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Avoiding Spiritual Burnout, Part 2: The Remedy

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In my last post, we looked at the causes of Spiritual burnout. In this post, I want to show you something Jesus said in Matthew 11:28–30, where we will find the remedy—or the prevention—for spiritual burn-out (if we would only follow it).

Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). First of all, we must come to Jesus. Remember, the cause of burn out is being emptied of your fuel. One of the reasons we are emptied is because we are trying to get through life on our own resources. We might go to a church self-help course or count on a fellow church member to give us encouragement. Yet, shortly after, we’ll need more just to get by. The truth is that we cannot rely on our own resources or anyone else’s. Our resources are not enough—we need something greater. Of course, there is good news: if you are weary and burdened (or burned out) Jesus can give you rest! Jesus can restore you. Only He can light the flame again!

But here’s the better news: Jesus can keep you from becoming burned out in the first place. He can give you living water and keep the flame alive (see John 4:13, 14). Of course, you have to come to Him. Unless you spend time with Him daily you will find yourself empty. Not surprisingly, the easiest prevention of spiritual dryness is to be constantly plugged into the source of Life. So come plug in. Spend more time with Him. Come to Him with your empty resources and let Him fill you up.

Next, Jesus says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” Matthew 11:29). Verse 30 says that his “yoke is easy and his burden is light.” The next part of the remedy is to give up on our burden and take his. This is a trade. If you are still carrying your burdens, you have never taken on his. So, what is Jesus’ burden? And how can a “burden” be easy?

There are different ideas of what Jesus’ burden may have been, but I believe all ideas of his burden could be summed up in his mission. And that mission is spelled out in Luke 19:10—“The Son of Man has come to seek and save the lost.” Sure, you could say that the cross was his burden, but it was his mission of salvation that led him there—and held him there. Jesus had one thing on his heart every day—one burden, one yoke: the salvation of mankind. So Jesus is asking us to take this burden in place of our own. His was a burden of the Gospel; a burden of pleasing His Father. He’s calling us to take on his burden of service and sacrifice—a burden of grace.

Now catch this, because this is what makes His burden easier than our own: if we focus on the burden of the Gospel and following God’s calling we will focus on others, which means we will have less time to focus on ourselves. The guilt of our sins was carried on the cross. The Gospel frees you from its burden. “Burdens are lifted at calvary!” If we are continually presenting the beauty of the Gospel, how can we not remind ourselves of this?

In addition, when we are carrying His burden—which was God’s mission for Him, and He passed to us (Matt 28:18–20)—we focus on pleasing God. Believe me, pleasing God is MUCH easier than pleasing man. God never asks us to do something we do not have the ability to do with His help. Furthermore, for everything God requires of you, He also provides everything necessary, even help, to complete it. Try finding a person or a church that is like that! Good luck!

The third and final part of the remedy is also in verse 29: Learn from me. This doesn’t say learn about Him, but learn from Him. Walk and talk with Him, sit at his feet, and follow Him. You see, Jesus’ teachings can keep us from becoming burdened. What does He want us to learn? Many things, no doubt, but there are two specific things He points out about Himself: that He is gentle and humble in heart. If we want a peace the world doesn’t understand, then we need to be different from the world. We need to be gentle, not forceful; humble, not proud. In these there is no rest. There is no peace. Gentleness and humbleness are important. These are the two characteristics we will need to carry His burden. These are the padded shoulder straps that make His burden easier and lighter. And since these don’t come naturally in our sinful state, we need to learn them from Him.

So there it is, the remedy for Spiritual burnout. It may not be what you were expecting, but it truly works. So, how are you spiritually? How’s your heart? Have you found yourself at a plateau? Are you missing a spark you once had? It doesn’t matter what it was that might have caused you to dry out. If you feel the passion is gone, and it’s hard to keep on fire for God, then listen to Jesus’ invitation! He says, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scriptures has said, streams of living water will flow from within him” (John 7:37b, 38).

For all of you that are weary and burned out Jesus is calling you to come and be refilled. He’s calling some of you to learn from him, calling some of you to serve, calling some of you to sacrifice, and He’s calling all of you to come.

