Romans 13:11
Besides all this, you know at what point of history we stand; so it is high time for you to rouse yourselves from sleep; for the final deliverance is nearer than when we first came to trust.
This world is fast coming to a violent end and I think we can all feel it to one degree or another. This makes my personal news less important, probably.
I think I have bacterial pneumonia, picked up during recent travels. The wheezing and gurgling in my lungs have been awful, despite my attempts to treat it with herbal medicine, breathing treatments, and a few sauna sessions each day. Finally, I resorted to antibiotics at the beginning of Shabbat.
I’m a stubborn one, but not stupid.
Instead risking the health of the best Torah-observant gang you’d ever want to meet, I spent the day alone, and thought it might be nice to watch, for the third time, Before the Wrath (2020). During this viewing, I caught an important point – the parallels drawn between a Galilean wedding and the last supper were based on an anthropological find that described in detail the cultural practices of a betrothal and wedding. Given that the setting for the Gospel was in this region, and the disciples were locals, the symbolism of Jesus’ final moments before his crucifixion probably held great significance for them, even if only retrospectively.
As I was immersed in the imagery peppered with poignant research data presented by familiar faces (JD Farag, Jack Hibbs, Amir Tsarfati, Jan Markel, and others) one phrase hit me like a truck. I became inspired to engage in a treasure hunt this mild and sunny Sunday. The phrase?
Keep Watch.
Starting with Matthew 24, men in fields and women grinding at a mill, I searched for the phrase. Not there. What? Did someone move it?
Attributing the missing words to the version of scripture I’m currently using (Complete Jewish Study Bible), I settled on the term “stay alert” which is interchanged with “stay awake.” Yes, technically it means the same thing but “keep watch” implies one is watching for a specific something, while staying alert or awake just feel…non-specific. This wasn’t the direction I thought my studies would take today.
Pressing on, I followed the concordance entries and saw my first two delightful surprise. The Greek word (G1127) was used 22 times in 22 verses, with the first mention in Matthew 24:42. So, not only was the word used first in the definitive chapter of Mathew to warn the disciples about the end times, but it was used the same number of times as there are letters in the Hebrew aleph-bet. A very cool start on this treasure hunt. The symbology of numbers in scripture is always fun because it’s so incredibly consistent.
Let me show you.
G1127 is used in three groups of 6 and one group of four. The first set is contained entirely within Matthew. I’ll underline to make it stand out for you.
24:42 So stay alert, because you don’t know on what day your lord will come.
24:43 But you do know this: had the owner of the house know when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not allowed his house to be broken into.
25:13 So stay alert, because you know neither the day nor the hour.
26:38 and he said to them, “My heart is so filled with sadness that I could die! Remain here and stay awake with me.
26:40 He returned to the talmidim (disciples) and found them sleeping. He said to Kefa (Peter), “Were you so weak that you couldn’t stay awake with me for even an hour?
26:41 Stay awake and pray that you will not be put to the test – the spirit indeed is eager, but human nature is weak.”
Let’s talk numbers here. Six is the number of man. The first three verses are Jesus warning how imperative keeping watch is. He’s telling them this because he is promising to come back. They’ve already heard him say he’ll be raised again on the third day following his physical death, and that’s not what he’s talking about.
Jesus describes destruction similar in scale to the great flood coming upon humanity like a thief in the night – with some people being taken and others left behind. Jesus is giving them the hint over and over that people will need to be ready. Later, there are more hints to what being ready means, but we’ll get to that in bit.
But there’s even more treasure in the next three uses of G1127.
Chapter 26 features Jesus at Gethsemane, leaving his disciples to stay awake while he communes with God, his Father. There’s a first admonition, the space of an hour, the second admonition, the space of another hour, and finally Jesus’ final of the night during he tells the disciples, “For now, go on sleeping, take your rest…” It’s like a Sabbath pattern, isn’t it? Six verses of staying alert and one giving permission to rest.
But do they rest there in Gethsemane? No. Mid-sentence Jesus tells them to get up because their betrayer was on the way. GET UP! He could be talking to us, couldn’t he?
The pattern repeats itself in the second set of six G1127s, this time in Mark. A second witness for us.
