Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
Sleep is not needful rest of the body but spiritual dullness, indifference and unpreparedness for the Lord's day that can overtake even workers and churches on the very borders of eternity. To watch is to stay spiritually awake, prayerful and ready in earnest, energetic working with the face heavenward and the lamp burning, not in idleness or absorption in the world. To be sober is to be self-controlled, clear-minded and temperate in thought and action, free from the clouding of life's cares and riches as from drunkenness. Those who receive truth and obey God's word are children of light and of the day and not of night, so they must walk as such with keen perception, intense faith and pure love as if the end is near. For the day of the Lord comes unexpectedly like a thief to surprise sleepers, yet God provides full armor for readiness in the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet of the hope of salvation through Jesus Christ.
Sleep, Watching, and Sobriety
Sleep in the verse is not needful bodily rest that gives the body time to repair itself, but spiritual insensibility, heedlessness, indifference and unpreparedness for the Lord's day. It can overtake even diligent workers when they fail to stay watchful and guard themselves, and it leaves both leaders and churches unalarmed and unready for the day of wrath because watchmen do not discern danger, wake, or warn. In that condition clear judgment gives way to confused thoughts and doubts, hold on the foundations of faith is lost, and pride and ambition deceive about true condition, leaving judgment clouded and open to strange doubts and false confidence. It is being dull and cold and dead, asleep on the very borders of the eternal world, having not followed the light given. Concern for helping sinners should stir earnest action to awaken from it.
To watch is to stay spiritually awake, alert, prayerful and ready, so the sudden coming does not find unprepared and asleep. Watching joins vigilant waiting with vigilant working, holding working and waiting together in balance where personal devotion is blended with earnest work. It is not idleness or a merely quiet, prayerful, meditative religion of contemplation alone, nor being so engrossed in busy works as to neglect personal piety or so absorbed in worldly affairs as to forget place as those awaiting Christ. It is living wide-awake, energetic, fervent activity, not slothful in business but fervent in spirit, working most diligently and zealously while waiting. Watching keeps the face heavenward in humble dependent petition to God as surety and power, keeps the lamps trimmed and burning to send bright rays into moral darkness, brings every facility against declension, sounds warning, receives light and imparts it to those perishing in darkness, and refuses absorption by worldly affairs.
To be sober is to be self-controlled, clear-minded, temperate and restrained in thought and action as the proper response to the approaching day of the Lord by those who know it is near. Like drunkenness, allowing life's cares and the deceitfulness of riches to dominate clouds the mind and turns attention from heaven. Sound judgment in caring for the body belongs to this sobriety, for those accountable to God must work and eat wisely, recognize limits, avoid harm to health, and know that a disordered stomach disorders the mind.
Watching does not mean watching the defects, haltings and errors of those around from the judgment seat judging others. It means watching for souls as those who must give an account, watching for prosperity of souls rather than their faults. If one is seen in error, duty is to go kindly to that person and present the truth in contrast with error, since there is always a truth with which to meet error, and to speak a word in season and out of season. Doing this work in the spirit of Christ and removing difficulties between brethren clears rubbish from the door of the heart and prepares for work for outsiders.
Children of Light and Day
Those who receive the light of truth and know from Scripture that the day of the Lord is coming are children of light and of the day, not of the night nor of darkness, and those who obey what they have received from God's word walk according to that word as children of the day. Putting this teaching into practice changes the life, gives keen perception, and calls for exercising every talent in readiness for the immortal inheritance. Watching means keeping a more earnest hold upon heavenly things, exercising a faith that works by love and purifies the soul, submitting to a continuing work of purification, pressing toward the mark of the high calling in Christ, walking humbly with God, and growing in grace and in the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ. It means beholding the glory of the Lord so as to be changed from glory to glory, abiding in Christ to reveal perfection of character, putting on the Lord Jesus Christ, acknowledging helplessness to atone for sin, and through faith being purified from all dross to reveal the righteousness of Christ which is of God by faith.
Because they belong to the day, believers must not sleep as others do but must watch and be sober, staying spiritually awake, alert, prayerful, and clear-minded in constant preparation for Christ's second coming. Others live in darkness, carnal security, and heedlessness, presuming the day is far off, and they will be caught suddenly and overtaken unexpectedly because they are unprepared. Those who know present truth are to wake from such sleep, discern the signs of the times, warn others, and act promptly to share what they know while there is still time to work, for the end approaches stealthily like a thief in the night and is near. They are to watch, wait, and pray, reflect the light God has given, show intense faith and pure love, continue growing in faith and in the knowledge of Christ rather than becoming complacent, and live as those who believe the end is near.
