The Lord Jesus now foretells the condition of Christendom during His absence, and at His coming. The kingdom on earth, during the time (he King is in heaven. As to the Jews, He had shown, first, the unmeasured period of their scattering and persecution. Then, what would mark the time of the end—the setting up the abomination of desolation; the last half-week, or three years and a half of Daniel's prophetic period, the time of unparalleled tribulation; immediately after which the Son of man shall come again. And then, before describing the judgment of the living nations at His coming, He now, in these verses, describes the state of Christendom.
The order and divisions of this scripture are very striking. First, the similitude of the days of Noah; secondly, the parable of the ten virgins; and thirdly, the traveler into a far country. In all three there is striking contrast with the former part of the prophecy as to the Jews, whilst the three parts are in harmony with the addresses to Thyatira, Sardis, and Laodicea, in Rev. 2; 3, as to Christendom.
In the illustration of Noah, there is eating and drinking; in the ten virgins, slumbering and sleeping; and in the last, luke-warmness and slothfulness.
Let us remember these are the words of Him who cannot be deceived—whose eyes are as a flame of fire. He says, " As the days of Noe were, so shall the coming of the Son of man be." To them it was not a time of tribulation, but of utter carelessness and unbelief. They were eating and drinking, &c., " and knew not, until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Then the most solemn warnings: " Therefore, be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh."
Is it not most sad that the whole force and meaning of these plain words of our Lord should be entirely set aside, by misquoting them, as though they referred to death? Take the death of the unsaved, as described by our Lord in Luke 16: " He died, and was buried, and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment." Is that the coming of the Son of man? Then take the death, or falling asleep of the believer: it is to " be absent from the body, present with the Lord"! No, if our readers will carefully examine these words of our Lord, they will not find one thought of death in them. Blessed Lord, thou couldst not have given more solemn, or plainer, warnings of that sudden destruction, so near; but men will not believe Thee! If our readers will turn to 1 Thess. 5:1-101But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 4But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 6Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. 7For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. 8But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. 9For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, 10Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. (1 Thessalonians 5:1‑10), they will find the same delusion foretold: " For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh," &c. And see that destruction fully described in 2 Thess. 1:7-107And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; 10When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. (2 Thessalonians 1:7‑10).
Now, with the plainest possible teaching in the word of God, both from the lips of Jesus, and the inspired apostles, is it not a fact that, at this moment, the cry of peace and safety, a good time coming, is the delusion of Christendom, exactly as thus foretold? Is not our Lord's teaching rejected, just as was Noah's preaching? Saying in the heart, "My Lord delayeth his coming," was the beginning of declension, and of smiting the fellow-servants. The Lord gives this as the mark of the evil servant, whose portion shall be with the hypocrites. It is exceedingly solemn that thus, not only in our day, the world rejects the warnings of the Lord, just as they did the warnings of Noah; but also many, who profess to be the very servants of Christ, are saying in their hearts, " My Lord delayeth his coining." What a question for the reader: Are you waiting for the Lord; or saying in your heart, 44 My Lord delayeth his coining?"
The apostle Peter says, " Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming?" Thus the very long-suffering of God is used for unbelief. And the children of God are warned to " beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness." (2 Pet. 3) What is this error of the wicked? Is it not saying, " Where is the promise of his coming?"
Let us now listen to the Lord in the parable of the ten virgins. What a correct description of the history of Christendom. No one who reads the epistles can question but that, in the beginning, the whole professing body of Christians " went forth" to meet Christ. It was the hope and expectation of the church. But now, as to the coming of the Lord, during the dark history of so many centuries, did not the church return, in spirit and ways, to the world? and "while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept." Yes, all, wise and foolish, the saved and unsaved. All? all slumbered and slept. Fathers, schoolmen, commentators, all, all slumbered and slept. Does not this account for the dreamy writings and confused ideas of the commentators, when they attempt to speak of the Lord's coming?
Dispensational truth, the true order of events, yea, the distinction between the church and the world, and the church and the hopes of Israel, all lost in dreamy confusion. Yes, "all slumbered and slept."
And what has taken place in these last few years? " And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him." The whole church of God is being awoke; Christ, " the Morning Star," is being revealed, and about to come, and call His bride away. Can anyone deny that there is a stir among both the wise and foolish—such as have the Holy Ghost, and such as have only the lamp of profession? And is it not found that there is as great need now to go out of the camp of a worldly Christendom to meet the Bridegroom, as there was in the beginning to go outside the camp of Judaism to meet the heavenly Bridegroom? And surely this is equally true as to the world at enmity with God.
Does not this word come home to your heart and mine, " Go ye out to meet him?" The Lord apply it, with divine power, to our souls! Many own that their lamps are gone out. They dare not say they have salvation. See them hurrying off to them that sell!—ever buying, never getting. As God's free gift in grace they will not have it. Well, hurry on, be in earnest—try, buy. But mark, the Bridegroom is coming, and the door will be shut—yes, shut forever. If not salvation now, then never. "I know you not" is the everlasting sentence. Oh, be not deceived by them that sell! If you do not believe God in the gift of His Son, then do, we beg, be in earnest—there is no time to lose; go and see if those who sell can give you oil in your vessel. Give your pence, and give your penance, give all they ask, only be quite sure that you get salvation.
Oh, what words—" While they went to buy, the bridegroom came!" &c. Oh, deluded souls! can folly be more foolish than to refuse the gift of God? Yes, the moment is at hand, they that are saved shall go in, and they that are not shall be shut out. Should it come whilst you read this, where will you be—shut in, or shut out?
Must not a man be asleep to dream of the world's conversion, when the Lord shows in this parable that one half the virgins are foolish—not converted, are not saved, but shut out, having merely the lamp of profession? Oh, no, do not be thus deceived with the error of the wicked! Every scripture wrested to prove such a thought will be found to apply to quite another thing—the millennial kingdom of Christ on earth after His return.
We will not, at this time, notice further the third parable—" A man traveling into a far country,'י but would earnestly press the plain teachings and warnings of our Lord, in the scriptures above, spoken three days before the foundation of all our hopes, the death of Christ; yet they fully and correctly describe the very scenes before our eyes in this day. " Therefore be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh."