Be alert

[B-A-C]

There quite a few verses in the New Testament similar to...

Matt 24:42; "Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.
Matt 24:43; "But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
Matt 25:13; "Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.
Mark 13:33; "Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time will come.
Mark 13:34; "It is like a man away on a journey, who upon leaving his house and putting his slaves in charge, assigning to each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert.
Mark 13:35; "Therefore, be on the alert—for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning—
Mark 13:37; "What I say to you I say to all, 'Be on the alert!'"
Luke 12:37; "Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them.
Luke 21:36; "But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."
Acts 20:31; "Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.
1 Cor 16:13; Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
Eph 6:18; With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,
Col 4:2; Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;
1 Thes 5:6; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.
1 Pet 5:8; Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Rev 16:15; ("Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.")
1 Thes 5:2; For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.

Have you wondered why the Bible would tell Christians to "be awake", "be alert", "be watchful", and "be sober"?
Now I don't think this means we are never allowed to sleep. Obviously while we are in this mortal body we will sleep sometimes.

I've heard people say... this isn't for believers, this is for unbelievers, but that doesn't make sense in the context of most of these verses.

Let us start with Matt 24.

Mat 24:44; "For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.
Mat 24:45; "Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time?
Mat 24:46; "Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes.
Mat 24:47; "Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

Would the master put an unbeliever in charge of his household?
Would an unbeliever be taking proper care of the master's house?
Will Jesus put an unbeliever in charge of His possessions?
These verses are obviously to and about about believers.

Matt 24:42; "Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.
Matt 24:43; "But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

These verses are spoken to these people.

 

[B-A-C]

We have the familiar passage of the 10 virgins.

Matt 25:1; "Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
Matt 25:2; "Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent.
Matt 25:3; "For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them,
Matt 25:4; but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps.
Matt 25:5; "Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep.
Matt 25:6; "But at midnight there was a shout, 'Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.'
Matt 25:7; "Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps.
Matt 25:8; "The foolish said to the prudent, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.'
Matt 25:9; "But the prudent answered, 'No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.'
Matt 25:10; "And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut.
Matt 25:11; "Later the other virgins also came, saying, 'Lord, lord, open up for us.'
Matt 25:12; "But he answered, 'Truly I say to you, I do not know you.'

We all know the story. There were 10 virgins. Five of them were foolish. But all 10 of them were were expecting to meet the bridegroom.
All 10 of them started out with oil in their lamps. But 5 of them vrought "extra oil" along with them. There is a lot of debate about what the oil actually is.
But whatever it is... all 10 virgins started off having it. But five of them ran out of oil. It wasn't like they never had it. They just ran out.
They wanted to borrow some from the other five virgins, but they were told to go get their own.

We can't get to heaven on someone else's laurels. We can't get to heaven because our mother was saved, or our husband is saved, or a priest prayed for me once.
It is our responsibility to get the oil. No one else can get it for us.
Jesus doesn't tell these virgins 'I "never" knew you'. He simply says He doesn't know them now. Jesus ends this parable by saying...

Matt 25:13; "Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.

It seems the only reason the five wise virgins were allowed to enter, was because they were alert at the right time. The inference here is... if the other five virgins
would have been alert and not run out of oil, they would have been allowed in also.

 

[B-A-C]

These verses are all speaking to believers.

1 Cor 16:13; Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.

Unbelievers don't have a faith to stand firm in. Believers are told to be on the alert.

Col 4:2; Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;

Unbelievers don't pray, Unbelievers generally aren't thankful. These verse is speaking to believers. They are told to be "keeping alert".

1 Pet 5:8; Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Satan isn't the adversary of the unsaved. He doesn't have to "devour" them, they already belong to him. This verse is written to believers.

Eph 6:18; With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,

Again, unbelievers don't "pray at all times in the Spirit". (are they even able to?) This verse is written to believers, they are told to "be on the alert".

Matt 13:25; "But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away.

Who are "his men" over the fields here? It's us. Believers. Too many believers are asleep. We need to wake up, be alert.

 

[saginon]

There quite a few verses in the New Testament similar to...

Matt 24:42; "Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.
Matt 24:43; "But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
Matt 25:13; "Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.
Mark 13:33; "Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time will come.
Mark 13:34; "It is like a man away on a journey, who upon leaving his house and putting his slaves in charge, assigning to each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert.
Mark 13:35; "Therefore, be on the alert—for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning—
Mark 13:37; "What I say to you I say to all, 'Be on the alert!'"
Luke 12:37; "Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them.
Luke 21:36; "But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."
Acts 20:31; "Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.
1 Cor 16:13; Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
Eph 6:18; With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,
Col 4:2; Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;
1 Thes 5:6; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.
1 Pet 5:8; Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Rev 16:15; ("Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.")
1 Thes 5:2; For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.

Have you wondered why the Bible would tell Christians to "be awake", "be alert", "be watchful", and "be sober"?
Now I don't think this means we are never allowed to sleep. Obviously while we are in this mortal body we will sleep sometimes.

I've heard people say... this isn't for believers, this is for unbelievers, but that doesn't make sense in the context of most of these verses.

Would the master put an unbeliever in charge of his household?

In this is a parable there are faithful and evil servants. "But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;" I think the evil servant is a believer, just not a committed believer.

Would an unbeliever be taking proper care of the master's house?

The evil servant is likely not up to par and is complacent about the masters coming, but that servant is still 'employed.' Being that he is a 'servant' means he is a believer, just not committed.

Will Jesus put an unbeliever in charge of His possessions?

The evil servant was still employed by the master and still in the household so he must have been doing some things right. But like many of us, we get lax in fulfilling our duties when the boss is gone. This servant believed he had time to get 'caught up' on his duties because believed his boss was delayed.

These verses are obviously to and about believers.

I guess it depends how we interpret "the evil servant." It could be a lesson to believers and unbelievers. There was an evil servant in the household and he may - or may not represent lukewarm even backslidden Christians because he goes out drinking and fighting with the boys. Some 'believers' who are servants are not anticipating the lord's return.
"The lord of that servant (EVIL SERVANT) shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,."