Watchfulness belongs to the children of light and of the day, while indifference to the signs preceding Christ's coming, carelessness, and living unaware and unprepared belong to darkness. Indifference to those signs is sinful, and the contrast calls believers to give earnest attention to them, understand events, and remain ready for Christ's return grounded in faith and love and sustained by the hope of salvation. This warning is especially important for the church living near the end, calling those who belong to the light and the day to remain awake, watchful, sober, and ready for the unexpected day of the Lord.
Sudden Day of the Lord
The day of the Lord comes unexpectedly like a thief in the night with stealthy, muffled tread to surprise sleepers who are off guard and unready. Those who are not watching and praying and working will be taken unawares and caught unprepared and in sin, while those who are awake as faithful stewards who understand the deep, living issues of this time and walk in the footsteps of Jesus, working out salvation with fear and trembling, can be ready. Not sleeping means warning a perishing world to make ready for the great day of God, and sleeping watchmen who leave the people to be taken unawares are to be pitied.
Though the hour of Christ's return is unknown, its nearness can be recognized from the plain signs preceding it. Indifference and carelessness toward those signs belong to darkness and are sinful, while earnest attention, understanding of events, and watchful, serious, alert and self-controlled readiness for the great day of God belong to the children of light and of the day. This warning is especially important for the church living near the end, lest the day overtake them unawares.
The warning presses with special urgency upon those living at the end of the world amid the perils of the last days, in the final crisis and closing scenes when prophecy is fulfilled and probation is nearly ended. There is no time to lose in sleep, for sudden destruction is coming and God's wrath will be poured out, so believers must not live as though Christ is delaying His return but remain wakeful, sober-minded, prayerful, vigilant and devoted to their work. That readiness calls for immediate preparation and earnest work with reformation, active service and dependence on God: urging repentance, seeking the Lord while there is opportunity, refusing neutrality but keeping influence wholly on the Lord's side, and preparing for Christ's soon return.
Preaching Christ's second coming is meant to make a person know she must be ready and saved when He comes. Some heard of His coming and that the great day of God's wrath was just upon them, then lost interest when time went on a little longer than expected, letting stupidity and stupor creep over them until they slumbered never to awake and were left unprepared to see the angels, while the watchful remain alert and see.
The end steals upon people stealthily and noiselessly, and Satan advances with stealthy tread like a thief to take as prey those who are asleep, constantly seeking to destroy and in stormy times ahead moving like a thief in plans and devices to deceive even the elect through lying wonders opening before the world. Those asleep are unready, not kept by the grace of Christ, vulnerable and even asleep to his wiles, so that satanic work will fall suddenly upon sleepers with startling surprise. Watchfulness and prayer with resistance to the world's spirit and influence ruling mind and heart, and dependence on God for help, are the only safe course, keeping in the channel of light with eyes fastened on Jesus the Leader, looking the work fairly in the face and advancing as fast as possible in aggressive warfare to press patiently and perseveringly to victory. Warnings that can be given and work that can be done must be given and done now, before the passage is hedged with dangers and obstructed so that what is possible now can no longer be done.
Armor and Salvation Provided
God supplies complete armor for readiness, yet each person must put it on for himself, with faith and love as the breastplate covering the heart and the hope of salvation as the helmet guarding the mind. That putting on means refusing sleep as others sleep and remaining awake, watchful and sober as children of the day and not of darkness, ready for the unexpected day of the Lord. It includes abstaining from fleshly lusts that war against the soul and maintaining honest conduct and good works before unbelievers so that life itself testifies to the truth. It extends to every age and station, calling aged men to be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, charity and patience, aged women to holy behavior, young women to be discreet, chaste and obedient, and young men to be sober-minded, all showing a pattern of good works and sound speech.
Such readiness rests on salvation through Jesus Christ, who died so that believers, whether awake or asleep, may live together with Him. It is grounded in faith and love and sustained by the hope of salvation, which keeps Christians spiritually alert and self-controlled rather than heedless like those unprepared for that day. From this common salvation they comfort and strengthen one another instead of facing the coming day alone.
