The parable of the ten virgins tells how the church would become drowsy and go to sleep, forgetting to watch for their Lord. The wise and the foolish all slept together until a cry went forth at midnight, “Behold the bridegroom.” This parable does not indicate that they would all go to sleep again, but the departure at this present time from revealed dispensational truth is in a considerable measure putting many to sleep. If we allow anyone to put something before our souls, which must take place before our Lord can come, then the expectancy of hope is GONE. We are not then waiting and watching for the Lord.
But truth, no matter how precious, may become dull in the soul, and remain in a cold intellectual form. When this happens, the love of it is soon given up, and ultimately even the form of it is dropped. This is exactly what has happened and what is happening in Christendom today. Many who once possessed the hope of the Lord’s coming for His saints, and day by day thrilled at the bright prospect, now merely hold the doctrine of His pretribulation coming. Thus there is no separating power in it, and the world is embraced rather than being treated as it was by the Paul—a thing crucified (Gal. 6:1414But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. (Galatians 6:14)).
Paul Wilson