John 14:1–3 – Jesus’ Forgotten Ministry

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Jesus warned the disciples the night He was arrested that He would have to leave, but promised them He’d return. His promise was straightforward: “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:1–3). He told them that He needed to prepare a place for them and promised that once those preparations were finished He would return.

This is an often memorized promise that brings hope in these dark days. Yes, Jesus will return! However, this promise has made some wonder, what is taking so long? The seemingly long time since Jesus’ promise is because He has a lot to do to prepare a place for us.

When I was younger, I imagined Jesus with a tool-belt and a hammer pounding nails into the newly added walls in our heavenly mansions. As if the “preparations” for us were physical. Of course, if Jesus went to heaven to simply build a few rooms for those going to Heaven, why couldn’t He just speak them into existence? He’s done it before! He would have been there and back in only moments. It became apparent to me that the preparations were greater than simply making a few (or even many) more rooms.

So what is Jesus doing that seems to take forever? We have already read this reminder: “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). We may perceive the long delay as slowness, but in reality He is patient. He’s not trying to rush salvation. He wants to save as many as possible.

You see, Jesus had a much greater work in mind when He left to “prepare a place for us.” We find it described in Hebrews 9: “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by  means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:11, 12).

Verse 24 explains where Jesus entered: “For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.” Jesus entered into the holy places of heaven on our behalf. To do what? Reading on tells us: “Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:25, 26).

These verses paint a fascinating image. It is one of Jesus as our High Priest. It parallels a heavenly ministry of Christ with that of the earthly High Priests. According to the book of Hebrews, when Jesus entered heaven, He entered into the Most Holy Places of heaven as our Hight Priest. This is a major part of His ministry that many have forgotten.

You see, the only reason the High Priest went into the Most Holy Place was for the yearly Day of Atonement (see Leviticus 16:1–30). It was the only time, and only reason, anyone entered into the Most Holy Place. To the people of Israel, it was the day the sanctuary would be cleansed of their sins. In other words, when that day was over, those who had trusted in God and the sacrifice for their sins were at peace with God—cleansed completely from all their sins (Leviticus 16:30). It is a concept heard in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” It was also seen as a day of judgment for them—whatever sins were not confessed and cleansed from the sanctuary that day, were then the responsibility of the person (guilty).

Why is this important? Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” Some believe this means that we will all have to stand physically in some heavenly courtroom—typically after we die. However, the Bible says that Jesus is “the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead” (Acts 10:42; see also 2 Timothy 4:1). Furthermore, Acts 17:31 says that God has “selected a day” to judge the world through Jesus. Thus, while the Bible says that our lives are judged after we die (Hebrews 9:27), it also says that the final judgement will occur at a specific time and will concern both those living and those dead. Basically, the day of judgment will come and we will be judged—for those living in that day, it will be while they are still alive.

In addition, Jesus said that when He returned, He would reward everyone according to their works (Matthew 16:27, see also Revelation 22:12). According to what we just read, we must appear before the judgment seat of Jesus so that we can receive our reward, yet Jesus is coming with His reward. How can this happen? Remember what Revelation 14:7 said: “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come” [emphasis mine]. Part of Jesus’ ministry as High Priest is taking part in the judgment. Therefore, the judgement of the dead and the living will take place at a specific time before Jesus returns.

This means, when Jesus returns, our judgment has already been decided—whether or not we have accepted His sacrifice on our behalf—and our reward is coming with Him. “So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” (Hebrews 9:28).

When Jesus is finished and returns for His children, there will be no more work to be done toward sin. It will be finished (see John 19:30 and Revelation 16:17). He won’t be coming to die again, He won’t be coming to try to fix the world, He’ll be coming as King of kings and Lord of lords to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him (Revelation 19:11–16)!

Revisiting Ancient Stones: The Coming King

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For forty days after His spectacular resurrection, Jesus appeared to the disciples and continued to teach them (Acts 1:3). He told them about the work of the kingdom they were to finish. He told them about the coming Holy Spirit. Then, one day, right before their eyes, He rose up in the air into the clouds and disappeared from their sight (Acts 1:9).

