Stay Awake

Mark 13:32-37

The last few weeks we have been swimming in the contentious waters of prophecy. Is it about the destruction of the temple or is it about a future prophecy or does it have a double meaning to the ones who first heard it and for us now? Today we will find the shore and get on the other side. I’m hoping today we can look at where we have been and realize that whatever channel you have been swimming in for this particular discussion, that the shore is all of our destinations. Let’s look at the text.

32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

Pray

In 1998, sitting President Bill Clinton sat before a Grand Jury on charges of impropriety and he said one of the most famous lines in all of political history when rationalizing why he was not lying about an inappropriate relationship. He said, “It depends on what the meaning of the word “is” is.” I remember seeing that when I was a boy and thinking, “Wow, you can do that?” That always stuck with me. Today’s passage reminded me of his statement, because really it hinges on the word “that”.

32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

I think it helps to look at the entirety of the monologue. What starts it? Are there any breaks in it? If you were sitting their with Jesus as he is telling these things, what would you think? If your church received this Gospel and it was read aloud in your gathering time around the year 55AD, what would you have thought? If we take the chapter as a whole, there is a question in verse 4 that we should look at. Here is a brief intro to catch everyone up.

The unnamed disciple tells Jesus that he thinks the temple looks wonderful, which it did. Jesus responds that it will all be torn down. Not one stone left on another. Then a group of the disciples are concerned about this and they ask a question in verse 4, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?”

The first part of the question is when, the second part of the question is what will be the signs. Jesus starts answering the “signs” questions. People will come in my name that will try and lead you away, wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, famines, Christians being persecuted, the abomination of desolation standing where it ought not to be, after those things then it says in verse 24, “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

Then Jesus starts offering an answer to the “when” question from the beginning in verse 30, “this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.”

Then we pick up on today that says,

“But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

I think that it is a logical answer to say that “that day or that hour” is answering the question of when will the destruction of the temple take place. If you follow the thread of the chapter it makes sense.

Some people believe that “that day or that hour” is pointing to Christ’s second coming. We spoke last week that all people in the historical church believe in Jesus coming back to judge the living and the dead. I believe that both positions could be true at the same time. In fact, I think we can look at the text today and see a double meaning to the text.

We know Jesus is coming back.

John 6:39–40 (ESV)

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

John 14:1–3 (ESV)

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

Acts 1:10–11 (ESV)

And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

1 Corinthians 4:5 (ESV)

Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

1 Corinthians 11:26 (ESV)

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Philippians 1:6 (ESV)

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

The list goes on and on. He is coming back and we do not know when. When he gives us this text in Mark 13, Matthew 24 and Luke 21, they all say that no one knows when that day or that hour is and neither did the earthly Jesus. You may be saying, isn’t He God?

Yes. When he was human he was truly God…… but he was also truly human. He was human like us and even less than most of us because he was born to poor parents and in a scandalous way that people would question his whole life. Mary, His mother, was pregnant out of wedlock by the Holy Spirit, so they called him a fatherless child. We know that Mary and Joseph did not have much money because of the offering that they brought to the temple when they dedicated Jesus on the eighth day after he was born which was two turtledoves or two pigeons. That was an offering for those that could not afford a large sacrificial animal. Jesus is born of suspicious cause and of poor parents. He grew and was tempted as we were tempted. To keep people from saying, “Of course He never sinned, He was God.” Philippians 2:5-8 tells us that,

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Jesus in his humanity gave up his full omniscience. What does that mean? Omniscience means all knowing. He gave up his omnipotence, which means he gave up his great power. He gave up his omnipresence which means that he can be all places at all time. That text from Philippians says that he emptied himself, so when Jesus says that he does not know the day or hour of when that will happen, he doesn’t. The father gave him the information that he needed at the time, but in his humanity, Jesus is limited in all of his Godly powers. However, later when he is seated with the Father at the right hand, he recieved his power and then he knew but in that instance, he was living the human condition just like the rest of us because he had a mission to fulfill that would tempt him to the very end to try and get him to not be the perfect sacrifice. If you remember, even on the cross, the criminals to his right and left are telling him to save himself. He could have done it but he was going to see it through and lay down his life for his people.

In light of his humanity, in his love he says, I do not know when this destruction will happen, but

33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.

This is a lesson for the people awaiting a calamity that would befall them in their day and also for us as we do not know when the Lord will return.

I don’t know why I remember this but I remember in the 90s I saw a car with a bumper sticker that said, “The Lord is coming back….look busy.” Even then I thought, there is something off about this thought. I don’t want to look busy, I want to be busy doing what the Lord has called me to do. In fact, Jesus elaborates on this.

34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep.

It’s not looking busy so that he is fooled, it is being busy doing what he has asked us to do.

What has he asked us to do? It is really simple. For our individual selves, we are to love God with all of our heart souls and minds. What does that mean?

