Luke 21:34-36
“Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap; for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth. But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
According to Strong’s Concordance, agrupneo, the Greek word translated as watch in verse 36 means “to be sleepless, i.e. keep awake.” Frequently, when the Bible mentions being asleep or tells us to wake up, it refers to our spiritual state (Matthew 25:5; Romans 13:11; I Thessalonians 5:6-8). Instead of “watch,” some Bible versions use words such as, “don’t go to sleep at the switch” (The Message), “be always on the watch” (NIV), “be ready all the time” (New Century Version), “keep awake” (Amplified Bible), “keep on the alert” (NASB), “stay awake” (ESV), “keep a constant watch” (Living Bible), and “beware of slumbering” (The New Testament in Modern Speech). This is a call to the spiritual, not the physical.
It is always a good practice to allow the Bible to interpret itself rather than adding extra-biblical interpretations (II Peter 1:20). Because the Bible uses sleep and waking from sleep as spiritual metaphors, why would we want to add another meaning to the “watch” of Luke 21:36? That would be walking on shaky ground (Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32), and we want to avoid repeating past error.To emphasize that “watch” in Luke 21:36 is all about the spiritual and not about the physical, notice how agrupneo is used in its only other appearances in the New Testament:
Mark 13:33: “Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is.” (This verse parallels Luke 21:36.)
Ephesians 6:18: “. . . praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.” (The context of this verse is putting on the whole armor of God—definitely a spiritual exercise.)
Hebrews 13:17: Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.
These facts lead to the conclusion that “watch” in Luke 21:36 has little to do with watching world events. A careful reading shows that the “watch” of Luke 21:36 is only minimally directing us to watch world events. Overemphasizing that meaning of this verse has overshadowed its real message, perhaps the most important survival instructions Jesus gives to Christians living at the end.
