The Ten Virgins

"But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. "Later the others also came. 'Sir! Sir!' they said. 'Open the door for us!' "But he replied, 'I tell you the truth, I don't know you.' (Matthew 25:10-12-NIV)

The proponents of lawless grace are stating today that the parable of the ten virgins cannot possibly apply to Christians because once we make a profession of faith we are saved by a sovereign intervention of God independently of our behaviour.

Thus they have made the warning of Christ of no effect.

The question is, whom do the ten virgins represent?

First of all, we are talking about "the Kingdom of Heaven." We are not speaking of the unsaved world or physical Jews.

The ten people were "virgins." We are referring to people who were going to meet the Bridegroom, Jesus Christ.

Each of the ten had burning lamps. This means they began on an equal footing. The lamp often is thought of as the Scriptures. The oil is the Life of God by which we live. So we are not referring to the unsaved or the physical Jews.

They all had the Word and the Life of God to begin with.

The message is one of living in preparation for the Lord's return by keeping full of the Life of God. The five foolish ran out of oil and their lamp was going out.

The penalty for their foolishness, their lack of preparation, was exclusion from the wedding.

Now, the enthusiastic supporters of lawless grace will claim Divine grace covers us to the point that whether or not we are foolish and careless we will still be part of the wedding when the Lord returns.

There is no possible way in which this can be true. This is a pure contravention of the Words of the Son of God. We are destroying the work of God when we teach such unscriptural error.

The message is simple. You are a Christian. You have your lamp, God's Word. You have the Holy Spirit in you giving light and life to the Word. You have been careless and lazy, not praying, not gathering with fervent saints, not meditating in the Scriptures. Listen to me. According to the clear Words of Jesus Christ you are in danger of being rejected when He comes. If this is not the case the Bible is not the Word of God.

I think sometimes the impression is given that we will rise to meet the Lord because of a profession of belief in correct doctrine. This absolutely is not the case. When the Lord Jesus described His coming He never mentioned doctrinal belief. The issue was and always will be the behaviour of His servants.

If you do not have the inner Life of Christ abiding in you, you will not be raised when the Lord appears regardless of your religious beliefs. This is because it is the inner Life, the body and blood of Christ, that will raise the saints. There is no exception to this!