Watching for the return of Christ.
Reading: Matthew 24:32-44.
“Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming” verse 42.
How many of you are waiting for the return of Christ?
How many of you are WATCHING for His return?
I heard a story of men returning home from the war by boat, the captain announced that their “wives and families had gathered on the docks.” So many of the men soon caught sight of their wives, oh how it lifted their hearts. One man was disappointed because his wife was not there. He caught a ride home with his kit bag, he walked in to his house and there was his wife, who smiled and hugged him and said, “I have been waiting for you.” He replied, “Yes, but the other guy’s wives were watching for them.”
There is a big difference in “waiting for the Lord’s return” and “watching for the Lord’s return.” One day millions of Christians will be taken off this planet “in a twinkling of an eye.” It will be too late to be watching then, for the waiting will be over and the Lord has come.
Note verse 42-43 “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.” “But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.”
The whole point is that the thief does not announce his plan to you in advance. Never does he call ahead and say, “Hello, I will be breaking into a few houses in your neighbourhood tonight and I was wondering if 2 am would be a good time for me to stop by your place?” The only waiting here is the thief waiting for you to be asleep, or for you not to be ready for him.
We are not told to “wait for the Lord’s return” but to “WATCH for the Lord’s return.” When the prodigal son returned home to his father’s house, even though his father was waiting for his son’s return, he was at the door WATCHING out for his son’s return, and run out to greet his son.
Are we WATCHING for the Lord’s return like that? Are our eyes and ears open for any sound or sight of the Lord’s coming. Just like when you are expecting visitors at your home.
1ST POINT: WATCHING FOR THE LORD’S RETURN.
Is it possible that Jesus will return in our lifetime? I am looking for the UP TAKER, and not the UNDERTAKER! We need to recognize the signs of the times, and be found watching for the Lord’s return! End times events that come first before the rapture are being played out before our very eyes.
A hush is falling across the heavens and all we need is for God the Father to cry out, “Go!”
“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.
2ND POINT: WAITING FOR THE LORD’S RETURN.
Some say that every generation has believed Christ would return in their lifetime, they waited for His return! Every generation has hoped to see His return, but not all have watched for His return like this generation. We are the generation that has clearly seen the “signs of the times.”
C. H. Spurgeon, one of the greatest preachers of the 19th Century, was asked, “Will Jesus appear soon? He answered “It seems to me that there are a great many prophecies which much be fulfilled before the coming of Christ. We may have to wait for another century.”
Though we cannot know the day or the hour of the second coming, the general season can be known. Read verses 32-33 again, “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near--at the doors!”
In 1948 Israel was again established as a nation, and the scattered Jews have been returning to Israel by the hundreds of thousands, just as the Bible predicted would happen before Christ returns. “But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase” Jeremiah 23:3.
Note verse 34 “Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.” This generation (those 62 years old or older) will not pass away, but will see the season that Jesus would come again. Even though Jesus will return like a thief in the night, it does not have to take the Christian by surprise. We are not children walking in darkness but children of the light.
The bible says “knowledge will increase.” From the time God created Adam to this day, about 6,000 years have passed; but only in the last 100 of those years man have advanced from walked, sailed, or rode horses.
The 20th Century saw man come up with cars, planes, jets, and spacecraft. It was in the 17th century that Isaac Newton said, “A new mode of travel shall be invented in the last days. Knowledge will be so increased that man will be able to travel at a rate of (and then he went out on a limb) 50 miles an hour.” I wish he could see the speed we move today.
“Knowledge will increase.” The information age has placed anything you want to know just a click away, and what used to take years to research is available in seconds to virtually anyone! Today’s tech inventions flow from paper to prototype in days and mass production in weeks!
This generation should expect to see the coming of the Lord!
CONCLUSION:
Make plans for today and tomorrow (this is good stewardship of your time and resources). But be WATCHFUL ALSO; be ever ready for the Lord to break into your plans.
