Looking For God, and Watching For Jesus

[Not_Now.Soon]

At least a few conversations I've had have held the idea of looking for God. From Christians encouraging other Christians, to Christians trying to help nonbelievers find God. Another kind of topic is mostly for Christians though. To watch for Jesus. To wait for his return but also to watch for Him.

It's the topic of watching for Jesus I want your all ya'all's insight about. There's at least a few things to cover about it that I can think of. If anyone has any other issues to ponder about for watching for Jesus please share. But here are the one's I am aware of.

1). Watching for Jesus's return. Scriptures say that Jesus will return in an instant, and to be ready and watching. To be vigilantly waiting for His return. And watching for Him. The waiting and being vigilant I get, and see the struggle to be ready for Him. But the watching I want to know how you watch for Jesus, or how we should watch for Him.

2). Jesus also said to His disciples that He was going to prepare a room for them in His Father's mansion. And that He would return to take them to it. (I hope I'm getting that verse right). A few times I have heard about people saying they saw Jesus visit them, and soon after (a week or few months later) they passed on. If you've looked into near death experiences perhaps you've heard of these too. Should we watch for Jesus not just for the end of the age, when Jesus will return but throughout our lives, waiting for Him to take us home?

3). Many people stress the importance of having a close relationship with Jesus. It's also in the context of having a close relationship with God. To pray, read the bible, hear God, be filled with the Holy Spirt, or just simply believe and be saved are all discussed and debated during these topics of having a relationship with God and having a relationship with Jesus. But watching for Jesus is not commonly talked about in those discussions. Can you have a relationship with Jesus, and with God, if you don't watch for Jesus in your life? As a man who relies heavily on the bible, and on prayer for my spiritual walk and my faith, I've often wondered if having a relationship with God is something that I don't have. So this topic is largely outside of my body of knowledge to ask about watching for Jesus in the context of having a relationship with Him. So please be kind and thoughtful if you have some thoughts on this aspect. Explain it as if I was a child or a kindergartner who was being explained something that he's too young to grasp fully. Please, I don't mind being treated as a child on topics I have not experienced and know little about.

4). Jesus while explaining His return also said that His return will be like a flash of lighting seen across the world, and warned to not be deceived. Not to follow when'd someone says "I say Jesus in the desert" or "on the mountain" or anywhere else. The last thought for watching for Jesus is to not be deceived by false Christs, rumors of Jesus, and antichrists. Any thoughts on watching for Jesus I think needs to have the topic of not falling for false tales.

Those are my 4 thoughts I would seek anyone's insight about. If you have any and wish to share it, then thanks in advance for doing so.

 

[Eugene]

I want to know how you watch for Jesus, or how we should watch for Him.

From a study I have “Matthew - Biography of the King”, this is an excerpt:
"Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come" - Mt 24:42. The Master enjoins
upon His disciples the need of watching; for the reason that they know not the day of His coming.
They were not to be as the world, to whom His visit would be as welcome as the thief in the night,
and far more destructive and despoiling to the temple which they counted their own. "Be ye
ready," He urges; for His coming is sure.”

Should we watch for Jesus not just for the end of the age, when Jesus will return but throughout our lives, waiting for Him to take us home?

One portion of the Church representing those that go to be with Jesus ahead of us are to those qualifying as Smyrna we read of in Rev 2:10 where they’re told to remain faithful unto death and they would receive a crown. I certainly believe this is more than just sitting while looking at the sky. Not all the Church faithfully keep the word of God, and five of the seven portions of the Church are told to repent. E.g.,
Rev 2:21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
Rev 2:22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
Are some of these possibly in the Great Multitude of Rev Chapter Seven?
Rev 7:13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
Rev 7:14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

 

[Not_Now.Soon]

From a study I have “Matthew - Biography of the King”, this is an excerpt:
"Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come" - Mt 24:42. The Master enjoins
upon His disciples the need of watching; for the reason that they know not the day of His coming.
They were not to be as the world, to whom His visit would be as welcome as the thief in the night,
and far more destructive and despoiling to the temple which they counted their own. "Be ye
ready," He urges; for His coming is sure.”

One portion of the Church representing those that go to be with Jesus ahead of us are to those qualifying as Smyrna we read of in Rev 2:10 where they’re told to remain faithful unto death and they would receive a crown. I certainly believe this is more than just sitting while looking at the sky. Not all the Church faithfully keep the word of God, and five of the seven portions of the Church are told to repent. E.g.,
Rev 2:21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
Rev 2:22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
Are some of these possibly in the Great Multitude of Rev Chapter Seven?
Rev 7:13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
Rev 7:14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Waiting and being faithful is a large part of being watchful. Maybe they are all it is, because both are enough responsibility on their own.

