BE READY – FAITHFULLY WAITING
OR
BE READY – FAITHFULLY WATCHING
SUNDAY OCT. 17, 2021
Scripture To Consider:
“Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching.”
“Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.”
“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.” Luke 12.35-40
Something To Consider:
The dominating message of these two parables is for God’s people to be ready for the return or second coming of Jesus Christ. For Jesus said, “Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” The hour or day is not as important as our understanding that He is coming! Jesus, speaking of His second coming later revealed, “But of that day and hour no one ones, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”
Therefore, we are not to be setting dates, but rather we are to be waiting and watching for His return. In that culture when masters went away, the servants were given the task of waiting and watching for their master’s return. According to Middle Eastern traditions, weddings lasted into the late evening or early morning hours. And servants were to be faithful to wait and to watch for their return.
The prophet in Isaiah 30.18 admonished, “Blessed are all those who wait for Him [the Lord].” And in Lamentations 3.26 we are instructed, “It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.” Are we quietly and faithfully waiting for the second coming of the Lord? And if you should say that certain end time events must first take place before the Lord returns, you would be biblically right. But what if the Lord comes for you or for me by way of death?
And Paul writing in Galatians 5.5 proclaimed, “We [fellow believers in Christ] through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness.” Yes, the second coming of Jesus will be to establish the righteousness of God on earth! How glorious that will be after living among so much end time political and religious deception, lies, and the criminal acts of most and especially the evil global elite leaders strategically positioned around the world.
Something Else To Consider:
Jesus told His disciples and all who have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the true church, to be waiting for their Master’s return. He instructed us all by saying, “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning.” Men in that culture wore long flowing robes. When time for work or for traveling came, they would gird or tuck their robes up into their belts to enable them to be ready at a moment’s notice.
Lamps were often a bowl or saucer with oil and a wick, which were used to produce light. The writer of Psalms 119.105 declared, “Your Word [the Word of God] is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” The written Word of God gives illuminating light into our lives and unto the paths of ourselves and unto others. Are we allowing the Word of God to permeate our lives in order to ready us spiritually for future end time events and the second coming of Jesus?
David acknowledged in Psalm 27, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” Let’s be honest! As we contemplate the second coming of Christ, we need to understand from a biblical perspective, that end times prior to Christ’s coming will be perilous times. Jesus states that His coming will be immediately after the tribulation of the end time last days. Are we ready or have we been deceived into looking for a pre-tribulation rapture?
Jesus explained, speaking of end times in Matthew 24.4-5; “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.” There is a great wave of religious deception that has been sweeping over this nation and spreading around the world through so-called evangelistic efforts for nearly a century or more. Jesus was aware of it and so should we be aware of its demonic effect upon those who desire to have their ears tickled rather than their hearing biblical truth.
Something More To Consider:
The Word of God warns us as true end time believers to be ready, to be faithful in our waiting, and to be faithfully watching for His coming and for the signs of His coming. We are to be humanly engaged in waiting and in watching for Christ’s coming. Yes, we are to remain responsible for the earthly tasks at hand. But we are to be willing to be more mindful of the things of God while waiting!
Lazy servants would sleep while their masters were away. Blessed, faithful, and content are true Christian servants who can be found intently watching for their Master Jesus. They must maintain an attitude of readiness, through the diligent study of the Word of God no matter the hour, and no matter how difficult these end times become.
In the second parable Jesus was not suggesting Himself to be a thief. What He was suggesting with all the tone of importance He could establish was that His servants must be ready. He was suggesting if not commanding, that His servants who are called by His name, those who are waiting and watching for His return, were to be ready at all times. Therefore, let us be ready and faithfully watching!
A Few Final Words:
But the reality of life and according to the Word of God is, and is according to Jesus in Matthew 24.48-51. “But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master [Jesus] is delaying His coming [when the pre-tribulation theory is proven to be a hoax],’ and begins to beat [mistreat cruelly] his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards [or begins practicing iniquity], the master of that servant [Jesus] will come [return] on a day when he is not looking for Him and at an hour he is not aware of.”
And finally Jesus explained; “And He [the Master, Jesus] will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites [false religious leaders and pretenders of the faith]. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth [in hell].”
As servant leaders or servant leaders in training, we should be waiting, watching, and working with anticipation for the signs of end time events leading to the return of Jesus Christ. And as we do so, others should easily see in us an attitude of readiness, faithfulness, and a willingness to prepare for the perilous times that the Word of God teaches are coming.
I must confess, there are times when so many are proclaiming a false message of a pre-tribulation rapture, that my flesh wants to simply go silent concerning end time events from a true biblical perspective. For many tens of thousands of well-known preachers and so-called teachers of the Word of God with earthly distinguished higher degrees of theological education are believed for their much speaking and much agreeing with one another.
Then after a good night’s sleep, I am reminded by the Holy Spirit, that I must be ready, faithfully waiting and faithfully watching, not for a pre-tribulation rapture as so many are falsely proclaiming, but for the many end time events that will according to the Word of God, take place prior to the second coming of Jesus and the gathering together of His saints to Him. And that is the truth of the Word of God!
Prayer:
Our Father in heaven, prepare our hearts to be in an attitude of readiness, waiting and watching for the imminent end time events leading to the return of Jesus. In Him Always, Amen!
According to Jesus 