{"id":65,"date":"2013-03-23T15:43:13","date_gmt":"2013-03-23T15:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ntmu.net\/?p=65"},"modified":"2021-02-28T04:12:12","modified_gmt":"2021-02-28T04:12:12","slug":"test2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ntmu.net\/?p=65","title":{"rendered":"Vast Oil Crisis Just Ahead!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"oil\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u201cThen the kingdom of heaven will be like ten girls who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. The foolish girls brought their lamps, but they took no extra oil. The wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. But the bridegroom delayed, and so they all dozed off to sleep.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt midnight there was a shout, \u2018Here\u2019s the bridegroom! Come out and meet him!\u2019 Then all those girls woke up and got their lamps ready.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the foolish ones asked the wise,<\/p>\n

\u2018Give us some of your oil. Our lamps are going out.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wise girls answered, \u2018There will never be enough for us and for you. Better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile they were away buying it, the bridegroom came, and the girls who were ready went with him to the wedding, and the door was shut.<\/p>\n

\u201cLater the other girls also came and said, \u2018Lord, lord, open the door for us!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell you the truth,\u2019 he answered them, \u2018I don\u2019t know you.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cKeep awake, then, because you don\u2019t know the day or the hour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthew 25:1-13 (WF Beck).<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

By way of introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

The need to be honest and objective in our reading and interpretation of God\u2019s Word, as we sincerely focus on the Lord himself and truly submit to him and to what He is seeking to reveal to us through his Scriptures, that need has always been great, but never greater than in the momentous days of our generation. Both the Lord himself and his apostles repeatedly warned that in the last days there would be many false prophets and prophecies, teachers and teachings, all trying their utmost to entice the saints away from the simplicity that is in Christ. We were never told that such \u201cprophets\u201d and \u201cteachers\u201d would necessarily be non-Christians. In fact, there is every possibility that any true and valued servant of the Most High at some point or other misinterprets the Scriptures and to some degree becomes an instrument in the hands of the master confuser. For this reason Paul charged his co-worker Timothy as solemnly as he did; and for that same reason the Holy Spirit charges us just as solemnly:<\/p>\n

\u201cEarnestly seek to commend yourself to God as a workman who, because of his straightforward dealing with the word of truth, has no reason to feel any shame\u201d (2 Tim. 2:15 -Weymouth).<\/p>\n

We pray that this unpretentious article may be such a \u201cstraightforward dealing with the Word of Truth\u201d, useful to the Spirit of Truth in encouraging, blessing and helping many of his beloved children to be joyfully awake and ready at the moment of the \u201cappearing in glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ\u201d – Titus 2:13.<\/p>\n

TEN TIRED GIRLS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Does the fact that in most Bible versions the ten young ladies are called \u201cvirgins\u201d, make you think of something unspoiled, something \"asleep\"<\/a>which must be a fitting description of true Christians? Think again. The term is used in much the same way as we in our day would use the word \u201cgirls\u201d, or \u201cyoung ladies\u201d, or, more exactly: \u201cyoung, unmarried women\u201d, the friends of the bride. Compare Acts 21:9 and 1 Cor. 7:25-34, etc., where the same word is used. The circumstance that they were unmarried does not have any direct bearing on the parable\u2019s interpretation.<\/p>\n

Sleeping GirlAll of them dozed off; is that a sign of unpreparedness on the part of all of them? It certainly is! Hold on though, it was not that sleep which made the foolish ones foolish, nor did it make the wise ones less wise. This will be realized when we understand why the Lord called some foolish and some wise. From verse 13 it is clear that the Lord means his followers to \u201cwatch\u201d, not to \u201csleep\u201d. But He does not say that a \u201csleeping\u201d Christian should be categorized among the five foolish virgins. If that were so, all ten would have been called \u201cfoolish\u201d.<\/p>\n

So here we have ten unmarried girls, all friends of the bride, all waiting for the bridegroom and all dozing off. But there the similarities end.<\/p>\n

