Keep Watch

Keep Watch

Read: Mark 14:32-42

“Stay here and keep watch.”

Mark 14:34

“The Christian life is not a playground; it is a battleground.”

—Warren Wiersbe

IN WORD Peter, James, and John had surely noticed Jesus’ distress on their walk to the garden of Gethsemane, but they seem blissfully unaware of the nature of the battle that is raging around them. They see only with their eyes. But Jesus is nearing the conclusion of a long warfare with the enemy, and the unseen war is most intense in this garden. Whether the Cross of Christ will or will not occur hangs in the balance between the bitterness of Jesus’ assignment and His submission to the Father. We know the outcome, of course, and all the suspense is lost on us. But the three disciples in the garden didn’t even know suspense was in the air. They slept.

Life can give us the same illusion. We know it has its struggles, and we are distressed on occasion. But we are often blissfully unaware that there is a cosmic warfare going on around us, and it is always intense. We have been told to stay awake and keep watch, but we keep falling asleep. Like the disciples, we may be thinking only about tomorrow’s issues while our enemy is waging a war over eternal issues. We think we’re taking a midnight stroll in the garden; but our Commander has led us into a high-stakes battle. Regardless of our apathy or exhaustion, this is not a time for sleep.

IN DEED Whether we like it or not, when we put our faith in Christ we left civilian life. We try to revert to a peacetime lifestyle whenever we can, but the attacks of the enemy have a way of reminding us where we are. We are on the battlefield, and though we know the outcome already, our opponent, Satan, forestalls his final defeat as long and as vengefully as he can.

That’s why the New Testament emphasizes faith and prayer as much as it does. Faith is our weapon against the enemy, and prayer is our communication with the headquarters from which come all our resources. And until we have been called home to Jesus, His orders for us remain the same—stay here and keep watch.