Mark 13:33-37 - "Parable of the Porter"

Mark 13:33-37

"Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. For the Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch."

As we look into Mark 13 and consider the parable of the porter, the words call us to behold Christ Himself—the Son of Man taking a far journey, the Master of the house, the One Who left His house and gave authority to His servants, and to every man his work. He commands the porter to watch. The repeated word through this passage—watch—is the word that reveals His care for His people and His purpose for His church. “Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is” (v.33). The LORD Jesus Christ is that Master Who, after His death, burial, and resurrection, went into a far country—into heaven—and entrusts His house and His work to His servants.

The context in which Christ spoke these words reveals His Power and His Glory. He declared that not one stone of that magnificent temple would be left upon another (Mark 13:2). He told His disciples that all these things would be fulfilled in that generation: “Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done” (Mark 13:30). He spoke of coming in the clouds with great Power and Glory (Mark 13:26)—not His second coming at the end of time, but His coming in judgment upon Jerusalem and the temple in the first century. Between A.D. 30 and A.D. 70, every word He spoke was fulfilled. Yet even in the midst of destruction, Christ revealed hope, for “then shall he send his angels” (Mark 13:27)—His messengers of the Gospel—gathering His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. Those whom the Father chose before the foundation of the world, for whom Christ died, would come to Him by the Gospel of Christ preached throughout the world in that 1st century era until the end of time.

Christ’s command to take heed, watch, and pray was not given without purpose. He was preparing His disciples for the tribulation, the affliction, and the troubles they would face. When the abomination of desolation stood where it ought not (Mark 13:14), when Jerusalem was surrounded and the holy place ravaged (Matthew 24:15), they were to flee. “For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be” (Mark 13:19). Those who listened and were given ears to hear escaped that destruction, for the LORD had warned them.

Through the parable of the porter or doorkeeper, Christ reminded them of Who He is. He is the Master of the house (v.35). The house is His, the Authority is His, and the work is His. His servants are entrusted with care over His house, but it remains His alone. The true temple is not physical stone but Christ and His church (John 2:19-21). God once for all forever put away that old economy, with apostate Israel, ushering in a new age—the age of the Gospel.

Though all of this was fulfilled in the first century, the lessons remain for us today. We await Christ’s coming at the end of time, not knowing the day, nor the hour, nor the time. Our charge is the same: watch, pray, and be busy about His business (Luke 19:13). We are to do the will of God from the heart, “as the servants of Christ” (Ephesians 6:6). “With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men” (Ephesians 6:7), we watch over the LORD’s house and His work, guarding the sheep for the Master’s sake.

The disciples faced tribulation with these words in their hearts. We live on the other side of their fulfillment, but we live under the same Master. Whatever good thing we do is all by God's Grace in Christ, and “the same shall he receive of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:8). The believer’s reward is not earned merit but the gracious fruit of Christ’s finished work. All that we receive—acceptance, strength, assurance, and final glory—flows from God’s free favor in Him. We are reminded throughout the Scriptures that we stand and persevere only by the Lord's Grace and Will, drawing from what the LORD Jesus has already obtained for us. Our Reward is Christ, and through Him we enjoying the blessings He purchased (Ephesians 1:3-9): communion with God, preservation in the battle, and the Hope of eternal Life—all Gifts of sovereign Grace, not human achievement.

Until He comes, we occupy, watch, pray, and serve for His Glory alone. The Master of the house is Christ. To Him be all the glory and the honor.