Thousands and tens of thousands profess the name of Christ, and call themselves Christians; but only those who have received Christ by faith, and possess eternal life in Him, and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, will enter the glory of God.
Which are you—an empty professor; or a happy possessor?
The Christian profession is set forth in a most striking manner in the likeness of the kingdom of heaven to ten virgins, in Matthew 25, five of whom were wise, and five foolish, all being furnished with a lamp, and having light (v. 8). But the wise had oil in their vessels with their lamps, to sustain the light. What was the result? When the bridegroom came, they that were ready—that is, those who had oil—went in with him to the marriage; the door was shut on the foolish, who lacked it, and who cried in vain for admittance.
Dear reader. Christ, the heavenly bridegroom, is coming. Have you nothing more than the lamp of profession? Are you content with being a mere religious professor in this land of light, with an open Bible? Then if He were to come now, you would be shut out, and cry in vain to be let in. And Christ is coming in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye (1 Cor. 15:5252In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:52)).
But if a possessor of Christ and of the Holy Ghost; of whom the oil is a figure, you are among the ready, and would go in, “caught up,” as we read 1 Thessalonians 1:15-18, to meet the Lord Himself in the air.