Luke 12:35

Ver. 35,36. The first words of Luke 12:40, Be ye therefore ready also, expound Luke 12:35. In this sense we find the phrase used, 1 Kings 18:46 2 Kings 4:29, 2 Kings 9:1 Job 38:3, Job 40:7 Jeremiah 1:17. In those Eastern countries both masters and servants were wont to wear long garments, which they were wont to gird up, either when they went to fight, or when they were to travel, Exodus 12:11 1 Kings 18:46; or when they went about any service; see Luke 17:8 1 Thessalonians 13:4: this was a piece of their preparation. We read of the girding about of the loins of the mind with truth, Ephesians 6:14, and with habits of grace and virtue; 1 Peter 1:13, Wherefore gird up the loins of your minds, be sober, and hope to the end. The other phrase, and your lights burning, is of the same import, relating to the Lord's coming from the wedding, mentioned Luke 12:36; for in those countries their weddings were celebrated in the night. Christ's coming to judgment, whether our particular or the more general judgment, is that which is here set out to us, under the notion of a man's coming home late at night from a wedding. Nor improperly, for in this life souls are united to Christ, Ephesians 5:32. When Christ shall have done his work of that nature upon the earth, that all the elect shall be gathered, then shall he come to judge the world. He would have all his people be ready for that day, and waiting for their Lord, that his coming may be welcome to them.