What our Lord Jesus said that no man knows the day of His coming, and commanding us to Watch, has many brethren confused. But it shouldn't, if we study the Signs of the end leading up to His return that He gave us in those very Bible chapters where He said to Watch.
Mark 13:35-37
35 Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:
36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.
KJV
Most Churches only teach to 'be ready' about Jesus' command for us to Watch. They immediately link what He said that no man knows the day or hour of His coming, so it can only mean to 'just be ready' to go. That is NOT... what our Lord Jesus meant at all, and I'll show you here...
Mark 13:36
36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
Our Lord Jesus along with that idea included the metaphor of His coming "suddenly" with being found sleeping, not literal sleep, but asleep spiritually, which is a pointer to being deceived at the end of this world just prior to the day of His return. That of course mean you weren't 'watching', spiritually, and thus were deceived by the coming Antichrist who comes first.
THIS is what He was telling us be on Watch about...
Matt 24:42-47
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
KJV
Lord Jesus even told us there what we are to be doing while we are 'watching' for His coming. We are to be giving them meat in due season! What's that? It is meant about teaching the "strong meat" Apostle Paul mentioned in Hebrew 5. That's what we are to be chewing on from God's Word, so as to not be deceived by the devil and his servants. That means staying in the field doing His Work, waiting on His return. And when He does return, He finds us still working, giving meat in due season (for the endtimes), and we are blessed for it.
How does that involve His command for us to Watch then? Simple. These Matthew 24 and Mark 13 Chapters where He commanded us to Watch are about the Signs of the end of this world leading up to His return that His disciples asked Him about while upon the Mount of Olives with Him (Matthew 24:3). So His command for us to Watch is about watching those Signs He gave us leading up to His return!
This still does not mean we will know the day or hour of His coming. It simply means He gave us the main Signs leading up to His return to be watching as that day gets closer.
And IF... you are NOT watching those Signs He gave us, then what might happen to you in these last days leading up to His return "as a thief" on the "day of the Lord"?
Rev 16:15
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
KJV
There Jesus warns His Church just prior to the 7th Vial being poured out and the battle of Armageddon, which is an event to occur on the day of His return. He brings up the same idea in His Olivet discourse that He comes "as a thief" and the "goodman" of the house that is supposed be on watch. And notice He again repeats that subject of those blessed who watch, compared to those who will walk in shame that do not watch!
Apostle Paul was teaching this idea also in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-5 about the brethren there he had no need to teach about "the times and the seasons", because they already knew them. That's about the Signs Lord Jesus gave upon the Mount of Olives about the events leading up to His coming and the end of this world. Paul also compared those who knew vs. the deceived who are 'drunken in the night' and 'sleep in the night' and did not know those times and seasons...
1 Thess 5:1-9
5:1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say, "Peace and safety"; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
KJV
There's Apostle Paul giving that same contrast between us who are to remain "sober" (spiritually awake knowing the "times and the seasons"), vs. those who "sleep in the night" and are "drunken in the night" that don't know those times and seasons, and are not on watch. Those who 'sleep in the night' and are 'drunken in the night' is about those whom Lord Jesus warned about; instead of watching, they begin to smite their fellowservants and eat and drink with the drunken (again, that's a spiritual metaphor for being too busy with other stuff than to be watching the Signs He gave.)
In a nutshell, this is all in the spiritual sense. It is about preparation for the endtime events so that we may be presented to Christ Jesus when He comes as... a what?? As "a chaste virgin"!! (2 Cor.11). That means a chaste spiritual virgin, not a literal one. This is all metaphor to make it easier to understand, that's why our Lord Jesus gave these symbols, not to make it harder to grasp.
Why "a chaste virgin" then?
2 Cor 11:2-4
2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one Husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
KJV
Did you not know brethren, that there is "another Jesus" that many will be deceived to for the end? That is the coming Antichrist, the pseudo-Christ which Lord Jesus warned us about in His Olivet discourse for the time of "great tribulation". That warning is included in the Signs of the end He gave us in His Olivet discourse that we are to be watching, especially in these times as we are very, very close to the end of this world!
Also with the ten virgins parable, all ten virgins fell asleep at the last hour before midnight. When the Bridegroom's coming was heralded, only the five wise virgins had a spare vessel of The Oil for their lamps. This is what that spare vessel of The Oil is about, i.e., understanding the "times and the seasons" leading up to our Lord Jesus' return so we won't be deceived by the coming fake-Christ, and thus will remain as "a chaste virgin" to be presented to Jesus at His return when He comes to destroy that false one. It really is that simple.
