Watch!

Watch!

“Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Luke 21:36. Watch! It is worthwhile to consider what Jesus must have meant by saying, “Watch!” Which degree of watchfulness was He thinking about?

We have experienced revival, and we are still experiencing revival. The church has been a revival to holiness from the beginning. We are awakened to remain watchful. Are we awake? Are we watching?

In Revelation 16:15 we read, “Blessed is he who watches.” We must go to the Scriptures in order to become acquainted with the right standard, also when it concerns the watchfulness that Jesus intended. Our own understanding of what it means to be watchful can be miles away from what God’s Word means by being watchful.

“Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.” 1 Thess. 5:6. Sleep as others do! Who are these “others”? It is rewarding to do some soul-searching on this point. “Awake to righteousness, and do not sin . . . .” 1 Cor. 15:34. You cannot say that you are watching when you are careless and sloppy in your Christian life, when you don’t take the matter of sinning seriously, for example, when you don’t keep your tongue bridled, nor your path clean. “Awake, you who sleep . . . and Christ will give you light.” Eph. 5:14. Everything else will lose its attraction when Christ gives us light in life’s many situations. Christ gives us light in life’s various situations when we are sober and watchful. Then humility is a light for us when we are exposed to the others’ unreasonableness. Then goodness is a light for us when we meet up with the evil of our fellow man. Then purity is a light for us in the midst of an impure, unchaste, and evil world. Those who are asleep do not see this light in life’s trials, even though they did see the light shine under the preaching of God’s Word at meetings and at conferences. Sleep causes the light to vanish when it concerns fighting and overcoming.

The Hebrews were very zealous in “the former days,” after they had been enlightened. Heb. 10:32. However, this was no longer the case with them. They had become dull of hearing, and the light did not shine clearly for them in the hour of trial. Therefore they received the exhortation in verse 38 not to draw back in the hour of trial, but rather to watch. In his second epistle the apostle Peter wrote that it was precisely for the purpose of awakening the saints’ pure minds that he had written to them—to awaken them by constant reminders. All of us need such reminders in our days as well.

In one of his letters (#142), Johan O. Smith wrote: “In order to get light we must be looking for it. Some light goes unnoticed.” In other words, these are rays of light that pass a person by and are not helpful to him because he is not sufficiently awake. They are opportunities that could have resulted in progress and growth, a growth that failed to materialize because of a lack of watchfulness.

May God give grace that we do not sing “There sweeps revival to holiness over the land” (NS #136) with sleepy eyes and distracted minds. The destroyer performs his work of breaking down wherever sleep and a lack of watchfulness enter in. Everything that pertains to life and godliness—to a revival to holiness—has been given to us by the knowledge of Him who called us by His glory and virtue. 2 Pet. 1:3. Therefore we do not need to wait for revival. We can live it today. Neither do we need to wait for growth and progress that we can experience today. The church is a revival unto discipleship. The church is a revival unto sanctification. The church is revival! It is revival today. Not a revival that occurred at some time in the past.