Ready for the thief

"Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed." Revelation 16:15
Here in Revelation, towards the end of the final judgements on earth - the bowl judgements, we come across this verse. In the midst of reading about the darkest time of man's history, there is a ray of light.
The simile about the Lord coming like a thief is a reference to the rapture of the church (1 Thess. 5:1-9). It does not mean that the Lord is a thief, or that He comes to rob you, but it is a reference to the suddenness of His coming, and the fact that no-one knows the day or the hour (Matt. 24:36). In Matthew 24, Jesus went on to explain how a thief does not announce to the owner of the house when he is coming (Matt. 24:43). But if the owner is prepared, he will be ready for the thief to come, even though he doesn't know when that will be.
So too with us, and the day that Jesus returns to collect us. Are we ready? Have we found salvation in Jesus Christ? Or have we heard the gospel, and said to ourselves, 'That sounds good, but I'll do something about it later'? For the former type of people, this verse is a reminder that we will be spared from enduring the horrific judgements of the Tribulation. But the latter type of people are those to whom this verse is especially speaking to. They are the ones who know the thief is coming, btu don't bother to get prepared. They are sleeping when they should be getting ready. And as a result, they are the ones who will be shamefully exposed when they have to endure God's wrath through the Tribulation.
I hope and pray today that you are not in that position. But if you are, I would strongly encourage you to sort things out between you and the Lord.