What Did Christ Mean When He Instructed Us to “WATCH”?

Here’s one example of where the Lord instructed us to “watch”:

32“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. 34It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.

35“Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’ ”

Mark 13:32-37

The Greek word for ‘watch’ here is grēgoreúō (gray-gor-YOO-oh), which literally means to “stay awake” and, figuratively, to be vigilant in a responsible, watchful sense. Notice that ‘watch’ is used in contrast to “sleeping” in verse 36. This same word is used when the Messiah said:

“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Matthew 26:41

The Lord also stressed how disciples need to keep ‘watch’ in his punchline to The Parable of the Ten Virgins:

1“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

6“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

7“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’

9“ ‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

10“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

11“Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’

12“But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’

13“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

Matthew 25:1-13

Jesus likens the kingdom of God to ten virgins who were part of a wedding party, waiting for the bridegroom to arrive. While all ten got drowsy and fell asleep since the bridegroom was a long time coming, only five wisely had oil for their lamps and were thus in a state of preparation when he finally arrived. The five foolish ones, however, were not prepared. In short, the kingdom of God on Earth is the Church and genuine believers are characterized by a state anticipation — waiting and ready for Christ’s return.

Now observe how the Lord explains watchfulness in the Gospel of Luke by relating it to Church leaders, e.g. pastors:

42The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? 43It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. 44Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. 46The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.”

Luke 12:42-46

The “master” is symbolic of the Lord while the “manager” he puts in charge of his “servants” refers to fivefold ministers and particularly pastors. Similar to the Parable of the Ten Virgins (above), verses 43-44 contrast the wise pastor with the foolish pastor of verses 45-46, the latter of whom engages in gluttony & drunkard-ness and, worse, abuses the “servants,” aka subordinate believers in the congregation.

Obviously the foolish pastor is not operating in a state of watchfulness, that is, anticipation of the Lord’s return, and hence walks in the flesh and abuses believers in the assembly. Jesus is giving an extreme example here since this particular pastor is flogged and assigned with the unbelievers, meaning losing eternal salvation and suffering eternal death, which is the wages of sin (Romans 6:23, Matthew 10:28, 2 Thessalonians 1:9 & Hebrews 10:26-27).

Then Christ shows how this principle applies to every believer and not just pastors and other fivefold ministers:

47“The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. 48But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”

Luke 12:47-48

The Lord says that some “servants” will be beaten with many blows and some with few blows based on their level of spiritual maturity and awareness, which you can find scriptural proof for here. The Messiah refers to these people as “servants” and not hypocrites as is the case with the abusive minister noted in verses 45-46. So Jesus is talking about legitimate Christians who will be judged and penalized at the Judgment Seat. We can confidently conclude this because only believing Christians can be referred to as Christ’s “servants,” not unbelievers.

The abusive minister in verse 45 is initially referred to as a “servant” but is exposed as a hypocrite, which literally means ‘actor.’ So we’re talking about a person who is only pretending to be a servant of Christ. In short, he or she is a fake. This person may have begun as a legitimate Christian servant but somehow became corrupt over time. Position, power, pride, money and lust can easily corrupt any of us and cause us to fall away from the Lord if we fail to guard our hearts (Proverbs 4:23). This refers to apostasy, which is “the sin that leads to death.” Of course this brings into question the “once saved, always saved” doctrine, which you can read about here.

Keeping “Watch” Means to Walk in the Spirit and Be Spirit-Controlled Rather Than Flesh-Ruled

So maintaining a state of watchfulness means keeping oneself ready for the Lord’s return, which simply refers to walking in a state of belief. Those who don’t believe, by contrast, will naturally fall back into the flesh and be flesh-ruled. We’re not talking about a believer who misses it and gets back up à la 1 John 1:8-9, but rather someone who’s living in the flesh on an ongoing basis without regard to repentance and is susceptible to the obvious spiritual dangers thereof (Galatians 6:8). This is “sleeping” in a spiritual sense (1 Thessalonians 5:6).

A brother from Africa asked a good question: “But how can we make — discipline — our spirit to keep watching?” It’s not a matter of disciplining your spirit to keep watching since the believer’s spirit is the “new self, created to be like God in true righteousness” (Ephesians 4:22-24). In other words, the believer’s regenerated spirit was reborn “like God” when he/she turned to the Lord (John 3:3, John 3:6, Titus 3:5, 1 Peter 1:23 & James 1:18) and is therefore already righteous, which means you don’t have to discipline your spirit — your “new self” — to keep watch. Rather, you discipline yourself to live out of your spirit with the help of the indwelling Holy Spirit and thus be spirit-controlled rather than flesh-ruled, which you can read details about here.

This is how the believer keeps “watch” on a continuing basis.

Libertinism — What’s Wrong with It and How to Walk FREE

Human Nature — Spirit, Mind & Body

Judgment Seat of Christ (the Judgment of Believers)

Altars & Altar Calls and how they’re Relevant

Spiritual Growth is Like Climbing a Mountain

Once Saved Always Saved?