Together, yet poles apart<\/strong><\/p>\n

On occasions the Lord likened his followers to people, who were either\/or. But on two occasions only did He call them either wise, or foolish (Mt. 7:24-27; Lk. 6:47-49; Mt 25:1-13). It is very important to get this: we are talking of followers, all kinds of followers. Yet to our Lord a very clear and definitive dividing line was visible among them, a line which frequently is not so clearly visible to us.<\/p>\n

In his very first parable He compares all those who hear his Word, and possibly relish it, to either a wise builder, or a foolish one. He does so in the context of the \u201cmany\u201d followers, who profess his \u201clordship\u201d and do all kinds of wonderful things in his name, but without belonging to him. He tells us his final verdict will be: \u201cI never knew you …\u201d Jesus never denies their religiosity; but He does deny there is any true relationship with himself. What, in the Lord\u2019s judgment, makes them foolish? Is it not the fact that they seek to build without any proper \u201cfoundation\u201d?<\/p>\n

And what is it that makes others wise or true followers? Simply the fact that they build on a good and solid \u201cfoundation\u201d. This foundation is the Word of Christ, heard (and relished) and acted on: a personal relationship between the follower and his Lord.<\/p>\n

There is no doubt then that the two builders together represent all of Christ\u2019s followers, or, simply, all of Christianity. But what serious Bible reader would contend that the foolish builder, the one without foundation, the one whose \u201cworld\u201d comes crashing down, is meant to give us some kind of a picture of born-again believers, albeit \u201cbackslidden\u201d born-again believers? Especially in the light of that preceding verse of Matthew 7:23? The awesome day is coming, when our Lord will declare He never knew them. They may have all the semblance of truth, discipleship, perhaps holiness, even of miracle-performers, but at that \u201cmoment of truth\u201d everything comes tumbling down and is seen for what it really is: a mere heap of rubble. The one absolutely vital part was missing: the solid foundation. Through this parable the Lord wants us to take stock of our own condition before Him, but also to see through the beautiful \u201chouses\u201d in \u201cChristianity\u201d. He certainly wants to teach us to humbly discern the absence of a true foundation in the lives and homes of our loved ones. In that way He might use us to alert and help our \u201cprofessing\u201d relatives and friends before disaster strikes.<\/p>\n

Now we must ask ourselves the inevitable question: If in no way we can conceive of the foolish builder as representing true believers; not even backsliding believers – and if we must thus admit that Jesus was giving us in the foolish builder an exclusive picture of clever \u201cmake-belief\u201d believers, then, what could now possibly lead us to conclude that the \u201cfive foolish virgins\u201d, in total contrast, do represent true, born-again, believers?<\/p>\n

Watch that line!<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the parable of the ten virgins, one of his very last ones, the scene is very different, but again it is all concerned with Christ\u2019s followers, and, again, the number is split right down the middle. Again it is an \u201ceither\/or\u201d situation. Either we are \u201chave not\u201d Christians, or we are \u201chave\u201d Christians. Either we have the \u201cname of being alive\u201d, or we \u201care alive\u201d (Rev. 3:1). Either we are Christ\u2019s followers so-called, or we are Christ\u2019s followers, period. Either we are foolishly pretending to wait for the Bridegroom, or, by grace, we are waiting for Him, expecting Him at any moment, even if, unwisely, dozing off when his arrival takes longer than expected.<\/p>\n

Whereas the foolish builder was typified by going without a foundation, the foolish virgins are typified by going without oil. Jesus specifically mentions them as taking no oil along with their lamps. That is what marked them as foolish.<\/p>\n

What builder would be so incredibly foolish as to build a house on the sand, never thinking of the approaching weather conditions? And what young lady, even in all the excitement of the great feast, would be so stupid as to take an oil lamp along, in case night should fall before the appearance of the bridegroom, and yet not bother about the oil? From Jesus we learn that half of \u201cChristianity\u201d is that foolish. In the first parable He teaches us that this is because the Word is not taken seriously. The parable of the \u2018virgins\u2019 shows us it is because the Holy Spirit is not taken seriously. The two always go together. Most of us have to admit that we too were there, on that side of the dividing line. Then, perhaps suddenly, perhaps gradually, our eyes were opened and we saw the need of a foundation for our life\u2019s house. We saw that we were in darkness and desperately needed light, and so, by his grace, we surrendered to our Lord and Savior. Through his grace we became \u201cwise\u201d (2 Tim. 3:15; Titus 2:11-14)! No more need to sing: \u201cGive me oil in my lamp, keep me burning!\u201d He IS our oil.<\/p>\n

