WATCH

When Jesus said that we as Christians should ‘watch,’ he meant for one main purpose, and that is that our spiritual lives wouldn’t be broken down and corrupted by not keeping up an appropriate attention to those things that may threaten it. In the Old Testament, the nation of Israel would set watchmen on their walls in order to look out for physical threats, but these were only ever a concern if first, their spiritual lives had been conquered in some way. If their spiritual lives were fine, their physical defence was their God, but if they weren’t, they were open to attack. First and foremostly, looking out for our spiritual life and its health and defence are always the main concern we should have. Then not only are we protected by God spiritually speaking, but also in terms of the trials and judgments that our world faces from a just God- Rev 3v10: 'Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.' Our danger, like Israel’s, is if we fall asleep to the will of God in our lives, just like the disciples did before the cross. The disciples had no idea that the judgment of God was about to be poured out on a Saviour that, if rejected by men, would mean that the rejecters would live in a perilous predicament (both the mercy and sword of the Lord would hang over them). The mercy of God meant that 99% of the disciples were shown grace in being able to turn from their sleep (return to Christ after the cross), but one man, by the name of Judas, found that his long-running sleep resulted in his own heart rejecting God, selling him out, and so destroyed his own safety both spiritually and physically. It was also prophesied however, and showed that it was a part of God's judgment on him too. If Judas had been better prepared, both in heart and in regards to the prophecy of the Messiah, who knows whether he could've saved himself? That same preparation God calls us to today, so that neither the future nor our own hearts will deceive and betray us in the future, or His judgment fall on us. 

All the disciples thought they were fine before the trial of the cross, and it is very hard to find disciples today who believe they will find themselves in any spiritual predicament or danger in the future. The surprise and shock that the disciples received when their Saviour seemed to have failed both Himself and the world in being handed over to a brutal execution by the hands of wicked men, sent them running from the cross and from the threat of persecution and pain as fast as possible, and Peter even denied any association with Jesus. I have a saying I like to use that I think is often true of how weak we are as Christians, and that is that ‘we are only ever as spiritually strong as our greatest blessing.’ Take all our blessings away, and how strong are we? Take all the props that we use away, and where will we stand? Take away the physical evidence of God’s sovereignty and the immediate evidence of his affection, compassion and goodness, and replace it with what Jesus called an ‘hour of darkness’, where all of the evidence, not only of his goodness, but also of his presence and power is taken away, and what shall we do? Will we run away as fast as the disciples did? Or will we even deny and betray Him? By the grace of God we shall see any hour through, because His strength will cover our weakness, His grace our shortcoming and sin, and His mercy our faltering heart, but if we are not watching and building now, as we have been clearly directed and instructed to do, and as a Noah did in a time of peace, then how much harder and how much more severe shall the time to come be? And even more importantly, how much shall we lose in the way of the substance, effect and value of our spiritual lives? There is a spiritual fire of judgment to come when we die (in terms of what we’ll be rewarded by his grace), but also a fire that we are to go through now, to test what we really want, what we really value, and what sort of faith we have. 

We are told to watch in terms of guarding our spiritual life, and watch in terms of world events, as those things which should be included in the category of things which we consider as possibly tempting us to turn away from Christ. We all have battles to face in our own lives, but a time of great trial is coming to the world in the future, which further underlines the importance of the watching we need to do.