Keep Watching!
Some believers are spreading their conviction that spectacular events announced by the prophet of the bible such as the appearance and the rise of the Beast, the flight to the safe place of protection prepared by the Lord or the advent of Yeshua-Christ will take place during a feast or a jubilee.
It may be so, but the Bible says nothing like this for the time being. We must therefore be very careful not to fall into a trap by accepting such a conviction.
This does not mean that we must neglect the feasts, nor count the sabbatical years and the jubilees, on the contrary, because these particular times in the lives of believers are so many reminders of what will be the kingdom of Elohim that we are trying to bring to life in us today.
Colossians 2: 16-17 " 16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ."
As for the day and the hour, nobody knows them!
The disciples of Yeshua were at the time as anxious as some of us to know when His advent would take place:
Matthew 24: 3 " Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”
The Lord's answer is crystal clear at the end of this chapter:
Matthew 24: 36-44 " 36 But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. 37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. 42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
Please note that this message from Yeshua is not addressed to the world but only to his disciples in particular.
We must therefore convince ourselves that we must not waste our time in guessing to try to predict in advance the time of the Savior's advent, on the contrary, we must make all our efforts to stay awake as we are told. By the way this is also what was asked to the Hebrews during the whole night following Passover!
And the disciples of Yeshuah were not a good example about this:
Mark 14: 32-42 " 32 Then they came to a place which was named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 And He took Peter, James, and John with Him, and He began to be troubled and deeply distressed. 34 Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch.”
35 He went a little farther, and fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. 36 And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”
37 Then He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour? 38 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
39 Again He went away and prayed, and spoke the same words. 40 And when He returned, He found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him.
41 Then He came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough! The hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.”
The good fruits brought by the one who watches!
Staying awake involves being attentive to everything that is going on around you, using not only all the senses that are available to us such as sight or hearing, but also the wisdom that is given to us, if we ask for it!
Here are a few examples of people who, thanks to their waking state, did not miss Elohim's call or perform actions as Yehoah likes them.
Samuel discovers the existence of Yehoah.
Samuel was still a young child at the service of the priest Eli and he did not know anything about Yehoah. But Samuel, despite his young age, is already gifted with vigilance which he puts at the service of Eli. Please read in I Samuel 3: 1-14 how he will respond three times in the middle of the night at the call he believes to be Eli's! This vigilance of Samuel will allow him to hear the voice of his Lord and to live close to Him all the time.
David is eager to know more about Yehoah and stands up for Him!
David is another example of somebody constantly on alert to act in order to please his Elohim. An example of this is his fight against Goliath in I Samuel 17: 17-58.
In another example in I Samuel 23: 1-13, David shows us on two occasions how he inquires about anything that may be life threatening and how he makes decisions only based on the input given by Yehoah, his Elohim.
Staying awake involves treating or even controling your body harshly.
Knowing how to watch goes hand in hand with a self-control of our carnal nature even if it must appear severe.
Gideon and his men give us a first example of will and self-control for the accomplishment of the will of Yehoah as we can read in Judges from chapter 7:19 until chapter 8:12.
Another example is that of the three friends of the prophet Daniel, Chadrak, Mechak and Abed-Nego which can be read in Daniel 3: 13-30.
All these people had faith in Elohim knowing that He is Almighty and able, if He agrees, to save them from all dangers whatever they are.
Paul gives a summary in Hebrews 11 of all those who thanks to their faith in Elohim walked with Yehoah in the direction of his Kingdom still to come especially with the advent of the Messiah.
Yeshua was no exception and he too could dominate his carnal nature especially when he was led into the wilderness to show Satan that he had no power over him as we can read in Luke 4: 1-13.
Please also remember how much Yeshua, as we read above, was hoping to escape his sacrifice. Remember what he said to his Father:
"Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me "
But he also knew how to dominate his carnal nature as we see in the rest of his prayer:
" nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”
To watch also means to be ready for any eventuality, and act accordingly
A woman or a man who is watching is on the lookout because he does not know what is going to happen and he must be ready to act accordingly, drawing inspiration for this from all the teachings of the word of Elohim.
A very good example of the good reaction of a person who kept watching is that of Abigail, the wife of Nabal, this mad man.
Abigail unexpectedly heard how her husband, Nabal, treated David's messengers badly. She was awake and she reacted immediately and admirably in order to save the situation from all points of view:
1. First of all Abigail will avoid the murder of all the shepherds of Nabal by David's troop.
2. Then Abigail will also avoid a condemnable exaction that David and his men were going to commit.
The part of this exemplary story can be read in I Samuel 25: 14-38.
Another example is that of Philippe who, while traveling, followed in the smallest detail and diligently what the Spirit told him to do. He will open the eyes of one of the senior officials of the Queen of Ethiopia. This story is written in Acts 8: 26-40.
Another but very bad example is the one of King Saul. He watched and waited for Samuel to come and offer a holocaust. But instead of waiting beyond the proper time because Samuel was apparently late, he ran out of patience and committed a sacrilege by offering himself a holocaust on the pretext that Samuel was too late. This bad deed caused his loss of kingship and his rejection by Yehoah as we can read in I Samuel 13: 7-15.
It's our turn now to follow the same path that leads to life!
Let us come back to us now! Do we want to be part of the nation of believers? Do we want like the children of Israel to enter this new covenant that Elohim, our Father offers?
Would we be happy to be part of this new nation which will be born in one day with the advent of the Messiah and thus to have the opportunity to know this multitude of men and women mentioned in the Bible: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job, Moses, Deborah, Yael, Ruth, Boaz, David, all the prophets from Isaiah to Zechariah and Malachi, not forgetting most of the disciples and apostles of Yeshua and Stephen?
If the answer is yes, then let us be like them as vigilant as possible to be ready to welcome the Messiah at his advent, even if this advent is taking us by surprise in a state of drowsiness as will be the case for the 5 wise virgins mentioned in Matthew 25: 1-13.
If we became lazy since our conversion, there is still time to recover as advised by our Lord in several places of the book of Revelation:
• Revelation 3: 1-3
• Revelation 16: 1-21.
And to conclude, please read Paul recall about how Yeshua acted until his last Passover so that we could be saved in Philippians 2: 1-18.