A right mixture!<\/strong><\/p>\n

One notable difference between the two parables is the fact that in this one the foolish and the wise are so completely intermingled. If you weren\u2019t aware of the presence or absence of oil, you would not be able to tell them apart. There is no doubt the Great Storyteller wants us to notice this detail: the greatest of all mix-ups. He wants us to be fully aware that even if the Kingdom of Heaven is now among us (see footnote), this should not lead us to think that the great adversary is already bound and out of the picture. Jesus wants us to realize that Satan is still very much in the picture. The complete mixture in the parable of the virgins points straight at what Paul later confirms: \u201cThe mystery of iniquity is already at work …\u201d (2 Thes. 2:7). It also must remind us of four of the seven kingdom parables in Matthew 13. Here we find other word pictures drawn by our Lord to point out to us how, right from the outset and all through this kingdom age, there would be the satanic negative, feverishly working away among all the divine positive: \u201cthe weeds among the wheat\u201d, \u201cthe birds in the mustard plant\u201d, \u201cthe leaven in the dough\u201d and \u201cthe dragnet with bad and good fish\u201d. In each one He gives us most valuable teaching, so we may know \u2018where we are\u2019 in regards to God\u2019s work at this time, and where we are in regards to Satan\u2019s. Then, almost at the end of his earthly ministry, in the parable of the virgins, He gives us a glimpse of the very conclusion of the age. He unfolds the final act of the long drawn out drama, when the false are screened out from among the true, the foolish out from among the wise. The climax of the age, naturally, is the appearing of the Bridegroom. The wise ones have oil and light and get to see him (1 John 3:2). They go with him into the feast. The foolish girls never even get to see him …<\/p>\n

Oil, oil, oil …<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lest it spill, neither the wise, nor the foolish, carried oil in the lamps, except perhaps just that little bit that would keep the wick burning while they were traveling. Oil was carried in a tiny \u201cvessel\u201d or container and transferred, all or in part, to the lamp when the moment of need had arrived. The wise were wise, because they carried this vessel filled with oil.<\/p>\n

The three occurrences of \u201coil\u201d in this parable (Mt. 25) are the very first in the New Testament and, without question, they symbolize the Holy Spirit. Commentators are in agreement that this would be the true Biblical perspective. It follows that the five without oil represent professing \u201cChristians\u201d. They have lamps, but cannot produce light. They are merely keeping up appearances. They do not represent possessing Christians (who have the oil to burn in the lamps). The foolish ones represent \u201cChristians\u201d, of whom men may say at the grave side: \u201cWe know so-and-so was a good Christian man or woman\u201d, but of whom the Bridegroom will say: \u201cI know you not!\u201d That devastating verdict is practically the same as the one we found in chapter 7:23. Only a person, any person, regenerated, indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, the guarantee of the eternal inheritance (Rom. 8:9; Eph. 1:13-14), can be said to \u201ccarry oil\u201d and therefore to be among the five wise virgins.<\/p>\n

In other words, a huge part of \u201cChristianity\u201d (remember: Jesus splits it right down the middle) belongs to \u201cit\u201d, but not to Him. For them Christianity is not Christ, it is tradition, liturgy, Sunday (or Sabbath)-\u201cworship\u201d, hierarchy, baptism, other \u2018sacraments\u2019, penitence, sacrifice, good works, austerity, you name it, possibly even home-schooling and home-churching. Excellent at keeping up appearances they may be, yet behind the fa\u00e7ade there is a gaping void. The \u201coil\u201d of the Holy Spirit does not burn in their hearts. It does not shine out through their eyes and mouths and hands into the dark night of this world until the moment of the Bridegroom`s appearance. Indeed it cannot burn there, because there is none.<\/p>\n

