“Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them; but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But 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, And 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. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour."—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).
WE cannot afford to put off the question of readiness for an hour. People are saying, When will the Lord come? “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour," is the Lord's reply.
This scripture brings before us the exact state of matters which will be found on the earth when the Lord does come. Not when He comes to “judge the earth." If you think of the coming of a Bridegroom, you cannot connect that with judgment. You think of affection and delight on the part of the one for whom He comes. It is not cringing fear, but affection.
This scripture presents the responsible side of Christianity. If I am a believer in the Lord, I am responsible not only to wait for Him, but to show that I am waiting for Him. Outwardly the ten virgins were very much alike. All took their lamps and went forth, and all slumbered and slept. Shortly after the death of the Apostles the truth of the Lord's coming went out of the minds of Christians, the world so came in and absorbed them that the coming of the Lord was lost sight of,-" they all slumbered and slept.”
At the beginning of Christianity, what was the truth? That every one who bowed to the Lord as Saviour had also this thought, that He was coming again. They “turned to God, from idols, to serve the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from heaven,... even Jesus," as Paul said of the Thessalonians. The daily hope of the early Christians was the Lord's coming,— not the judgment-day. They waited for Him who had delivered them from the wrath to come. The true Christian is not waiting for judgment. He is one who knows and loves Christ, and whose heart has been knit to Him, who has been made "ready" to meet Christ at His second coming by the work that He did for him at His first coming.
There is a day of wrath coming, but can one drop of the cup of wrath touch the Christian? Never.
As secure as the throne of God is the salvation of the simplest believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, because the believer is connected with the One who sits on that throne. Are you, my reader, thus connected with the living One who sits on the throne of God?
At the outset, all went forth to meet the Bridegroom. Have you, my friend, gone out to meet the Bridegroom? Does anyone know you as one who has gone forth? Yes, you say, I have. Well, you will be tested. It is not head-work but heart-work. They went out to meet a person. Do you know anything about this? Oh, you reply, I should like to be saved. Take care, my reader, that you are not damned while hoping to be saved.
There must be a fitness to meet the coming One, and this fitness He, Himself, furnishes. It is nothing in ourselves. We read that of those ten virgins who went out, five were wise and five foolish. Outwardly all are alike; all make the same profession. Wherein was the wisdom of the wise, and the folly of the foolish? All took the lamp. A lamp is that which others can see. One who bottles up his Christianity does not take the lamp; but if a person's heart is full of Christ, it will soon come out in his life. When a man says to me, I will not have the thoughts of my heart made public, I am pretty sure there is nothing of Christ there to disclose. If, my friend, you knew Christ, you would want others to know Him too. If you were saved yourself, and knew it, you would want others to be saved also. When the heart is full of Christ, it comes bubbling out.
These virgins, then, made an external profession of Christianity,-they took the lamp. “They that were foolish "showed their folly by taking" no oil.” The wise displayed their wisdom by taking it. You will ask, What is the oil? I have no doubt what the Lord means by the oil. The oil is that which alone could maintain the light. From end to end of Scripture oil is the type of the Holy Ghost. Take, in the Old Testament, the consecration of the priest, or the cleansing of the leper, it is there used as a figure of the Spirit of God. What marks the true Christian is this, —he knows Christ, and loves Christ; but more, he has the Holy Ghost. If you have not the Holy Ghost, do you think you are Christ's? Impossible. “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Rom. 8:99But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (Romans 8:9)). Do you say, How can a person know that he has the Holy Ghost? Ah, if you do not know this, what a solemn state you are in. The Holy Ghost loves to minister the things of Christ to the soul that loves Him,—it is the seal of redemption.
The first thing the Holy Ghost does, is to present the gospel to the sinner. He tells him of his need, his danger, and of the impossibility of his extricating himself from the state he is in. He tells him, too, of Jesus, of His love, of His work upon the cross; and when that soul bows down to Jesus and believes in Him, the Holy Ghost takes up His abode in that person.
Are you, then, one who possesses the Holy Ghost? It is not the Holy Ghost to help you to believe. Scripture does not so put it, but thus, " In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise " (Eph. 1:1313In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, (Ephesians 1:13)).
