THE parable of the ten virgins is familiar to us all, and we know who it was that condescended to style Himself as the “Bridegroom.” It is the blessed Lord.
This beautiful parable presents to us the state of Christendom before and after the coming of the Lord for His people. It does not convey the thought of judgment, as connected with that coming, so much as the joy awaiting His people at that moment; and therefore He assumes the graceful title of Bridegroom.
When Christ comes as Bridegroom, the eternal joy of His people begins. But if the state of Christendom―that is, of the vast profession of the name of Christ―be contemplated, there must be a large element of what is only profession, and therefore only nominal.
Hence we find two kinds of “virgins”―the wise and the foolish. In the warning of the parable (see Matt. 25:1-131Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. 2And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: 4But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. 6And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. 7Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. 8And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. 9But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. 10And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. 11Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. 12But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. 13Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh. (Matthew 25:1‑13)), the condition of the foolish is described first, as if to show us how large a place they, alas, hold in Christendom; and how easy a thing it is not only to profess Christianity, but to pass current as the genuine thing.
Their attire, their occupation, their object, are all apparently identical. A casual observer would fail to distinguish a particle of difference between these wise and foolish professors. It would require a close and minute examination to find out that the only difference lay in the fact that the foolish “took no oil with them!”
That was their one deficiency―the one thing that they lacked! In every other respect they were outwardly up to the mark, yet for the absence of this one thing they were branded “foolish!”
Hence the oil is of essential importance! To lack it, is to lack everything! No amount of profession― no amount of religion, no matter how abundant, or self-denying, or conscientious, can form an equivalent to the oil.
Just as the blood on the lintel was an absolute necessity for the preservation of Israel from the plague, so the presence of the oil is a pre-requisite―a “sine quâ non”―to the Christian.
Pause, dear reader, and say― “Have you this oil?” Be certain. Be dubious of all else; be sure of this.
What is the oil? It is the Spirit of God. Have you received the Spirit? You may reply that you cannot tell. Well, have you been “born again”? for this is His work, and it is a work so real that ignorance of it is impossible.
We know when we are stricken by some felt contagion—when wounded by some accident—when oppressed by some heavy burden; and we know when the Spirit of God has convicted us of sins committed, and of sin inherent. There is no malady, nor wound, nor burden so certain, or so intolerable as that; and it is the first work of the Spirit of God in the soul. Have you ever felt this work? This is assuredly connected with being “born again.”
No doubt the Spirit does more―much more, for the soul―for, having believed the blessed gospel, we are sealed by Him for the day of redemption, and He is the earnest of the coming glory. He is the oil! Blessed possession! Therefore without Him, ―without His work in “new-birth,” and His sealing and indwelling, ―without the oil, we are Christians in name only, and not such in truth.
Again, dear reader, say, “Have you the oil?”
The wise, observe, took oil in their vessels with their lamps. Fair garments, and a faultless profession sufficed them not. They took oil.
True, “they all slumbered and slept.” The delay of the expected Bridegroom induced careless ways, and the long dark hours of night-time led to forgetfulness of His coming. The whole company, tile entire profession, was marked by unworthy disregard of the object of their call. They had gone to meet the Bridegroom, and, because He had tarried, they had fallen asleep! Such is an historical fact!
But at midnight, sounding through the dreary darkness of that solemn hour, an awakening voice was heard, crying, “Behold the Bridegroom!”
Another historical fact! Oh! charming and treasured voice that has thus proclaimed the approach of the Bridegroom! How welcome to the ready. How honored of the Lord! “Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps”―for, if the lamps were right, all would be right; everything turned and hinged on that! An awakening, a stir, a commotion, a glad discovery, or a rising dread, marked the moment.
Another historical fact. “A dread.” Yes―see, the foolish say, “Our lamps are gone out.” Alas! the flickering but oil less flame had speedily perished, and the charred and blackened wick refused to burn more. The dread becomes a reality. The foolish are left in midnight darkness. However, we read that “they went to buy.” They are in earnest now―but too late!
Just then “THE BRIDEGROOM CAME!” And His advent was the crucial and final test of the state of all. He came! and “they that were ready went in with him to the marriage.” “The ready.” Are you one of them, ―forgiven, justified, a child of God, a member of Christ? “Ready!” Some were ready, and they knew it. And they went in with Him!
Then “the door was shut!” Shut against the unready! shut against the oil less virgins I shut against the nominal professors! shut against all who have no oil, and have never received the Spirit!
“The Bridegroom came!” Not yet an historical fact, though presented to us in that way in this word-picture of the ten virgins. But it will be a fact past and accomplished very soon, ―sooner perhaps than we think. The day and hour is wisely concealed, but the command to “watch” is given. “Watch therefore.”
“BEHOLD THE BRIDEGROOM!” is the cry today. May it sound out far and wide, so that slumberers may awake, and the unready obtain from the hand of a giving God the oil that they need.
Soon, very soon, the solemn words, “THE BRIDEGROOM CAME!” will be declared. He came, and the ready entered with Him into the eternal joys of His presence.
He came, and the door was shut, ―shut forever on many who today may grind at the same mill, or toil in the same field, or bend at the same throne, or worship in the same church, and hope for the same heaven. Why? Because they lacked the oil.
Must you come, kind and gentle reader, on that day to find, alas! a closed door―permanently and eternally closed―the iron bolt of which is formed by the withering words, “I know you not?” Must such a repulse be yours? Shall you not rather now, in time, get ready by coming to Him in faith who still bids you welcome, ―welcome to His blood, to His heart, to the joys of His bright eternal home?
“The flood came and destroyed them all.” Solemn record of history. “The Bridegroom came... and the door was shut,” will shortly be placed on its page as well.
And will you be shut in or shut out?
J. W. S.