Faith united with prayer brings heavenly angels to guard believers from corrupting influences and to keep the worker in the Lord's light and safe, especially needed when satanic forces seek to deceive even the elect in the last days. Watching keeps the face heavenward in humble dependence on God in petition, which becomes surety and power, and it regulates every action and business transaction with fellow men by God's law, never swerving from right and justice toward them under any circumstance. That supreme love for Jesus Christ who bought men with His own blood develops unselfish love for fellow men that rises superior to the most grievous and subtle temptations. Sobriety itself includes prayerfulness and dependence on God, and this sober-minded alertness helps guard against deceptive religious teachings that lower the standard of Christian life.
Watchful Character and Conduct
Spiritual sleep clouds clear judgment, giving way to confused thoughts, strange doubts, and loss of hold on the foundations of faith, while pride and ambition deceive the sleeper about his true condition. This insensibility can overtake even diligent workers when they fail to stay watchful and guard themselves. The call is therefore to awaken and stay spiritually awake, watchful, and clear-minded while awaiting the Lord's coming rather than be caught unprepared. Concern for helping sinners should stir earnest action to rouse both self and others.
As children of light and of the day, believers must stay spiritually alert and sober rather than live carelessly as those in darkness, thinking and acting with restraint. Flirtation, lust, levity, and other misconduct are not to be excused as thoughtlessness, for sober conduct must reflect Christian profession. This requires stopping lustful love toward any woman besides one's wife, recognized as base lust of the mind and fruit of corrupt thoughts, and watching in moral purity for Christ's sake and the soul's sake to avoid bringing reproach upon God's work. They are to wait with lives cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, not caught unprepared in sin, disunity, strife, or frivolous amusements.
Watchfulness and sobriety also require sound judgment in caring for the body, since those accountable to God must work and eat wisely, recognize limits, and avoid harming health. The warning is not against necessary physical sleep, which gives the body time to repair itself, but against heedlessness that neglects responsible care. A disordered stomach disorders the mind. Being awake therefore includes denying the food usually enjoyed for a plain, simple diet without demanding entire abstinence from food, refusing self-indulgence that lifts the soul to vanity.
Watching means not trusting in one's own wisdom but trusting wholly in the wisdom of the Leader. It is submitting the will as clay into the hands of the Potter, passive and susceptible to receive divine impressions in order to be molded as a vessel unto honor and renewed in the divine image. It is standing in the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness where no earthly or selfish motive is suffered to live. This posture is met with setting aside days for fasting and prayer, living in genuine humiliation and most earnest prayer, and refusing to lift the soul to vanity in pride and self-indulgence.
Watching means actively working to purify life and serve God, keeping a more earnest hold upon heavenly things while submitting to a continuing work of purification because perfection has not yet been attained. It exercises faith that works by love and purifies the soul from all dross, beholds the glory of the Lord to be changed into the same image from glory to glory, and reveals the righteousness of Christ which is of God by faith. It presses toward the mark of the prize of the high calling in Christ, walks humbly with God, grows in grace and in knowledge of God and Jesus Christ, abides in Christ to reveal perfection of character and oneness, and puts on the Lord Jesus Christ while acknowledging helplessness to atone for sin. Sobriety is shown by relying on God's promises and on Christ, not on presumption or personal merit. The watchful therefore resist the example of spiritual sluggards, refuse spiritual idleness, carelessness, indifference to eternal realities, and complacency, press toward a higher standard with Jesus as pattern, faithfully attend to their own souls, devote every ability to God's service, and continue growing in faith and knowledge of Christ.
Sleeping means being dull and cold and dead on the very verge of the eternal world, and readiness now requires very earnest, united preparation. It requires confessing backsliding in humility, denying self and following Christ, taking His yoke to learn His meekness and find rest, and having the life hidden with Christ in God after much time lost through failure to do so. It means working unitedly and with Christ so as not to be drawn away from the faith, bringing the moving of God's Spirit, confession of sin, reformation, and passage from darkness into light. It means having the Spirit and breath of God in the churches so His people stand upon their feet and live, seeing the way narrow and the gate strait yet finding wideness without limit beyond, arising and shining because light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen. It means leaving talk of self and touchy sensitivity, finding sufficiency in Jesus Christ, talking faith and glorious hope and the full and abundant righteousness of Christ provided for every soul, trusting God as supreme and almighty with the world in His hand while injurious discouraging influences are held in control by unseen angel hands until everyone who works in the fear and love of God is sealed in the forehead, knowing the whole heavenly universe and the law of God act for faithful commandment-keeping people, refusing fear, and cooperating with heaven to arise in His strength and go forward.