 

[stovebolts]

1. Watching for him means you have to know him. Read the back side of the gospels. In other words, what was Jesus intent, what motivated him? See the narrative as a story that you can immerse yourself into. It's not an intellectual task of the text...

2. In Jewish tradition, when an engagement occurred, it was as good as a marriage. The groom would go back to his Fathers home and for 1 year, he would build an addition onto his Fathers home and prepare it for his bride.
The Church is the bride of the messiah, and revelation speaks on this.

3. See #1 as foundational. John writes that we must walk as Jesus walks. That means we do what we see Jesus do, and we can't be like Jesus if we don't know Jesus.
I am much like my earthly father and I hear his wisdom in my ears often. I also hear the wisdom from others before me that have shared in my time of need. My point is, we are all following the voice of our conscience which is impacted by what has come into us. Let the words and actions of Jesus guide our conscience by knowing not only who he is, but how and why he does.

4. If you know your mother, then you won't be deceived when an imposter tries to take her identity. In the same way, if you know Jesus, you won't be led astray by false teachers or imposters.

 

[Not_Now.Soon]

1. Watching for him means you have to know him. Read the back side of the gospels. In other words, what was Jesus intent, what motivated him? See the narrative as a story that you can immerse yourself into. It's not an intellectual task of the text...

2. In Jewish tradition, when an engagement occurred, it was as good as a marriage. The groom would go back to his Fathers home and for 1 year, he would build an addition onto his Fathers home and prepare it for his bride.
The Church is the bride of the messiah, and revelation speaks on this.

3. See #1 as foundational. John writes that we must walk as Jesus walks. That means we do what we see Jesus do, and we can't be like Jesus if we don't know Jesus.
I am much like my earthly father and I hear his wisdom in my ears often. I also hear the wisdom from others before me that have shared in my time of need. My point is, we are all following the voice of our conscience which is impacted by what has come into us. Let the words and actions of Jesus guide our conscience by knowing not only who he is, but how and why he does.

4. If you know your mother, then you won't be deceived when an imposter tries to take her identity. In the same way, if you know Jesus, you won't be led astray by false teachers or imposters.

On the topic of being saved, I have heard people argue over if a person has to have the Holy Spirit in order to be saved, verses believing in Jesus to be saved. It's gotten to the point that I've heard someone argue that if you don't know the Holy Spirit in you then you don't have Him in you and are unsaved. Among all of the signs of following Jesus (belief in Him, baptism, following His teachings, reading/studying the bible, teaching/pastoring....). Of all of them the concept of being filled with the Holy Spirit is the hardest one to hold on to for me. Because I haven't a good stable means to know His voice and His gut feelings, apart of my inner voice and feelings. If you can recoginize your own sins and hear yourself rationalize them before or while doing them, then you probably can understand the measuring line here as unachieviable or unrecoginizable to someone who has found their own thoughts, feelings and understanding as lacking.

In the same way knowing Jesus and having a relationship with Him is just as daunting. Sometimes all we can do is hope, pray, and study. Intellectually and spiritually, studying then becomes a bedrock because you might not trust yourself and struggle to not be deceived by your own feelings and by that inner voice that has still lead you to sin.

Knowing Jesus seems to be another unattainable task that can only be given to us by God and His grace. No one knows the Father except the Son, and no one knows the Son except the Father and those God and the Holy Spirit have taught.

While I appreaciate your comments and insight StoveBolts, I don't think I can accept the answer to watch for Jesus to be the same as knowing Jesus. I don't think knowing Jesus is something we can do on our own, it's something God has to give us knowledge on. But waiting and watching for Jesus; that's something Jesus taught us to do. In the same way to turn from our sins, love one another and love your enemy, and constantly pray are all actions that we do, I would count waiting and watching for Jesus to be something we do on our own. Not something God does for us like give us the Holy Spirit.

Put it another way, if you know Jesus what do you do to watch for Him? If you don't know Jesus how can that be rectified so that you can know Him and watch for Him?

 

[stovebolts]

A very excellent and well thought out response. Bravo, I appreciate your candor and ability to see the many layers.

However, how do we know what to watch for, if we know not for what we are watching?

In other words, if we know Jesus, by all the means above to which you have mentioned, then we will know when we see him.

Do you see Jesus in the actions or attitudes of those around you? Or what about in your own actions?

Of course, non of us are close to perfection, but then again, God only said his creation was Very Good. Hence, are we all not being perfected?

And what does the Hebrew writer say, except Jesus was perfected in his suffering. That is, on the cross.

And what of Job? Do you not know that Job only knew of God... that is, until he also suffered a great deal. And then Job knew God.

We live in a world that some deem as unfair. If we know Jesus, this all starts to make sense, and I do hope I am not rambling, and if I am, then accept my apology.

When we find Gods rest, I believe in part,.. that ... well, you fill in the blank. But one thing I am certain of is that we can watch Him do great things beyond what we ever expected.