Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
After the bridal procession has entered and the door has been shut, the unready virgins arrive too late, beg for admission, are refused, and are left outside in darkness in the empty street at night. They are not open sinners but professed Christians with a lamp of profession and great light and knowledge, yet unsanctified and destitute of grace. Their lamps are the Word of God and profession of truth, and their lack is the oil of the Holy Spirit and grace of Christ in the heart, without which profession is worthless and the light goes out. The shut door marks the close of probation when character is finally settled and mercy no longer reaches the unready. Character cannot be borrowed from another nor gained at the last moment, so readiness must be secured now by watching, prayer, obedience, and keeping the vessel filled with oil through daily connection with Christ.
Story and Immediate Outcome
The latecomers arrive only after the bridal procession has already entered and the door has been shut, and standing outside they plead to be let in, but they are refused admission and left without in the empty street in the blackness of the night. Five were wise with oil in their vessels with their lamps, and five were foolish with no oil so that their lamps went out; while the foolish went to buy oil the Bridegroom came, those who were ready went in with Him to the marriage and the marriage supper, and the door was shut. Afterward the others come asking to be let in, but their plea meets unexpected denial from the master of the feast, I know you not, and exclusion as unready when the Bridegroom came. The shut door marks the close of probation, when anyone still unprepared cannot enter the marriage feast and access is withdrawn, pictured also by the wedding garment as Christ's righteousness and the kingdom of heaven sought above earthly concerns and excuses. The picture should cause trembling, coming as a solemn warning to every church of the danger of those whose works do not correspond to their profession of faith, warning against delaying preparation and prompting serious thought, Bible study, and earnest prayer for guidance into all truth.
The scene belongs to the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25:1-13, awaiting the bridegroom, which supplies the setting for the lesson that heaven's welcome is not earned by status or pride but received through humble faith and love. Christ told it to His disciples while looking upon the party waiting for the bridegroom, illustrating by their experience the experience of the church that shall live just before His second coming. It teaches truths about His second coming through the picture of an evening wedding procession and a household waiting for the bridegroom, with the ten representing the professed Christian church watching in the evening of earth's history. It forms part of the discourse recorded in Matthew 24 and 25, given shortly before entering Gethsemane, which also includes the parable of the talents.
The bridegroom's delay represents the passing of the expected time, the disappointment, and the ensuing wait, during which professed believers grew drowsy about the time of Christ's coming and all slumbered in the tarrying time with loss of zeal and devotion. Their going out represents the widespread proclamation of the first message, and the midnight cry was a final call to wake them, trim lamps, and go out to meet the Bridegroom, arousing believers on arguments from prophecy and the sanctuary types. The wise respond when they hear He is approaching, their spiritual life replenished through Christ's grace and the Holy Spirit with active and fruitful faith, in contrast to those who lack the grace needed to keep their lamps burning. The waiting and slumber are thus followed by the anticipated arrival, and with signs fulfilling and churches generally slumbering the setting warns professing believers to be awake, prepared, and not found unready.
Lamp Oil and Door
The oil kept in vessels to feed the lamps is the Holy Spirit and the grace of God in the heart, including the grace and righteousness and character of Christ, with love and faith and patience and truth and heavenly love. It is received through consecrated human agencies and through the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth, emptied from the olive trees through golden pipes to impart the heavenly grace that alone makes the word a light. It nourishes a living daily experience of faith, love, and patience, sustains a shining witness, forms unseen principles and open communion with God, and prepares character in God's likeness for the marriage supper of the Lamb. Without that supply lamps go out and mere profession, knowledge of Scripture, and theory of truth are of no avail to quicken the soul, sanctify the heart, transform character, distinguish truth from error, or withstand temptation. Those who neglect to obtain it during probationary time and try to make up the neglect at the last minute find their plea comes too late and entrance is refused.
The lamps are the Bibles believers carry, the word of God as a lamp to the feet and a light to the path, also representing profession or theory of truth and God's remnant people who need a constant supply. The wise keep oil in their vessels with their lamps, so their lamps keep burning through the night of waiting and light the way to the bridegroom's home and marriage feast and to the city of God. Through the Holy Spirit that word becomes a transforming power that develops God's character in followers, so they shine in the world's darkness, honor God, give light to others, and point sinners toward the marriage supper. A lamp without oil is Scripture made powerless by speculation or truth heard but not obeyed, as when half of those who know the truth profess godliness yet lack grace to decide for obedience and only see their defects when trimming is no longer possible.