They stood there staring at the sky. We can understand why. They thought they had lost Him once. Did they just lose Him again? Then, while they were looking intently at the sky, two angels appeared. They assured them—reminded them—that He was coming back: “This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).

The disciples returned to Jerusalem and soon began a powerful work of spreading the good news: Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, and He is coming again soon. It was a message they preached with passion and conviction (in fact, it was their main focus).

Unfortunately, that passion and conviction would lessen. According to Peter, in the last days scoffers will come and say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation” (2 Peter 3:4). Basically, I’ve heard that message so many times, for so long—so, where is Jesus?

Perhaps you have come to feel this way. You can remember when you used to be excited about Jesus’ coming, but so much time has passed and that excitement has passed as well. Sure, you know He’s coming sometime, but it doesn’t feel like it will be any time soon. We have come to a point in Christianity where we have heard that “Jesus is coming soon” so often, that we don’t really believe it—at least, we don’t live like we believe it. Maybe we have forgotten. Maybe we need to be reminded.

First of all, we need to examine what “soon” means to God. Peter said that “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as a day” (2 Peter 3:8). Before we assume this is some kind of prophetic key for time, we must recognize that Peter said one day is “as” a thousand years, not one day “is” a thousand years. Psalm 90:4 further explains: “For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.” Simply put: God doesn’t see time as we do. What can seem like forever to beings whose life span averages less than 100 years, will seem like just a moment to a Being who lives forever. Plus, Jesus told us that no one knows the day or the hour of His return except for the Father (Matt 24:), and if you don’t know exactly when, He may seem late even when He’s on time.

So why does it seem like He’s taking forever? According to Peter, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). He’s seems to be taking forever because He is patient. He’s not trying to rush salvation. He wants to save as many as possible.

This means we must continue to wait—patiently. It may seem like Jesus is taking a long time to come, but He is coming soon! We can know He is coming soon because He said so: three times in the last chapter of the Bible, Jesus says, “I am coming soon” (Rev 22:7, 12, 20). Why do you say something three times? For emphasis and to help people remember. In other words, yes, Jesus is coming soon!

What a glorious day that will be! He will come “in the clouds with great power and glory” (Mark 13:26). Loved ones will be reunited. The dead will rise and all the righteous will rise to meet Jesus in the air to live with Him forever (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17). We will be raised with, or transformed into, brand new immortal, glorious bodies (1 Cor 15:51–53). Those who have waited on the Lord will receive their reward: eternal life with Him.

But, we do not know the day or the hour, so we wait. That day will come upon the world like a thief, so we wait. Of course, waiting doesn’t mean sitting in the pews doing nothing. While we wait, we finish the work of spreading the Gospel. While we wait, we encourage each other to keep on the journey. And as Peter said, “since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found [in] him without spot or blemish, and at peace” (2 Peter 3:14). While we wait, we should be strengthening and deepening our relationship with Christ so we’ll know Him when He comes.

Friends, I know you have heard this before. I know it may have become just another saying to you, but: Jesus is coming soon. Sometimes it feels like He’s taking forever. Other times, it may feel like He should take His time. Maybe you are still patiently waiting, if so keep waiting! It will be here before you know it. Maybe you’ve become tired of waiting, or distracted from waiting. I want to urge you to, once again, wait on the Lord. Trust Him, He is coming very soon! Regardless of how we may feel at the moment, God is patiently trying to save as many as possible. He may be waiting for you. But know that one day, a day already set by the Father, Jesus will come, whether you choose to be ready or not.

But for those who will wait for Him, “It will be said on that day, ‘Behold, this is our God, we have waited for Him that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation’” (Isaiah 25:9).

Revisiting Ancient Stones: The Conqueror

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Leading up to Jesus’ death on the cross, the disciples became more convinced that He was the Messiah—He was the One who would save them. Then, the impossible happened. Something more horrible than they could ever have imagined: their Savior died. [see previous blog] Contrary to what some might think, the cross was not a symbol of power at first. To the disciples, the cross was a symbol of the end—the end of Jesus’ life, the end of their ministries, the end of their hopes.