Watchful Work and Warning
Watching means staying awake at the post of duty with untiring vigilance and unreserved consecration of soul and body, putting every capability to use to lead men and women to place themselves on the Saviour's side. It is not slothful or half-hearted service but earnest, energetic work that moves forward in Christian character rather than following spiritual sluggards. The Christian life is a real struggle in which Satan and his angels oppose every step forward, so believers must strive to overcome rather than idle as mere spectators. In perilous times those responsible for the work must stay watchful against deceptive influence, for neglecting the post gives the enemy advantage and endangers the work and the people. In all institutions this means saying Here am I, send me, and beginning the essential work of reformation so greatly needed.
The verse teaches the education needed for the day of trial that comes as a thief stealing unawares, with all powers trained and consecrated to service as in the school of the prophets. Youthful zeal and ardor are to glorify God in real, thorough, well-organized efforts under instructors to bless others, instead of wasting holidays, money, and time on games. This is no time to slumber or sleep because a world is to be warned, and staying awake means being strengthened in faith and in knowledge of the present work by going out among believers in other places to learn of it.
Not sleeping means giving the trumpet a certain sound and warning a perishing world to make ready for the great day of God. That watchful message voices the third angel's message with power and bears the seal of the living God, combining the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to fit up a people to stand in the day of the Lord. Canvassers act as watchmen who sound the warning and awaken sleepers, bringing truth and salvation through Christ in obedience to God's law to a world that fails to recognize its danger and to churches that do not know the time of their visitation. The work reaches beyond the church by means such as open-air meetings to find those who would not attend a service held in a church. Those who present the truth enter into no controversy but speak the gospel with faith and earnestness that awakens interest, sowing seed by words, prayers, and influence that will bear fruit, with the voice of duty obeyed as the voice of God and each one standing at his post in the great enterprise of saving souls.
Sleep is failing to wake, recognize danger, and warn the people, so that both leaders and churches remain unalarmed and unprepared for the day of wrath. Sleeping watchmen leave the people to be taken unawares, a condition that calls for pity. Those who are awake see their need of help from Him who is wise in counsel, help abundantly provided and waiting, with His presence revealed as present help in every time of need to the pure in heart who shall see God.
The end approaches stealthily like a thief in the night, so those who know present truth must act promptly to share it while there is still time to work and probation lingers. To watch and be sober is to work, watch, wait, and pray, to look the work fairly in the face and advance as fast as possible in aggressive warfare with eyes fastened on Jesus the Leader, patiently and perseveringly pressing on to gain the victory. The warnings that can be given and the work that can be done must be given and done now, before the passage to spread the truth is hedged with dangers on the right hand and on the left and everything is placed to obstruct the way so that what is possible now can no longer be done. In the closing scenes, with prophecy fulfilled and probation nearly ended, this calls for immediate preparation and earnest work in urging repentance, seeking the Lord while there is opportunity, and preparing for the soon return, rather than living as though the coming is delayed. No one who should be awake is to remain neutral or asleep, for sudden destruction is coming and wrath will be poured out; influence is to be wholly on the Lord's side, with each member consecrated to stand ready to serve.
Ministers and those guarding the truth are especially called to stay wide-awake, sober, firm, and fearless in declaring the whole counsel of God. They face Satan's snares as laid for Israel just before entering Canaan, with history repeated in increasing lightness, vanity, love of ease and pleasure, selfishness, and impurity. Staying awake and clear-minded means having holiness and power instead of joining others in sleep, rejecting self-exaltation, seeing Jesus as He is and seeing oneself as weak, inefficient, and unlike the Master, and being content to have one's name in the obscurest part of the book of life. The sleeping people must be stirred to grow heavenward into Christ and to work for themselves and for those outside the fold, with each church member watchful and ready to follow the Captain's orders in solemn times. Every action is to be preceded by humble, earnest prayer, letting truth go forth as a burning lamp, that the highest service human beings aided by divine grace can offer may win a victory against the powers of darkness.