More than one twinkling of an eye?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We must assume that the Lord speaks to us in this parable about the coming rapture of the saints, which takes place when He comes for them. We only need to examine the parable in the light of 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4. The \u201cbridegroom\u201d clearly enough is a picture of our Lord Himself, and, even though the \u201cbride\u201d is not mentioned at all in the story, just as obviously, the virgins do represent Christ\u2019s followers, that is, they are identified with the bride and expecting to enter into the wedding feast through the open door.<\/p>\n

Will the whole true church of Christ be raptured in the \u201ctwinkling of an eye\u201d, i.e. all those truly redeemed, or … should we look for one rapture now and then another one later on, at a \u201csecond twinkling of an eye\u201d? Must the \u201clast trumpet\u201d sound a second time? If the \u201cfoolish virgins\u201d represent true Christians, though backslidden, to whom the door is closed, then, clearly, we are bound to believe in a partial rapture, or, more correctly, in two partial raptures. Then half the true Christians will be with the Bridegroom, celebrating the Marriage of the Lamb, while the other half are left to face the maulings of the Beast in the Great Tribulation. Eventually, so it is believed by those who take this line, these will also have sufficient \u201coil\u201d and the Bridegroom will then \u201cknow\u201d them and \u201copen the door\u201d to them after all. The idea is that the \u201cwise virgins\u201d, though not perfect when the bridegroom appears, are \u201cpure enough\u201d Christians. They can go in just as they are, but the \u201cfoolish ones\u201d need a thorough \u201cpurification\u201d first, which they will get in the Great Tribulation, a kind of \u201cpurgatory\u201d for them.<\/p>\n

The problem with this view is that it alienates us from the Gospel of the grace of God. Do its proponents really search the Scriptures as diligently as the Bereans of Acts 17? There is one vital question we MUST ask again and again: \u201cWhat really does the Word say?\u201d Not doing so in a humble and prayerful attitude, gets us into hot water doctrinally.<\/p>\n

It does not require a huge amount of time and effort to have a good look at THE rapture passage of 1 Thessalonians 4, for instance. Speaking about the resurrection of the saints, brought from the dead with Christ at the moment of his appearing (vss. 14 and 16), Paul mentions that they are the ones who had \u201cfallen asleep in Him\u201d and were \u201cdead in Christ\u201d. Can that mean anything but ALL those Christians, who throughout past centuries were truly born of the Spirit? 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 are just as emphatic. If very many of these \u201csaints\u201d, for the larger part of their earthly Christian lives, failed to live like saints, sadly remaining on lower levels than their Lord had intended for them, does that cause them to be only \u201chalf-in-Christ\u201d, or \u201cone-third-in-Christ\u201d? True Christians are declared to be in Christ, period. Paul does not address issues of carnality here, as he does in other chapters, only the fact that true Christians \u201care in Christ\u201d, even if they have seemingly passed from the scene. He tells us they will be truly raised and raptured in Christ. He does not say that this resurrection and this rapture will only happen to a certain section of them. Of course, their unfaithfulness, disobedience, worldliness, etc. must be dealt with; but that will be at the judgment seat of Christ (1 Cor. 3). Interestingly, in the following parable of Mt. 25, the one about the talents, Jesus himself draws our attention to this fact.<\/p>\n

It should be clear then that the term \u201cin Christ\u201d includes all true Christians in the resurrection of the saints and in the rapture.<\/p>\n

