Friday Night Message: What Does It Mean To Watch?

July 14, 2023

Good evening Brethren …

Tonight we continue our series on what it means to watch, as the word is used in Scripture. So now that we know what the word watch doesn’t mean, let’s now focus on determining what it does mean, and what we should do, based upon that correct understanding.

After reading through the scriptures on watching many times over, I believe that there are four important aspects to watching.  The general meaning of watch is to take heed to your relationship with God, to be aware of your spiritual condition, to be ready at any time to meet your Lord.  But to do this kind of watching really requires us to concentrate on four specific areas of life…We will proceed with the first two in tonight’s message, and then next week we will present the last two, and thus concluding this series of messages on what it really means to be watching. 

1. PRAYER

It is very significant to note, that the word pray is often mentioned alongside the word watch.  In the approximately 20 times in the NT where the word watch has this meaning of watching our spiritual condition, prayer is mentioned 8 times as well.  So 40% of the time, these words watch and pray occur together.  That is very significant… it is a high correlation. 

In all three gospel accounts of the Olivet prophecy (Matt. 24, Mark 13, Luke 21) these words [watch and pray] occur together.  Here are two other examples in the NT epistles, one from Paul, and the other from Peter:

Col. 4:2 – Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving.

I Pet. 4:7 – … the end of all things is at hand.  Therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.

2. MENTAL  ALERTNESS/AWARENESS

Remember that one of the Greek words literally means “to go sleepless, to stay awake”.  And that is the word translated as “watch” in Luke 21:36.  The modern equivalent phrase would  be to “not fall asleep at the switch”.  Notice Paul’s admonition to the church of God in Thessalonica:

I Thes. 5:1-2 – But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you.  For you yourselves now how perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.

                                   :4– 7 - But you, brethren are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day.  We are not of the night nor of darkness.  Therefore let us not seep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.  For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.

The metaphor or analogy here is that night or darkness is associated with evil, and that the daytime and light are associated with good and righteousness – this symbolism is commonly used throughout the Bible. 

Remember in Gethsemane, when Jesus was praying, instead of finding His disciples watching like He had asked them, Jesus found His disciples sleeping.

I Pet. 5:8 – Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about lie a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

The herbivores of the African savannah [wildebeest, gazelle, zebras, antelope] cannot afford to not be alert.  They are ever alert … always watching, smelling the air in between quick bites of the grass, nervously approaching the watering hole.  They usually sleep on all fours (only taking brief naps), striving to not be surprised by the ever-present danger of the predators all around them … the lions, the leopard, the cheetahs, the wild dogs, and the hyenas.

So be alert, be on the lookout for that spiritual lion, Satan.  Next Friday Night we will describe the other two aspects of what it means to watch.

Happy Sabbath,

Fred