Watch: His Arrival is Near

People are fun to watch. One of the strange phenomena that I observed as I people watched in recent years is the traveler with their Bluetooth headset waiting in the airport terminal. It always makes me smile when I see a perfectly normal looking adult standing all alone and just talking into the air, making gestures with their hands to emphasize their point to whoever is on the other end of the line hundreds of miles away. It always looks like they’re talking to themselves.

The airport is not the only spot where we spend our time people watching. We like to watch what everyone else is wearing, driving, and doing with their lives. We watch to see what other people think when they watch us. We watch our families grow and change, and sometimes are startled to watch ourselves in the mirror doing the same thing.

With all of the people watching we do, it seems like it would be an easy task to follow Jesus’ command in Matthew 24:42, “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.” Apparently Jesus, as well as Peter and Paul, didn’t think it would be all that easy for us. Together, they remind us nineteen times in the New Testament to watch. The word watch they use means to stay awake. “Keep your eyes open!” we hear them say. “Don’t sleep. There is too much happening that you don’t want to miss.”

When I was growing up, my family used to stay up to watch the ball drop in Times Square at midnight on New Years Eve. I fought tooth and nail to stay awake until that time. Sometimes it was all I could do not to just lay down on the floor and give in to the sweet rest that beckoned me. But I wanted so badly to be awake and aware of that special moment when the old year vanished away and the new one began.

Jesus wants us to feel the same way about His coming. He desperately wants us to be awake and aware of that moment when the old life we know here on Earth, with its pain and suffering, loneliness, and death, vanishes away, and the endless possibility of eternity begins. So he bids us watch. “Stay awake, I’m coming.”

Sadly, some people are fine with sleeping instead of watching. But, even those of us who do strain to stay awake are not always watching for the right thing, or for the right reason.

Some people are storm watchers. They watch the foreboding clouds with anxiety and determine to prepare themselves for the fearful events that the Bible reveals will take place in the time before Jesus returns. They watch the evening news, the weather, the web-sites of the conspiracy theorists, and the movements of governments and religious leaders for the signs of Jesus coming. With each new wave of grim prophecy-fulfilling news their blood pressure raises a few points and they begin to tighten down the storm shutters of their hearts. They see the storm. But do they see their valiant Savior riding through the storm, coming at full super-sonic gallop on His white horse to swoop them up and take them out of the storm?

Others do watch for Jesus Himself, but in the vigilant, yet wary way my three younger sisters and I watched for my parents to come home after their evenings out. When we were old enough to be left alone at home, my parents went out on a date once in a while. We acted normal until we saw the car back out of the driveway and accelerate past the front windows of the house down the street. Quickly, the four of us crowded onto our little front porch to watch them turn the corner at the end of the street. As soon as the tail lights disappeared around the bend, we all yelled in unison, “PARTY TIME!”

Not wanting to miss a moment of fun, I grabbed the broom from beside the refrigerator and started jamming on my “guitar” as we danced around the table singing, “Party time! Party time!” After a couple times around the table we began our favorite parentless pastime. One of us turned on the ceiling fan hanging over the kitchen table and yanked the little chain until it was swirling full speed. Then we took a dish cloth from the sink, dampened it to make it nice and heavy, and threw it up into the spinning fan blades whirring in the middle of the room. The fan caught the cloth, spun it around a couple times, and then flung it against the wall or into some corner of the room. We all laughed hysterically and raced to grab the cloth so we could do it again, over and over.

My parents usually told us what time they should be home, so about fifteen minutes before their expected time of arrival, someone started watching out the window to spot them if they arrived early. When the time came even nearer, we put away the dish cloth, cleaned up our messes, and took up an “innocent” activity that we hoped our parents would think we had been enjoying the whole time they were gone.

Our strategy usually worked, unless my parents forgot something and came back for it. On those nights, the fan had just gotten going at top speed and all of a sudden we heard the car pulling into the driveway. We moved faster than the speed of light, or at least faster than fan blades. We screamed, and then we scrambled to turn off the stereo, throw the dishcloth into the sink, hit the switch for the fan and plop onto the couch just as the door knob turned and my parents walked in. I’m sure we looked a little too innocent all sitting there on the couch smiling, as the ceiling fan mysteriously spun its last few turns and came to a stop.

When we knew the time was near, we watched warily because we didn’t want to get caught if our parents came home earlier than we were expecting them. Could some people be doing the same kind of watching for Jesus? Do they know His return is near, but watch intently to make sure He doesn’t come home early and find them still enjoying that activity that they don’t think He’d approve? Do they hope to see Him coming around the corner in time to frantically put away the soggy dishcloths of their lives and pick up some more appropriate activity?

Sadly, neither of the examples above is truly watching the way Jesus intended. Watching the storm clouds to prepare yourself to survive the end time events, or watching for Jesus, but hoping He doesn’t come before “party time” is finished, is totally missing the main point of the Christian experience. A Christian is someone who is wrapped up in an eternal friendship with Jesus that begins here on Earth (John 17:3). Christians have a precious Friend who has been away on a long trip. They know He is returning soon, so they watch for Him, not in fear of the events surrounding His return, or to attempt to clean up before His arrival, but in anticipation of their joyful reunion.

When you have a relationship with Jesus, watching for Him to return is like watching for a loved one you are picking up at the airport. As the time for their arrival appears, you get excited about going out to meet them. When you get to the airport, you enter the baggage claim area and are met by a sea of humanity surging toward you in wave after wave of arriving flights. Your eyes anxiously scan the crowd of people exiting the terminal, looking for that familiar face among all the strangers. After what seems like an eternity, you finally catch a glimpse of the one you know so well while they are still some distance away. Your eyes meet and the smile of recognition and excitement comes immediately to both of your faces. You try to play it cool, walking forward to meet them, but soon all self-restraint breaks down and you run to meet each other, colliding in a tangle of arms and legs, backpacks, and duffle bags, hearts bursting with joy.



When Jesus is your loved One, this is how you feel about His coming. Get to know Him in a personal way today so you too can impatiently await His arrival. He’ll be the One flying in, but He’ll actually be coming to pick you up this time. Your eyes will meet as He comes down that corridor in the sky. You’ll jump for joy and keep on going as you rise up to be tangled in His embrace. And you’ll leave all your baggage behind. He’s everything you need for this trip.

“Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming” (Matthew 24:42, NKJV).