Matthew Henry Commentary Matthew 24:42-51

"Watch therefore: for ye know not on what day your Lord cometh. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken through. Therefore be ye also ready; for in an hour that ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath set over his household, to give them their food in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, that he will set him over all that he hath. But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord tarrieth; and shall begin to beat his fellow-servants, and shall eat and drink with the drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he expecteth not, and in an hour when he knoweth not, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth." — Matthew 24:42-51 (ASV)

To watch for Christ's coming, is to maintain that disposition of mind in which we would be willing for our Lord to find us.

We know that we have only a little time to live. We cannot be certain that we have a long time to live, and we know even less about the time fixed for the judgment. Our Lord's coming will be happy for those who will be found ready, but very dreadful for those who are not.

If someone, professing to be a servant of Christ, is an unbeliever, covetous, ambitious, or a lover of pleasure, that person will be cut off. Those who choose the world as their portion in this life will have hell as their portion in the other life.

May our Lord, when he comes, pronounce us blessed, and present us to the Father, washed in his blood, purified by his Spirit, and fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.