Keep in Expectation!

HOW LONG?

Many of us have been keeping awake spiritually for decades. However, let us not allow the passing of time to weaken our resolve to keep in expectation.   We need to be ready for Jesus' arrival  as Executioner to end this system of things. Remember that Jesus exhorted his followers:   "Keep looking, keep awake, for you do not know when  the appointed time  is. It is like a man traveling abroad who left his house and gave the authority to his slaves, to each one his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to keep on the watch. Keep on the watch, therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming. Whether late in the day or at midnight or at dawn or early in the morning, in order that when he comes suddenly, he does not find you sleeping.  But what I say to you, I say to all:  Keep on the watch." -Mark 13:33-37.  

Upon recognizing that Christ's presence began in 1914, Jesus' followers rightly prepared for possible early arrival of the end.  They did so by intensifying their Kingdom-preaching work. Jesus indicated that he might come later-"at dawn or early in the morning."  If that happened, how were his followers to respond?  He said: "Keep on the watch."  So a long wait would not justify mentally postponing the end or totally dismissing their expectation.

Consider the prophet Habakkuk, who was commissioned to foretell the destruction of Jerusalem. By the time he arrived on the scene, warnings of the city's desolation had already reached the point where 'the wicked surrounded the righteous and justice was perverted.'  So it is not surprising that Habakkuk asked:  "How long, O Jehovah, must I cry for help?"  Instead of answering  that question directly, Jehovah assured his faithful prophet that the foretold destruction  would "not be late." God told Habakkuk to "keep in expectation." - Read Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:3. 

Suppose Habakkuk had become discouraged and thought:  'I have been hearing about Jerusalem's destruction for years.  What if it is still a long way off?  It does not seem realistic to keep prophesying as if the city might suddenly be destroyed.  I will leave that to others.'   If Habakkuk had entertained such ideas, he would have lost his favored position before Jehovah-possibly his life during the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians!

In the new world, we will have reason to reflect on the fact that all the foretold events associated with the conclusion of the system of things did indeed take place. Meditating on how matters  actually turned out will further strengthen our confidence in Jehovah and his promises yet to be fulfilled.  (Read Joshua 23:14) We wills surely be thankful  that God, who 'has placed times and seasons in his own jurisdiction,  'exhorted us to live with an awareness that' the end of all things has drawn close.' -Acts 1:7; 1 Peter 4:7. 

Next time: Keep in Expectation! - EXPECTATION MEANS ACTION!

From the Watchtower magazine