Matthew 24:44 “For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.”

Why “must” we “be ready” Lord? And for what reason are we to be ready? Consider — If the Rapture comes for every Christian alike (surrounding.a pre Tribulation Timeframe), than the “must be ready” and the “reason for it” should not matter unless this is an admonition from the Lord to either be born again, in which case it is not for believers; or if for the Spiritually born of God, then what must be involved in order to be ready?

◦ But these are believers (disciples) that He is talking to and talking about. These are instructions to a people who will need their food or understanding at the proper time, a time just before the Lord comes. And they need it from teachers who are feeding them with proper food. But it is obvious that not all are feeding the same, because some of these servants are called evil servants. What can make a born again child of God to be in danger and in need of proper teaching concerning our Lord’s coming, if when the Rapture comes it will be at a time when every believer is to escape (be kept from all dangers of the Tribulation events? What is somehow being missed?

Salvation can’t be what Jesus is calling for here. For salvation is needed at all times, not just before Jesus comes, (endurance is part of being Christian); endurance is not just for one’s understanding or readiness of one particular hour before Jesus returns, but He is admonishing His servants to do the feeding at a specific time. The timing is made known in the preparation or the readiness for His return. In His message He has already given signs and events that are coming before He ever mentions this hour, which is a unique hour. One that some among the believers will possibly be thinking that He will not or is not coming. So are these, who need teaching and those doing the feeding, teaching about the things that are happening to even us the born again. Things that will test one’s faith, and things that we must endure until this unknown hour arrives.

So is it possible that being ready and the reason for being in that state means something else entirely than salvation for the unsaved, because the hour of His coming would not matter to believers, were the Rapture taught as simply having all of the then completed body of believers to be caught up unexpectedly as one new man just before these events that Jesus tells us about are to occur. If being ready just means getting saved; then once you are saved the hour of His coming would not matter, because it will catch everyone by some level of surprise; yet this teaching is written to His disciples, and is for their instruction to us. And our instruction to others, and it instructs readiness.

So, here in this passage “An hour that we think not” is definitely directed at some if not all of us: the servants of the Lord — and all of us are called His servants in the epistles and in Revelation. Sometimes we are called His bond-servants. These are already born again– does that experience not make us ready? Apparently our readiness is not just our new birth alone. Jesus says its “For this reason”, but for what reason? So let’s look back.

Matthew 24:43 “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.”

Many teachers, who are preparing us for the Second Coming tell us that Jesus is the Thief spoken of here, and that we are to be watchful for Him and this hour, which Jesus also says is only known by the Father. What happens if we don’t watch? This needs to make sense to us, does the pre-Trib understanding of this hour make sense given the reason? — which is that our house not be broken into and we be surprised by Jesus coming as a thief, which He surly will do? Can this thievery make sense if the Lord is the thief here? If we are not watching for Him when He comes does that mean we will not be raptured? — again “no man knows the hour”. Jesus is talking about the hour of His coming being an hour that we or at least some “think not”. In Rev. 3:10 He promises the Church of Philadelphia to be kept from the hour. That hour is in pre-Trib thinking usually thought to be a 7 year period not an hour involving only His Wrath. So, pre-Trib scholars say it is the entire Tribulation that Jesus comes to deliver us from. So is it in fact this hour that we know not? Is there a difference? What does it imply, and why are we as believers in danger if we do not know about this hour of His coming?

We certainly want Him to come and to take us and our believing household, however the implied meaning here is that we need to be ready for this hour for a reason and that reason is usually seen as — keeping the thief, Jesus, from breaking in and robbing (interpreted surprising us) at His coming. Is that really what He means?

Jesus tells us of another THEIF in scripture, one who comes to rob and to steal that which is not his. John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

So if His coming is at an hour that we think not how could that affect our readiness as believers to meet Him? Remember again: no man knows the day or the hour. And what THEIF are we to be protecting ourself from here?–certainly not Jesus, and His coming for us. Let’s say that the hour of His coming though unknown is proven from scripture to be at the end rather than the beginning of the Tribulation, yet we know that most Christians have been taught to expect His coming at the beginning; would that not then make those Christians unprepared or not ready for an hour which before it comes would bring trials, which will cause many to fall away? And therefore then it would be an hour that they think not? Is this hour of His coming actually dangerous to us because it comes after, not just the threat, but after the enemy broke into our world? Wherein this thief has actually robbed some of family and some of the very salvation that they once posessed?

If this hour were after Tribulation and wrath brought against some by this thief, and it is an hour not consummated as Pre-Trib scholars see it, would it not then be an hour that some and possibly many think not? And what are we to watch for if we can’t know this hour that only the Father knows?

Jesus gives us signs to watch for, but there are no signs (we are told) for a pre-trib coming and Rapture. He will come to at least some believers at an hour that they think not– an hour for which there must be some preparation because Jesus has already told us in this passage that– he who endures to the end will be saved. Endures — What does that mean? He told us that the evil servant will not be giving out food at the right time in order for there to be a readiness and Jesus says we must possess this food. It therefore must be needed. The Tribulation because of its nature– persecution and torture at the hand of Satan (the thief and robber)– it will require a readiness and an endurance in order to guard ones very soul and the souls of others with the full armor of God from this very thief, who’s sole purpose is to rob and to steal. Do these things then occur before this hour making proper teaching necessary? It is written that he (this thief) will pursue the offspring of Israel — this is an offspring who overcomes him with the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.

There is also implied in this verse that there will be those who will follow this warning and will be good servants — servants who will give out food for understanding so that the thief will not rob and steal before this unknown hour that we could think is not concerning His coming.

Matthew 24:44 “For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.”