After His resurrection, Christ’s disciples were not sure what to do or where to go next. Eventually the Lord told them to tarry in Jerusalem until they were endued with power. But at some point, Peter, with some time on his hands, said, “I’m going fishing. Anyone want to join me?” Remember, he didn’t fish for relaxation or entertainment. Peter fished for food for his family. He was probably thinking that his wife and kids were in need of husbandly attention. So off he went with some of the other disciples. But after fishing all night, and by the will of God not catching anything, they headed back home. Then, while not far from shore, a stranger called out, “Hey, did you catch anything?” They answered, “No.” I wonder how that mono-syllable word was spoken? To however it came out, the stranger replied, “You are fishing on the wrong side of the boat.” “Cast your net on the right side and ye shall find.” Perhaps reluctantly, they did as was suggested, and they dropped their net on a huge school of fish. At that point John rightly determined, “It is the Lord. Hey, Peter it is the Lord Jesus.” Christ made a surprise visit to His disciples, catching them totally off guard.
There are dozens of these surprise visits throughout the Word of God, and I think they are instructive. This afternoon, I’d like to point to some of them, drawing a few practical conclusions. My ultimate purpose is this: the Lord could drop in on US at any time. Are we ready to hear the Lord say, “Surprise !!! ?”
Let’s start with a few EXAMPLES, so you know what I mean.
They come in various ways and with various manifestations, but I’ll try to stick to the more obvious. First, there were the two disciples on their way home from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They were confused and disappointed. They may have been headed toward Christian obscurity. Cleopas and his friend might have disappeared into serviceless oblivion had not Jesus surprised them. Initially, He cloaked their eyes, and they didn’t know they were entertaining the Angel of God unawares. But when His work was done, He removed the blinders, and they had to say “It is the Lord; it is it the Lord.”
Zacharias, one of the priests of the Lord, was ministering in the Temple those days just prior to the incarnation. He and his wife, Elisabeth, “were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.” We aren’t told how much concentration Zacharias was putting into his work. But as he was sprinkling more incense onto the top of the golden altar, the Lord, in the form of an angel, suddenly appeared just off to his right hand. Surprise!!! Zacharias wasn’t expecting God to visit that day, but there He was.
You might say that one of God’s children was in church. He was going through the motions, singing the hymns, standing when he was asked to stand. He was half-heartedly praying, perhaps meditating about some good scripture. And then all of a sudden the Lord disturbed the quiet reverence of the day – “Surprise.” There apparently wasn’t the sound of a distant trumpet, getting louder and louder until the angel appeared. He didn’t slowly form within the smoke of the incense as it grew brighter and brighter, warning the man of His approach. It was just – “Surprise, Zacharias!!!”
In Judges 6 the son of a farmer named Joash, was threshing wheat, worrying that the Midianites might see him. Despite his vigilance, the angel of the Lord suddenly appeared before him startling him with the words, “The Lord is with thee, thou might man of valour.” The Lord instantly appeared, giving Gideon a commission and some words of encouragement.
Genesis 18 reminds us that Abraham knew, and had spoken with, the Lord on several occasions. But on one very hot day, out there on the plains of Mamre, as Abraham sat in his tent door, the Lord appeared with two of his angels. Abraham “lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him.” I interpret the words “and, lo,” to suggest surprise. Abraham may have been napping in the heat, but Christ appeared saying, “Excuse me Abraham, I have something for you.”
One more example before moving on. I Thessalonians 4:15 – “This we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a SHOUT, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
I know that there are various suggestions for the shout in this scripture. One very reasonable explanation is that this is a shout of victory. The arms of the victors and the wings of the angels fly above their heads, and everyone shouts “Touchdown.” Another explanation might be in the need to wake everyone up. Most Christians are not ready for the Lord to come. They don’t think about it. They have plans for tomorrow and promises to keep. They are asleep at the switch, and it will take the shout of heavenly host to get everyone ready for the Lord’s surprise return. I know that Matthew 24:42 is talking about another aspect of the Lord’s return, but it applies to every aspect: “Watch therefore; for ye know not what our your Lord doth come.” He will surprise a great many otherwise good Christians.
Quickly notice some peoples’ RESPONSES to the Lord’s surprise visit.
Abraham sprang into action, recognizing immediately that this was the Lord and that he should honor Him. Others, like the fishing disciples, were so focused on the blessing of the surprise visit, they didn’t notice that it was the Lord until John figured it out. The two Emmaens didn’t respond at all – until later. Joshua was surprised by meeting the Lord on enemy turf and immediately pulled out his sword to match the Lord’s sword. “Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?” The Lord answered: “Neither. I am the captain of the host of Jehovah. This is what I want you to do…” John’s father tried to argue with the Lord when He surprised him, so Zacharias was struck dumb. Mary was surprised by Christ at the empty tomb. She was so grieved she didn’t recognize Him.