It all happened before, sort of ..<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lot, called \u201crighteous\u201d or \u201cjust\u201d by Peter no less than three times, was \u201craptured\u201d out of Sodom (2 P. 2:6-8), not because he was an exemplary saint, but simply because through faith he belonged to God. Peter also speaks about Noah. Noah was everything that Lot should have been, but wasn\u2019t. Conditions in Noah\u2019s time may have been even worse than those that prevailed in Sodom and Gomorrah. At any rate they were universal, whereas the S&G situation was local. Peter would have been correct in calling Noah \u201crighteous\u201d, but he goes further and describes him as \u201ca preacher of righteousness\u201d. Some difference! Even if much in Lot\u2019s life and testimony was negative (just think of the sordid epilogue of Gen. 19), our Lord himself uses both Noah and Lot (Lk. 17:26-30) as \u201cprecedents\u201d or examples of the \u201cGreat Escape\u201d, the rapture of his ekklesia, the church, in which there will be millions of spiritual Noahs, and, most likely, even more millions of spiritual Lots, all receiving at last the full inheritance for which the Holy Spirit had sealed them when they first believed (Eph. 1:13-14).<\/p>\n

In other words, the \u201coil lamps\u201d of the many \u201cspiritual Lots\u201d throughout the centuries may have produced more \u201csmoke\u201d from their \u201cwicks\u201d (or \u201cflaxes\u201d) than \u201cflame\u201d, yet the Lord states that He will not extinguish that flame, however small (Is. 42:3; Mt. 12:20). What the smoking lamp needs (if there is oil in it), rather than being put out, is an adjustment of the wick. That is what will restore a bright flame. It is not a question of the oil. The oil is there, but it has been obstructed in the wick.<\/p>\n

So the picture is of two categories of people. Paul mentions them in 1 Corinthians 2 & 3. There is the \u201cnatural or psychic\u201d man and there is the \u201cspiritual\u201d man. But then he does go on to a third category, or sub-category: the \u201ccarnal\u201d man, a true Christian, but not living out the spiritual life, rather allowing the flesh to have the last word on many issues.<\/p>\n

In our parable we are also faced with two categories first: foolish virgins (no oil, no light) and wise virgins (no lack of oil and, normally, no lack of light). However, that is where we discover there is a third category: among the wise virgins foolishness may creep in. They may leave their wick unattended and the light goes down and down, being replaced with smoke. In Paul\u2019s terminology: the Spirit is there, they are spiritual, i.e. truly born of the Spirit, yet the flesh (carnality) may easily encroach, threatening to take over. In Luke 9:27, Romans 12:1-2; Galatians 2:20; 5:16-26; 6:14, and other verses, we are instructed as to how to keep these \u201cwicks\u201d of ours properly \u201ctrimmed\u201d, so that the Lord\u2019s light and testimony may freely shine, continually energized by the oil of the indwelling Spirit. On another occasion, when illustrating the constant need to be ready for his return, the Lord tells his disciples to let their \u201cloins be girded\u201d and their \u201clamps burning\u201d (Lk. 12:35).<\/p>\n

SUDDEN CRISIS!!<\/strong><\/p>\n

All ten virgins woke with a start when the call sounded, all started to trim their wicks. Yet, however much the foolish ones trimmed, they were unsuccessful. No light was produced. The verb usually translated \u201ctrim\u201d, can be equally well translated \u201clight\u201d. If they lit their wicks, there would be a momentary flicker, but mostly smoke. The lack of oil made any useful flame impossible. Whatever there was, it soon went out. That is what we are told.<\/p>\n

It makes us think of those \u201cChristians\u201d of Hebrews 6:4-6, who stopped short of true repentance and regeneration. Twice it says of them that they \u201ctasted\u201d. It is the key word in that passage. Countless multitudes on all continents insist on being called \u201cChristians\u201d, but all they have ever done is taste a bit here and taste a bit there. They keep on \u201ctasting\u201d without ever drinking. The important thing to note is that \u201ctasting\u201d is not \u201cdrinking\u201d (compare Mat. 27:34). We might say that the lamps and the wicks of the foolish virgins had a \u201ctaste\u201d of oil to them, but the oil was missing!<\/p>\n

The possibility of a lack of oil in Christianity has had to be taken into account ever since the days of Simon-the-sorcerer (Acts 8:9-23). However, by now it should be clear that the situation has taken on crisis proportions. Untold millons of so-called \u201cChristians\u201d, blissfully dozed off, are unaware of what is upon them. It is their oil crisis. There is no crisis with the One who supplies the \u201coil\u201d. His supply is unlimited for all who discover their need and come to him.<\/p>\n

