Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
Christ closes the parable of the ten virgins waiting for the bridegroom with a call to watchfulness because no one knows when He will come. His coming is certain but its day and hour are hidden, so readiness must be kept with patient, earnest preparation rather than trust in a timetable. To watch is to secure beforehand the oil for the lamp, which is the Holy Spirit with the word, the grace and righteousness of Christ abiding in the heart to transform character and keep the light shining. That readiness is not idle waiting but diligent, self-denying work with the talents entrusted, in personal piety and unselfish labor until the account is required. The midnight cry was raised in the 1844 proclamation of His imminent return, while the Bridegroom's coming is His coming to the Ancient of Days in heaven to receive the kingdom and begin the final mediation, which the ready enter by faith before the door is shut.
Parable Setting and Context
The verse is the closing call to watchfulness of the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25:1-13. The whole twenty-fifth chapter develops principles of eternal justice to be revealed when the judgment sits and the books are opened in the decisions of the great day. Final condemnation there falls not only for revolting crimes and open outbreaking sins but for neglecting to do what might and ought to have been done, for lack of the moral qualifications placed within reach of every sinner when divinity was clothed with humanity to bring moral power to fallen man. The midnight cry, Behold the Bridegroom cometh, belonged to that parable as applied to the 1844 message calling people to meet the coming Lord. The parable divides five wise from five foolish because the foolish took lamps with no oil in their vessels, which means they received not the grace of God, had knowledge of the truth and appearance of giving light, supposed themselves wise while wise only in their own sight, had no living connection with God, were not vitalized by His Holy Spirit, had no saving faith, did not have Christ as a personal Saviour, had not grown in grace and knowledge by doing Christ's words and beholding Him to be changed into His likeness and work in His lines, and were a fraud. Mere profession of belief in the Scriptures does not save, since devils believe and tremble without right faith, and to watch is to have grace from Christ, build character daily, labor together with God instead of hiding the talent in the earth from self-centered fear, cease making feelings the criterion of acceptance, take up the burdens close at hand, let God build and cleanse every spot and stain of sin since no one can build or cleanse self, and exert molding influence by bringing solid timbers into character and cultivating right disposition rather than a fractious, fretting, miserable temper that cannot enter the kingdom.
The parable is set at an evening wedding where a company waits for the bridegroom to appear so they can join his torchlit procession with music to his home where a feast is prepared. The coming is delayed hour after hour until the weary watchers sleep, then comes suddenly at midnight. Only those who prepared for the long delay with lighted lamps and small flagons filled with oil can trim their lamps and enter with the bridal train before the door is shut. The five who neglected to fill their flasks find their lamps going out, fail to borrow oil, are left behind while they go to buy, and standing without in the blackness of the night hear the master of the feast declare I know you not.
Christ told the parable to His disciples while sitting looking upon a party waiting for the bridegroom, and the experience of the ten virgins illustrates the experience of the church that shall live just before His second coming. It belongs to His prophetic discourse on the Mount of Olives about His second coming, given shortly before He entered Gethsemane, embracing Matthew 24 and 25 with warnings about the future, the duty to be ready, and the parable of the talents. It teaches the same watchfulness commanded in Matthew 24 beginning at verse 42, where the difference between wise and foolish is between mere assenting faith that says yes to the Bible and a faith that eats Christ's flesh and drinks His blood by receiving His words as spirit and life and practicing them. To watch for the Son of man coming at an unknown hour is to be ready as a faithful and wise servant giving meat in due season, by eating and working, sinking the shaft deeper for truth as for precious gold and diffusing every ray of light to others, rather than burying truth like the man who buried his talent and did nothing. Spoken on the Mount of Olives, it warns against falling from high spirituality into cold formality, for watching means keeping fervor, devotion, love of prayer, and meditation corresponding to the greatness of truth believed, instead of letting love of the world and some darling sin wean the heart from love of Jesus, since a formal round without love of Jesus is torpor and mournful deterioration and the lamp of truth will flicker and go out unless continually replenished by the oil of grace.