In this moment of defeat, all He had taught them was pushed from their memories. If they had remembered, they would have been encouraging the people that Jesus would rise again—He told them plenty of times before (See Luke 9:22, 18:31–33; Matthew 20:17–19). But they weren’t doing that. Instead, they were huddled in a secret room afraid that they, His followers, would be next.

However, very early on Sunday morning, a memorial was established that would bring more joy than any could imagine. That morning, a few women made their way to the tomb. They went to anoint Jesus’ body with the traditional burial spices, since they didn’t the day before (Luke 23:56–24:1). Imagine them walking quietly together, tears in their eyes—they needed to do this, even if it brought back all the pain from Friday.

No matter what they thought they’d see when they arrived, they weren’t expecting what they actually saw: the stone rolled away and the tomb empty. But they didn’t rejoice—they didn’t start a praise service. Luke 24:4 says they were perplexed about it. It means that they were at a loss for what happened. In the original Greek, it carries with it the implication of serious anxiety. Seeing the empty tomb didn’t make them excited, it made them scared!

While they were trying to figure out what happened, two men appeared by them in bright clothing. Of course, when you are already anxious about one thing, the sudden appearance of another unexplainable thing can be terrifying, and it was. But they were angels coming to comfort them. They told the women that Jesus wasn’t there because He had risen—just as He said He would.

They quickly went and told the disciples what had happened. As soon as they explained, the room broke out with praise and thanksgiving, right? Nope. They thought it was nonsense—it couldn’t be possible! That kind of thing didn’t happen. Unable to resist though, Peter and John ran to the tomb and found it empty just as the women had said.

I’m not sure we could begin to understand what was going through their minds. A glimmer of hope? A moment of fear? How would you react if you went to visit a loved one’s tomb, only to find it empty? Do you think you would believe it if someone told you that a loved one who had passed away was now alive? I doubt it. Yet, there they stood, inside an empty grave.

Later, back in Jerusalem, the completely unbelievable happened: Jesus appeared to them. How could it be? But yes, there was no doubt, it was definitely Jesus. Besides this time, He had appeared to Peter (Luke 24:34), Mary (John 20:11–17), and the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13–31). He even made a special appearance later for Thomas, so he would believe as well (John 20:26–28). Tears of sorrow were replaced with tears of joy. If the cross revealed sacrifice and pain, the empty tomb revealed joy and victory. Of course, just before He died, Jesus told them it would happen: “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy from you” (John 16:22).

He is Risen!

Now the words of Jesus returned with great power: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Him, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). They had hope of the resurrection already, but before Jesus that’s all it was: hope. Now, the resurrection was more than hope, it was a reality.

The power of the resurrection would also empower the people of God. As Paul said, “we were buried therefore with him by baptism unto death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the newness of life” (Romans 6:4). The power that raised Jesus from the day is the same power that can live in our lives. That same power will make us victorious as well.

Because Christ raising from the dead was only the beginning. According to Paul, Jesus was the first-fruits of all who would be resurrected—there will be more. And it gets better: Christ conquered death and the grave! No longer would death be able to hold anyone who trusts in Him (see 1 Corinthians 15:20–22 and 1 Thessalonians 4:14–19)

This is one of those memorials that we must not forget. This should be the testimony that is constantly on our lips: Jesus is risen from the dead! Yes, we serve a risen Savior. Because He lives, reuniting with our loved ones and having eternal life are no longer simply a hope, they can be a reality. Power in this life and life eternal can be ours, because our Savior lives. As the song says, “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow. Because He lives all fear is gone. Because I know He holds the future, and life is worth the living just because He lives.”

Revisiting Ancient Stones: The Savior

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The Bible prophesies that the Messiah would come to save all of mankind from the problem of sin, but it wouldn’t be easy. One such prophecy, Isaiah 53:4–6, explains the price of our redemption: He would be pierced, crushed, and wounded. Somehow, though, the cost of our salvation has been softened and romanticized. We have forgotten the true price Jesus paid. We need to revisit one of the greatest reminders of God’s love—something that would draw more people back to God than anything else since the dawn of man.