13:34 “It’s like a man who travels far away from home, puts his servants in charge, each with his own task, and tells the doorkeeper to stay alert.
13:35 So stay alert! For you don’t know when the owner of the house will come, …”
13:37 “And what I say to you, I say to everyone: stay alert!”
14:34 and he said to them, “My heart is so filled with sadness that I could die! Remain here and stay awake.”
14:37 He came and found them sleeping; and said to Kefa (Peter), “Shim’on, are you asleep? Couldn’t you stay awake with me for one hour?
14:38 Stay awake, and pray that you will not be put to the test – the spirit indeed is eager, but human nature is weak.”
Another final return of the evening, another call to rest, and another immediate command to get up.
There are some more numbers for you to consider, if you like that kind of thing. The 4th letter of the Hebrew aleph-bet is Dalet (the Door, Jesus is the Door) and the 4th mention of G1127 is Jesus telling the disciples his heart is filled with so much sadness that he could die. The end of the second witness is the 12th mention of G1127. Twelve is the number of completion, the number of tribes, the number of disciples, etc.
Let’s move on to the third set of six.
Luke 12:37 Happy are the slaves who whom the master finds alert when he comes! Yes! I tell you he will put on his work clothes, seat them at the table, and come serve them himself!
This verse comes after several others warning others to be about God’s work, rather than fretting about physical needs and storing up riches in their temporal lives. The listeners are urged to be ready for action at a moment’s notice and to be reflecting the hope in Christ brightly. When the master returns from a wedding banquet, he puts on his “work clothes.” Could it be that Jesus is prophetically speaking about his own wedding banquet, and putting on work clothes now that the Sabbath is over? Will we all be celebrating the faithfulness of the servants caught doing the Master’s work upon his return?
Acts 20:31 So stay alert! Remember that for three years, night and day, with tears in my eyes, I never stopped warning you!
Paul is in Miletus, on his way to Jerusalem, having summoned the leaders of Ephesus. He declares there will be no blood on his hands, having shared with them the whole plan of God. He urged everyone to turn from sin to God, and to put their trust in Jesus, the Messiah. Paul will not see them again. As he leaves the region of the seven churches mentioned in Revelation, he issues strong warning that they must stay alert to those who will infiltrate the church, leading them astray with false teaching. Paul’s words are true today, and will be even more true when the false prophet of Revelation is on scene with his One World Religion.
1 Cor 16:13 Stay alert, stand firm in the faith, behave like men, grow strong.
So much of this letter to the church at Corinth centers around maturing in faith, knowledge and love. The church members are struggling with a lack of unity, and Paul guides them toward the most pure and basic foundation of the church – demonstrating love with wisdom and restraint. Verse 13 expounds on staying alert to include being the most wonderful traits men can embody: strength and faithfulness. (Note: I am not referring to control and dominance. I am referring to a Christ-like strength.)
Col 4:2 Keep persisting in prayer, staying alert in it and being thankful.
This is another beautiful component that describes staying alert: pray and thanksgiving. How else are we to connect with God other than prayer? How can we know what the Holy Spirit is warning us away from, or leading us to, if we are not alert to that leading through prayer?
1 Thes 5:6 …so let’s not be asleep, like the rest are; let us stay alert and sober.
When I think of being sober in the provided definition in the Blue Letter Bible app, I’m not sure I’m any of those things, candidly. I am trying to work on that. Might it also mean taking the times we’re in seriously? I think so.
Being the person who scoffs, "Where is the promise of his coming?" is the antithesis of being alert, as is not paying attention to the times and spouting, “No man knows the day or the hour,” and blithely going about one’s business. Yes, everything has continued as it was from the beginning of creation, and always moving toward its demise.
1 Thes 5:10 …who died on our behalf, so that whether we are alive (awake) or dead, we may live along with him.
1 Thessalonians 5:3 is a 153 (see John 21:11) and talks about sudden destruction coming upon those who are saying “peace and safety.” This dovetails with the previous verse in 1 Thes 4:16, known as the rapture verse with the dead in Christ rising first, and those who are alive joining them. I believe these verses are urging us to believe in the Rapture as part of being alert (awake). That’s my take on it. Test it out for yourself.