Who hears the gospel? The sinner. Who believes the gospel? The sinner; and when he believes, finds it to be the gospel of his salvation. If a man says I am a poor ungodly sinner, I have blessed news for him,-"Christ died for the ungodly.” What I find is, that people are unwilling to take the place of being ungodly. If you do not take that place, you put yourself out of the pale of those for whom Christ died. But when Christ is simply believed, the Holy Ghost seals the one who believes. Who then believes the Gospel? The sinner. Who is sealed? The believer. It is very simple, —it is the sinner who believes, it is the believer who is sealed.
Do you say, I have made a profession of Christianity? Quite right; but is it a real one? Have you been converted, turned to God? Have you turned round in a world of death to know "the living and true God?” Ah, these are charming words for us who live in a world of death and unreality, — The living God, who will never die; and the true God, whose word will never alter.
When a man is converted, he owns that he is past reformation, and that he must have something new entirely. Where does he find it? In Christ. God must have perfection. Where can He find it? Only in the person of Christ, and the believer is in Christ.
Are you then, my reader, a believer in Christ? Are you one of those wise virgins, or are you one of the foolish ones? Do you say, One cannot know? Did not those foolish virgins know that they had no oil? and did not the wise know that they had the oil? But the wise could not impart to the foolish of their oil. It is an individual thing. “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” How narrow? So narrow that each must go in one by one. I must meet God alone; I must let His eye search me through and through. You may go on for a long time, and may pass current, even among Christians, for one; but the day is coming when you will be rung, as it were, on God's counter, to see if there be a true ring or not. What makes the difference between a true Christian and a false one? The possession of the oil— the Holy Ghost.
Do you say, I want to have the Holy Ghost, I pray for it? Ah! but you must believe. Do you believe, first of all, that you are a good-for-nothing sinner? You must believe that, and, if you do, you will see that there is no remedy for you save in Christ. But God gave His Son to be that remedy, —gave the best thing in heaven for the worst thing on earth. When a man believes that God gave His Son for him, then the Holy Ghost conies in, and takes up His abode in the heart that has left off trusting itself, and has received Christ instead. This man is ready for the Lord's coming.
The Lord says, "Behold, I come quickly." The heart that loves Him says, "Come." The heart of the bride says to the Bridegroom, "Come." If you are a poor sinner who cannot say "Come," to you we say, "Take of the water of life freely;" get among the ready now, ere He does come. The Lord, I believe, is at the door. Never were people so rising and trimming their lamps as to-day. Souls are being saved right and left. God is wonderfully working in the urgency of His charity, and in the universality of its manifestation. He is saving men, women, and children on every hand. Will you be left out? There is a move, a stir, whichever way you look; and oh, solemn thought! perhaps yours is the only unmoved careless heart that shall scan these pages. Wake up: wake up Sinner, flee to the Saviour, lest you find yourself outside when the door is shut.
Many will say in that day, I have been a professor of Christianity; a communicant; a Sunday school teacher; a tract distributor; but they are shut out. Son, you may turn round to your Christian mother, in that moment, and say, “Mother, save me; "but no, no,—" They that were ready went in." Daughter, you will turn round to your godly father, whose prayers many a time went up for you, but you never sought the Lord for yourself. And you, careless husband, who knew that your wife was all right, but never turned to the Lord yourself, you who spent your evenings in folly and sin, you will wake up to find that your wife has gone in, and you are left outside forever And you, wife, occupied with the cares of your house, and thoughts of your children too, knowing that your husband loves the Lord, and that you are only a lifeless professor, you will find that the Lord has come, and they that are ready have gone in, and the door will be shut, but you are left outside.
The Lord's voice is now heard, saying, Come! Come! Come! But then the door will be shut, and you will be outside forever. “They that were ready went in,"— in with Christ, in the glory,— in where all is joy and gladness; while the voice of the hapless unreal professor is heard outside saying, “Lord! Lord! open to us." How truly solemn is His reply, "Verily I say unto you, I know you not.” I know nothing more terrible than that you should stand outside that door, and know that your prayer for admittance is forever denied,-that you should hear Him say, "I never knew you;" instead of you being able to say, with Paul, " I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day " (2 Tim. 1:1212For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. (2 Timothy 1:12)).
Oh, make this scene an impossibility to you. Turn to Jesus now. Come to Jesus now. Taste His love. Love Him, serve Him; let your whole life be His.
“The Bridegroom comes, let no man doubt;
Alas! for those whose lamps are out,
They'll find no oil to buy.
`Trim your lamps and be ready,'
Is the midnight cry."
W. T. P. W.