Matthew 24:42

Matthew 24:42

In Matthew 24:42-44 Jesus said, “Watch therefore: for you know not what hour your Lord does come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have allowed his house to be broken up. Therefore, be you also ready: for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man will come.”

There are several important lessons that we should keep in mind about the return of the Lord. Because Jesus will return. Life as we know it is temporary. There are two reasons that this life is temporary. One reason is that we are all going to die eventually. But for some of us, either in this generation or in another, death is not what will end life as we know it, but it will be the return of the Lord that will change things.

When Jesus compared His return to the coming of a thief in the night, He was using the symbolism of someone coming in a time when they are least expected. He might return on any day, and if He has not returned by the time that the next year rolls around, then there will be just as good of a chance that He will return on one of the 365 days in the following year. There is no greater or lesser of a chance that the Lord will return this year or any other year.

It’s very clear that the Lord wanted His believers to be motivated each day by the idea that He just might return today. In verse 42 Jesus said, “Watch, therefore.” In verse 44 He said, “Be you also ready.” And in Matthew 24:45-51 Jesus said, “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he comes shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delays his coming; and shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunks; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looks not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

In the Sermon on the Mount the Lord told us to be watchful each day because of temptations to sin, reminding us that a priority for each of us should be to do what is right and to beware of our selfish tendencies to fall into sin or to commit sinful acts of selfishness by word or by deed or by thoughts. He said, “Do not worry about tomorrow: for tomorrow shall take care of itself. Sufficient for each day is the evil thereof.”

This time the Lord is telling us to be watchful each day, because He just might return today. Therefore, we should have our priorities right; and we should be ready for His return. Anyone who is ready for the return of Christ, Jesus called faithful and wise in Matthew 24:45. Anyone who is not ready for the return of Christ, Jesus called them hypocrites. Previous to His teachings on prophecy, Jesus called the scribes and Pharisees hypocrites. They were the religious phonies who hated Jesus and eventually plotted His death. Now Jesus is calling everyone who is not faithful and who does not look for His return a hypocrite. And Jesus gives a very clear warning to anyone who is not one of His faithful and wise servants. There is a judgment to come. For all who are not rightly related to God through Jesus, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. There will come a day when they will mourn and weep and cry, and wish that they had repented when they had the chance. Jesus gave His warning so that people would repent and ask for forgiveness, instead of ending up under the judgment of God.

What does it take to be prepared for the return of Christ? When Jesus returns and one person is taken, and the other left; what will be the difference between the two. Why will one be taken and the other not taken? In Matthew 25:1-13 Jesus tells us a parable that explains the difference. Jesus said, “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be like ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom delayed his coming, they all went to sleep. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him. Then all the virgins arose to light their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, Give us some of your oil, because our lamps have gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go you rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Truly I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of man shall come.”

Again Jesus calls those who are prepared for His coming, wise; and those who are not prepared He calls foolish. There were five wise and five foolish. What was different about them? Morally, they were the same. They were all virgins. But the five who were wise had oil, while the five who were foolish had none. Oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. When you receive Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within you. The Holy Spirit in a sense is the down payment, the first installment of all the wonderful things that God will do in the life of each believer, starting now and stretching into eternity.

Those who are ready to meet God are those who have the Holy Spirit within them. You obtain the Holy Spirit by coming to know Christ. To the five who had no oil, Jesus said to them in verse 12, “...I know you not.”

Jesus explained the kingdom of God and His return to establish His kingdom, by showing us the difference between the saved and the lost using the symbolism of the 10 virgins. In the next parable Jesus will use the symbolism of a man traveling on a journey who gave talents to his servants, and then examined the accomplishments of his servants when he returned from the journey. Jesus said in Matthew 25:14-18, “For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his ability; and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money. After a long time the lord of those servants comes, and reckons with them.”

At the end of Matthew chapter 24, Jesus warned us to watch for His coming. But He did not mean that we were to be inactive, because He has given each of us skills and abilities with which to serve Him and work in this world; and He expects us to do just that. One of the reasons that God does not take us to heaven when He saves us is because He has something for each of us to do; and one question that every believer should always be asking is: what does God want me to do? Never stop asking that question, and never stop seeking an answer to it.

Jesus must have thought that this teaching on the use of your talents was very important for people to remember because He explained it in great detail. Every human is given their life by God. No life is an accident. There is a purpose, there is a plan for every single human being, and every person has been equipped by God to do what He wants them to do. One of the great tragedies of life is the fact that many people never come close to realizing their potential.

