Rev. 16:15 ... "Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.”
Since Jesus first announced that He would come again, people have been anxious to pinpoint the time of His arrival. Many have combed the Bible in the effort to collect information about various numbers and numerical symbolism in order to determine the time of that great event. Publicizing their conclusions, they managed to stir up great excitement among certain groups of people. The failure of their determinations did not always lead to discouragement, for those who were involved in some cases formalized their movement into a new denomination.
Jesus once made a statement about the time of His coming that ought to stop people from the fool-ishness of date-setting. In Mt. 24:36 He said, "Of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone." It is presumptuous in the extreme for someone to deny what Jesus here said that "no one knows" and to claim the knowledge that the "Father alone" possesses, viz., the date of Jesus' return. The complete failure of all such predictions proves that truly no one but God knows when the appointed time is.
Jesus' warning in our featured text serves to reinforce His declaration that no one but God knows the time of His coming. He says, "Behold, I am coming like a thief." A thief does not announce the time when he plans to come, nor would he come if he thought his planned arrival had become known. Jesus' coming will be unannounced and without warning.
Actually, our major concern should not be the time of Jesus' return, but rather our own state of pre-paration to meet Him. It is not as important for us to know the year, month, day, and hour as it is to be ready to meet Christ when He "descend(s) from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God," (I Ths. 4:16). Jesus warns us (Mt. 24:44) to “be ready." The faithful and true disciple will not waste time trying to determine the exact month and day of Jesus' return, but will use every day the Lord gives him to the fullest advantage to be ready when He does finally appear.
Our text is a beatitude pronounced upon those who prepare themselves for Jesus' return. It is the third of the seven beatitudes given in Revelation. Our Lord says, "Blessed is the one who stays awake." This does not refer strictly to watching the sky for the first glimpse of Christ. It refers far more to the disciple watching his own life to hold it to the Christian standard laid out in the New Testament. The spelling of the word W-A-T-C-H tells us what we are supposed to watch: W- watch your Way of liv-ing; A-watch your Actions; T-watch your Tongue; C-watch your Character; and H-watch your Heart. Those who watch their lives in these respects will be ready when Christ appears.
The reference to garments in the text is symbolic. Many times in Scripture a person's spiritual condition is referred to as clothing. Clean and white garments indicate a life that is pure and righteous, while soiled garments signify a life that is polluted with sin. In Rev. 7:14 we are told that our clothing can be washed and made white only "in the blood of the Lamb." Obedience to the teaching of Jesus and conformity to the model of life which He lived is the only way. His blood alone is able to wash the sin stains from our souls and create righteousness within us. Nothing else can prepare us to meet Him when He returns and answer His call to join Him "in the air ... (and) always be with the Lord," (I Ths. 4:17).
