“Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”
O, may the Lord give us to keep His Word, and to be looking for Him as a present thing. If the devil could take away the hope of the Lord’s coming as a present thing, that would be taking away our hope and crown.
No man or devil can take anything from us, if we have but that clear sense of faith which connects us with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, as a present thing. To lose this is to lose spiritual power, and anything that robs us of spiritual power in our association with Christ, is to rob us of present blessing, and of that which is the path towards our crown. And, beloved brethren, we are now going through every kind of thing that is likely to rob us of our crown, everything which puts faith in a coming Jesus to the test, and calls it in question.
In the case of the ten virgins, they all slumbered and slept; the wise were as fast asleep as the foolish; and at midnight when the cry was made,
“Behold, the Bridegroom cometh!” they all arose and trimmed their lamps. There was no difference in this respect; but the one had the oil of the Spirit, the other not; and between the cry going forth, and the actual coming of the Bridegroom, there was plenty of time for the lamps to be going out if not supplied with oil, and hence the manifest difference between the virgins was in the supply of oil, which they had.
If the first thought in the hearts of the foolish virgins had been the Bridegroom Himself, they would have been thinking of the light that He would want when He came; but they were occupied with other things, satisfied with merely keeping company with the virgins; the dress, and the lamps without oil, would suffice to place them among the company; but, alas! without the oil they could not keep their lamps burning for their Lord till He came. Still, there were those who were fitted to receive Him,
So it is with us. The cry has gone forth, and between this and His actual coming, the Lord is testing us, whether our hearts are set upon Him or not.
We need to test ourselves personally as to this. It does not profit to be occupied with the confusion. If it is Himself that is before our souls to welcome in His speedy coming, power is given to go on shedding light and showing love, “Till He come.”
“Thou treasure inexhaustible!
Thou source of true delight!
What care I for the world’s applause
Or for its diamonds bright?
More prized by far one smile from Thee
Then all earth holds most dear;
I want for nothing man can give,
For I have Jesus here.”