TOPIC: WHY WE MUST WATCH

TEXT: MARK 13: 31-37

31 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.
33 Take ye heed, watch and pray[/i]: for ye know not when the time is.
34 For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch[i].
35 Watch[/i] ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:
36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping[i].
37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch[/i].

INTRODUCTION
The slogan ‘watch and pray[i]’ has become so popular that it has cut across all walks of life and all religious beliefs and as such has become a household slogan just like Coca-Cola has become a household product. I knew the slogan long ago before I gave my life to Jesus Christ, not knowing what it meant, as many people still don’t know till today.
But as popuplar as this slogan is, it is perhaps one of the most disobeyed and wrongly understood quotations of the bible. To make matters worse, many Christians don’t know where to find these quotation in the bible not to talk of understanding what to watch and yet the fact that a Christian may be raptured when the trumpet sounds may be tied to his level of watchfulness (alert).
We are not trying to say that a Christian may not be raptured if he is not watching but that majority of those Christian who may miss rapture may miss it because they are not watching.
If we don’t want to fall into the category of those that will wrongly understand this command or disobey it by failing to watch or worst still miss the glorious rapture because we are not watching, then, we must seek to understand this all-important command.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO WATCH?
Prior to the arrest, the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord, Jesus Christ, He gave prophecies of how He would come back to take the saint (rapture), the great tribulation that will follow, and the eventual end of the world. He prophesied a lot of events that would begin to happen when the time had come. He gave these prophecies on the Mount of Olives and as such the Prophecies are known as Olivetti sermon or Olivetti Prophecies. (Please read Mathew 24, mark 13 and Luke 21 for the Olivetti sermons).

For summary of the Olivetti sermon, Jesus said the following:
1 No man, no angel, not even himself, knows the day He will come to rapture the true believers except His Father alone.
2 Prior to His coming (rapture), a lot of events will begin to happen across the world.
3 Of all the events that Jesus said will begin to happen, the only event He kept repeating is ‘deception’ (see Mathew 24:5, 11, 23-26). He did not repeat wars, earthquakes, diseases and others.
4 Of all the warnings Jesus gave us, the only one He kept repeating for us is to watch. (see mark 13: 33, 35, 36, 37).
5 Lastly, all the events He prophesied must all begin to happen at the same time. (Mathew 24:33)
Even though, we don’t know the day of rapture, we can know that the time of rapture has come if we see all the events Jesus prophesied happening simultaneously. I think He has tried enough for us with these prophecies. But how shall we know the events are happening if we don’t watch.
So to watch means to pay serious attention to what are happening around the world by listening to news, observing what are happening in churches, observing what are happening in the societies, observing what is happening to Israel, observing what is happening in the whole world, reading the bible, being spiritually alert, with a view to ascertaining or discerning that what Jesus said, as well as what God said through His prophets concerning end-times are happening.

Most of the end-time prophecies given in the bible that we are to watch concern three main entities. These are the church, Israel (particularly Jerusalem), and the world at large.

• Watch what is happening in the Church: are believers falling away? are pastors teaching heresies?, are false prophets/miracles on the rise?, are pastors commercializing gospels?, is church becoming worldly and so on, all as prophesied in the bible.

• Watch what is happening in Israel: Is there any effort to divide Jerusalem as prophesied in the bible?, are some arab nations conspiring to exterminate (wipe out) Israel? Is Israeli government planning to build the 3rd temple on the temple? Is there any attempt to negotiate peace with Israel? and so on as prophesied in the bible.

• Watch what is happening in the world: are disasters happening? Are the people becoming rebellious to God? Are governments looting funds? Is homosexuality on the rise? Are there persecutions and attacks on Christians (especially Christians being attacked right inside the church) and so on, all as prophesied in the bible?

For bible verses where all these things are prophesied, see our teaching on 50 SIGNS OF RAPTURE/END-TIME on https://www.nairaland.com/1230707/end-time-bible-teaching-50-signs posted on religion section of www.nairaland.com or send an email to us at raptureglorious@gmail.com to request it.
Those who are not watching are sleeping (mark 13: 16). These Christians belong to the lukewarm church or the foolish virgins and JESUS will come to them as a thief because they are not watching.

