Knowing The Time
It’s not a strange thing to prepare for something you know is coming. In the springtime, if the windows are down on your vehicle and a storm is approaching, no one would think it was odd for you to go out and close the windows on your car. Every winter, when the temperatures drop, people cover up the outside faucets in their homes to avoid having them freeze and cause problems.
My point is simple: there are many things in life we just naturally prepare for when we know they are about to happen. The same holds true spiritually speaking. Something is coming, and it is drawing near.
Romans 13:11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
It might trouble some to be told, “Do this.” But there is a reason for the apostle to say such a thing. “Knowing the time.”
Knowing the time and what is coming is the reason to do something. What is coming? Our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
This statement runs against the casual idea of going to the altar to get saved, and that’s it. This says something about our salvation, implying there’s more to it than just getting to heaven when we die. It’s interesting how the language changes in the next verses.
Romans 13:12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.
As a person prepares for the day ahead, we should prepare for His appearance. How is this done? By putting off certain things contrary to who we are now in Christ and putting on the armor of light. He expounds his point by saying, “Let us walk properly,” and then gives an example of what properly is not. It is not the party life, it is not drunkenness, it is not cohabitation and fornication, it is not pining after the things of this world as though that is living, it is not arguing and being divisive to cause contention, and it is not being jealous of others and what they have.
This could almost sound as if it might be law-based were it not for the instruction on how to avoid these things. It is not law-based to live as someone who has been changed by His presence in you. It is not law-based to contrast what it looks like versus what it doesn’t.
Romans 13:14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
The idea conveyed here is that if we are not pressing into Christ and discovering who we are in Him, we are more susceptible to things we should not be given to. The way to make no provision for the flesh is to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, be captivated by and submitted to Jesus. Hand over the reigns to Him! Knowing the time, let Jesus have control of your life. Your salvation is nearer now than when you first came to Him.
