A Time to Watch

Be prepared

A few weeks back there were bush fires all around the state, and while all this was raging, the weather forecast pointed to a day when all conditions came together to form what they called ‘catastrophic’ conditions. Essentially this meant that the tiniest of sparks could turn into a raging fire in moments.

What happened next, in my opinion, was truly extraordinary. People listened and acted on it.

People took extra precautions because they knew what the danger was. Now in some ways, it’s easy to criticise the response. After all, there wasn’t even a fire in our region. And I must admit, on one level I think there was perhaps more panic than we needed.

But you know what? There was reason for the panic. It was because we knew what could happen. Particularly here on the Tilligerry Peninsula, we had very recent experience of fire cutting off our community and threatening our homes.

And so while we perhaps could have done it with less hysteria, we were right to take action.

I know personally, we spoke as a family about what we would do. And top of the list was: listen to what the firies say!

People cleared the gutter from their eaves. They made sure their hoses were in order. They ensured they had their important document and sentimental items ready to pick up in case they needed to make a hasty exit.

In the end, our region was spared, but we were ready.

Now this morning I want to consider this idea of being ready.

Of course, there are a lot of different things that we can be ready for. But in some ways, the thing I’m wanting to focus on is actually the thing that will tie all of it together.

Ultimately I’m talking about when Jesus returns.

Return of Christ

Well, before I talk about what it means to be ready for the return of Christ, it’s important to understand what this is all about.

In fact, I’m going to suggest that in some ways, having a basic understanding of this is important to help us become prepared - just like understanding the impact of a bush fire helps us to actually be prepared.

Well, it’s worth noting that Christians tend to fall down one of two paths when we start talking about the return of Christ. On the one hand, we have those who just love talking about it and can’t get enough of it. On the other hand, we get people who tend to feel a little uneasy about the whole thing. Perhaps understanding that there are a number of different ideas out there, but it just feels too hard to get your head around so in the end, just becoming content that it’ll all sort itself out in the end.

I’m going to suggest that at either end of this spectrum, whether completely obsessed, or a complete apathy towards it, we can be doing ourselves a disservice. But it is when we begin to see how the whole sweep of the Bible is bringing us to a point, not just the few passages that seem to directly address it, that we will be in a position to truly make ourselves ready.

The biblical story

You see, if we very briefly survey the entire bible, we start with God’s perfect creation. We then see sin enter and make a huge mess of it. That all happens in just the first few chapters. But then the vast majority describes God’s redemption of humanity.

Without going into all the detail now, God raises the right people up, sets up various patterns, all of which has the purpose of redeeming humanity.

All of this culminates with the person of Jesus Christ - the Word made flesh. God as a human. We could spend a long time exploring the ways he fulfills all the patterns God had set up, but for now we’ll content ourselves with the fact that he came at precisely the right time, and the right place and in the right manner, and in doing so, won the ultimate victory over death.

But while this victory was complete, this wasn’t the end of the scope of the Bible. You see, it was the right time for that victory, but in God’s wisdom it wasn’t the right time to fully claim the victory.

And so we enter the time we are in now. And it is a very interesting time because we know the victory has been won, but we are still living with evil in the world.

But we need to understand this time with this biblical direction. You see, the redemption of humanity is going to culminate when Jesus returns. The whole bible is pointing us in this direction. It is as we understand this flow of the bible that we can see all of it as showing us how we should be preparing for the return of Christ.

Current turmoil

But we need to dig just a little deeper into our current position. You see, it is as we look at this overall sweep of the bible that we actually make a lot of sense of the great turmoil that we see in our world today.

You see, the way the world is now should not come as a surprise to the close bible reader, but in fact, it is happening just like we might expect.

You see, Christ’s victory set up God’s kingdom in its current form. But God wanted this kingdom to grow - to spread through all the earth.

It’s the small mustard seed becoming the huge spreading tree.

And it is only as it reaches it’s designated point that we will see Christ return.

But this kingdom isn’t growing in a vacuum, rather it is taking shape amidst the kingdom of this world. And it is as this process takes shape that the turmoil we see today occurs.

