ready(-iness, to our hand) This is the same word Jesus used in His parable of the wedding feast. Matthew 22:4-8 NKJV, “Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and fatted calf are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding. ” ‘…”Then he said to his servants, The wedding feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.”
Our first two words are watch (Matthew 24:22) and ready (Matthew 24:44).
I would like to suggest two additional words.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, the disciples did not watch with Him.
Three times He found them asleep.
In Matthew 26:40-41 NKJV, “then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping and said to Peter. ”What could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray lest you fall into temptation. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” (emphasis mine)
In our watching, we need to pray. Paul writing to the Colossian church, says in Colossians 4:2 KJV, “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving.” The NKJV reads, “Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving. Paul is exhorting our ‘watching earnestly in prayer‘.
Diligent watching includes our persistent praying.
The third word is the word pray.
The Greek word for watch, gregorio, Strong”s #1127, means either literally to be or keep awake (possibly as in vs.43 and parallels) or figuratively to be watchful and alert (as here) {Matthew 24:42}. No NT usage appears to be entirely without some sense of being watchful, on guard, or vigilant. The word came to be used more or less absolutely as a Christian virtue (see I Cor. 16:13) and to designate watchful preparedness for the Lord’s return (see Rev. 16:15; see also Col. 4:2) In I Thessalonians 5:10 it takes on the metaphorical meaning of being alive. The word is also used in Matthew 26:41. [Word Wealth: Spirit Filled Life Bible, page 1422]
Here is the fourth word that I would like to add to our list, one which is implied; it is mentioned in the above Word Wealth,the word is alert.
The concept of being alert is the basis of the meaning of Matthew 24:43 NKJV, “But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched (been alert)[see above], and not allow his house to be broken into. (inserts mine) (emphasis mine)
As mentioned above, the word watch is found in I Corinthians 16:13, NKJV; Paul writes, “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.” To watch is identified as a Christian virtue, that is united with “standing fast in the faith, be brave, be strong”. All of these are virtues that a believer needs to exhibit in their walk with the Lord, especially in the last days.
In the Book of Luke, we have a parallel passage of Jesus’ teaching of the passage that we have been considering in Matthew’s Gospel.
The parallel account is found in Luke 21:34-38 NKJV.
Jesus says, “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and cares of this life, and the Day come on you unexpectedly.” (This is expressly referring to the Second Coming of the Lord; but do you see its application? Just “as it was in the days of Noah”? What is the implication? Are we paying attention to what is going on in the world.) “For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man.” (Insert mine)
All four of these words are woven into the fabric of thought found in Jesus’ words in the above text.
I suggest that in order to ‘be counted worthy to escape’, that in addition to watching and praying, you would need to be ready and alert.
What are the four words that have been emphasized: watch, pray, alert, ready.
What is the importance of these four words?
As we walk with the Lord in the end times, there will be ‘unprecedented unrest”.
As we are abiding in the A.R.K. (Adonai’s Righteous Kingdom) of His refuge; we need to be watchful; we need to be praying; we need to be alert; and we need to be ready.
These four words are given to help us pay attention to what is going on in the world.
It might help you to think of the word WRAP to remember these four words: Watch, Ready, Alert, Pray–W.R.A.P.
Well, that’s a WRAP for this post. (lol)
These four words are foundational stepping stones paving our pathway as we walk with the Lord in good times and/or in tumultuous times.
Jesus has highlighted these four words for our spiritual guidance, strength, knowing, comfort, and peace, His peace (John 16:33).
Question: What adjustments, if any, do you need to make at this time in your life as you walk with the Lord?
I encourage you to ask Him.
I would like to suggest that you read Matthew 24:45-51, Matthew 25:1-13, and Matthew 25:15-30.
These passages are the context of Jesus’ teaching regarding the four words.
Blessings, deo
Living Words of Encouragement 