How would you behave differently, would you be extremely anxious and nervous, would you try to hide, would you fall into an almost self-induced catatonic state, an overwhelming depression, or would you count every minute down, with great anticipation and yearning.
Why is it that Jesus did not give us a date of His imminent return, after all, the people He was speaking to probably could have cared less if He would have said it will be almost two thousand years from now, so in that context, just how would the entire world have evolved, so to speak, if our Lord would have said with authority, “Here is the date, expect me at 2:54 in the afternoon, Jerusalem time.”
Two thousand years of partying and sin in the extreme, I would imagine, but then as the date grew closer, everything that this letter opened with would begin to occur. The same analogy could be used for our own deaths, but only those who are on death row, so to speak, know their hour, we are left in the dark about our final moment, and that is how it should be, if one contemplates their death, those who do find life to be much sweeter, every moment is to be used for a purpose, for we never know if it will be our last. Many have gone down the opposite path though, they fear death, and so they give it no real thought, and they are the worse for it. It is better to live a well lived life than to live a long one, and it is better for us if we do not know the hour of our Lord’s return. (Matt. 24:36)
There are two types of people in this area, speaking in generalities, those who are not prepared, and those who are always preparing. Our Lord used the parable of the ten virgins and their lamps, (Matt. 25:1-13) some had oil enough to spare, others ran out and left to get more, just at the wrong time. I would ask you to notice something here, when those who were lacking asked of them who had much to share of what they had, the answer was a resounding “No, go get your own, you should have brought enough.” Sound like a Christian thing to say to you, do you see their words as selfish, after all, they had extra, why not share some?
Because they did not know when the bridegroom was going to arrive, and there was no way they were going to move from that spot, not for the entire world. Those who ran out were more than willing to leave, to go back into the world instead of sitting in the cold, dark night, and when they decided to return, it was too late, even though the master answered their knocking on the door, he would not open it up to them.
We are in a time in the history of man that the wise servant must not only be sure that his lamp is full, not only must he have extra just in case it is later than what he thought it was going to be when the Master returns to take His church home, (1 Thess. 4:17) but we must not be moved, we must not lose hope or think that we have plenty of time to run into town, even for a few moments, we must stand firm. Just because it is getting darker out there does not mean we should go running back to the known, back to the false protection that the world offers, turn your lamp up if that is what it takes, make sure you have as much of the Word of God hidden in your heart as He has allowed.
We do not know the hour, we only know that we are to shine like the stars of heaven, we are to pray and ask that others will see our light and come and wait with us, but we must stand firm, no matter how long it takes, no matter how dark it gets. We are the only lights left in this world, do not go running back into the false comfort of it, stand your ground, keep your light burning bright.