The shut door after which the other virgins plead for admission marks the close of probation and the end of mercy, when characters are finally settled, access to Christ is withdrawn, and the unready cannot enter the marriage feast but hear that they are unknown. In 1844 those holding their Advent expectation took that door to mean probation for sinners had closed and published that shut door, and most of the Advent people once believed it. That application was mistaken, for the coming of the Bridegroom was Jesus rising from His mediatorial throne and going into the holiest place in heaven to receive His kingdom at the cleansing of the sanctuary, not His coming to earth to deliver His people on the tenth day of the seventh month. At the close of the 2300 days Christ closed one ministration and began another in the most holy, still pleading His blood for sinners, so mercy remained open and the door did not end intercession or all access to forgiveness. Light on the Sabbath brings greater condemnation for rejecting it, and the warning remains not to delay preparation, let earthly concerns and excuses take priority over the kingdom and the wedding garment of Christ's righteousness, or presume on mercy while it still remains.
Who Other Virgins Are
The other virgins are not open sinners making no profession, but professed Christians and church members claiming to be children of God and disciples watching in the evening of earth's history, having a call, a name, a lamp, and a confident expectation of the Bridegroom's coming. They have great light, knowledge, opportunities, continuous privileges, and the theory of the truth including the third angel's message and the light on justification by faith and the imputed righteousness of Christ, yet they have only a theoretical knowledge and think that is all that is required because they are not doers of the Word. They are unsanctified, unconverted, cold, backslidden, and destitute of grace, lacking the oil of grace and the Holy Spirit and the inward character represented by the white robe of Christ's righteousness, with a real interest in the gospel and knowledge of the standard of righteousness but ruled by self-love. They treated life-giving truth as unessential and did not continue to provide themselves with oil, so they are weak in faith, unstable in experience, unready for the marriage feast, and unable to acquire preparation at the last moment when the crisis comes and life ends. Their plea for entrance, Lord, Lord, open unto us, is answered with rejection, I know you not, because character is not transferable and they cannot go in with the wise.
They are ease-loving, world-loving, self-pleasing professors who hid their light and mingled with the world until their light went out and lost all power to shine, hushed to slumber and made careless by the peace and safety cry. They have no burden for souls, do not deny self, do not lift the cross, do not trade their talents and put them out to the exchangers in the present trading time, and do not live and work to restore the moral image of God in man, but seek an enjoyable time with the world and live for self instead of seeking to save souls ready to perish. Having a name in the church book will not secure entrance, for readiness means close, critical self-examination of how opportunities and God-given capabilities have been used, with God rewarding every servant who works with self-denying, self-sacrificing zeal and begins at once to do missionary work for those perishing in sins. They cling to selfishness and serve their own interests rather than living faithfully and laying up treasure in heaven, trusting human wisdom and walking in the light of sparks of their own kindling instead of taking Christ as Counsellor, walking in the light of His Word, coming under His yoke, and using the sacred fire which comes from God. They indulge appetite, passion, dress, business, amusement, self-indulgence that wars against the soul, criticism, skepticism, and false theories, neglect prayer and obedience, wear a mask, refuse to yield to authority, hold worldly principles, ridicule and oppose those proclaiming Bible truth, and by that false profession seduce many, do great harm, and weaken the church until their asking to be let in meets exclusion at the closed gate.
They form half the professed company, five wise who are ready and five foolish who are unready, all going out with lamps and vessels for oil so that for a time no difference is seen and all lamps appear prepared. All now have a knowledge of the Scriptures, have heard the message of Christ's soon approach and the invitation Come for all things are now ready, and confidently expect His appearing, while a time of waiting intervenes in which faith is tried. Some who appear wise hold the truth unrighteously without living it, professing to believe yet worshipping not God when they knew Him, making excuses and neglecting to respond, remaining unconverted with hard hearts, unappreciative minds, and eyes blinded, and will die greater sinners than before that profession because self in all its perverted attributes hardens the heart and closes the door against Jesus so He cannot enter and abide. Human beings cannot read hearts or reliably separate the genuine from the false by outward appearance, for character is shown by its fruits and good works and by the living testimony of those worked by the Holy Spirit who walk in the light and impart it to others. When the cry is heard and the door is shut, the failure is exposed as trusting in mere theory instead of having the oil of grace that keeps the lamp burning and shining so the world takes knowledge its possessors have been with Jesus, and God's angels distinguish the faithful from those opposed to the truth.