At the time of writing it is still not too late …!!<\/p>\n

All of us together!<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is a popular idea that the Lord is now preparing his Church in these last days for that moment of his return. To many it follows that now, on the eve of his arrival, worldwide revival is about to break out. The thought is that the many thus prepared will go with Him in the rapture. Those that did not allow Him to prepare them, or revive them, will remain behind.<\/p>\n

This would be like a mother, who usually speaks of the two children she has at home as if they were her only ones, somehow forgetting the other eight, grown up and married, who are hers just as much as the two youngest ones.<\/p>\n

So many seem to have lost sight of the fact that the Lord has always been preparing his Church. The company of the redeemed, still alive on earth when the trumpet sounds, is no more than a remnant of the complete Church. Obviously we are not meant to think of a present-day-remnant-only that will be caught away. It will happen to the whole Church of Christ, all those of the present and all those of the past. In fact, this is Paul\u2019s argument in 1 Thess. 4. The saints still alive will not precede the ones whose bodies slept in Jesus. Rather, once they have come back from the dead, ALL will go to meet the Lord in the air together!<\/p>\n

The apostle wants us to understand that true Christians \u201care all one in Christ Jesus\u201d. That is not an ideal, it is a wonderful spiritual reality, all the more wonderful, when we remember that, at the time of writing, he was addressing those pretty carnal Galatians (3:28). In Christ there can be no division, not between past and present Christians, and not between spiritual and carnal Christians.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the divisions among true Christians-on-earth cannot be denied. They are not only obvious, they are also painful and harmful. These things will be sorted out perfectly, however, by our Lord as \u201cwe all appear before the judgment seat of Christ\u201d (2 Cor. 5:10), but (and again by his grace) we may be before him in much prayer even now, seeking to be useful to him in the healing of misunderstandings, hurts and rifts among all of his true children. At the same time, whenever it would seem some kind of practical unity can be achieved among Christians on the basis of compromising the truth revealed in God\u2019s Word, those who are \u201cwise – and wide awake\u201d will know how to value God\u2019s Word far above all human persuasions.<\/p>\n

To be wise like the \u201cwise virgins\u201d is to believe in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with all our heart, and so to be sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise (Eph. 1:12-14). That wisdom is evidenced by the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. From the moment in which He takes up his abode, there is an indivisible unity with ALL who are his children (of whatever creed, denomination or time period). That perfect unity in Christ cannot fail to be perfect also in our joint resurrection, rapture and before his judgment seat.<\/p>\n

There is this indivisible unity, but in Christ there also is a total division, which cannot be unified, a division from ALL who are not indwelled by the same Holy Spirit. The ones may look exactly like the others, do the same things, attend the same meetings and speak the same words, but the presence or absence of the \u201coil\u201d of the Holy Spirit fixes that awesome, eternal gulf between the two groups.<\/p>\n

Churchianity ..? Christianity ..?<\/strong><\/p>\n

What a spectacle to see all of those girls lying about and asleep. None of them should have been. The point the Lord makes is that, with not knowing the exact time of the bridegroom\u2019s coming, they should have been wide awake, all of them. Five of them should have used their precious time to hurry and get oil while they still could. But the other five? What should they have been doing? What else but to keep on nudging the foolish ones, waking them up, persuading them of the lateness of the hour. They all slept, no noticeable difference among them. A sad spectacle, indeed. Like it or not, consider it negative or whatever, it is the prophetic and absolutely realistic picture of the whole of present day Christianity on the eve of his return. It is the culmination of long centuries of wholesale backsliding. Parents in one generation, true Christians, stop taking the Lord and his Word seriously. The result? Their children, the next generation, though still insisting on calling themselves Christians, in all likelihood never have a personal experience with the Savior.<\/p>\n

It brings us to the \u201cA\u201d word: APOSTASY. We find the Lord telling us in this parable that Christianity as a whole will be found to be \u201capostate\u201d when He returns.<\/p>\n