Sleep is not needful rest of the body but spiritual dullness, indifference and unpreparedness for the Lord's day that can overtake even workers and churches on the very borders of eternity. To watch is to stay spiritually awake, prayerful and ready in earnest, energetic working with the face heavenward and the lamp burning, not in idleness or absorption in the world. To be sober is to be self-controlled, clear-minded and temperate in thought and action, free from the clouding of life's cares and riches as from drunkenness. Those who receive truth and obey God's word are children of light and of the day and not of night, so they must walk as such with keen perception, intense faith and pure love as if the end is near. For the day of the Lord comes unexpectedly like a thief to surprise sleepers, yet God provides full armor for readiness in the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet of the hope of salvation through Jesus Christ.
Sleep, Watching, and Sobriety
Sleep in the verse is not needful bodily rest that gives the body time to repair itself, but spiritual insensibility, heedlessness, indifference and unpreparedness for the Lord's day. It can overtake even diligent workers when they fail to stay watchful and guard themselves, and it leaves both leaders and churches unalarmed and unready for the day of wrath because watchmen do not discern danger, wake, or warn. In that condition clear judgment gives way to confused thoughts and doubts, hold on the foundations of faith is lost, and pride and ambition deceive about true condition, leaving judgment clouded and open to strange doubts and false confidence. It is being dull and cold and dead, asleep on the very borders of the eternal world, having not followed the light given. Concern for helping sinners should stir earnest action to awaken from it.
To watch is to stay spiritually awake, alert, prayerful and ready, so the sudden coming does not find unprepared and asleep. Watching joins vigilant waiting with vigilant working, holding working and waiting together in balance where personal devotion is blended with earnest work. It is not idleness or a merely quiet, prayerful, meditative religion of contemplation alone, nor being so engrossed in busy works as to neglect personal piety or so absorbed in worldly affairs as to forget place as those awaiting Christ. It is living wide-awake, energetic, fervent activity, not slothful in business but fervent in spirit, working most diligently and zealously while waiting. Watching keeps the face heavenward in humble dependent petition to God as surety and power, keeps the lamps trimmed and burning to send bright rays into moral darkness, brings every facility against declension, sounds warning, receives light and imparts it to those perishing in darkness, and refuses absorption by worldly affairs.
To be sober is to be self-controlled, clear-minded, temperate and restrained in thought and action as the proper response to the approaching day of the Lord by those who know it is near. Like drunkenness, allowing life's cares and the deceitfulness of riches to dominate clouds the mind and turns attention from heaven. Sound judgment in caring for the body belongs to this sobriety, for those accountable to God must work and eat wisely, recognize limits, avoid harm to health, and know that a disordered stomach disorders the mind.
Watching does not mean watching the defects, haltings and errors of those around from the judgment seat judging others. It means watching for souls as those who must give an account, watching for prosperity of souls rather than their faults. If one is seen in error, duty is to go kindly to that person and present the truth in contrast with error, since there is always a truth with which to meet error, and to speak a word in season and out of season. Doing this work in the spirit of Christ and removing difficulties between brethren clears rubbish from the door of the heart and prepares for work for outsiders.
Children of Light and Day
Those who receive the light of truth and know from Scripture that the day of the Lord is coming are children of light and of the day, not of the night nor of darkness, and those who obey what they have received from God's word walk according to that word as children of the day. Putting this teaching into practice changes the life, gives keen perception, and calls for exercising every talent in readiness for the immortal inheritance. Watching means keeping a more earnest hold upon heavenly things, exercising a faith that works by love and purifies the soul, submitting to a continuing work of purification, pressing toward the mark of the high calling in Christ, walking humbly with God, and growing in grace and in the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ. It means beholding the glory of the Lord so as to be changed from glory to glory, abiding in Christ to reveal perfection of character, putting on the Lord Jesus Christ, acknowledging helplessness to atone for sin, and through faith being purified from all dross to reveal the righteousness of Christ which is of God by faith.
Because they belong to the day, believers must not sleep as others do but must watch and be sober, staying spiritually awake, alert, prayerful, and clear-minded in constant preparation for Christ's second coming. Others live in darkness, carnal security, and heedlessness, presuming the day is far off, and they will be caught suddenly and overtaken unexpectedly because they are unprepared. Those who know present truth are to wake from such sleep, discern the signs of the times, warn others, and act promptly to share what they know while there is still time to work, for the end approaches stealthily like a thief in the night and is near. They are to watch, wait, and pray, reflect the light God has given, show intense faith and pure love, continue growing in faith and in the knowledge of Christ rather than becoming complacent, and live as those who believe the end is near.