Prophetic Fulfillment in History
The coming of the bridegroom in the parable is not Christ's return to earth to deliver His people on the tenth day of the seventh month, but His coming to the Ancient of days in heaven to receive His kingdom. It marks a change in His position and work as High Priest in connection with the marriage of the Lamb, when He rises from His mediatorial throne and goes into the holiest place for the cleansing of the sanctuary. The ready are those who enter the marriage by faith as they follow Him in that heavenly work before He receives His kingdom, while the foolish are a class having knowledge of the truth but lacking the grace of God and therefore not prepared for His coming. This heavenly coming settles the shut door, with the door closing after the ready enter and the unprepared shut out.
The parable illustrates the Advent experience, in which going out to meet the bridegroom was the widespread proclamation of the first message. The delay of the bridegroom was the passing of the expected time, the disappointment, and the ensuing delay, during which believers prayed earnestly for a genuine experience and clear evidence that they were accepted by God. The midnight cry, Behold the Bridegroom cometh, announcing His coming, was linked with 1844 and was to be heard by the whole world, and believers in the messages were compelled to go out from the churches because they preached the second appearing of Christ in the clouds of heaven. The ten virgins were all who claimed to believe the truth and went forth expecting to live to see Christ coming in the clouds under the first and second angels' messages, five wise and five foolish, with only five making the provision essential to walk in the light that had come to them. Many who went forth under the first and second angels refused the third angel's message, the last testing message to be given to the world, and had all acted their part as wise virgins the message would ere this have been proclaimed to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. Some who went forth in 1844 were afterward deceived by false shepherds until they did not know where they were or what they believed, yet they can still come out upon the truth, so no one should rest without the abiding witness that his ways please God.
In 1844 those who held to their Advent expectation took the shut door and the cry for entrance after it was shut to mean that probation for sinners had closed and mercy was sought too late shortly before Christ's coming. That application was mistaken, for at the close of the 2300 days Christ closed one ministration in the heavenly sanctuary and began another in the most holy place, still pleading His blood for sinners, so intercession did not end nor all access to mercy close. There was a shut door in 1844 which the leading Adventists published and most of the Advent people once believed, and republishing those 1844 testimonies proves the shut door, puts to shame those who now deny it, rejoices the hearts of the trusting ones, saves some jewels, causes many to decide for the truth and take a firm and unyielding stand for God, strengthens the things that remain, and builds up in the most holy faith despite Satan's cruel power to hinder the work in the paper. A little longer and His work in the sanctuary will be finished, when the angel of mercy ceases to plead and the door shown in Matthew 25:10-12 is shut. Until then mercy remains open and the time remains to warn the cities and to sell houses and possessions not needed for homes and invest the means in the Lord's work now, for keeping them until then leaves the warning work undone and fails to prepare the way for His coming.
Character Cannot Be Borrowed
Character is not transferable, and the oil cannot be borrowed or imparted from one person to another. The oil is the Holy Spirit and the grace of Christ, His righteousness and a purified character formed in personal experience with the Spirit, and no one can receive another person's experience of that grace or join the procession to the marriage supper of the Lamb upon it. Each must obtain it for himself through humbleness, yoke-bearing, earnest prayer and faith in Christ, nourished day by day until faith and grace are made one's own, for following natural impulses or trusting another's experience leaves one without discernment to accept the light. The foolish are ease-loving, world-loving professors who hid their light and mingled with the world until their light went out and lost all power to shine, hushed to slumber and made careless by the peace and safety cry because they did not continue to provide themselves with oil. Nominal religion cannot replace this preparation, and those who know the truth but do not live in it may mislead others, yet each must stand individually when the crisis reveals beforehand whether grace has been secured.
