Luke 21:29-38
29 He told them this parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. 30 When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. 31 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.
32 “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
34 “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. 35 For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”
37 Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives, 38 and all the people came early in the morning to hear him at the temple. [1]
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Jesus to watch for the coming of the kingdom. In particular he was warning them to be alert for the signs of the coming destruction of Jerusalem and also His return in glory. His message for them is summarized in verse 36: “Be always on the watch and pray.”
The destruction of Jerusalem that He was warning them about came in 70 AD, but we are still waiting for His return. So these words still speak to us. But as I think about them, I’m applying them in an even broader sense. Yes, Christ is coming and we are to be watchful and waiting, not given to “carousing, drunkenness, etc.” And whenever we think of Christ’s coming in glory we are also to think about our own mortality and the fact that, instead of Christ’s coming to us, we may go to him. Spiritually they are the same: the end of this life.
But I think we can apply these words in an even broader sense: Simply to live our lives in prayerful watchfulness for what God is doing. The kingdom comes every day. Every day we pray for the kingdom (The Lord’s Prayer), and every day we submit ourselves to the King that we may rightly represent Him in the world. So yes, we watch and wait for the coming Kingdom of God in glory, but today we live watching for the coming of the kingdom in our daily lives.
What does that mean? Any opportunity to draw closer to the Lord. Any opportunity to demonstrate and share the love and service of Christ. Any opportunity to take the mission of God, redeeming the world, to any person who may be blessed by it. In these ways, the kingdom is coming to us and through us. And I’m sure that by inviting us to pray daily “Thy Kingdom Come,” Christ would call us to daily watchfulness for the Kingdom, that we may live as the royal sons and daughters we have been called to me.
So my prayer is that I live this day watchful, seeing the signs of the kingdom of God around me and in me, that I may represent my King to the world.
[1] The New International Version. 2011 (Lk 21:29–38). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