Watchfulness belongs to the children of light and of the day, while indifference to the signs preceding Christ's coming, carelessness, and living unaware and unprepared belong to darkness. Indifference to those signs is sinful, and the contrast calls believers to give earnest attention to them, understand events, and remain ready for Christ's return grounded in faith and love and sustained by the hope of salvation. This warning is especially important for the church living near the end, calling those who belong to the light and the day to remain awake, watchful, sober, and ready for the unexpected day of the Lord.
Sudden Day of the Lord
The day of the Lord comes unexpectedly like a thief in the night with stealthy, muffled tread to surprise sleepers who are off guard and unready. Those who are not watching and praying and working will be taken unawares and caught unprepared and in sin, while those who are awake as faithful stewards who understand the deep, living issues of this time and walk in the footsteps of Jesus, working out salvation with fear and trembling, can be ready. Not sleeping means warning a perishing world to make ready for the great day of God, and sleeping watchmen who leave the people to be taken unawares are to be pitied.
Though the hour of Christ's return is unknown, its nearness can be recognized from the plain signs preceding it. Indifference and carelessness toward those signs belong to darkness and are sinful, while earnest attention, understanding of events, and watchful, serious, alert and self-controlled readiness for the great day of God belong to the children of light and of the day. This warning is especially important for the church living near the end, lest the day overtake them unawares.
The warning presses with special urgency upon those living at the end of the world amid the perils of the last days, in the final crisis and closing scenes when prophecy is fulfilled and probation is nearly ended. There is no time to lose in sleep, for sudden destruction is coming and God's wrath will be poured out, so believers must not live as though Christ is delaying His return but remain wakeful, sober-minded, prayerful, vigilant and devoted to their work. That readiness calls for immediate preparation and earnest work with reformation, active service and dependence on God: urging repentance, seeking the Lord while there is opportunity, refusing neutrality but keeping influence wholly on the Lord's side, and preparing for Christ's soon return.
Preaching Christ's second coming is meant to make a person know she must be ready and saved when He comes. Some heard of His coming and that the great day of God's wrath was just upon them, then lost interest when time went on a little longer than expected, letting stupidity and stupor creep over them until they slumbered never to awake and were left unprepared to see the angels, while the watchful remain alert and see.
The end steals upon people stealthily and noiselessly, and Satan advances with stealthy tread like a thief to take as prey those who are asleep, constantly seeking to destroy and in stormy times ahead moving like a thief in plans and devices to deceive even the elect through lying wonders opening before the world. Those asleep are unready, not kept by the grace of Christ, vulnerable and even asleep to his wiles, so that satanic work will fall suddenly upon sleepers with startling surprise. Watchfulness and prayer with resistance to the world's spirit and influence ruling mind and heart, and dependence on God for help, are the only safe course, keeping in the channel of light with eyes fastened on Jesus the Leader, looking the work fairly in the face and advancing as fast as possible in aggressive warfare to press patiently and perseveringly to victory. Warnings that can be given and work that can be done must be given and done now, before the passage is hedged with dangers and obstructed so that what is possible now can no longer be done.
Armor and Salvation Provided
God supplies complete armor for readiness, yet each person must put it on for himself, with faith and love as the breastplate covering the heart and the hope of salvation as the helmet guarding the mind. That putting on means refusing sleep as others sleep and remaining awake, watchful and sober as children of the day and not of darkness, ready for the unexpected day of the Lord. It includes abstaining from fleshly lusts that war against the soul and maintaining honest conduct and good works before unbelievers so that life itself testifies to the truth. It extends to every age and station, calling aged men to be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, charity and patience, aged women to holy behavior, young women to be discreet, chaste and obedient, and young men to be sober-minded, all showing a pattern of good works and sound speech.
Such readiness rests on salvation through Jesus Christ, who died so that believers, whether awake or asleep, may live together with Him. It is grounded in faith and love and sustained by the hope of salvation, which keeps Christians spiritually alert and self-controlled rather than heedless like those unprepared for that day. From this common salvation they comfort and strengthen one another instead of facing the coming day alone.
