Why it is important to watch.
Luke 21: 34 “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. 35 For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
This is what Jesus Christ told HIS disciples when they asked HIM about the time of the end and HIS return to Earth. Being quite familiar with the human condition, Jesus Christ knows it is easy for us to get distracted or caught up with everyday life.
Has something devastating ever happened right under your nose, but you were too busy to notice? Or have you ever just totally gotten your priorities out of wack and learned only too late that you had dedicated all of your time and energy to the wrong thing/ person?
So it can be if we do not heed the words Jesus Christ shares with us.
Jesus Christ tells us a few chapters earlier:
Luke 17:26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: 27 They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; 29 but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
Do you know that it took Noah about 100 years to build the Ark as GOD had commanded him? For 100 years, Noah’s work on the Ark stood as a testament to absolutely everyone of his neighbors (and news of someone warning of rain and building an Ark must have reached far and wide). If Noah didn’t warn the people of his day verbally, the work he and his family undertook for a century was warning enough. Despite the warning and lengthy amount of time for repentance, absolutely no one but 8 were saved when the earth’s waters started to overflow.
Lot warned his sons-in-law before he and his family fled, but they didn’t believe him. “But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking (Genesis 19:13).”
Jesus Christ is not joking. The warnings we are given are prophecy — they will come to pass. As Christ Jesus says in Matthew 24:35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”
If we don’t watch — be fully mindful of the times and the things that are occurring — we may just find ourselves totally unprepared for the time of Jesus Christ’s return.
As we turn to our local news, magazines and newspapers to stay abreast of current events, so we must also turn to the Holy Bible daily to stay abreast of the things that will come to pass, and have already happened.
Whether we believe or not, obey or not, acknowledge or not — every word of GOD will be fulfilled. HE is merciful enough to arm us (those who are willing) so we can stand in that Day.
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