\u201cApostasy???\u201d Perhaps one of those high sounding theological concepts that you never quite understood, but were afraid to ask about? Paul prophesies about it in 2 Thess. 2:3, where it may be translated \u201cfalling away\u201d, or something similar. In Matthew 25 it is the Lord himself, who paints us a very sad picture. Christian apostasy is always one of two kinds, but in this parable we find both kinds together.<\/p>\n

Much of Christianity is apostate in that it still has the name, certain traditions and values, but .. nothing more! If it does not have the Spirit of Christ, then it \u201cis none of his\u201d (Rom. 8:9). It may still have much of the form, but it is an empty form. This apostasy is aptly illustrated by the five foolish virgins, who carry the lamps, but not the oil.<\/p>\n

The other kind of apostasy happens when an individual Christian (that is, a true one, one who has oil), or a Christian home, or a whole congregation, wanders away from closely following the Lord. It is often referred to in the epistles to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3. It ranges there from a creeping indifference to their Lord in the first letter, to a complete independence from him in the last one. Five of the seven Christian congregations are told to \u201crepent\u201d.<\/p>\n

As we have seen above, when this apostasy occurs among true Christians who, furthermore, refuse to repent, the following generation will almost inevitably experience the other kind of apostasy, the one we mentioned first. They will be no more than so-called, or nominal, \u201cChristians\u201d.<\/p>\n

The five wise virgins, instead of being wide awake, straining to hear the bridegroom\u2019s call, and seeking to wake up their five foolish friends, chose rather to relax with them, to take things easy, possibly telling each other: \u201cWell, at least we\u2019ve got our oil, so why worry?\u201d In this second kind of apostasy there is no \u201coil crisis\u201d, that is absolutely clear. However, as we have seen, it is just as clear that every true believer will have a \u201cjudgment-seat crisis\u201d. Interestingly we get the word \u201ccrisis\u201d from the Greek; it literally means \u201cjudgment\u201d. Every single one of us will have to answer before that tribunal about the things done in the body, whether good or bad (2 Cor. 5:10).<\/p>\n

Jesus gives us a general picture of sleeping Christians at the time of his return, more like \u201cchurchianity\u201d in reality then Christianity, a picture of true Christians all mixed up with pseudo Christians. The situation reminds us of that awful apostasy in Elijah\u2019s time. But hold on! When it seemed there was no one left who followed the Lord but God\u2019s one prophet, he was told there were still 7,000 who, like him, had not bent their knee to Baal (Rom. 11:3-4). They were the wonderful exception to the rule.<\/p>\n

God is looking for present day exceptions! For \u201cvirgins\u201d, who are not only wise because they have their oil, but who are also wide awake and doing his work! As always, his grace is sufficient, for you and for me!<\/p>\n

May we leave you with Paul\u2019s last instructions to Timothy:<\/p>\n

\u201cI, therefore, give you a solemn charge, before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at the time of his return and the setting up of his kingdom. Preach the Word of God. Be instant in season and out of season. Show people where they are wrong; rebuke them if necessary. Patiently exhort and teach. For the time will come when people will not listen to sound teaching, but in accord with their own godless desires they will employ teachers who please them and amuse them, and they will turn away their ears from the truth and listen to fables.<\/p>\n

But watch in all things. Bravely endure suffering. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfil your ministry to the full. I am now ready to die as a sacrifice unto God. The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I have run my race. I have kept the faith. Henceforth there awaits me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge will give me at the day when I see him. But not only give to me, but give to all those who love his coming and presence\u201d – 2 Tim. 4:1-8 (PG Parker)<\/p>\n

\u00a0Footnote<\/strong><\/p>\n

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With Christ\u2019s coming to earth, and through his life, death, resurrection,<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 PRESSING ON!, Apartado 31, 29700 V\u00e9lez-M\u00e1laga, Spain; e-mail: pressingonstill@gmail.com <\/a>.<\/p>\n

This e-booklet is one of a growing number (in English and Spanish) on the NTMU website:<\/p>\n

Copyright is granted on the condition that the contents of the entire e-booklet are left intact, i.e. without any change, including this permission and the above information.<\/p>\n

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