Deuteronomy 32:28-52; Luke 12:35-48; Psalms 78:60-64; Proverbs 19:10-12
NT: ““Be ready for service and have your lamps lit. You are to be like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet so that when he comes and knocks, they can open the door for him at once. Blessed will be those servants the master finds alert when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will get ready, have them recline at the table, then come and serve them. If he comes in the middle of the night, or even near dawn, and finds them alert, blessed are those servants. But know this: If the homeowner had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” …The Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible manager his master will put in charge of his household servants to give them their allotted food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom the master finds doing his job when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and starts to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, that servant’s master will come on a day he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unfaithful. And that servant who knew his master’s will and didn’t prepare himself or do it will be severely beaten. But the one who did not know and did what deserved punishment will receive a light beating. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be expected.”” (Luke 12:35-40, 42-48 CSB)
The other day, my daughter asked a really good question: “Why have we become more concerned with mark of the beast and end times theories than we are with the Great Commission?” There are several times throughout the gospels where Jesus was asked about the end times, and He always turned the focus to the Great Commission. He was serious about the fulfillment of the Great Commission, and here He gave a quite somber reality that would be experienced by those who don’t take the Great Commission seriously. Being ready for the return of the Master doesn’t mean that you have all the end-times prophecies figured out and know when He will return. Jesus said that no one – not even He – will know when that date and time arrives… until it arrives. It seems to be a pointless waste of resources to try to figure that out. The way that we make ourselves ready, and stay ready is by involving ourselves day by day in the Masters work. If we do that, then we will be ready for His return whenever it happens. Jesus said, “Blessed is that servant whom the master finds doing his job when He comes.” Our job, first and foremost as followers of Jesus and citizens of the Kingdom, is the Great Commission: seeing souls saved and disciples made – either until the end of our life or the end of the age. Blessed is not a word that would describe a “servant” who is found not doing what the Master commissioned him to do. Faithfulness is a big deal to God, and those who are found to be unfaithful to His mission will be relegated a place with the unfaithful. We can read the signs of the times and see that the time for our Master’s return is getting closer and closer. Now, more than ever, we need to be about His work and staying ready.
Jamie Hicks 