"Be Ye Ready Is No Joking Matter" - David Wilkerson - from a dream in 1998

The following is part of a transcript of a sermon David Wilkerson (Times Square Church) gave following a dream he had in 1998. I recall quite vividly it was in 1998 that I myself became acutely aware of the coming separation of the church by resurrection. (The Bride Theft) It was also around that time that I became convinced of the Lord that resurrection would be such as David shared from his dream, that we would be taken in a heavenly vehicle with angelic escort. (Heaven's Vehicles) .

Matthew 24:42-44: "Watch ye 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 be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."

(Praying) Lord you spoke so clearly to me this past week in a dream. You told me to preach this this afternoon, and I obey you...

I don't get many dreams, and I don't preach on my dreams because I'm a bible preacher, and anything that does not conform to the word of God is to be rejected outright. I'm just telling you how God awakened my soul, how I should preach this more often...I want you to know this is not doctrine, it's not some new revelation, it's simply the Holy Spirit prompting me, and speaking to me about His coming, I don't know want to build any doctrine about it, remember that. I don't have much confidence in dreams, any dream vision or revelation has to absolutely be framed in scripture.

Now having said that, let me share with you without trying to talk to you about doctrine or anything else, just the Holy Ghost talking to me. In my dream I was suddenly awakened by the knowledge that I had been snatched, I had been caught up, and I was in some kind of conveyance, I don't know if it was a chariot, I didn't see the conveyance, but I knew that there were others in it and that there was an angel of the Lord... there was a sense of just racing swiftly thru streets and into houses, this conveyance knew no barriers and I had a sense that I was on my way home, I'm saved, the Lord has come.

I am being gathered by the angel of the Lord, the chariots of the Lord, there are thousands upon thousands, the coming of the Lord is as lightining is from the east to the west...there was a sense of swiftness, but it was almost as I was seeing it in slow motion, this lightning coming, I was seeing it in slow motion, I didn't see a driver, I didn't see an angel, I didn't see the conveyance, I just had a sense, I knew I was being carried and taken and it was moving swiftly, and people were being snatched from homes and from the streets.

And I remember specifically going into a particular home and there were 3 people that I recognized, 2 were friends and 1 was a family member, and we went right by, and there was as sense, a sudden sense, oh God, they were being left behind, and the Lord allowed me to, for a few fleeting moments, to sense the terror of what it would be like to be left behind when the angels of the Lord come and gather His elect from the 4 winds.

I was made to know at that time that even those who call themselves christians, and were not really christians, who despised the grace of God went out and sinned and said I can easily confess, never did forsaking their sin, there was a sense that even though they were sleeping they were aware, there was an awareness that the Lord is coming and there is a sudden moment because I saw hands being raised, people reaching out and waving.

In fact as we kept moving on there were people that were moving and trying to get the attention of this driver, this conveyance, and I was screaming and yelling get out in the open, as if I thought if they were out in the open they could be seen and get caught up but it went swiftly on, but there was a sense that I have never experienced in my life, even though all my life my father taught on the coming of the Lord, my grandfather taught on the coming of the lord, taught about it.

The Bible says we shall all be changed, in the twinkling of an eye, suddenly we're going to be changed, the bible says, this corrupt body shall put on an incorrupt body just like His. And the bible says that we are to be prepared and ready, expecting, the bible says He is coming for those who look for His appearing. And those who are expecting, even though sleep they are going to be caught, if it's in the middle of the night.

Now I'm not going to be get into the doctrine of the rapture, when this happens, before the tribulation, middle of the tribulation or after the tribulation, I am just telling you I had a sense of the horror it's going to be for those who knew the gospel, who had one appeal after another, who knew the grace and the mercy of God and they were not ready. They were not taken, they were not gathered in this, and I remember the swiftness of moving, and seeing the people left behind, the conveyance just passing by, and this terrible sense. Lord I know I'm saved, I know I'm redeemed, I'm going home, but those 2 friends and that member of my family... and there was a terror. Two shall be sleeping in a bed, one shall be taken the other left...watch therefore He's coming as a thief in the night. He's coming folks.

There was no sense of speed , there was no sense of traveling, but suddenly I was stepping with everyone around me, we were stepping as out of a cloud,out of a fog, out of time, into eternity, suddenly. There was no sense of being carried out into a cosmos or anywhere else, suddenly we were...Home. We were in eternity and I remember this sense of absolute serenity, as we stepped out into eternity thru this cloud, there was a sense of peace, and all I could see around me people were feeling their bodies, they were feeling their hands, they were caressing their faces, there was no shouting. I didn't see Jesus anywhere,it was just a sense, it happened so quickly, it seemed to be a gathering place, the bible say He's going to gather His elect from the the 4 winds, and suddenly I looked and there were my 2 friends, and my loved one coming thru the cloud and into eternity.

Nobody was looking at each other, nobody, there was no embracing, there was just a peace, an incredible peace, and I experienced it for a moment, I am home, that earth that I was on is gone, I am beyond the reach of satan, there is no sin, there is no possibility of ever being lost, I am eternally His, He did what He said He would do, He said He would come with His angels, He came with His angels, he did everything I preached, everything I said, It's true! He's all sufficient, He's everything that we need!

There was a peace and a a serenity beyond anything I could imagine... and people were just awed, in silence, there was an awe, there was a peace that was absoultely indescribable, and the sense... it was a sense, it's all over, it's all over, it was all... it was all true. That sense of reality and truth - that was not the real world, this is the real world, this is eternity, that's all passed away, it was just a dream, it was just grass, that's what the bible says, the flesh is just grass, it comes up, it withers and it's gone. Time is just a little piece, eternity is a great big realm, God cut a little piece and He gave it to man, with His grace and mercy, saying, here is My grace, My mercy, My glory. He gives you space and time to repent and trust in Him...

But God wait a minute, all of these who didn't come, all of those who were left behind, who thought they were prepared and thought they were ready, they are not here, what about them Lord... they're lost, there was a sense in me, now folks that will not be there but I believe God was letting me feel the sense of this lostness of those who were gone, and suddenly as I was thinking about all those who had not been gathered, I woke up, I sat right up, and these words were like silent thunder in my head- "David, be ye ready is no joking matter." And I lay back in my pillow and God said, "My people are not taking it seriously, they talk about it but they are not taking it seriously, and many, many are going to be left behind- they are not ready... the age of grace is about to end."