We have a powerful chapter today in Luke 12. The text is made up almost entirely of the words of Jesus. It deserves to be read slowly, section by section. When Jesus ascended to heaven he knew that those who believed in him would face an increasingly difficult time, leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem 40 years later.

Absolute faith in the Almighty’s oversight of their lives was essential. And it is the same today! Jesus encourages and warns at the same time, “I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God, but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God” (verses 8,9). Today many deny the Creator, denying His power through which everything came into being. Imagine how the Creator must feel! We are challenged by Jesus’ words, “The one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven” (verse 10).

In the opening verses of the Bible we read, “In the beginning God created … and the spirit of God was hovering (or moving) over the face of the waters … And God said, ‘Let there be …’” and so His creation began. Let us be awake to God in action – past and future.

One way Jesus describes the first stage of our future is that there will be “a wedding feast” (verse 36) and his servants must be ready to “open the door to him when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes” (verses 36,37).

He completed the parable by saying, “If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants … You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (verses 38,40). We are surely in the final watch of the night now. Today the darkness that rests upon human minds is great. The foolishness of human thinking and the blasphemy against God must not affect us. The religious leaders around Jesus were blind, denying his spirit powers, he warned that if, “the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:23). Let us make sure we have “the true light” (John 1:9) for all around us is in great darkness.

In the Garden of Gethsemane the disciples struggled to stay awake. Let us heed the words of Jesus to them, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation” (Matthew 26:41).