In Matthew 24:42, Jesus tells us to stay awake and watch, because no one knows what day or what hour Jesus shall return. Jesus doesn’t want anyone to slumber and to fall asleep. But Jesus wants His disciples to stay awake and watch by praying and having a committed life to Jesus Christ, doing His will and be busy with the things of the Kingdom, so that they are prepared for Jesus’ return.
“Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come”
Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 24:42-51)
Every day and every hour of the day, we should watchful and be prepared
What does the word ‘watch’ mean?
According to Merriam Webster dictionary ‘to watch’ means:
- look at (someone or something) for an amount of time and pay attention to what is happening
- give your attention to (a situation, an event, etc.)
- care for (someone or something) for a period of time in order to make sure that nothing bad or unwanted happens
‘To watch’ is not passive, but active.
When we look up the word in the Strong’s Concordance the word watch is translated from the word agrupneõ (G69) and it means:
Ultimately from G1 (as negative particle) and G5258; to be sleepless, that is, keep awake: – watch.
Jesus comes like a thief in the night
Jesus warns us, that His coming shall be like a thief in the night. Jesus will return in an unexpected moment. When you are too busy with your own life and your daily activities and concerns and don’t spend much time in the Word. When you are seeking those things which are upon this earth, instead of seeking those things which are above in Heaven where your Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are seated, you will become cold and will spiritually slumber.
You maybe are too busy with the cares of this world, instead of being busy with the things of the Kingdom of God and will spiritually fall asleep. You are too busy that you won’t notice the signs of the (end) times (Read also: ‘The four kinds of believers’)
When you stay carnal and walk after the flesh; after your lusts and desires, you will feed your flesh and reap the fruit of the flesh.
You will feed your flesh with all the pleasures of this world and your flesh will reign as king in your life.
Your flesh will become stronger and your spirit becomes weaker. You will not discern the spiritual things anymore, and walk just like the world walks in the vanity of their minds.
But when you stay in the Word of God and pray and do His will, then your spirit will reign and you will stay spiritually awake and watchful. You will discern the signs of the times, because you walk after the Spirit and spend time in the Word of God and in prayer.
Will your destination be eternal life or eternal death?
Jesus has a plan for your life. But when you become born again in Christ and don’t renew your mind with the Word of God, you will stay the old man. Because of the fact, that your mind will not be renewed, you will think the same way as before your repentance.
Your carnal mind, which is worldly, will stay the same and because of the fact that your thoughts determine your actions, you will keep walking as the old you, the old creation, who thinks and lives just like the world.
If you keep walking as the old creation, in sin and iniquity, your final destination won’t be eternal life, but eternal death.
Parable of the faithful and wise servant and the evil servant
Jesus talked about this in the parable of the faithful and wise servant and the evil servant. Both servants knew their lord, but only one of them did, what was expected of him.
The evil servant didn’t pay much attention. He thought, that his lord would be gone for a long time and wouldn’t return soon. Therefore he began to smite his fellow servants and ate and drank with the drunken.
He lived according to his own will and didn’t live according to the will of his lord and what his lord had commanded him to do.
When the lord returned, he found the faithful and wise servant doing, what he was supposed to do. Therefore, the faithful and wise servant was rewarded.
But the lord found the evil servant not doing, what he had asked him to do. The return of his lord came as a big surprise. Therefore, the evil servant was not rewarded and his destination was eternal death; there where the hypocrites are and where the weeping and gnashing of teeth is.
Don’t go on automatic pilot
The devil wants to take you with him, to the place where the weeping and gnashing of teeth is. That will be his final destination and he wants to take as many people with him, as possible.
Therefore the devil wants you to stay ignorant. He will try to turn your relationship with Jesus into an automatic pilot relationship; going to church on Sundays, reading your Bible for 5 to 10 minutes before you go to bed, praying for 1 or 2 minutes and that’s it.
The devil doesn’t want you to pray and stay awake and watch and do the will of God. No, the devil wants you to slumber and sleep and keep on sleeping. He wants you to enjoy all the pleasures that this world has to offer. The devil wants to entertain you and seduce you, with many things, that won’t add anything to your spirit man.
Stay awake and watch!
That’s why you need to spiritually wake up and stay awake and watch. Take the Word of God, and become a doer of the Word.
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation (1 Thesalonissen 5:2-8)
Therefore stay awake and watch!
‘Be the salt of the earth’
