“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes …. But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”  Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?” And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.”

-Luke 12:35-37a,39-44, ESV

I grew up in what could be called the “Left Behind” generation of the American church.  This period was filled with books and movies about the imminent rapture and tribulation that would precede Christ’s second coming.  The Left Behind series was the most popular of these, but there were many others.  During this time, the ominous chorus of Larry Norman’s 1969 song “I Wish We’d All Been Ready” echoed throughout the American church: “There’s no time to change your mind.  The Son has come and you’ve been left behind.”  The common belief of the era is still popular today—we need to be ready for the rapture by trusting in Christ.  Readiness is stressed throughout the Gospels, but it is especially prevalent in Luke 12.  Examining this passage will reveal what it really means to be ready for Christ’s return.

Beware of Eisegesis

Before we look at Luke 12, a word of caution is in order.  Whenever we look at any passage of Scripture, it is vital to draw out of the passage the meaning that the Holy Spirit inspired the authors of Scripture to place into the passage.  Known as exegesis, this requires us to consider the context of the passage, including what the original author intended and what the original audience understood.  The opposite of this is eisegesis, which is when people bring their own meaning to the text. When looking at Young Earth Creation, we saw that many Christians today commit eisegesis when they read the godless origin theories of “science” into the Genesis account.  Another common form of eisegesis is the generational snobbery that judges the Mosaic Law as oppressive and difficult New Testament commands as irrelevant.  In the same vein, many commit eisegesis when they foist feminist ideals onto figures like Deborah and the Proverbs 31 wife.  Any attempt to use Scripture to support abortion, homosexuality, gender confusion, and a myriad of other sins would also be eisegesis.

These are blatant examples, but we often commit eisegesis in subtle ways without even realizing it.  We do this whenever we bring our assumptions to the text without validating them with the rest of Scripture.  One example of this is interpreting a passage through the lens of our views on eschatology (end times) rather than by the context and language of the passage itself.  I am not going to advocate for a particular view of eschatology in this post but for proper exegesis of the text.  Many of us were taught under a premillennial eschatology to assume that there is a link to the rapture in every passage involving the second coming of Christ, but is that assumption correct?

Addressing the Assumption

The assumption that the rapture is linked to the second coming of Christ comes from the only place the rapture is mentioned.  The Thessalonians were concerned about their loved ones who had died in faith.[1]  To address this, Paul describes how believers who have died will rise first, then those who are still alive at the time will be caught up into the clouds with them and with Christ at His coming (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).  This is typically referred to as the rapture and is immediately followed by an exhortation to readiness:

For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night.

-1 Thessalonians 5:2-7, ESV

This passage features the analogy of a thief in the night as well as the exhortation to stay awake and alert, which are prominent in many passages on preparedness.  Like other such passages, it deals with coming judgment.  This is evident from the use of “the day of the Lord”—a common term for judgment throughout Scripture—and its reference to sudden destruction.  At first glance, it appears that this validates the assumption of a link to the rapture. However, there is a crucial transition we need to examine: “Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you” (1 Thessalonians 5:1).  Here, “now concerning” signals a transition between topics.  Earlier in the book, Paul used it transition from exhortation to commendation (1 Thessalonians 4:9). He later uses it again to transition between two different topics regarding the second coming (2 Thessalonians 2:1). 

Paul uses the phrase extensively in 1 Corinthians.  It signals the large transition from initial exhortations to answering specific questions (1 Corinthians 7:1) then smaller transitions from marriage in general to unmarried people in particular (1 Corinthians 7:25), from marriage to Christian liberty (1 Corinthians 8:1), from communion to spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12:1), from the resurrection to donation for the saints in Jerusalem (1 Corinthians 16:1), and from his travel plans to final instructions (1 Corinthians 16:12).  Some of these topics are related while others are quite unrelated.  Therefore, the presence of this transition in 1 Thessalonians means that we cannot definitively link the rapture with the judgment of the preparedness passages.  Thus, we would be wise to view passages like Luke 12 without a rapture lens.

Readiness in Luke 12

With that, let us lay aside the rapture lens and look at Luke 12 in its proper context.  Immediately beforehand, Jesus warns against anxiety (Luke 12:22-31) with this precious exhortation: “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys” (Luke 12:32-33).  Jesus then gives a parable of faithful servants staying awake (Luke 12:35-40).  When Peter asks if this parable was directed to them specifically or to everyone (Luke 12:41), Jesus tells another parable of servants:

And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

-Luke 12:42-48, ESV

Jesus uses this same parable in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24:45-51), which clearly links it to coming judgment.  The Bridegroom metaphor and the reference to lamps parallels the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13) in the Olivet Discourse.  Jesus then continues speaking of judgment, clearly stating that He came to bring fire and division rather than peace (Luke 12:49-53) before rebuking them for not recognizing the signs of the times (Luke 12:54-56).  After a clear exhortation to repent or perish (Luke 13:1-5), Jesus gives a parable about a barren fig tree on the brink of being uprooted (Luke 13:6-9).  He then causes a ruckus among the Jewish leaders by healing a woman on the Sabbath (Luke 13:10-17) before comparing the small start but ultimate domination of His Kingdom to a mustard seed and leaven (Luke 13:18-21). 

This section ends with an exhortation to enter through the narrow door to eternal life (Luke 13:22-30) before Jesus laments over Jerusalem’s coming destruction (Luke 13:31-35).  From this context, we see that our passage is linked to judgment but not necessarily to the rapture despite containing references we often associate with the rapture.  If this passage is not about being ready for the rapture, what is it about?