Whenever a child is born into the world, think of the potential that exists in his or her life. They may be destined to become the greatest president that our country has ever had, or a medical researcher who will find a cure to cancer, or a great evangelist of the Gospel who will help tens of thousands of people come to know the truth. Had sad a day it will be when people come to the end of their life, and stand before the great God of the universe, and find out what they could have become and what they could have accomplished had they only realized their potential, and used the gifts that God gave them for His glory. O the regrets that there will be. It will be just like Jesus said, “There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

That’s one of the reasons that the abuse of alcohol or drugs is such a horrible curse for those who become controlled by that abuse. They lose their drive. They lose their ability to perform. They lose the capacity to accomplish. The point that Jesus is making is that humans will accomplish more when they dedicate what they do to God and His glory. If you had two individuals with the same ability, the one who dedicates the use of his abilities to the service of God will far out-perform the one who does not. That’s because no human was meant to live independent from God. No human is complete without knowing God, and walking with God, and dedicating what they do to God.

Jesus is telling us that if we want to realize our potential, then we need to remember that our Lord is coming back, and one day we will give an account to Him of what we have done with the abilities that He has given to us. Evidently the Apostle Paul, who accomplished so much in spreading the Gospel in the Mediterranean world, was driven by this very idea, that one day he would give an account to Jesus Christ his Savior. When Paul came to the end of his life and he realized that he had come close to realizing his potential in doing what God wanted him to do, Paul said in Second Timothy 4:7-8, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

Remember that Jesus is in the midst of telling us what is going to happen in the future. He looked into the future and saw that there would be a great number of people who will stand before God and will regret that they did not use the opportunities and the abilities that they had to serve God. One day, those of us who will not be able to say what Paul said, will taste the sting and the sorrow exactly like Jesus said that we would. He said, “There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Jesus said in Matthew 25:20-23, “And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, you delivered unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His lord said to him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things: Enter into the joy of your lord. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, you delivered unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things: enter into the joy of your lord.”

Those who choose to serve God, will find that it is not in vain. The Bible says that when the Lord returns, He will bring His rewards with Him. Here Jesus says what two of those rewards will be: authority and joy. The lord who returned said to his faithful servant: “I will make you a ruler over many things.” There are people in this world who are power-hungry. They selfishly seek to gain control and power in whatever organization they are in, whether it be a corporation or a church or a political party. But no matter how much power that they gain, they will find that their power and their control will be short-lived. When Jesus returns, He will give the power to His servants. He said in the Sermon on the Mount, “The meek shall inherit the earth.” Paul reminded believers of the power that they would one day have, and he said in First Corinthians 6:2, “Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world?”

For rewards He will give us power and authority in His kingdom. He will also give us joy. When the lord returned to reward his servants, he said to them, “Enter into the joy of your lord.” The final result of serving God will be joy and happiness forever. What a contrast this is to the final result of not serving God, where Jesus said, “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

There is no greater joy possible in this life than the joy of knowing Christ as Savior and walking in fellowship with Him, being spiritually connected to Him. The main reason that people do not find happiness is because they seek it in the wrong places. No one has ever been dissatisfied who found God through Christ. The peace of God passes understanding. Even in the midst of out greatest sorrows, we can find joy in knowing that this life is temporary, and that we will soon be in a much better place. If you know someone who has died and has gone on to be with God, don’t feel sorry for them. They are in a place of indescribable joy.

Jesus said that His servants will be welcomed into the kingdom of God with the statement, “Enter into the joy of your lord.” It’s going to be so wonderful that words cannot express it adequately. It says in First Corinthians 2:9, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him.”

In Matthew 25:24-30 Jesus said, “Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew that you are a hard man, reaping where you had not sown and gathering where you had not strawed: And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the earth: lo, there you have what is thine. His lord answered and said unto him, You wicked and lazy servant; you knew that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed. You ought therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received my own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which has ten talents. For unto everyone that has shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that has not shall be taken away even that which he has. And cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

One of the reasons that the unprofitable servant wasted his opportunities can be found in his own words. The servant said in verse 25, “I was afraid.” One of the reasons that some people accomplish nothing is because they are afraid to try anything. Their own fears keep them from stepping out and trying. You will never know for sure if you can do a certain thing or not, until you try to do it. Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Whenever the apostles expressed fear, Jesus rebuked them and said, “O you of little faith.” If fear paralyzes you and keeps you from doing something for God, you will have the same result that this unprofitable servant had.

Another reason that this servant became unprofitable was because he was lazy. His lord called him a wicked and lazy servant. Doing what God wants you to do requires an effort on your part. If you do not make the right effort, you will fail for sure. Notice that laziness is associated with wickedness. The one who accomplished nothing is called a wicked and lazy servant.

We have a choice. We can be like the servants who understood what their talents were, and made an effort to use them for the glory of God, or we can be like the servant who feared and did nothing and who wasted his opportunities. If we rely upon the mercy of God that is in Christ and grow not weary in well doing, we will all bear fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundredfold.

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