Keep Watch For No One Knows the Day or Hour
Matthew 24:42
“Be ready, waiting, wise, and keep watch.” These are key words and warnings from the mouths of His prophets. They are as a shofar (trumpet) sounding to awaken and alert everyone who has ears to hear what the Spirit is warning.
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord [Master] will come. But understand this [and listen]: If the owner of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not let his house be broken into. So, you also must be ready” (Matthew 24:42-44 NIV). This Scripture passage doesn’t say you must simply desire to be ready. It says, “You must be ready!”
This is exactly what our Savior is urging His beloved to be: prepared, aware of the brevity of time therefore redeeming the time so that they are always prayerfully vigilant, watching and waiting for His return and Kingdom. We know the day of YAHveh (the LORD) is coming and will come like a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:2). We can’t get weighed down and carried away with the cares of this world or we will be caught off guard and ashamed when we stand in the presence of our beloved Savior and King.
“The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and sober, so you can pray” (1 Peter 4:7).
How many of us have had a nightmare about missing a flight? Whether you are ready or not, the plane is going to take off. Destruction is coming, whether we’re ready for it or not. The thief is YAHshua (Jesus) coming for His jewels−His redeemed, and He is a beloved thief to those who are ready and waiting for Him; but to those who are not ready, they will not be part of that remnant referred to “as the few who are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). He who has an ear to hear, listen and heed what the Spirit is saying.
So be ready! You cannot be gadding about, thinking someone else is going to pack your bag, or someone else is going to carry you bodily and put you on the plane. There’s an active involvement in being ready and prepared. “So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him” (Matthew 24:44 NIV).
Prayer: Beloved Savior, I pray for my family and myself because the cares and dissipations in this world have many of us preoccupied moment by moment. Few of us ever hear You, and many of us do not even care to read Your word. We are languishing in a dying world instead of thriving in Your Presence. How You long to bless Your people, but many of us are too busy, too preoccupied.
I pray we become part of the few who live and continue to hearken to Your voice. May our eyes look to You—and be among the few who are wholeheartedly seeking You and faithfully obeying You—making us pleasing in Your sight. Help us to be on our guard or the preoccupations of this world will creep in and consume and deceive us. Our temples—our lives are redeemed to belong to You alone. May we make every effort to be found pure, spotless, blameless, and holy in Your glorious Presence.