Luke
In Luke, who is the great moralizer, presenting things morally to men's souls, and looking for a moral state in them, we find another thing. If Matthew gives us the official glory of the Messiah, and Mark the mission of service of One who "went about doing good," Luke gives us Himself-Jesus the Son of man and dealing morally with man.
What, then, will he look for as he presents to us the Lord's coming? A moral state of soul in those who have such a hope. In chapter 12, "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning"—that is, not resting here. "Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted." If you compare every place in Scripture where you find girded loins spoken of, you will find the characteristic of the place is toiling and journeying on in a scene where your heart and affections must be braced up; they must not flow out here. It is a place of conflict and toil of some sort or other.
He speaks here of a "little flock." Ch. 12:32. He says, I have charged Myself with your circumstances; you need not be of a doubtful mind. "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord." Notice the word "like"—that the world might take knowledge of them. Nothing tests the heart like the coming of the Lord. I say there is nothing in Scripture that has such testing power with souls. If the Lord's coming is the horizon of the soul, see how little you will care for this scene, how little laying up for the future. The world would say, Well, it is plain what the man is doing. His hope is imprinting itself on his life, and acting itself out in all his ways. Of what value is this blessed hope if it be only held as a doctrine?
What is so blessed is that it brings a divine Person before the soul, and the heart is drawn out after Christ. It cultivates intimacy with Christ as we pass through this scene. Your heart is in the very condition that will welcome His return; it enjoys and cultivates a deepening intimacy with the One for whom it waits. Nothing brings Christ so personally before the soul as the hope of His coming.