The Gathering To Armageddon

Jesus also warned of the kind of pressures that this world, saturated with propaganda would put on Christians. He said: "Pay attention to yourselves that your hearts never become weighed down with overeating and heavy drinking and anxieties of life, and suddenly that day be instantly upon you as a snare. . . Keep awake, then, all the time making supplication that you may succeed in escaping all these things that are destined to occur, and in standing before the Son of man." (Luke 21:34=36) "That day" is "the great day of God the Almighty." (Revelation 16:14) As "that day" is the great day of the vindication of Jehovah's sovereignty approaches, it becomes ever more difficult to cope with the anxieties of life. Christians need to be alert and watchful, staying awake until that day arrives.

What, though, is implied by the warning that those found sleeping would be shamed by losing their "outer garments"? In ancient Israel, any priest or Levite on guard duty at the temple had a heavy responsibility. Jewish commentators tell us that if anyone was caught sleeping on such duty, his garments could be stripped from him and burned, so that he was publicly shamed.

Jesus here warns that something similar can happen today. The priest and Levites foreshadowed Jesus' anointed brothers. (1 Peter 2:9) But Jesus' warning applies by extension to the great crowd too. The outer garments here referred to identify the wearer as a Christian witness of Jehovah. (Compare Revelation 3:18; 7:14.) if any allow the pressures of Satan's world to lull them to sleep or into inactivity, they are likely to lose these outer garments-in other words, lose their clean identification as Christians. Such a situation would be shameful. It would put one in danger of losing out completely.

Next time: Continue with The Gathering To Armageddon