READINESS FOR HIS COMING

IOI CHRISTIAN MORNING MEAL

TOPIC: READINESS FOR HIS COMING

(Luke 12:35-48)

We should be ready for the Lord’s return, because when He comes He will judge everyone.

Readiness: We should be ready for the Lord’s return (12:35-40).

Jesus uses four word pictures to emphasize the same point: Be ready for His return. “Be dressed in readiness” is literally, “let your loins be girded.” In that day, everyone wore long robes which were a hindrance if you needed to move quickly or freely. If a person planned to run or work, he would tuck his robe into a sash around his waist so that it would not interfere with his movements. The verb here indicates a state of perpetual readiness for action.

The second figure, “keep your lamps alight,” comes from a day when there was no electricity. There were no streetlights or city lights outside and no nightlights to help you find your way to the bathroom in the middle of the night. If you were expecting a midnight visitor, you would keep an oil light burning so that when he knocked on the door, you could see to let him in. Again, the idea is, be ready for the Master’s coming.

The third picture is of servants who are awaiting their master’s return from a wedding feast. Such feasts could last for days, often for a week. The servants would need to be ready when they heard their master arrive to open the door and serve him. Scholars debate whether Luke is using a Roman or Jewish reckoning of the watches of the night, but the point is the same: the master could come in the middle of the night when you least expect him, so you must be ready.

The fourth picture is of a thief breaking into a house in the middle of the night. If the homeowner had known when the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. He would have been ready and waiting. Then Jesus states the application of all four figures: “You, too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect” (12:40).

LET US PRAY
WHAT EVER WILL MAKE YOU MISS THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS CAST OUT OF YOUR WAYS IN JESUS NAME.

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