Ready for the King's Coming
Matthew 24:36-50
"Keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come ... Be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."
(Matthew 24: 42, 44)
Many years ago, I was responsible for safety for an oil company's installations in Kenya. I was advised to make unscheduled visits to fuel depots and check on readiness to respond to fire. I would make frequent checks for water, especially in the aviation fuel tanks. No one knew when my surprise visit would come.
The King says His coming again will be like a thief in the night - totally unexpected and sudden. The Lord emphasizes this not so much to say people will be caught off guard, but rather that they should live in a perpetually alert state.
A 19th Century Scottish pastor gathered his elders and asked them one by one, "Do you think the Lord will come again tonight?" Each one hesitated but when pressed said, "I don't suppose so." The pastor then read them v.44 of our reading: "The Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."
Keep watch; be expectant. The Lord's coming might be at any moment. Be concentrated on His priorities when He comes. Watch and pray!
INSIGHT
The sheer ongoingness of our daily round makes it difficult to remain expectant. Live every moment as though it will be the last.
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Malachi 1-4
Proverbs 31
Revelation 20-22
Matthew 24:36-50
The Day and Hour Unknown
36 "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,[a] but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42 "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
45 "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of.
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 24:36 Some manuscripts do not have nor the Son
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