Wisdom's Corner
Keep Your Garments

"Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame" (Rev.16:15).

In New Testament times, the temple was guarded at night by priests. These priests were to keep out robbers. There was a great deal of money in the temple. Many of the items in the temple were covered in gold and silver. So if no one kept guard at night, robbers would break in and steal things out of the temple.

These guards were not to fall asleep. If they fell asleep, they could not do their job. Robbers might get past them and steal from the temple. High ranking priests would sometimes make unannounced checks on these guards. If the guard was found asleep, he was given great shame. His clothes were taken from him. He was then made to walk along the wall of the temple in the sight of everyone. One of the worst shames a Jew could have was to be seen without his clothes on. It was even worse for a priest to be seen like this.

The Christian is warned of something similar. We are to keep watch over our lives and over the church. We are not to go to sleep spiritually. We are to be on guard to make sure that nothing evil is allowed to enter our lives or the church. We do not know when Jesus is coming back. His coming will be like the thief--we do not know when he will come. And Jesus is also our High Priest. So if he comes and finds us asleep, he will give us great shame. Going to hell will be our eternal shame.

I do not want to go to hell. And I know you do not want to go there either. Keep studying your Bible. Find out what God wants you to do. And do not go to sleep spiritually. If any of this is hard to understand, ask an adult to help you.

Mark McWhorter

Copyright 1999

Published by The Old Paths Bible School
(http://www.oldpaths.org)