Mark 13:35-37
35 Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:
36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.
KJV
Most Churches only teach to 'be ready' about Jesus' command for us to Watch. They immediately link what He said that no man knows the day or hour of His coming, so it can only mean to 'just be ready' to go. That is NOT... what our Lord Jesus meant at all, and I'll show you here...
Mark 13:36
36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
Our Lord Jesus along with that idea included the metaphor of His coming "suddenly" with being found sleeping, not literal sleep, but asleep spiritually, which is a pointer to being deceived at the end of this world just prior to the day of His return. That of course mean you weren't 'watching', spiritually, and thus were deceived by the coming Antichrist who comes first.
THIS is what He was telling us be on Watch about...
Matt 24:42-47
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
KJV
Lord Jesus even told us there what we are to be doing while we are 'watching' for His coming. We are to be giving them meat in due season! What's that? It is meant about teaching the "strong meat" Apostle Paul mentioned in Hebrew 5. That's what we are to be chewing on from God's Word, so as to not be deceived by the devil and his servants. That means staying in the field doing His Work, waiting on His return. And when He does return, He finds us still working, giving meat in due season (for the endtimes), and we are blessed for it.
How does that involve His command for us to Watch then? Simple. These Matthew 24 and Mark 13 Chapters where He commanded us to Watch are about the Signs of the end of this world leading up to His return that His disciples asked Him about while upon the Mount of Olives with Him (Matthew 24:3). So His command for us to Watch is about watching those Signs He gave us leading up to His return!
This still does not mean we will know the day or hour of His coming. It simply means He gave us the main Signs leading up to His return to be watching as that day gets closer.
And IF... you are NOT watching those Signs He gave us, then what might happen to you in these last days leading up to His return "as a thief" on the "day of the Lord"?
Rev 16:15
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
KJV
There Jesus warns His Church just prior to the 7th Vial being poured out and the battle of Armageddon, which is an event to occur on the day of His return. He brings up the same idea in His Olivet discourse that He comes "as a thief" and the "goodman" of the house that is supposed be on watch. And notice He again repeats that subject of those blessed who watch, compared to those who will walk in shame that do not watch!
Apostle Paul was teaching this idea also in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-5 about the brethren there he had no need to teach about "the times and the seasons", because they already knew them. That's about the Signs Lord Jesus gave upon the Mount of Olives about the events leading up to His coming and the end of this world. Paul also compared those who knew vs. the deceived who are 'drunken in the night' and 'sleep in the night' and did not know those times and seasons...
1 Thess 5:1-9
5:1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say, "Peace and safety"; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
KJV
There's Apostle Paul giving that same contrast between us who are to remain "sober" (spiritually awake knowing the "times and the seasons"), vs. those who "sleep in the night" and are "drunken in the night" that don't know those times and seasons, and are not on watch. Those who 'sleep in the night' and are 'drunken in the night' is about those whom Lord Jesus warned about; instead of watching, they begin to smite their fellowservants and eat and drink with the drunken (again, that's a spiritual metaphor for being too busy with other stuff than to be watching the Signs He gave.)
In a nutshell, this is all in the spiritual sense. It is about preparation for the endtime events so that we may be presented to Christ Jesus when He comes as... a what?? As "a chaste virgin"!! (2 Cor.11). That means a chaste spiritual virgin, not a literal one. This is all metaphor to make it easier to understand, that's why our Lord Jesus gave these symbols, not to make it harder to grasp.
Why "a chaste virgin" then?
2 Cor 11:2-4
2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one Husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
KJV
Did you not know brethren, that there is "another Jesus" that many will be deceived to for the end? That is the coming Antichrist, the pseudo-Christ which Lord Jesus warned us about in His Olivet discourse for the time of "great tribulation". That warning is included in the Signs of the end He gave us in His Olivet discourse that we are to be watching, especially in these times as we are very, very close to the end of this world!
Also with the ten virgins parable, all ten virgins fell asleep at the last hour before midnight. When the Bridegroom's coming was heralded, only the five wise virgins had a spare vessel of The Oil for their lamps. This is what that spare vessel of The Oil is about, i.e., understanding the "times and the seasons" leading up to our Lord Jesus' return so we won't be deceived by the coming fake-Christ, and thus will remain as "a chaste virgin" to be presented to Jesus at His return when He comes to destroy that false one. It really is that simple.
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