’Twas the night before Jesus came, but most were asleep.
No leader was watching, only shepherds with sheep.
The scriptures and prophecies had been studied with care,
Yet, when He arrived, they had no clue He was there.
The leaders were nestled all snug with their rules,
While clueless that soon they’d all look like fools.
For there in a manger without trumpet or horn,
King Jesus, Messiah, our Savior, was born!
The angels burst out in a song of their Lord,
to shepherds in fields, while the scholars just snored.
The One they expected, with a crown on His brow
would not have been born near a horse and a cow.
But the Messiah had come just as the prophets had said,
So why weren’t there more standing by His dear bed?

Have you ever wondered, with all the prophecies about Jesus’ birth—where, when, how—why weren’t more people watching for Him? There were scribes, Pharisees and priests who knew those prophecies, yet none of them stood around the manger.

You see, the leadership in those days were watching for the Messiah, just not the Messiah of scripture. They had come to see the Messiah as someone quite different from the biblical teachings. They saw the Messiah as the one who would rescue them from whatever nation had enslaved them at that time. He would become their king and no nation could stand against him. Since he would be king, he would be born in a town and place fitting of a king, right? So when, in Bethlehem, a baby was born to a virgin, and had only a horse’s blanket to cover him and a feed trough to sleep in, no scholar was there to welcome Him. Some might say He kind of snuck in… like a thief in the night…

Of course, God didn’t sneak Jesus in. He announced His birth with an angelic chorus! Can you imagine what that would have been like? Having a chorus of angels announce His coming? How cool would that be? Makes you wish we could have an angel’s messages today to announce Jesus’ second coming. Hmm…

Here’s another good question to ponder: Why did the angels go to the shepherds? Was it because they were the only ones awake at that time? Why didn’t the angels announce it to the High Priest, or to the Pharisees? I wonder what their reaction would have been. Would they have rushed to bow before their new-born King? Would they have reacted more like Herod and desired to take Him out early? Or would they have simply explained it away since it didn’t fit their “image” of His coming?

No, He didn’t come with political fanfare, but it definitely was not a secret! Jesus came, just as the prophecies said. There just weren’t that many still watching and waiting for Him.

This is why, when He spoke of His second coming, Jesus often warned us to keep watch. Jesus said in Luke 21:34, “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap.” In these last days, we need to keep watching, because we can become distracted easily, can’t we?

Unfortunately, we also suffer from our own scholarship. Many today are watching for Jesus to come, but not in the way the Bible speaks about. We have come up with our own ideas about the second coming. We have created extremely narrow ideas of Jesus’ return. Some have mapped out exactly when and how the last events will unfold (even though scripture itself does not tell us). But what if Jesus doesn’t come in the way we imagine?

Aren’t we supposed to know what is going to come next? We were given the signs of the last days so we could recognize them when we see them, but then what? According to Luke 21:28, when we see a sign—when we hear the message—when these things begin to take place, Jesus says, lift up your heads. Where are we to be looking? Not at the next great prophetic fulfillment—not trying to guess the future—we are to be watching for Jesus!

Jesus doesn’t want us to miss His second coming like so many missed His first! So He tells us to watch. Watch and pray. Once we recognize the time is near, we focus on Him. Sure, we watch what is going on around us and we recognize more and more signs fulfilled. There is no question that we are living in the last days! But these signs were meant to focus our attention on Christ! We must not get caught up in trying to decipher the future. History proves that this is futile for us. The scribes, priests and pharisees tried to, and they completely missed Jesus’ coming. Many faithful Christians did it in 1844 and it ended with a Great Disappointment.

From the time He was born in a lowly manger, until we see Him coming in the clouds of glory, we are to keep our eyes on Him! If Jesus’ birth teaches us anything, it’s that God is always on time with His plan. So, let us not get distracted. For the angels have given their message: Jesus is coming soon! Yes, ’Tis the night before Jesus Came… again. Keep watch!