Watch For His Coming

Of His Second Coming the Lord declard, “And then they shall look for me, and, behold, I will come; and they shall see me in the clouds of heaven, clothed with power and great glory; with all the holy angels; and he that watches not for me shall be cut off” (Doctrine and Covenants 45:44). Other passages similarly encourage us to watch for Him. In a parable during His mortal ministry the Lord said, “But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (Matt. 24:43-44). The key action that the man in the house was supposed to do was to watch for the coming of the thief. In another modern day revelation the Lord said, “And the day cometh that you shall hear my voice and see me, and know that I am. Watch, therefore, that ye may be ready” (Doctrine and Covenants 50:45-46). Again the instruction as we wait to see Him is to watch for Him. Similarly, in another section the Lord declared, “Prepare yourselves for the great day of the Lord. Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour” (Doctrine and Covenants 133:10-11). We must be symbolically watching for Him.

               In another revelation the Lord expressed a similar idea when He gave a parable about a vineyard and watchmen. The servants of the nobleman were to build a watchtower but they failed to do so, and the nobleman lamented, “Ought ye not to have done even as I commanded you, and—after ye had planted the vineyard, and built the hedge round about, and set watchmen upon the walls thereof—built the tower also, and set a watchman upon the tower, and watched for my vineyard, and not have fallen asleep, lest the enemy should come upon you?” In other words, they should have done what was needed to be able to watch. The Lord summarized in the same revelation, “And in that day all who are found upon the watch-tower, or in other words, all mine Israel, shall be saved” (Doctrine and Covenants 101:12, 53). We must be on the watchtower—or perhaps at least listening to and heeding those on the watchtower—to prepare for His coming.  

               So practically speaking, how do we watch for Him? When someone important is coming to your house, you often watch out the window for him or her to arrive. But part of the watching involves clearning up and preparing the house itself; in other words, you make ready everything that is needed in the house as you watch for their coming. I think that is what the Lord means when He asks us to watch—we are spiritually making ourselves ready to see Him. What these scriptures are trying to tell us is that someday, whether soon or far away, we will stand in the presence of the Savior and He will look upon us. At that time we will know that He knows everything about us, our thoughts and words and deeds. Surely we will desperately want to be clean more than anything else as we stand before Him. So as we watch for Him the most important thing we can do is to repent and become clean, to seek to do all that He has asked of us. As we watch for Him we must watch ourselves to root out our sins and iniquities and prepare to see Him again. If we are thus watching and preparing, we can say as Alma, “And now we only wait to hear the joyful news declared unto us by the mouth of angels, of his coming; for the time cometh, we know not how soon. Would to God that it might be in my day; but let it be sooner or later, in it I will rejoice” (Alma 13:25).