You see, in their desperation, the leaders of Israel did not think through what they were planning. Only one thing mattered to them: that Jesus would be stopped. Jesus had become a threat to their influence. After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, which caused many more to believe in Him, they realized that their only option to truly removing Jesus’ influence was to remove Jesus—even if it meant torturing and killing Him.

They waited patiently for their opportunity and when it came, they pounced. Using one of Jesus’ own disciples, they learned where Jesus would be (the Garden of Gethsemane), and sent soldiers to arrest Him. But Jesus didn’t resist. He allowed Himself to be taken and brought before the Sanhedrin (the Jewish judicial system).

Sadly, Jesus had no chance of a fair trial. There were many things the Sanhedrin did against their own rules, but one in particular took away any chance Jesus might have had. A conviction could only occur if they had two or three witnesses that saw the exact same thing. However, according the Bible, they couldn’t get two people to even agree on what Jesus was being accused of! The best they could do was gather three people who all mentioned Jesus saying the same thing (which was taken out of context). Yet, the witnesses accusations were not enough for a death sentence (which they desired—John 18:31), so they were forced to move Him from the church’s courts and bring Him to the Roman courts with a made-up charge of treason.

Pilate wanted nothing to do with the trial and tried passing Jesus off on Herod. Herod only wanted to see magic tricks, and when Jesus wouldn’t comply, he had Jesus humiliated and sent Him back to Pilate. While Pilate tried several times to set Jesus free, the leaders wouldn’t allow it. His punishment was even their suggestion: crucify Him. During His time in the public judicial system, He was mocked, spit on, punched, had His beard pulled out, had a crown made of thorns jammed on His head, and was brutally flogged—“He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth” (Isaiah 53:7).

The severity of the flogging would have left Jesus incredibly weak. It was in this state of pain and weakness that Jesus was forced to carry the heavy beams of the cross through the streets of Jerusalem, out through the gates, and up to the hill where the crucifixion would take place—while the people of the city watched, threw things at Him, and mocked Him. The pain became too great for Him to bear, though, and He collapsed under the weight of the cross before getting to the hill. Not wanting Jesus to die early, a man was grabbed from the crowd to carry it the rest of the way (what a life-changing even that must have been).

At the hill, they prepared Jesus for the cross. While one soldier held Him down, another soldier began to pound the nails into His hands and feet. Each time the hammer hit, it would send even more agonizing pain through His body. Once His hands and feet were securely nailed, they raised the cross in the air and dropped it into a hole that would hold it in place—the nails tearing at His hands and feet. The way that crucifixion was designed, He would have gone through more pain than you or I can even imagine. Yet, even in this pain He would say, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they’re doing” (Luke 23:34).

Sadly, His suffering didn’t end there. Of all the pain that had come before, nothing would compare to the feeling He experienced that would cause Him to cry out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken [forgotten] me?” (Mark 15:34). At this moment of great misery, He couldn’t feel the Father’s presence. Why? We learned already that our sins separate us from God—I believe it was at this moment that our sins were placed on Christ. As it says in 1 Peter 2:24, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” Yet, according to Paul, Jesus didn’t just carry our sins, He became sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). The result of Him becoming sin for us was this separation from His Father—worse than all the torture man could give Him.

Not long after, Jesus said, “It is finished. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46; John 19:30), and breathed His last breath. He died hated and tortured by man, and separated from God—“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

You see, the nails did not hold Jesus on the cross, His love for us did. Galatians 1:4 says that Jesus gave Himself to us in order to rescue us from sin. He willingly went to the cross. He willing became sin for us. Because when He died on the cross, sin died on the cross—the penalty that our sins had required was fully paid (Romans 8:3, 4; 1 Peter 1:18–20)! Praise the Lord!

How can we forget the cost of our salvation? We forget anytime we refuse to accept His offer of salvation and attempt to create our own. Here’s the thing to remember: “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22), and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). So death is required for the payment of sin. One way or another, your sins will be paid for—either through Christ’s sacrifice on your behalf, or by you.