Destruction of temple

But let’s step back a bit. Because today, the text before us is from in a significant speech of Jesus known as the Olivet discourse. (That’s actually just a fancy way of saying that he said it while on the Mount of Olives.

But you need to understand the context of what he is saying. You see, the chapter actually starts with the context of the temple and while the disciples admired the beautiful building, Jesus informs them that it will be completely destroyed.

We know from history that this event had a very literal fulfilment only a few decades after Jesus spoke the words.

If you know you’re history, you might know that in the year 70 AD, after some turbulent times between the Jews and the Romans, a Roman army marched into Jerusalem and laid siege to the temple, completely destroying it.

It was truly a terrible time in the history of the Jews.

But it is back at the start of that the disciples are questioning Jesus as to when this will take place.

Now here is where things get a little tricky. You see, not only are they asking about when the temple will be overthrown. They also ask about when the end of the age will come. So when Jesus gives his answer, it is a little unclear as to whether he is talking specifically about the destruction of the temple or his return. Personally, I believe that Jesus is actually quite content to conflate the two events, because what happens with the destruction of the temple actually sets up a pattern we will see when Jesus returns.

Now, we can learn quite a bit about this temple being destroyed from various history books, perhaps most notably from the historian Josephus who lived around the time of Jesus.

It was a siege that lasted about four months, going from just before Passover in the year AD 70 and going to the month of August in the same year.

At the height of the battle, the scene as described by various historians is very gruesome. They describe corpses being heaped higher and higher, and rivers of blood flowing down the sanctuary steps.

Now, it’s not my intention to go through all of the early verses of , but I just want to highlight how Jesus describes how we can expect turmoil.

What I do want to warn about these verses however is that we shouldn’t be trying to use them as some sort of key to unlocking when Jesus will return again.

It’s sometimes suggested that the wars and rumours of wars are a sign that Jesus return is imminent. But look a bit closer to verse 6 which uses this phrase. It tells us that wars and rumours of wars will come, but don’t be alarmed… because… “the end is still to come”.

Even when it talks about famines and earthquakes in verse 7, Jesus then goes on to say in verse 8 that these are only the beginning of birth pains.

Now that being said, I do believe in the bible we get the picture that as this age continues there will be an intensification of the this persecution and trouble.

And in some ways, this is where the analogy of birth pains works quite well. A woman in labour starts with relatively minor pains. They might seem strong during those initial contractions, but they are nothing compared to what happens just before the baby is born.

Why this speech?

So what I’m trying to say is that this chapter is not designed as a road map for the return of Jesus, but rather a general description of what we can expect during this age. But what are we to make of it all?

Is Jesus just telling us this to give us a little glimpse of the future, or does he have a deeper reason for telling us.

Well, that brings us to the part of the passage that I do want to spend a little bit more time in this morning.

That is, the section starting at verse 36.

Keeping Watch

Well, the big idea I want to get from this actually comes from verse 42 which tells us: “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come”.

Now the big question that comes from that is: what does it mean to keep watch?

Not date setting

You see, I don’t believe that keeping watch means trying to predict the date by joining the dots of the various signs.

In fact, Jesus seem to be stressing the fact that the date is unknown.

He states that very emphatically in verse 36. He even goes as far as to say that Jesus himself didn’t know the date.

And again in verse 42 that I just read, he reiterates that you can’t know the date. And then in the short parable of the owner watching for the thief, it is clear that you just can’t tell, not even by following the signs.

So I would suggest that if anyone tells you when Jesus is returning, be very cautious with what them.

The signs that Jesus gives are not for the purpose of date setting, but to inform us what to expect in the last days so we are not surprised.

Most won’t see

Well, this really tells us what it keeping watch is not, but we’re still trying to figure out what it does mean.

So let’s go to verse 37 to see if we are any wiser. Starting in this verse, Jesus brings Noah into the picture. Now there is perhaps a lot we might be able to draw from this allusion to Noah’s flood, but there seems to be a clear idea behind why he talks about him. You see, he draws our attention to the fact that they will be eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, right up until the day the flood came.

