For this reason you also must be ready

Matthew 24:29-51 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible 

The Glorious Return

“But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ³⁰ And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. ³¹ And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

Parable of the Fig Tree

³² “Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; ³³ so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door. ³⁴ Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. ³⁵ Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

³⁶ “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. ³⁷ For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. ³⁸ For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, ³⁹ and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. ⁴⁰ Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. ⁴¹ Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left.

Be Ready for His Coming

⁴² “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. ⁴³ But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. ⁴⁴ For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.

⁴⁵ “Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶ Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. ⁴⁷ Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁸ But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My master is not coming for a long time,’ ⁴⁹ and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; ⁵⁰ the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, ⁵¹ and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

In today’s text Jesus continues with His discription of the day He will return. He says:  “When you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.”  These things that He speaks of are the things we saw yesterday, the rise of ethnic and racial conflict, the increase in natural disasters and the lawlessness of our culture and society. We can surmize then that the day of Jesus return or at least the time of great tribulation could be very near.  Jesus is clear though that we should not try to figure out the date or time of His return. He says:  “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left.  Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left.”  The day of Christ’s return will be a day not unlike every other day as far as it concerns the activities of people. Nothing will seem unusal until He comes.  

As opposed to trying to figure out or discern the time of His return, Jesus simply wants us to be ready. He says: “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.”  We should not be anxious or fearful of His return, only alert and ready. The best way to be ready for Him to come is to live each day with Him. In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus says:  “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”   If we are yoked to Jesus now, there is no reason for us to worry or be anxious about the day of His return. If we walk with Him daily we will be ready He comes.

Jesus says:  “Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My master is not coming for a long time,’ and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”   Our culture and society, in its lawlessness, has taught people that if you don’t agree with something you don’t need to be subject to it. Many people approach God in a similar way. They believe that if they deny that God exists, they are not subject to Him. The problem is that we don’t vote God into His position of authority. He is God whether people acknowledge Him or not. In the same way that we cannot defy the law of gravity simply by choosing not to acknowledge it, if we step off of a cliff we will fall; we cannot defy God’s laws and think we will escape falling because we deny that He is God. So, the one who denies God’s existence does not by their choice diminish or free himself from God’s authority. The one who denies God is not better off than the one who acknowledges the Lord but is not ready for His return.  We cannot wait though until He is here to get ready.  

In Revelation 22:12-13 the Lord says:  “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”   Even if Jesus does not return today to establish the new heaven and earth; His eternal kingdom, none of us are guaranteed another day or even another hour. Each one of us should be certain that we are confident with the choices we have made concerning eternity. Jesus says:  “For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.”

‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.  ‘Give us this day our daily bread.  ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’