The verse is joined to the parable of the talents that follows it in Matthew 25:13-30, which explains that watching does not mean waiting idly but spending the time in diligent work. The parable of the ten virgins presents the duty of watching and waiting for Jesus' second coming, while the parable of the talents shows readiness also requires unselfish vigilant labor in God's cause, so Christian fitness for His appearing requires both personal piety and diligent service without neglecting either. Christ is the master soon to leave earth for heaven and His servants are His professed followers, who are not their own but belong to Him by purchase of His blood and must give an account at the judgment for their service, though all people belong to God and are called to serve Him. Waiting must therefore be watchful and active rather than passive, for the foolish represent those who sleep instead of preparing, and careless work leads to spiritual decline leaving people unready when the day comes unexpectedly, while preparation includes earnest efforts to save others, a strengthened discerning mind, and a heart purified by truth.
The parable of waiting is connected with the reward of grace received by those who serve God with simple faith and love even when work is humble or brief. Readiness for Christ's coming must be personal, for the oil of grace and righteous character cannot be transferred from one to another, and character cannot be formed or changed when the Lord comes. At His coming Christ will separate the righteous who obey God's commandments from the wicked even among those who have lived and worked together, for He alone reads character and gives each their true position, gathering the righteous to Himself to receive life while the disobedient are eternally separated from God, and the foolish will then have no time to obtain the oil they lack.
The ten virgins represent the professed Christian church watching in the evening of earth's history at the close of earth's history before Christ's coming. Their watching places the church among those watching for the Lord's appearing and earnestly seeking to be acknowledged as the Lamb's wife, and makes the parable a serious lesson for the church and for each person. The warning to watch calls for serious thought, personal attention to the lesson, and earnest prayer for God to lead into all truth. Each person's true condition before God is shown by conduct and conversation, and because the Bridegroom's coming is near with the marriage supper of the Lamb a reason for rejoicing, professing to wait is not enough since some will be unprepared and surprised when the final day comes and the unready are shut out of the feast.
Unknown Day and Hour
The coming of the Son of man is certain, but its day and hour are unknown, so all must watch and be kept ready. Readiness is not confidence in a timetable but patient, earnest preparation maintained in the time of expectation. It is a present, daily need to seek grace today, to resist being overcome by the cares of life and caught unready like the foolish virgins, and to keep a complete, living connection with God. The soul's lamp must be kept trimmed and filled and burning with holy oil, with spiritual life replenished through Christ's grace and the Holy Spirit, lest it decline and go out. For the day may come unexpectedly like a thief in the night, and the warning searches the spiritual condition of the church at the second coming, calling each one to examine whether he is among the wise who enter the marriage or the unready who are shut out, and calling followers to give the message of preparation and invitation while guarding against fanaticism and misleading extremes. Watching in the last days therefore means remaining spiritually alert, praying, serving faithfully, and letting the light reach others in steady witness and seeking to save the lost.
No finite person can know the exact period of the Lord's coming by any figuring of numbers, symbols, or types. What is to be known is learned by studying the signs that show He is at the door and near. The concealment of the timing is designed to keep people watchful and prepared, while the preaching of a definite time served to bring people to decision and to seek present preparation, lest without it many look far into the future for the judgment and the end of probation instead of preparing now.
The long delay before He comes is God's appointed time of testing to prove who has a supply of grace to stand trial and who has the real, genuine righteousness of Christ with patience. The foolish failed because they had no such supply, grew weary in waiting, and doubted He would come. Christ delays His coming from long-suffering patience, not willing that any should perish but giving time to repent and receive eternal life. When the redeemed look back from eternity the period of probation will seem short, though now the bridal lamps must be kept trimmed and burning while they wait in all lowliness of mind as a blessing to one another, and blessed are those servants whom the Lord when He comes shall find watching.
The tarrying of the bridegroom represents the passing of the expected time and the ensuing delay, whose chronology and duration are found in Matthew 25. During that delay both wise and foolish slumbered, losing sight of the timing and losing some zeal and devotion while still believing the coming near. Readiness must therefore be maintained through an unknown and possibly prolonged waiting, for only the five who brought oil are prepared when the midnight cry announces his arrival and enter the wedding feast, while the unprepared arrive too late and find the door shut. The warning to watch underscores the need to awaken, remain ready, and hold fast through the delay rather than presume to know its length.