WHY MUST WE WATCH?
1 OBEDIENCE. Since our Lord, Jesus Christ, commanded us to watch, then we must watch, even if for only obedience.

2 PREPARATION. Rapture is a very serious event that must be prepared for, by constant repentance, prayer, fasting, watching, holy and righteous living. Remember, He is coming for a bride without spot, blemish and wrinkles. Even a single stain will disqualify a person (Ephesians 5:27). If we don’t watch, how can we know that time is up. Instead of praying and fasting to be accounted worthy to make rapture when the trumpet sounds, we may be praying for prosperity.

3 SPECIAL REWARD. There is a special reward for those who watch and long for His appearing (2 Timothy 4: . Those who did not watch but make the rapture may not get this reward.

4 MAKING RAPTURE. Let’s assume that consistently, the weather is cloudy, lightnings are striking, sun hardly shines, temperature is dropping and it is windy. We can conveniently say that rainy season has arrived because of those signs. So, we can begin to get an umbrella, mend the roof of our house, clear drainages and prepare for rain, though, we don’t know the exact day/time that the rain will fall. The rain will not meet us unprepared because we paid attention to the signs that rain was coming and we prepared. If the rain did not fall eventually, we will still not have anything to lose. Making Rapture can be compared to this phenomenon. Watching is a key to making rapture. Even, if we don’t know the day, we will know how close it is and begin to prepare and rapture will not happen suddenly to us because we are watching, preparing and ready. (revelation 3:3)

DON’T WATCH; JUST BE READY AT ALL TIMES. HOW TRUE?
Some Christians believe that it is not necessary to watch. They often say that they just have to be ready at all times, without watching. How true is this? In my opinion, they are right to the extent that we have to be ready at all times. But they are wrong in that they overlook the issue of watching.
Before the rapture happens, it is going to be a time of thick spiritual darkness and deception to such extent that those who are watching and are firm in the Lord might be deceived, if care is not taken (Mathew 24:24). How much less those that are not watching. Brethren, satan is more deceptive than we think. Before they know, deception may enter unto them right inside the church.
This is why the Lord Jesus Christ emphasized the issue of deception and watching even more than earthquakes and other disasters. So, if it is not necessary to watch, the Lord Jesus would not emphasize it.
Lastly compare, the issue of watching to what Apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter: 5: 8 and 1 Peter: 4:18
1 Peter: 5 :8
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
We can paraphrase the words of Apostle Peter above as ‘whoever is not vigilant (watchful), the devil might devour him’.
And Lastly 1 Peter 4:18
18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
If those who are watching and are ready at all times scarcely make it, how much less those who are not watching?
We must watch.

ACTIONS
• begin to watch and pray as He said in Luke 21:36 to be able to escape all the things that will soon happen to earth (great tribulation). What is happening now is child’s play. What will happen to those that miss the rapture will be terrible. We shall look into those things later. Repent of all sins, forgive people, fast, pray, watch, drop all worldliness.
PRAYERS
• Repent of all SINs and pray that He cleanse and sanctify you with His blood. Please do this as many times as possible daily.
• O Lord, open my spiritual eyes to see the signs of your coming as mentioned in your word.
• Lord Jesus, give me the grace of watchfulness and readiness for your coming.
• Lord Jesus, give me the grace of the 5 wise virgins.

For more information, question or contribution, please send email to us at raptureglorious@gmail.com and please tell others to join us. We will like to get as many people as possible ready for rapture. We wish nobody goes through the great tribulation. What are happening now are child’s play. Shalom

Dear iesusluvz,

This thread was mistakenly created with your username by me. Please forgive me.

My personal computer which I use for all this kind of posts had a problem and I had to use a colleague's computer because
I want to send this message. When I got to the system, nairaland was already opened with your username and i didnt even notice it.
I just went ahead and posted my message. after posting the message, i went to the religion section to see the message i posted. it was then i noticed it was someone else' username i used to send the message. I have since logged out your username on that computer. Please, forgive my oversight. I regret any embarrassment this might cause you.

I have resent the message with my own username.

Anybody who wants to reply to the message should please view it on https://www.nairaland.com/1241939/end-time-bible-teaching-why-must. thank you.