If you have never accepted Christ’s sacrifice on your behalf, why wait? Accept it right now.

‘Twas the Night Before Jesus Came

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’Twas the night before Jesus came, but most were asleep.
No leader was watching, only shepherds with sheep.
The scriptures and prophecies had been studied with care,
Yet, when He arrived, they had no clue He was there.
The leaders were nestled all snug with their rules,
While clueless that soon they’d all look like fools.
For there in a manger without trumpet or horn,
King Jesus, Messiah, our Savior, was born!
The angels burst out in a song of their Lord,
to shepherds in fields, while the scholars just snored.
The One they expected, with a crown on His brow
would not have been born near a horse and a cow.
But the Messiah had come just as the prophets had said,
So why weren’t there more standing by His dear bed?

Have you ever wondered, with all the prophecies about Jesus’ birth—where, when, how—why weren’t more people watching for Him? There were scribes, Pharisees and priests who knew those prophecies, yet none of them stood around the manger.

You see, the leadership in those days were watching for the Messiah, just not the Messiah of scripture. They had come to see the Messiah as someone quite different from the biblical teachings. They saw the Messiah as the one who would rescue them from whatever nation had enslaved them at that time. He would become their king and no nation could stand against him. Since he would be king, he would be born in a town and place fitting of a king, right? So when, in Bethlehem, a baby was born to a virgin, and had only a horse’s blanket to cover him and a feed trough to sleep in, no scholar was there to welcome Him. Some might say He kind of snuck in… like a thief in the night…

Of course, God didn’t sneak Jesus in. He announced His birth with an angelic chorus! Can you imagine what that would have been like? Having a chorus of angels announce His coming? How cool would that be? Makes you wish we could have an angel’s messages today to announce Jesus’ second coming. Hmm…

Here’s another good question to ponder: Why did the angels go to the shepherds? Was it because they were the only ones awake at that time? Why didn’t the angels announce it to the High Priest, or to the Pharisees? I wonder what their reaction would have been. Would they have rushed to bow before their new-born King? Would they have reacted more like Herod and desired to take Him out early? Or would they have simply explained it away since it didn’t fit their “image” of His coming?

No, He didn’t come with political fanfare, but it definitely was not a secret! Jesus came, just as the prophecies said. There just weren’t that many still watching and waiting for Him.

This is why, when He spoke of His second coming, Jesus often warned us to keep watch. Jesus said in Luke 21:34, “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap.” In these last days, we need to keep watching, because we can become distracted easily, can’t we?

Unfortunately, we also suffer from our own scholarship. Many today are watching for Jesus to come, but not in the way the Bible speaks about. We have come up with our own ideas about the second coming. We have created extremely narrow ideas of Jesus’ return. Some have mapped out exactly when and how the last events will unfold (even though scripture itself does not tell us). But what if Jesus doesn’t come in the way we imagine?

Aren’t we supposed to know what is going to come next? We were given the signs of the last days so we could recognize them when we see them, but then what? According to Luke 21:28, when we see a sign—when we hear the message—when these things begin to take place, Jesus says, lift up your heads. Where are we to be looking? Not at the next great prophetic fulfillment—not trying to guess the future—we are to be watching for Jesus!

Jesus doesn’t want us to miss His second coming like so many missed His first! So He tells us to watch. Watch and pray. Once we recognize the time is near, we focus on Him. Sure, we watch what is going on around us and we recognize more and more signs fulfilled. There is no question that we are living in the last days! But these signs were meant to focus our attention on Christ! We must not get caught up in trying to decipher the future. History proves that this is futile for us. The scribes, priests and pharisees tried to, and they completely missed Jesus’ coming. Many faithful Christians did it in 1844 and it ended with a Great Disappointment.

From the time He was born in a lowly manger, until we see Him coming in the clouds of glory, we are to keep our eyes on Him! If Jesus’ birth teaches us anything, it’s that God is always on time with His plan. So, let us not get distracted. For the angels have given their message: Jesus is coming soon! Yes, ’Tis the night before Jesus Came… again. Keep watch!