Readiness cannot be gained at the last moment, and neglect to keep oil in the lamps cannot be made up when the lamps are going out and empty. Those who have kept Christ apart from their lives and have not cherished His grace through a living experience of faith, love and patience find themselves unready to meet the Lord and to enter fellowship with Him in heaven. Those who neglect to obtain the oil of grace during probationary time and wait in idle expectancy discover too late that there is no fresh supply to be secured after probation has ended and the door has closed. Delaying to receive the grace needed to keep faith alive can leave a person unready when the decisive final emergency comes, with no opportunity afterward to recover wasted time when the plagues fall or death comes.
After the Bridegroom has entered with the wise to the marriage supper and the door has been shut, the other virgins arrive and plead to be let in, having slumbered with no oil when the call came and gone away to buy. Their plea meets unexpected denial from the master of the feast, who declares He does not know them, leaving them standing without in the empty street in the blackness of the night. Though their outward profession had resembled the wise, they lacked genuine conversion and Christ's grace and are rejected as workers of iniquity, shut out like the guest without the wedding garment of Christ's righteousness. They are unfit for heaven's companionship because they slighted fellowship with Christ and the Spirit, knowing not its language, joy, light and melody. With the signs of the times fulfilling while the churches generally slumber, this warns against delaying preparation for earthly concerns and excuses, against ridiculing and opposing those proclaiming Bible truth, and calls for readiness for the Son of man's coming whose day and hour are unknown.
Call to Ready Living
The plea outside the shut door is a warning to seek grace now and stay ready before the bridegroom comes, for having a lamp is not enough without the oil that makes it burn and give light. Believers must watch and remain spiritually alert, awake from sleep, trim their lamps and keep vessels filled through a complete living connection with God every day. That readiness is maintained by earnest prayer, Bible study, obedience, repentance, guarding the heart, and holding faith amid experiences that threaten confidence in the third angel's message. The lamp must keep burning, fed with holy oil, so its light shines on the path of others, and those who fail to keep that supply will not receive added grace when special need and the time of reaping come. Quiet meditation must be blended with vigilant waiting, not haphazard idleness nor bustle that neglects piety, but acting in readiness and bearing light for the Lord's coming.
A name in the church book will not secure entrance to the kingdom, for the present is the trading time in which God-given capabilities must be used for the Master. Readiness means close, critical self-examination of how opportunities have been used, whether talents are traded and put out to the exchangers, with God rewarding every servant who works with self-denying, self-sacrificing zeal for the salvation of souls. Each one who has denied self and been purified through belief of the truth will at once begin missionary work for those perishing in sin, laboring as home missionaries with skill, efficiency and ability at home, in the family, in the church and in the world. Sanctification is the duty of every Christian under individual responsibility that cannot be vested in any minister, and the church as the great depository of truth must show a pure, elevating, ennobling example, for in the great day of reckoning God will require improvement of every talent and count those unfaithful who merely retain the capital without trading upon it. To be as the wise is to be wide awake with oil in vessels with lamps, which is grace and the power of the Holy Spirit sustaining faith and courage under the direction of the Captain of the Lord's host when the last contest and the battle of Armageddon come, while the unprepared who arrive too late show that spiritual readiness belongs with unselfish service, vigilance, warning the world, circulating truth by word and publications, and guiding sinners from darkness before the night comes when no one can work.
The warning falls with special force on ministers, who must have living faith and love that works, purifies the soul, and carries the light of a godly life, since outward profession without grace leaves them unready for Christ. Foolish virgins with lamps lacking oil represent ministers without heartfelt piety and devotion, who fail to let their lives shine through good works as well as words and teachings, who pass year after year without absorbing the truth they have been taught so they cannot give it to others. Those who remain in that condition should be removed from ministry, for eloquence, office, teaching ability or theory cannot substitute for inward conversion, love and obedience. Men in positions of trust who feel they have no time for religious services, absent themselves from meetings for prayer and praise, lay off spiritual garments and fail to draw near to God reflect His light only feebly, until the Sabbath becomes merely cessation of physical labor rather than a foretaste of heaven, religion degenerates into form, spiritual temperature runs low, and though having a name to live they are dead and lukewarm. The same call to keep lamps trimmed and burning and hearts guarded from being drawn away presses on teachers, physicians, families and health workers exposed to worldly influences, to maintain unity, family worship, health reform and self-control lest dim lamps leave souls unready for the final crisis.
