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Copyright © 2012 J. Neely. All rights reserved.
Chapter 25 - Ten Virgins
Matt. 25:11-13
11 Afterward [de] [husteron] came [erchomai] also [kai] the other [loipoy] virgins [parthenos] , saying [lego] , Lord [kurios] , Lord [kurios] , open [anoigo] to us [hemin] .
12 But [de] he answered [apokrinomai] and said [epo] , Verily [amen] I say [lego] unto you [humin] , I know [eido] you [humas] not [ou] .
13 Watch [gregoreuo] therefore [oun] , for [hoti] ye know [eido] neither [ou] the day [hemera] nor [oude] the hour [hora] wherein [en] [hos] the Son [huios] of man [anthropos] cometh [erchomai] . KJV-Interlinear
11 'And later the other virgins also came, saying, 'Lord, lord, open up for us.' 12 'But he answered and said, 'Truly I say to you, I do not know you.' 13 'Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour. NASB
The above verses inspired this poem by Tennyson: Idylls of the King
Late, late, so late, and dark the night and chill!
Late, late, so late, but we can enter still.
Too late, too late, ye cannot enter now.
No light had we, for that we do repent;
And, learning this, the Bridegroom will relent.
Too late, too late, ye cannot enter now
No light, so late, and dark and chill the night!
O let us in, that we may find the light.
Too late, too late, ye cannot enter now.
Have we not heard the Bridegroom is so sweet?
O let us in, tho' late, to kiss His feet!
No, no, too late! Ye cannot enter now.
Two categories of people will lose out on eternal blessings. The first group consists of unbelievers. They will suffer the greatest loss of all. Crying and gnashing of teeth are some of the kindest descriptions of their future of eternal separation from God.. Too late, they will not even repent when they see their destiny unfold before their eyes. They will remain defiant to the end.
The second group will consist of negative believers. This could include you. Crying and gnashing of teeth will not be the reactions of this group for they will be in heaven, but loss of blessing and probably embarrassment (embarrassment is not a sin by the way) will be their response to their discovery of just how foolish they have been through their lives.
Jesus Christ gives us this warning because God is not a push over. He has set up standards for us to live by, and He will not compromise them, nor allow anyone else to water down His standards.
We can live our life and reject the truth. We can live in utter defiance to truth. We can follow homosexual life styles. We can pursue paths of gossip and judging others. We can get caught up in the politics and power and other forms of lust of the day. We can put on a facade of righteousness. We can live a life of indifference and ignore all reality of any form of a higher pattern of life. We can pretend. We can place our head in the sand. We can point out the errors of others and ignore our own.
Then ... God will bring us all back to reality the hard way, and too late. We have every opportunity to live a life as unto the Lord. As God instructed Abraham, 'Walk in My ways and be perfect.' The Christian life is as simple as that.
What is being perfect? Being in fellowship. Taught in Leviticus, described in the Psalms by David, and explained in 1 John. We are all born sinners. There is none among us that is perfect, nor can any of us come close to perfection. We have the right to judge (evaluate) ourselves when it comes to sin. We have the right to prosecute law breakers (through due process) when criminal acts occur.
We do not have the right to persecute others through public opinion, through gossip or maligning. We do not have the right to persecute others through vigilante (unauthorized and unlawful) activities.
God established the laws of divine establishment to control mankind and to help mankind survive in this devils world, but there are many who would more than gladly help the devil out by unwittingly pursuing Satan's pattern of evil. What is this pattern?
Evil is the policy of everything against God. Evil is the foundation of Satan's philosophy. The actions of sin are the carrying out of evil policies. The actions of sin are what we call wickedness. Evil is the policy, and wickedness is the production. It includes everything from arrogance, to sins of the tongue, to sins of the mind, to overt sins such as theft, murder, assault, various forms of lust patterns, to perverted sexual activities, and so forth.
In all of these, we all suffer and fall prey sooner or later to mental sins, to verbal sins, and to overt sins. All criminal activities are sins. Not all sins are criminal activities, jealousy for example, or bitterness.
Knowing this we have an obligation to God, not to do something regarding our sins, for there is nothing that we can do in order to make our sins right with God. Christ did that on the Cross. But God merely asks us to acknowledge our sins to Him. We call that confession, wherein we state, or list our sins to God the Father only, and to no one else. 'Father I did this and that, and this and that.' End of confession. This is a form of prayer. All prayer is directed to the Father and to no one else. All prayer is submitted to the Father in the name of the Son, for we can only approach the Father by means of the Son. So we generally terminate our prayers with, ' In Christ's name.'
This is the fellowship concept. Once we name our sins, we are placed in fellowship. When we commit a sin, we are out of fellowship. We do not get back into fellowship unless and until we do another confession for our current sins (all of them), in silent prayer (it is no one else's business). Confession is between the individual and God and no one else.
Why is fellowship important? First because God commands it. Second because you are under the control of either your sin nature, or God the Holy Spirit. Out of fellowship you are under the control of your sin nature. Your spiritual life is short circuited or off line. In fellowship, you are under the control of the Holy Spirit, and your spiritual life is back online so to speak. You can only grow up spiritually while in fellowship. This is the state of sinless perfection in which you live your life not under the umbrella a some sinful activity, but in conformance with Gods policies of life.
Now, that we are all perfect ... We move on to the walking part of daily life. Here we live our life in accordance with Gods teachings. We do not gossip, we do not disobey authority, we do not judge others, we do not lie, or steal, or mislead, or connive or plot against others. We do not feel sorry for ourselves. We are not bitter. We do not compromise Gods principles of doctrine. This list goes on and on. We learn the Christian way of life and we grow up spiritually by studying the Bible, and are taught (no one can be initially self taught) Gods wisdom, and truth, and we learn to think as God would have us think. We become charitable, and more empathetic towards others. We face life's disasters and hard times and we trust in God to help us through them. And not to say the least, but we trust that God knows what He is doing and will provide answers and/or solutions for us regardless of our circumstances.
Some of us may live our life with not so much as breaking a finger nail while others of us may have to fight the hurricane everyday of our life. God is not easier on some and angry with others of us. He gives us nothing beyond which we are capable of handling, and He provides us with exactly what He wishes us to have in the way of resources and solutions. Often times it is not what we would wish for ourselves.
Overall, God teaches us that the details of life mean nothing. Everything is in His hands, whether the life of ease or the life of difficulties. He gives us all ample time and resources to prepare ourselves for something far better than anything in this life. While we all spend our time pursuing our education, our careers, our hobbies, our social life and such, there will come a time when all of these will mean nothing. That will be the day of our reality check.
Will we recognize, before that time, that we need to prepare as God intends us to prepare? Or will we disregard all of this Bible stuff, only to discover too late that we are fools to the n'th degree? And then finding our door of opportunity has been permanently shut and our life has been nothing more than filler in history.
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