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Artwork for Watch Therefore

Matthew 24:1-25:46

Watch Therefore

Lyrics · Matthew

Watch Therefore

Matthew 24:1-25:46

Lyrics

About this song

About this song

This song belongs to the Matthew collection. One recording is available to play here, with the complete lyrics below.

Bible book
Matthew
Collection
Matthew
Musical styles
Cinematic Soundtrack
[Spoken Intro - Low, foreboding] They pointed to the temple stones. He answered with a ruin they could not imagine. [Verse 1 - Tense, measured] Stone after stone would be thrown to the ground, So on Olivet they asked when and how. First came the warning: do not be deceived, Many will borrow the name to mislead. War in the distance and war drawing near, Famine and shaking, but not yet the end. Hatred for witness, betrayal from friends, Cold hearts multiplying as lawlessness spreads. [Refrain - Firm] Watch therefore. No clock has been given. Stand when the earth feels divided and driven. Endure through the darkness; do not lose the way. The Master may come on an unmarked day. [Verse 2 - Escalating] The kingdom’s good news must go through the lands, Then desecration will force urgent flight. Trouble unmatched will press hard on the world, False signs will glitter and false voices call. His coming will not hide in chamber or field, Lightning from east unto west will reveal. Sun darkened over, stars falling from height, The Son of man coming in glory and might. [Verse 3 - Expansive] Trumpet and angels will gather his own, The fig tree will tell when the season has grown. Yet day and the hour stay hidden from sight, As flood came on people still living their lives. Field and the mill show the sudden divide, A thief at the house shows why sleepers must rise. Blessed the servant still doing his charge, Woe to the servant who thinks time is long. [Bridge - Narrative, building] Ten lamps were waiting; five carried oil. The cry came at midnight and ended delay. Talents were handed according to trust, The master returned and required an account. No waiting is empty, no stewardship small, The hidden becomes what the Judge sees in all. [Final Movement - Strong, grave] The Son takes the throne and the nations appear, Sheep to the right and the goats separated. Hungry and thirsty, the stranger, the poor, Naked, imprisoned, the sick at the door. What was done to the least is uncovered at last; Mercy and neglect both survive the past. Everlasting outcomes close what he said: Watch while there’s daylight. Be ready instead. [Outro - Low] The stones would fall. His words would not.

Named in this songOlivet

About the passage

Matthew 24: The temple will fall; the hour remains unknown

The disciples admire the temple buildings, but Jesus answers with a prediction of destruction that strips visible grandeur of any claim to permanence. Their private questions then join the temple’s fall, the coming of the Son of man, and the end, and the long answer refuses to reduce those matters to a simple timetable. Jesus warns first about deception. Wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, persecution, and false prophets are real, yet some of these are explicitly called the beginning rather than the end. The warning about Judaea includes urgent, local instructions for flight, while the coming of the Son of man is compared with lightning rather than a secret report from a hidden place. Cosmic language, the fig tree, and the difficult phrase “this generation” keep the interpretive pressure visible. Then the chapter states what calculation cannot solve: the day and hour are unknown. Readiness is therefore pictured not as date setting, but as a servant faithfully feeding the household while the master is away.

Study Matthew 24 in depth

Matthew 25: What the waiting reveals

Three scenes complete the teaching on readiness by asking what delay reveals. Ten attendants all grow sleepy while the bridegroom tarries, so the dividing line is not physical wakefulness but preparation made before the midnight announcement. The next comparison gives servants unequal amounts of their master’s money according to ability. The first two produce different totals yet receive the same welcome, while the third buries what was entrusted and defends inaction by accusing the master of harshness. The final scene leaves domestic imagery behind for the Son of man seated in glory before gathered nations. Food, drink, welcome, clothing, visitation, and presence with prisoners become matters of judgment because the king identifies himself with “the least of these.” Both groups are surprised by that identification, but their conduct is not the same. The Book of Matthew ends the discourse with eternal life and everlasting punishment set side by side. Unknown timing never means empty time; what people do during the delay becomes visible at the return.

Study Matthew 25 in depth