You have to know what Jesus meant by "watch." It was not the attempt to figure out a prophetic scenario so you can be ready. It is not simply a need to be conscious that Christ could come at any time. Rather, it is a matter of keeping our focus on Christ, and watching out for deceivers, for imitators, so that one is not deterred from continuing to live in righteousness.
Matt 24.
36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
As I said, it is not the fear of an unexpected deliverance, ie an imminent Rapture that keeps us eligible for Eternal Life. We won't "miss the train" if we don't keep our eyes on the clock. Rather, we focus on spiritual realities that enable one to do righteous deeds before God. We look to Jesus as the enabler and guide to our doing good works so that we maintain our reward in heaven.
Doug, do you stay up all night expecting your alarm clock to go off in the morning to get you up? No, you sleep soundly knowing that the alarm clock will do its job. That way you can be well-rested and do your job in the morning.
It is enough to simply believe that Christ's Kingdom is coming. That will motivate us to do good works. But we keep our eyes on Christ because we need to be constantly reminded that he is the source of all of our righteousness. Things may distract us if we don't keep our eyes on the real thing.
It is precisely because we don't know prophetic times and seasons that we must simply keep our trust that the Kingdom will come and remain focused on Christ. Any effort to prepare by understanding prophetic scenarios lacks the essential ingredient of attention to Christ whose word we must obey at all times.
My point was that we need to keep our attention on Christ for constant spiritual vigilance, as opposed to any need to figure out prophetic scenarios. Being "watchful" is something we need to do when there are pretenders around us.