Faith united with prayer brings heavenly angels to guard believers from corrupting influences and to keep the worker in the Lord's light and safe, especially needed when satanic forces seek to deceive even the elect in the last days. Watching keeps the face heavenward in humble dependence on God in petition, which becomes surety and power, and it regulates every action and business transaction with fellow men by God's law, never swerving from right and justice toward them under any circumstance. That supreme love for Jesus Christ who bought men with His own blood develops unselfish love for fellow men that rises superior to the most grievous and subtle temptations. Sobriety itself includes prayerfulness and dependence on God, and this sober-minded alertness helps guard against deceptive religious teachings that lower the standard of Christian life.
Watchful Character and Conduct
Spiritual sleep clouds clear judgment, giving way to confused thoughts, strange doubts, and loss of hold on the foundations of faith, while pride and ambition deceive the sleeper about his true condition. This insensibility can overtake even diligent workers when they fail to stay watchful and guard themselves. The call is therefore to awaken and stay spiritually awake, watchful, and clear-minded while awaiting the Lord's coming rather than be caught unprepared. Concern for helping sinners should stir earnest action to rouse both self and others.
As children of light and of the day, believers must stay spiritually alert and sober rather than live carelessly as those in darkness, thinking and acting with restraint. Flirtation, lust, levity, and other misconduct are not to be excused as thoughtlessness, for sober conduct must reflect Christian profession. This requires stopping lustful love toward any woman besides one's wife, recognized as base lust of the mind and fruit of corrupt thoughts, and watching in moral purity for Christ's sake and the soul's sake to avoid bringing reproach upon God's work. They are to wait with lives cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, not caught unprepared in sin, disunity, strife, or frivolous amusements.
Watchfulness and sobriety also require sound judgment in caring for the body, since those accountable to God must work and eat wisely, recognize limits, and avoid harming health. The warning is not against necessary physical sleep, which gives the body time to repair itself, but against heedlessness that neglects responsible care. A disordered stomach disorders the mind. Being awake therefore includes denying the food usually enjoyed for a plain, simple diet without demanding entire abstinence from food, refusing self-indulgence that lifts the soul to vanity.
Watching means not trusting in one's own wisdom but trusting wholly in the wisdom of the Leader. It is submitting the will as clay into the hands of the Potter, passive and susceptible to receive divine impressions in order to be molded as a vessel unto honor and renewed in the divine image. It is standing in the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness where no earthly or selfish motive is suffered to live. This posture is met with setting aside days for fasting and prayer, living in genuine humiliation and most earnest prayer, and refusing to lift the soul to vanity in pride and self-indulgence.
Watching means actively working to purify life and serve God, keeping a more earnest hold upon heavenly things while submitting to a continuing work of purification because perfection has not yet been attained. It exercises faith that works by love and purifies the soul from all dross, beholds the glory of the Lord to be changed into the same image from glory to glory, and reveals the righteousness of Christ which is of God by faith. It presses toward the mark of the prize of the high calling in Christ, walks humbly with God, grows in grace and in knowledge of God and Jesus Christ, abides in Christ to reveal perfection of character and oneness, and puts on the Lord Jesus Christ while acknowledging helplessness to atone for sin. Sobriety is shown by relying on God's promises and on Christ, not on presumption or personal merit. The watchful therefore resist the example of spiritual sluggards, refuse spiritual idleness, carelessness, indifference to eternal realities, and complacency, press toward a higher standard with Jesus as pattern, faithfully attend to their own souls, devote every ability to God's service, and continue growing in faith and knowledge of Christ.
Sleeping means being dull and cold and dead on the very verge of the eternal world, and readiness now requires very earnest, united preparation. It requires confessing backsliding in humility, denying self and following Christ, taking His yoke to learn His meekness and find rest, and having the life hidden with Christ in God after much time lost through failure to do so. It means working unitedly and with Christ so as not to be drawn away from the faith, bringing the moving of God's Spirit, confession of sin, reformation, and passage from darkness into light. It means having the Spirit and breath of God in the churches so His people stand upon their feet and live, seeing the way narrow and the gate strait yet finding wideness without limit beyond, arising and shining because light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen. It means leaving talk of self and touchy sensitivity, finding sufficiency in Jesus Christ, talking faith and glorious hope and the full and abundant righteousness of Christ provided for every soul, trusting God as supreme and almighty with the world in His hand while injurious discouraging influences are held in control by unseen angel hands until everyone who works in the fear and love of God is sealed in the forehead, knowing the whole heavenly universe and the law of God act for faithful commandment-keeping people, refusing fear, and cooperating with heaven to arise in His strength and go forward.
