The Only Safe Strategy Is to Be Ready All the Time . . .

Read Matthew 24:29-51

      Jesus has told us much about the end-times, but warns against the kind of “date-setting” for the return of Christ that many Christians have engaged in.  The fact that “no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (24:36) should motivate us to wait in trust and watchfulness as God’s sovereign will unfolds.  Unfortunately, some Christians’ reaction is “challenge accepted,” and they over-parse Jesus’ warning into a promise that although they cannot know the day and hour, perhaps they can predict the year and the month. 

      Again, Jesus’ emphasis is not on “figuring it out” but on being ready at all times.  Because we cannot know “that day and hour” (24:36), “the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (24:44).  And because his return will come suddenly and unexpectedly, the only way to be ready for his return is to be ready all the time, living as a “faithful and wise servant” who obeys his commands as a matter of ordinary practice.