First, you have to understand your need for a savior. King David understood his sinfulness and I hope will help us understand ours.

Psalm 51:3–5 (ESV)

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

David knew that from his birth he was marred with sin. Paul states it again in Romans 5:12

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned

Us, in our sin, standing before a sinless and holy God, we are doomed. The verdict is guilty every time and we all deserve the punishment because we have broken God’s law. What can we do? You have to first realize that you are helpless in this situation.

In the recovery group that we do and in most every recovery group there is a step program. Most of them are 12 steps. The first step is always “admit that you have a problem”. Sometimes it is drugs or alcohol, sometimes it is pride and/or lust or seeking comfort or bitterness or laziness. The list goes on. Sin has been in everyones heart since birth. What we do most times is say, “I got it” and think that we have conquered the big ones, maybe we don’t drink to get drunk anymore, maybe we stopped cursing, maybe we stopped that adulterous relationship or our dependency to look at inappropriate things on the internet, but lurking in a dark place in your heart is still more. It’s like cancer, you can have the surgery to take the large mass out but sometimes there are tentacles that weave themselves in spaces that can’t be seen. You are helpless, you have to admit that you have sin that you can’t overcome on your own.

If you realize that you are helpless in this situation and you want to press on the mercies of God then and only then are you ready for the next part which is to lean on and believe in the finished work of Christ.

That he died on the cross for your sins and that he took your sins on his shoulders and when he died, if you believe in him, you died and your sins went with him. Three days later he rose from the grave, defeating death and now he sits at the right hand of God the Father.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

That is why he did that, so that the sin that separated us from a Holy God was dealt with and we can be brought back and made one with God. Not by any means of your own doing, not because you were special, not because you knew more bible than the person sitting next to you, not because you didn’t cheat on your taxes or your wife, but only by the grace and lovingkindness of God.

What does that mean for you now? It means that you no longer have to be enslaved to sin. The prison door is open and you can walk out. You do not have the excuse of “well I’ve always been this way” or “the Lord knows I’m a sinner.” That is no longer who you are. 2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

That anger that you are living with, bitterness, depression, loneliness, greed, vanity, sexual immorality, drunkeness, none of it is who you have to be anymore. You are no longer a slave to sin. If you continue to walk in it, you are choosing to stay enslaved. Christ has given you freedom. The joy of Christ means that you do not have to be a prisoner any longer. He doesn’t magically take them away but he gives us his Word and this fellowship of believers that can help us in our walk to be more like Him. If we take every thought captive to the Lord and discipline our minds and bodies so that we can draw closer to him, then he changes our affections and pretty soon you and the people around you will say, “There is something different about you.” Just like the temple that was destroyed which represented the old covenant. It was laid waste and looked as if it had never existed. That is what the Lord wants for you in this fight with sin, that people would look at you and not even see a pebble of the “old you”.

Don’t think that I have forgotten about what I am preaching on. While this is happening and while the Lord is drawing you closer to him and changing your wants and affections, we are sharing life with other people and telling them of the joy that we have found. We are telling them about this gospel that transformed our lives and introducing people to Jesus with our words and with our lives. We are bringing folks to church and introducing them to the family. We are serving each other. We are being the church.

Why? Because there is a blessed hope that He is coming back. We don’t want to look busy, we want to be busy doing the Lord’s work because we love to serve him. We are his agents of change in this world. We are to do kingdom things here. We are to work at our jobs as if we are working for the Lord. We are to be involved in our local governments as if we were spokespeople for the Lord. We are to run businesses as if they are on loan from the Lord. We are to raise children as if everyday matters and as if what they learn from us will be passed down for the next 10 plus generations. We are to love our wives, husbands, as Christ loved the church, not just that you would die for them but that you would serve them selflessly all the days of your life and wives, love and serve your husbands. Both husbands and wives, serve your spouses even when they are unlovable because God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

That is the work that we are to be doing. That is the life we are to be living. That is the life that Christ called the first century church to live and that is the life he is calling us to live. We are to be faithful to that calling until the end fore Jesus says,

37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

What a tragic day it will be for some that heard his warning and did not repent, did not heed his call, did not lean upon his love. Those that turned their nose up to Christ’s call on their lives. They will stand condemned before the judge and his wrath will be deserved but there will be none to plead his case. Those will receive the just punishment of a good, holy and just God which the bible calls eternal punishment. Jesus uses Isaiah’s description of hell in this way in Mark 9:48, “where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. “I pray that you hear these words today. A loving God is calling you away from death and into life.

What a glorious day and return it will be when He comes again to those who are for him. It will be a great celebration when we see our King face to face. We are eternal beings meaning we live forever. The Lord allows us to choose life or death and allows us to do His work or making disciples of all the nations, baptizing in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and teaching those new disciples all that Jesus commanded. Let us be busy at doing the work of the Lord until He calls us home or until the day of His great return.