After the bridal procession has entered and the door has been shut, the unready virgins arrive too late, beg for admission, are refused, and are left outside in darkness in the empty street at night. They are not open sinners but professed Christians with a lamp of profession and great light and knowledge, yet unsanctified and destitute of grace. Their lamps are the Word of God and profession of truth, and their lack is the oil of the Holy Spirit and grace of Christ in the heart, without which profession is worthless and the light goes out. The shut door marks the close of probation when character is finally settled and mercy no longer reaches the unready. Character cannot be borrowed from another nor gained at the last moment, so readiness must be secured now by watching, prayer, obedience, and keeping the vessel filled with oil through daily connection with Christ.
Story and Immediate Outcome
The latecomers arrive only after the bridal procession has already entered and the door has been shut, and standing outside they plead to be let in, but they are refused admission and left without in the empty street in the blackness of the night. Five were wise with oil in their vessels with their lamps, and five were foolish with no oil so that their lamps went out; while the foolish went to buy oil the Bridegroom came, those who were ready went in with Him to the marriage and the marriage supper, and the door was shut. Afterward the others come asking to be let in, but their plea meets unexpected denial from the master of the feast, I know you not, and exclusion as unready when the Bridegroom came. The shut door marks the close of probation, when anyone still unprepared cannot enter the marriage feast and access is withdrawn, pictured also by the wedding garment as Christ's righteousness and the kingdom of heaven sought above earthly concerns and excuses. The picture should cause trembling, coming as a solemn warning to every church of the danger of those whose works do not correspond to their profession of faith, warning against delaying preparation and prompting serious thought, Bible study, and earnest prayer for guidance into all truth.
The scene belongs to the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25:1-13, awaiting the bridegroom, which supplies the setting for the lesson that heaven's welcome is not earned by status or pride but received through humble faith and love. Christ told it to His disciples while looking upon the party waiting for the bridegroom, illustrating by their experience the experience of the church that shall live just before His second coming. It teaches truths about His second coming through the picture of an evening wedding procession and a household waiting for the bridegroom, with the ten representing the professed Christian church watching in the evening of earth's history. It forms part of the discourse recorded in Matthew 24 and 25, given shortly before entering Gethsemane, which also includes the parable of the talents.
The bridegroom's delay represents the passing of the expected time, the disappointment, and the ensuing wait, during which professed believers grew drowsy about the time of Christ's coming and all slumbered in the tarrying time with loss of zeal and devotion. Their going out represents the widespread proclamation of the first message, and the midnight cry was a final call to wake them, trim lamps, and go out to meet the Bridegroom, arousing believers on arguments from prophecy and the sanctuary types. The wise respond when they hear He is approaching, their spiritual life replenished through Christ's grace and the Holy Spirit with active and fruitful faith, in contrast to those who lack the grace needed to keep their lamps burning. The waiting and slumber are thus followed by the anticipated arrival, and with signs fulfilling and churches generally slumbering the setting warns professing believers to be awake, prepared, and not found unready.
Lamp Oil and Door
The oil kept in vessels to feed the lamps is the Holy Spirit and the grace of God in the heart, including the grace and righteousness and character of Christ, with love and faith and patience and truth and heavenly love. It is received through consecrated human agencies and through the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth, emptied from the olive trees through golden pipes to impart the heavenly grace that alone makes the word a light. It nourishes a living daily experience of faith, love, and patience, sustains a shining witness, forms unseen principles and open communion with God, and prepares character in God's likeness for the marriage supper of the Lamb. Without that supply lamps go out and mere profession, knowledge of Scripture, and theory of truth are of no avail to quicken the soul, sanctify the heart, transform character, distinguish truth from error, or withstand temptation. Those who neglect to obtain it during probationary time and try to make up the neglect at the last minute find their plea comes too late and entrance is refused.
The lamps are the Bibles believers carry, the word of God as a lamp to the feet and a light to the path, also representing profession or theory of truth and God's remnant people who need a constant supply. The wise keep oil in their vessels with their lamps, so their lamps keep burning through the night of waiting and light the way to the bridegroom's home and marriage feast and to the city of God. Through the Holy Spirit that word becomes a transforming power that develops God's character in followers, so they shine in the world's darkness, honor God, give light to others, and point sinners toward the marriage supper. A lamp without oil is Scripture made powerless by speculation or truth heard but not obeyed, as when half of those who know the truth profess godliness yet lack grace to decide for obedience and only see their defects when trimming is no longer possible.