There were also a few lost people surprised by the Lord. Saul of Tarsus was stopped in his tracks by Christ, but he instantly humbled himself. “Lord, what would thou have me to do?”
Belshazzar, the king of Babylon was celebrating his wickedness, using vessels taken from the Temple in Jerusalem, when God surprised him. “In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king’s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.”
You might say that the Ethiopian eunuch was not expecting to meet the Lord on his return home. He may have been hoping for something special when he was in Jerusalem at the temple. But now he was probably returning somewhat disappointed or misdirected. But…. “Surprise.” There was the Lord running up to the side of his chariot in the person of Philip. And how did he eventually respond? “See here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized.”
I think we are justified in thinking that the Lord may suddenly come to His temples even today. The Lord may visit our church this afternoon before we leave this place. Or then again, He may surprise us in some fashion when we get home tonight or perhaps tomorrow. Like which of these example will you respond?
In order to RESPOND PROPERLY it appears to me that we need to PREPARE PROPERLY.
Let me paraphrase a devotional I read the other day. The man said, As workers for God we have to learn to make room for God – to give God “elbow room.” We calculate and estimate, and say that this and that will happen, forgetting to make room for the Lord to come in as He chooses. Preacher, would you be surprised if He came into your meeting or into your sermon in a way you had not expected? Don’t look for the Spirit to come in a particular way, but look for him nevertheless That is the way to make room for Him. Expect him to come, but don’t demand that He come in the way of your choosing. However much we may know the Lord, the great lesson is that at any minute He may break into our lives in a special or surprising way. We are apt to overlook this element of surprise. We want or expect Him to come to us through a sermon, or in our devotional Bible reading. We expect Him to send a Baptist to prepare His way into our plans. Yet God often – if not always – works differently. All of a sudden the Lord meets us – “When it is the good pleasure of His will.” Keep your life so constant in its contact with God that His power may break out on the right hand and on the left, and even if sudden it won’t be surprising. Always be in a state of expectancy, and see that you leave room for God to come He chooses. Some good thoughts there.
So how should we prepare for the sudden appearance of the Lord? First, NEVER LEAVE His presence. We know theologically that we are always in the presence of the omnipresent God. But emotionally, practically and even spiritually, we can slip away, walk away and even stomp away. But those who pray without ceasing won’t be surprised by the coming of the Lord into their midst. Those who are properly thankful in everything, will be thankful when He walks up behind them as they go home. If our spiritual eyes are focused on heaven, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of the father, when He chooses to come for a visit, or He moves toward us, we won’t be surprised.
Second, be OPEN to His surprise visits. Not only should we be ready, but we should be happy to have Him visit. We need to so live our day-to-day lives that when He calls, “Children, do you have any meat,” we’re not embarrassed to be out fishing. We need to learn to think and even to say, “Even so come Lord Jesus.” What if the Lord came this afternoon for a surprise inspection of our souls? Are we open to His visit? We need to be open and always ready.
Third, the Lord’s visits will not be a surprise when we living in EXPECTATION and ANTICIPATION of those visits. Jesus confronted His disciples when they came in from their night-time fishing expedition. From that moment until they saw Him “taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight,” they should have heeded the angel’s rebuke – “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is take up form you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him to into heaven.” From that day on the beach, when the disciples ate the fish their Lord had prepared, they should have expected to see Him again every day, behind every bush and in every circumstance.
When we come to the house of God on a Sunday morning, we should expect the Lord to visit. Because we have prayed for His presence, and we have prepared our hearts not to be surprised, we should be ready for Him to come in some special manner – in ANY special manner of His choice. It might be to save another Saul of Tarsus. Or it might be to correct a disciple who is slinking back to his old home and his old way of life. It might be that the Lord surprises us with courage to attack some Satanic citadel like Jericho.
How should we prepare for the Lord’s surprise visit? By PRAYING for the Holy Spirit’s visitation. Because we have prayed in faith for His presence, we should not be surprised when He appears. On of the exhortations the Lord has left with us is to “pray without ceasing.” And one of those prayers ought to be, “Even so COME, Lord Jesus.” I would love to have the Deliverer appear this afternoon and scoop us all up into His eternal presence. But if we are properly prayerful, we should not be surprised if He came in the disguise of a stranger, or with a couple of angelic assistants, or as a gunman or in a tornado.
“Even so come, Lord Jesus.” Lord, come this afternoon to bless us, to rebuke us, to empower us or to humble us. Lord, come in whatever fashion you like to accomplish whatever you choose. And even if it is not this afternoon, surprise us tonight or tomorrow.
However you choose to come, “Lord, we need thee every hour.” “Even so come, Lord Jesus.”