True Readiness: The Great Commission

In Luke 12, Jesus defines through His parable what it means to be ready: “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes” (Luke 12:42-43).  In essence, He is saying that being ready for His coming means being faithful to do what He has commanded.  In the parable, this is represented by a manager providing food for the household at the proper time, which the master would have commanded just before leaving.  Our Master likewise gave us instructions just before leaving:

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

-Matthew 28:18-20, ESV

This is the Great Commission of our Master—to make the entire world into worshippers of God. The readiness Jesus commands in Luke 12 therefore must include diligence in carrying out the Great Commission.  If we are not busy making disciples and teaching them to obey all of Scripture, we are not ready for Christ’s return.  The Great Commission is essentially a restatement of the Cultural Mandate to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it, and exercise dominion over it.  Christ will succeed where Adam failed—and He is using the Church as the primary means to that end. 

True Readiness: The Church

Since the Church is the means through which Christ builds His Kingdom, we cannot be ready for His return apart from the Church. That starts with commitment to a faithful local church and regular, physical participation in the weekly worship service. We must sit under the faithful teaching of the Word in the local church, take part in the means of grace that God provides through the local church, and keep ourselves accountable to the saints in the local church. We must also serve the local church with our talents and spiritual gifts, give our tithes to the local church, and invest what we can in ministries that build the Kingdom. Only in the context of the local church can we be ready for Christ’s return.

True Readiness: Work

God builds His Kingdom through the Church, but He does much of that work in the context of families. That means readiness for Christ’s return must include men diligently working to provide for their families.  As we saw here, that is a primary responsibility of a husband in all but the most extreme circumstances.  Neglecting this responsibility in order to bunker down and focus on Christ’s return will actually leave you unprepared for Christ’s return.  The wicked servants in Luke 12 were idle, and such idleness plagued the Thessalonians.  They were so fixated on the Second Coming that they neglected their normal duties altogether, quitting their jobs and subsisting on handouts from others.[2] Paul rebukes them for this:

Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us …. For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.

-2 Thessalonians 3:6,10-12, ESV

Paul uses equally strong language to Timothy regarding Ephesian church members who had neglected their duties in 1 Timothy 5:8, saying “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”  He also told Titus to sharply rebuke the Cretans for being “liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons” (Titus 1:12-13).  Regardless of the nature of the job, a man providing for his family is doing vital Kingdom work, so a man who is not diligently working to provide for his family is unprepared for Christ’s return.

True Readiness: Home

God primarily builds His Kingdom through families, so the Great Commission is most often accomplished primarily in the home.  Therefore, to neglect the home is to disobey Christ’s final command to us, leaving us unprepared for Christ’s return.  As we saw here, the home is so important that it must be a wife’s primary focus.  Some of the young widows of Ephesus had lost that focus and become gossips and busybodies.  Paul instructs Timothy to address this: “So I would have younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households, and give the adversary no occasion for slander” (1 Timothy 5:14). 

Paul likewise tells Titus to exhort the older women of the Cretan church to train the younger women “to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled” (Titus 2:4b-5).  Yes, a woman who neglects her home is blaspheming the Word of God and inviting the devil’s slander.  A woman who is not diligently working to build her home is tearing it down (Proverbs 14:1).  Since the home is the center of Kingdom building, she is tearing down the Kingdom and working contrary to Christ. 

Modern women tear down their homes in many ways. The most obvious is unbiblical divorce, but prioritizing a career over the home often has the same effect. This is part of a short-term, selfish focus that overlooks the multi-generational nature of Kingdom-building. The greatest impact most Christians will have on the Kingdom is raising godly children, so that must be a priority for all Christian parents. We are charged by God to raise our children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). This is the primary way parents—especially mothers—fulfill the Cultural Mandate and Great Commission. I observed here, parents severely hamper their ability to obey God in this arena when they abdicate this responsibility to daycares and godless public schools. While ultimate responsibility for this falls on fathers, godly fathers will often delegate much of the associated duty to their wives.

It is also a wife’s responsibility to use the resources her husband provides to make her home a place where the family flourishes and discipleship happens. In this way, a wife builds up her family and thereby builds the Kingdom. As she opens her home through practicing hospitality, it becomes a powerful tool to serve the local church and further build the Kingdom. The home is so important to Christ’s work that a woman who is not diligent in these things is not ready for Christ’s return, and neither is her husband who is facilitating the tearing down of his house through his abdication. 

In conclusion, being prepared for Christ’s return is about much more than trusting in Him.  It does not mean bunkering down, but it requires diligently working to build His Kingdom in the ways He has called each of us—the fulfilling the Great Commission and Cultural Mandate in the local church, at work, and especially at home.  Regardless of your eschatology, it is this diligence that will draw Christ’s applause.  When Christ returns, blessed are all who are found not bunkered down awaiting the rapture but diligently working to build His Kingdom.

NOTES:

[1] David Brown, A. R. Fausset, and Robert Jamieson, A Commentary, Critical, Experimental, and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments: Acts–Revelation, vol. VI (London; Glasgow: William Collins, Sons, & Company, Limited, n.d.), 465.

[2] James Denney, “The Epistles to the Thessalonians,” in The Expositor’s Bible: Ephesians to Revelation, ed. W. Robertson Nicoll, vol. 6, Expositor’s Bible, Hartford, CT: S.S. Scranton Co.: 1903: 343.