The shut door after which the other virgins plead for admission marks the close of probation and the end of mercy, when characters are finally settled, access to Christ is withdrawn, and the unready cannot enter the marriage feast but hear that they are unknown. In 1844 those holding their Advent expectation took that door to mean probation for sinners had closed and published that shut door, and most of the Advent people once believed it. That application was mistaken, for the coming of the Bridegroom was Jesus rising from His mediatorial throne and going into the holiest place in heaven to receive His kingdom at the cleansing of the sanctuary, not His coming to earth to deliver His people on the tenth day of the seventh month. At the close of the 2300 days Christ closed one ministration and began another in the most holy, still pleading His blood for sinners, so mercy remained open and the door did not end intercession or all access to forgiveness. Light on the Sabbath brings greater condemnation for rejecting it, and the warning remains not to delay preparation, let earthly concerns and excuses take priority over the kingdom and the wedding garment of Christ's righteousness, or presume on mercy while it still remains.
Who Other Virgins Are
The other virgins are not open sinners making no profession, but professed Christians and church members claiming to be children of God and disciples watching in the evening of earth's history, having a call, a name, a lamp, and a confident expectation of the Bridegroom's coming. They have great light, knowledge, opportunities, continuous privileges, and the theory of the truth including the third angel's message and the light on justification by faith and the imputed righteousness of Christ, yet they have only a theoretical knowledge and think that is all that is required because they are not doers of the Word. They are unsanctified, unconverted, cold, backslidden, and destitute of grace, lacking the oil of grace and the Holy Spirit and the inward character represented by the white robe of Christ's righteousness, with a real interest in the gospel and knowledge of the standard of righteousness but ruled by self-love. They treated life-giving truth as unessential and did not continue to provide themselves with oil, so they are weak in faith, unstable in experience, unready for the marriage feast, and unable to acquire preparation at the last moment when the crisis comes and life ends. Their plea for entrance, Lord, Lord, open unto us, is answered with rejection, I know you not, because character is not transferable and they cannot go in with the wise.
They are ease-loving, world-loving, self-pleasing professors who hid their light and mingled with the world until their light went out and lost all power to shine, hushed to slumber and made careless by the peace and safety cry. They have no burden for souls, do not deny self, do not lift the cross, do not trade their talents and put them out to the exchangers in the present trading time, and do not live and work to restore the moral image of God in man, but seek an enjoyable time with the world and live for self instead of seeking to save souls ready to perish. Having a name in the church book will not secure entrance, for readiness means close, critical self-examination of how opportunities and God-given capabilities have been used, with God rewarding every servant who works with self-denying, self-sacrificing zeal and begins at once to do missionary work for those perishing in sins. They cling to selfishness and serve their own interests rather than living faithfully and laying up treasure in heaven, trusting human wisdom and walking in the light of sparks of their own kindling instead of taking Christ as Counsellor, walking in the light of His Word, coming under His yoke, and using the sacred fire which comes from God. They indulge appetite, passion, dress, business, amusement, self-indulgence that wars against the soul, criticism, skepticism, and false theories, neglect prayer and obedience, wear a mask, refuse to yield to authority, hold worldly principles, ridicule and oppose those proclaiming Bible truth, and by that false profession seduce many, do great harm, and weaken the church until their asking to be let in meets exclusion at the closed gate.
They form half the professed company, five wise who are ready and five foolish who are unready, all going out with lamps and vessels for oil so that for a time no difference is seen and all lamps appear prepared. All now have a knowledge of the Scriptures, have heard the message of Christ's soon approach and the invitation Come for all things are now ready, and confidently expect His appearing, while a time of waiting intervenes in which faith is tried. Some who appear wise hold the truth unrighteously without living it, professing to believe yet worshipping not God when they knew Him, making excuses and neglecting to respond, remaining unconverted with hard hearts, unappreciative minds, and eyes blinded, and will die greater sinners than before that profession because self in all its perverted attributes hardens the heart and closes the door against Jesus so He cannot enter and abide. Human beings cannot read hearts or reliably separate the genuine from the false by outward appearance, for character is shown by its fruits and good works and by the living testimony of those worked by the Holy Spirit who walk in the light and impart it to others. When the cry is heard and the door is shut, the failure is exposed as trusting in mere theory instead of having the oil of grace that keeps the lamp burning and shining so the world takes knowledge its possessors have been with Jesus, and God's angels distinguish the faithful from those opposed to the truth.