Vigilant watching calls for sanctified waiting with no relaxation of effort to secure eternal life. Many expect to meet the Bridegroom and share the marriage supper yet are unprepared for the King's arrival and blind to their danger, like the foolish virgins who do not recognize that their lamps are going out until too late. Readiness means consecrating the whole life to God and living out Christ's example, keeping the lamp trimmed and burning as a life reflecting the light received, for greater light brings greater responsibility to respond. The present opportunity to find Jesus and renew allegiance to God must be used, since ability or eloquence alone is not enough and time already wasted cannot be recovered.
Fulfillment in Advent History
The midnight cry, Behold the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet Him, was the 1844 proclamation of Christ's imminent personal return in the seventh month, given under the first and second angels' messages when believers preaching His second appearing in the clouds of heaven were compelled to go out from the churches to meet Him. The tarrying time with its chronology and duration, the slumber of both wise and foolish through losing sight of the timing while still believing Him near, and then the cry and the going forth all correspond to events in the history of the Second Advent movement, making the ten virgins an apt symbol for the present time. That autumn 1844 midnight-cry movement was understood as proclaiming His coming in connection with prophetic and sanctuary-type arguments, calling the whole world to awaken, watch, and hold fast through delay rather than presume to know its length.
The awakening led those spiritually asleep to prepare as though God had spoken, with heart-searching, repentance, prayer, consecration, separation from worldly concerns, and earnest seeking for a living experience and unmistakable evidence of acceptance rather than depending on one another. The waiting saints watched and prayed earnestly as they expected deliverance and transformation to immortality, but when the expected time passed and they remained on earth they were disappointed. The midnight cry and the Bridegroom's coming are distinct parts made known at different times, the cry in December and the coming in February following, and the going forth to meet the Bridegroom took place in 1844. Some who then went forth were afterward deceived by false shepherds until they lost understanding of the Advent message and did not know where they were or what they believed, while others who had never heard the doctrine are now coming to truth, requiring not resting without the abiding witness that one's ways please God.
The Bridegroom's coming in the parable is not His second advent to earth to deliver His people on the tenth day of the seventh month, but Christ's coming to the Ancient of Days in heaven to receive His kingdom and begin the final work of mediation in the most holy place for the cleansing of the sanctuary, as the Lord coming to His temple. The marriage takes place in heaven before Christ returns, marking a change in the position and work of Christ the great High Priest, when He rose from His mediatorial throne and went into the Holiest as Bridegroom to receive His kingdom. The ready are represented as entering the marriage by faith by following Christ in that final mediation and patiently seeking clearer light from Scripture, while the church waits for Him to return from the wedding with garments spotless and faith fixed on Him until He receives them. The shut door marks the point after which opportunity to enter has ended and probation is past, settling the shut door.
The ten virgins' experience at first led Advent believers to conclude probation had closed when the expected time passed, but that conclusion came from not yet understanding the heavenly sanctuary. At the close of the 2300 days in 1844 Christ closed His ministration in the holy place and began ministration in the most holy where He presents His blood before the Father for sinners, so the door of mercy was open not closed. Many who went forth under the first and second messages refused the third angel's message, the last testing message still needed, and only the five wise made the provision essential to join the company walking in the light that had come to them. Had all acted their part as wise virgins the message would already have been proclaimed to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people; faith in the third angel's message must therefore be cherished and cultivated and the light and evidence received followed, for Bible truth practiced makes wise unto salvation and receiving the Holy Spirit is a positive necessity.
Lamps Oil and Virgins
The ten are two parties among watchers, all with a name and call and lamp and profession of serving God and confident expectation of the near appearing, with knowledge of the Scriptures and the message of the soon approach and no difference seen at first. They are real Christians with life in themselves and spurious professors without the oil of grace, five wise and five foolish, about half ready and half unready, the five to five division showing the proportion of ready and unready as great events are soon to open. Only a small number of those with great light and abundant opportunities and continuous privileges have more than theoretical knowledge, for the foolish think theory is all that is required and are not doers of the Word. The wise are worked by the Holy Spirit, bear living testimony, search the Scriptures, walk in the light received, communicate precious truth to others, receive more light as they impart what they have, and in holding forth the Word of life cooperate with heavenly agencies. The wise anticipate delay and fill their flagons prepared for any emergency so their lamps are supplied and do not go out.