Watchful Work and Warning
Watching means staying awake at the post of duty with untiring vigilance and unreserved consecration of soul and body, putting every capability to use to lead men and women to place themselves on the Saviour's side. It is not slothful or half-hearted service but earnest, energetic work that moves forward in Christian character rather than following spiritual sluggards. The Christian life is a real struggle in which Satan and his angels oppose every step forward, so believers must strive to overcome rather than idle as mere spectators. In perilous times those responsible for the work must stay watchful against deceptive influence, for neglecting the post gives the enemy advantage and endangers the work and the people. In all institutions this means saying Here am I, send me, and beginning the essential work of reformation so greatly needed.
The verse teaches the education needed for the day of trial that comes as a thief stealing unawares, with all powers trained and consecrated to service as in the school of the prophets. Youthful zeal and ardor are to glorify God in real, thorough, well-organized efforts under instructors to bless others, instead of wasting holidays, money, and time on games. This is no time to slumber or sleep because a world is to be warned, and staying awake means being strengthened in faith and in knowledge of the present work by going out among believers in other places to learn of it.
Not sleeping means giving the trumpet a certain sound and warning a perishing world to make ready for the great day of God. That watchful message voices the third angel's message with power and bears the seal of the living God, combining the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to fit up a people to stand in the day of the Lord. Canvassers act as watchmen who sound the warning and awaken sleepers, bringing truth and salvation through Christ in obedience to God's law to a world that fails to recognize its danger and to churches that do not know the time of their visitation. The work reaches beyond the church by means such as open-air meetings to find those who would not attend a service held in a church. Those who present the truth enter into no controversy but speak the gospel with faith and earnestness that awakens interest, sowing seed by words, prayers, and influence that will bear fruit, with the voice of duty obeyed as the voice of God and each one standing at his post in the great enterprise of saving souls.
Sleep is failing to wake, recognize danger, and warn the people, so that both leaders and churches remain unalarmed and unprepared for the day of wrath. Sleeping watchmen leave the people to be taken unawares, a condition that calls for pity. Those who are awake see their need of help from Him who is wise in counsel, help abundantly provided and waiting, with His presence revealed as present help in every time of need to the pure in heart who shall see God.
The end approaches stealthily like a thief in the night, so those who know present truth must act promptly to share it while there is still time to work and probation lingers. To watch and be sober is to work, watch, wait, and pray, to look the work fairly in the face and advance as fast as possible in aggressive warfare with eyes fastened on Jesus the Leader, patiently and perseveringly pressing on to gain the victory. The warnings that can be given and the work that can be done must be given and done now, before the passage to spread the truth is hedged with dangers on the right hand and on the left and everything is placed to obstruct the way so that what is possible now can no longer be done. In the closing scenes, with prophecy fulfilled and probation nearly ended, this calls for immediate preparation and earnest work in urging repentance, seeking the Lord while there is opportunity, and preparing for the soon return, rather than living as though the coming is delayed. No one who should be awake is to remain neutral or asleep, for sudden destruction is coming and wrath will be poured out; influence is to be wholly on the Lord's side, with each member consecrated to stand ready to serve.
Ministers and those guarding the truth are especially called to stay wide-awake, sober, firm, and fearless in declaring the whole counsel of God. They face Satan's snares as laid for Israel just before entering Canaan, with history repeated in increasing lightness, vanity, love of ease and pleasure, selfishness, and impurity. Staying awake and clear-minded means having holiness and power instead of joining others in sleep, rejecting self-exaltation, seeing Jesus as He is and seeing oneself as weak, inefficient, and unlike the Master, and being content to have one's name in the obscurest part of the book of life. The sleeping people must be stirred to grow heavenward into Christ and to work for themselves and for those outside the fold, with each church member watchful and ready to follow the Captain's orders in solemn times. Every action is to be preceded by humble, earnest prayer, letting truth go forth as a burning lamp, that the highest service human beings aided by divine grace can offer may win a victory against the powers of darkness.