Prophetic Fulfillment in History
The coming of the bridegroom in the parable is not Christ's return to earth to deliver His people on the tenth day of the seventh month, but His coming to the Ancient of days in heaven to receive His kingdom. It marks a change in His position and work as High Priest in connection with the marriage of the Lamb, when He rises from His mediatorial throne and goes into the holiest place for the cleansing of the sanctuary. The ready are those who enter the marriage by faith as they follow Him in that heavenly work before He receives His kingdom, while the foolish are a class having knowledge of the truth but lacking the grace of God and therefore not prepared for His coming. This heavenly coming settles the shut door, with the door closing after the ready enter and the unprepared shut out.
The parable illustrates the Advent experience, in which going out to meet the bridegroom was the widespread proclamation of the first message. The delay of the bridegroom was the passing of the expected time, the disappointment, and the ensuing delay, during which believers prayed earnestly for a genuine experience and clear evidence that they were accepted by God. The midnight cry, Behold the Bridegroom cometh, announcing His coming, was linked with 1844 and was to be heard by the whole world, and believers in the messages were compelled to go out from the churches because they preached the second appearing of Christ in the clouds of heaven. The ten virgins were all who claimed to believe the truth and went forth expecting to live to see Christ coming in the clouds under the first and second angels' messages, five wise and five foolish, with only five making the provision essential to walk in the light that had come to them. Many who went forth under the first and second angels refused the third angel's message, the last testing message to be given to the world, and had all acted their part as wise virgins the message would ere this have been proclaimed to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. Some who went forth in 1844 were afterward deceived by false shepherds until they did not know where they were or what they believed, yet they can still come out upon the truth, so no one should rest without the abiding witness that his ways please God.
In 1844 those who held to their Advent expectation took the shut door and the cry for entrance after it was shut to mean that probation for sinners had closed and mercy was sought too late shortly before Christ's coming. That application was mistaken, for at the close of the 2300 days Christ closed one ministration in the heavenly sanctuary and began another in the most holy place, still pleading His blood for sinners, so intercession did not end nor all access to mercy close. There was a shut door in 1844 which the leading Adventists published and most of the Advent people once believed, and republishing those 1844 testimonies proves the shut door, puts to shame those who now deny it, rejoices the hearts of the trusting ones, saves some jewels, causes many to decide for the truth and take a firm and unyielding stand for God, strengthens the things that remain, and builds up in the most holy faith despite Satan's cruel power to hinder the work in the paper. A little longer and His work in the sanctuary will be finished, when the angel of mercy ceases to plead and the door shown in Matthew 25:10-12 is shut. Until then mercy remains open and the time remains to warn the cities and to sell houses and possessions not needed for homes and invest the means in the Lord's work now, for keeping them until then leaves the warning work undone and fails to prepare the way for His coming.
Character Cannot Be Borrowed
Character is not transferable, and the oil cannot be borrowed or imparted from one person to another. The oil is the Holy Spirit and the grace of Christ, His righteousness and a purified character formed in personal experience with the Spirit, and no one can receive another person's experience of that grace or join the procession to the marriage supper of the Lamb upon it. Each must obtain it for himself through humbleness, yoke-bearing, earnest prayer and faith in Christ, nourished day by day until faith and grace are made one's own, for following natural impulses or trusting another's experience leaves one without discernment to accept the light. The foolish are ease-loving, world-loving professors who hid their light and mingled with the world until their light went out and lost all power to shine, hushed to slumber and made careless by the peace and safety cry because they did not continue to provide themselves with oil. Nominal religion cannot replace this preparation, and those who know the truth but do not live in it may mislead others, yet each must stand individually when the crisis reveals beforehand whether grace has been secured.
