Watch Therefore

Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming (Matthew 24:40-42).

These words of Jesus are not intended to set a formula for those who are saved and those who are not when Jesus comes again; it does not teach that in the 2nd coming of Christ 50% of those alive will enter into the Kingdom and 50% will not. Rather, the emphasis is on the suddenness and unexpectedness of His return - you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.

Jesus taught the disciples that the coming of God’s judgment upon the world was revealed by Noah naming his son Methuselah, which gave sufficient time for the people to understand, repent, and be saved before the flood came. John Gill wrote, “Enoch being a prophet gave [his son, Methuselah, ‘man of the dart’] this name under a spirit of prophecy, foretelling by it when the flood should be; for his name, according to Bochart, signifies, ‘when he dies there shall be an emission’, or sending forth of waters upon the earth, to destroy it.” So, for 969 years the people were warned of the coming judgment. If that wasn’t enough, for 120 years Noah preached righteousness and the coming judgment of God upon the wicked and unrepentant people while he was building the Ark. So, God was not without a witness concerning His coming judgment.

In the same manner, Jesus foretold the coming of God’s judgment upon Israel, Jerusalem, and the Temple in the Olivet Discourse. Forty years later that judgment came. He also foretold the coming of God’s judgment upon the earth when Jesus returns in the 2nd coming. We have been preaching and teaching that message for 2,000 years. In the last 60 years or so the focus of the 2nd coming of Jesus has been more intense than ever before. It hasn’t come yet, but it will - suddenly, without warning, taking this evil and wicked humanity completely off-guard.

(1 Thessalonians 5:1-5) But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.

(2 Peter 3:10-13) But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Amen.

Pastor