Now there is nothing wrong with those things. Eating and drinking are essential. Marriage is a part of life. The point is, they were continuing with their life, completely oblivious to what was about to happen.

Because the people did not see, they did not prepare. And because the people in Noah’s day did not prepare, they came to an abrupt end.

Jesus tells us that the very same thing is going to happen on his return. Most people are going to be completely oblivious to it, because they will be so focussed on everything else.

Being prepared

So we can start to see that keeping watch means being prepared for what we will need when Jesus returns. In the days of Noah, he needed a boat.

When Jesus returns, we don’t need a boat. We needed to be marked for Jesus!

Because it is this mark that will save us.

Division

Well, let me keep going with the passage because I think we can flesh it out a bit more.

You see, in verses 40 and 41, Jesus gives us a very dramatic picture of what it is going to look like when he returns.

Firstly he gives us two men in a field. And then he gives us two women grinding with a hand mill.

In both cases, one is taken, and the other is left.

I’m going to suggest that there is a clear message in this little picture.

When Jesus returns, it is going to be decisive, and it will cause division.

Going back to that idea that we need to be marked for Jesus, we can see the decisive nature of this. You will either have it, or you won’t.

If you do, you go with Jesus. If you don’t, well, an eternal separation from God awaits.

But not only will this be a very decisive point in time, the picture also shows that even people with many similarities, possibly even from the same family, will be separated.

You see, you won’t be able to say - oh, well, I’m with him. Or, I’m with her. If you are marked for Jesus, you are with him. If you’re not, you will be separated.

Association with others is not enough.

Being marked for Jesus

Now, I’ve been using this language of being marked for Jesus. In some ways, I’m borrowing from a few different ideas in using this language.

Paul actually used the phrase at least once, in , when he described himself as bearing on his body the marks of Jesus.

But the idea of borrowing from mostly, is actually in . In verse 1 of , the Apostle John who is recording his vision, describes seeing the saints destined for heaven with the name of Jesus and the Father’s name written on their forehead.

Now there is a lot of symbolism here, but we see a mark on them which says that they belong to God.

It’s not a coincidence that this verse contrasts sharply with what we see at the end of when others receive the mark of the beast.

My purpose today is not to explore exactly what that mark will be, other than to say that we have a real choice.

You can mark yourself for Christ. Or you can mark yourself for the world.

Making ourselves like Christ

Now, there is a bit of a danger in the way we think about this.

You see, it would be possible to hear this message, and think - right, well I better do whatever it is to mark myself for Christ, and then that’s that.

But, what becomes clear is that if we have been genuinely marked with the name of Christ, then there will be transformation.

This is clear in the chapter that follows. In , (which I’m not going to look at in detail), we see three parables. The first is of the 10 virgins, which by-and-large reiterates the point I’m making now - be ready because we don’t know the time. The next is of the bags of gold, where we start to see an expectation that we will use what God has given us.

And finally the parable of the sheep and the goats - where it starts to become very clear that as we are separated, the mark that Christ is looking for is those that display the values of Christ.

And so, I just want to make it clear that being marked for Christ means allowing a transformation to take place in your life - one where you become more Christ like.

Conclusion

Now there is a lot we could explore in all of this. But this morning, as we begin this time that is known as Advent - which literally means - the coming of Christ, I want to just come back to the point that we need to be ready.

When we saw the dangers of the bush fires we made ourselves ready.

But we need to see the bigger picture. We need to see that something is going on in this world and it will happen whether we acknowledge it or not.

You see, the pain and the turmoil in this world should be reminding us of the spiritual battle that is going on. A battle that is raging, but also one that we know the final result.

We don’t know when that final moment will be. It might be within the next few years. Or it might be many many years off. All we can do is make sure we are right with Christ.

If you don’t know whether you are right with Christ, then I would urge you to speak with myself or someone you trust.

It’s easy to think that we can just deal with it later - but Jesus is inviting you now.

If you have already made a decision for Christ - that is great. But as we continue through this turbulent time, make sure you stay close. Talk with him. Share you life with him. But perhaps most importantly, open your life up to him so that he can make a real difference in your life.

Jesus is coming again soon. Are you ready?

Let me pray...