Readiness cannot be gained at the last moment, and neglect to keep oil in the lamps cannot be made up when the lamps are going out and empty. Those who have kept Christ apart from their lives and have not cherished His grace through a living experience of faith, love and patience find themselves unready to meet the Lord and to enter fellowship with Him in heaven. Those who neglect to obtain the oil of grace during probationary time and wait in idle expectancy discover too late that there is no fresh supply to be secured after probation has ended and the door has closed. Delaying to receive the grace needed to keep faith alive can leave a person unready when the decisive final emergency comes, with no opportunity afterward to recover wasted time when the plagues fall or death comes.
After the Bridegroom has entered with the wise to the marriage supper and the door has been shut, the other virgins arrive and plead to be let in, having slumbered with no oil when the call came and gone away to buy. Their plea meets unexpected denial from the master of the feast, who declares He does not know them, leaving them standing without in the empty street in the blackness of the night. Though their outward profession had resembled the wise, they lacked genuine conversion and Christ's grace and are rejected as workers of iniquity, shut out like the guest without the wedding garment of Christ's righteousness. They are unfit for heaven's companionship because they slighted fellowship with Christ and the Spirit, knowing not its language, joy, light and melody. With the signs of the times fulfilling while the churches generally slumber, this warns against delaying preparation for earthly concerns and excuses, against ridiculing and opposing those proclaiming Bible truth, and calls for readiness for the Son of man's coming whose day and hour are unknown.
Call to Ready Living
The plea outside the shut door is a warning to seek grace now and stay ready before the bridegroom comes, for having a lamp is not enough without the oil that makes it burn and give light. Believers must watch and remain spiritually alert, awake from sleep, trim their lamps and keep vessels filled through a complete living connection with God every day. That readiness is maintained by earnest prayer, Bible study, obedience, repentance, guarding the heart, and holding faith amid experiences that threaten confidence in the third angel's message. The lamp must keep burning, fed with holy oil, so its light shines on the path of others, and those who fail to keep that supply will not receive added grace when special need and the time of reaping come. Quiet meditation must be blended with vigilant waiting, not haphazard idleness nor bustle that neglects piety, but acting in readiness and bearing light for the Lord's coming.
A name in the church book will not secure entrance to the kingdom, for the present is the trading time in which God-given capabilities must be used for the Master. Readiness means close, critical self-examination of how opportunities have been used, whether talents are traded and put out to the exchangers, with God rewarding every servant who works with self-denying, self-sacrificing zeal for the salvation of souls. Each one who has denied self and been purified through belief of the truth will at once begin missionary work for those perishing in sin, laboring as home missionaries with skill, efficiency and ability at home, in the family, in the church and in the world. Sanctification is the duty of every Christian under individual responsibility that cannot be vested in any minister, and the church as the great depository of truth must show a pure, elevating, ennobling example, for in the great day of reckoning God will require improvement of every talent and count those unfaithful who merely retain the capital without trading upon it. To be as the wise is to be wide awake with oil in vessels with lamps, which is grace and the power of the Holy Spirit sustaining faith and courage under the direction of the Captain of the Lord's host when the last contest and the battle of Armageddon come, while the unprepared who arrive too late show that spiritual readiness belongs with unselfish service, vigilance, warning the world, circulating truth by word and publications, and guiding sinners from darkness before the night comes when no one can work.
The warning falls with special force on ministers, who must have living faith and love that works, purifies the soul, and carries the light of a godly life, since outward profession without grace leaves them unready for Christ. Foolish virgins with lamps lacking oil represent ministers without heartfelt piety and devotion, who fail to let their lives shine through good works as well as words and teachings, who pass year after year without absorbing the truth they have been taught so they cannot give it to others. Those who remain in that condition should be removed from ministry, for eloquence, office, teaching ability or theory cannot substitute for inward conversion, love and obedience. Men in positions of trust who feel they have no time for religious services, absent themselves from meetings for prayer and praise, lay off spiritual garments and fail to draw near to God reflect His light only feebly, until the Sabbath becomes merely cessation of physical labor rather than a foretaste of heaven, religion degenerates into form, spiritual temperature runs low, and though having a name to live they are dead and lukewarm. The same call to keep lamps trimmed and burning and hearts guarded from being drawn away presses on teachers, physicians, families and health workers exposed to worldly influences, to maintain unity, family worship, health reform and self-control lest dim lamps leave souls unready for the final crisis.