Each of the six uses of G1127 expound upon the qualities of staying alert:
1. Make God’s work a priority in your life.
2. Guard the Gospel and do not let false teaching infiltrate personally or in our communities
3. Mature in faith, keeping love and self-control central
4. Persist in prayer and gratitude
5. Take the times we’re in seriously. Jesus could return at any moment.
6. Believe.
Surely I missed something because I am imperfect, but I believe I’ve caught the main examples of what being alert looks like. If Jesus told us twelve times in the first two books of the Gospel, and provided two perfect witnesses of his reason for urging us so, it makes a lot of sense for us to dig deeper and follow the examples provided.
Now the last four uses of G1127, and an excellent Godly jape at the end. I love it when He does that.
1 Pet 5:8 Stay sober, stay alert! Your enemy, the Adversary, stalks about like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
Rev 3:2 (to Sardis) Wake up, and strengthen what remains, before it dies, too! For I have found what you are doing incomplete in the sight of my God.
Rev 3:3 So remember what you received and heard, and obey it, and turn from your sin! For if you don’t wake up, I will come like a thief; and you don’t know at what moment I will come upon you.
Rev 16:15 (“Look! I am coming like a thief! How blessed are those who stay alert and keep their clothes clean, so that they won’t be walking naked and be publicly put to shame!”)
These four uses of G1127 are dire warnings about staying alert, in a book consisting entirely of dire warning and a roadmap for the end of days.
The church at Sardis has a reputation for being alive, but is dead, according to Jesus. Outward appearance indicates they are believers, but internally, the passion for Christ is no longer there and he knows it. Jesus warns Sardis to turn from sin, or he will come like a thief in the night – and they will not know when. The seven churches have been compared to church ages since it was first formed. Sardis, according to scholars, correlates with the reformed church brought about by the Luther movement.
The rapture was not taught to me in the Catholic Church. I can’t say whether it’s taught in the Lutheran church. I’d guess not, since many evangelical churches won’t teach on it, either. If it’s not taught, nobody will be staying alert to it. And if there’s no event like that that could sneak up on us, where is our sense of urgency?
Look at the warning of turning from sin in Rev 3:3! This doesn’t sound like the “grace covers everything, once saved, always saved” that I hear so often in Protestantism. No, I’m not a slave to the law. But I also am not content sinning willy-nilly and expecting a free pass. The message is stay sober, turn from sin, stay alive in your faith. I believe this is what it means to stay alert, as we were told.
And finally, in Rev 16:15 Jesus is speaking parenthetically (pay attention!) and telling everyone (right after the sixth bowl) that he’s coming like a thief. It’s the very thing he’s been warning about since Mathew 24.
Why does any of this matter? While I was viewing Before the Wrath, I ruminated on Israel missing their Messiah. How? They had scribes, pharisees, learned men and access to scripture more than any other group.
IT WAS THEIR MOST IMPORTANT JOB and the book of Daniel pointed them to the very day. So HOW did they miss it? I don't blame the people - they didn't know and they weren't as capable as we are of figuring it out.
I get it, those guys wanted the status quo, and probably were more interested in maintaining their own status and power structure (sound like the leaders of today?) than in the salvation of the people whose money fed and clothed them.
Yes, definitely like the leaders of today, both political and religious, I'm afraid. They probably knew, like Herod, and didn't want anyone else to know. Grow mushrooms, keep them in the dark and feed them manure.
My friends, we have a second chance. We can figure it out, and stay alert so that we don't miss it. We don't know the exact day or hour, but the season is upon us. I've been watching closely since 2017. People think I'm nuts and I don't care. I intent to stay alert.
It's soon.
It’s hard to know the current date and time since our calendars have been tinkered with by various civilizations. The original calendar provided by God featured 12 months of 30 days. Then the Babylonians made changes, some guy named Julian created his version of the calendar, and it was already a mess.
Then some mother had a little boy who would gather a council and get some Swiss guy to help him develop the calendar most of us use today, having the audacity to name it after himself.
The Godly jape? G1127, the word we studied in the context of knowing the time Jesus collects his bride is…
Gregoreo.
Eyes up!
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