They are called virgins because they profess a pure faith, and they represent not open sinners who make no profession but those who claim to be children of God and church members and Christians while not practicing the truth. The foolish are professed believers of the truth who remain unconverted, with hard hearts and blinded minds through self-indulgence, self in all its perverted attributes hardening the heart and shutting the door against Jesus entering and abiding. They have no burden for souls, do not deny self and do not lift the cross, but seek an enjoyable time with the world, wear a mask, refuse to yield to authority, and by worldly principles seduce many and do great harm. They are a class of religionists suiting men of the world who do not want the light of truth, one in spirit with those who never let light shine in words of truth and deeds of holiness, while those who truly serve God reveal progression heavenward and help others serve Him with whole mind, heart, soul, and strength with vessels well filled with oil. Their presence alongside the wise does not mean there is no church or that faithful members should leave it.
No one can now reliably distinguish wise from foolish or judge who belongs to either group, because some holding truth unrighteously appear outwardly wise. Each person's true condition is shown by conduct and conversation and fruits, which angels discern without mistake, and readiness is shown by a life bearing good fruit and doing the Father's will, not merely by professing faith or performing religious acts.
Lamps are Bibles, the word of God as a lamp to the feet and a light to the path, and also an outward semblance of religion or profession or theory of truth. All ten had lamps meaning outward semblance, but only five had inward piety with oil to replenish them, only half being wise because only five shake off sleep, arise, and trim their lamps. The wise do not trust in mere theory but have the oil of grace so their lamps shine and the world takes knowledge that they have been with Jesus and learned of Him. Having a lamp without oil is not enough, and without this oil all outward preparation is worthless, even the highest profession, ordination, or appointment as superintendent or teacher when entrusted with high responsibilities. Having just enough religion to deaden conscience, deceive the senses, and ruin the soul, just enough outward show to have the name to live while dead, leaves one unready. Every individual must send forth clear steady rays that never grow dim or burn low, for the church has been made the depository of truth and light has been imparted to its members, so they must have works corresponding to privileges and opportunities and be sanctified through the truth, set apart for special service, to represent it correctly.
Lamps also represent the remnant people, who need a constant supply, and the oil represents truth and heavenly love, supplied through servants laboring in the harvest.
Oil in vessels with lamps is the Holy Spirit with the word, the grace and righteousness of Jesus Christ, the Spirit of life abiding in the heart that feeds the lamp to send clear rays, links the holder with Christ, and gives heavenly light. It is sustaining grace received through vital connection with Christ, nourishing a daily experience of faith, patience, love, and character, for knowledge of truth alone is not enough. It is grace in the heart to replenish the lamp so its light shines forth in good works through character formed after the divine similitude, sanctifying the heart, transforming character, and making the light of life shine to guide those in darkness. Mere interest in the gospel or knowledge of righteousness without life-giving truth leaves self-love and wavering faith vulnerable to deception, and profession without genuine conversion leaves the lamp without Christ's grace.
From the holy ones standing in God's presence the Spirit is imparted to consecrated workers, and through the two anointed ones standing by the Lord provision is made that every soul may be abundantly supplied with holy oil emptied through golden pipes and communicated to the churches. It is the holy golden oil, the Holy Spirit in the heart working by love and purifying the soul, received only into vessels prepared by those who practice the truth and do the Word, not by hearers only who keep truth in the outer court and to whom the Spirit's work is strange. Unless there is connection with heavenly agencies workers lack the strong pure influence needed and are no more prepared to answer the call to go out to meet him than the foolish were, with the Spirit not represented in their labors and the power of godly example and living experience lacking. Without the Spirit accompanying the worker to correct every unsanctified way even great zeal and presentation of truth is superficial, weak, and ineffective. When lamps go out, faith, love, and knowledge of God and truth have left, and those following natural impulses and cherishing hereditary and cultivated traits misrepresenting Christ will be without it.
The foolish failed because they supposed there would be no waiting and made no provision for disappointment or delay to keep lamps burning brightly until the call.
Securing Readiness in Time
Readiness must be secured beforehand during probationary time now today, because the time of the Son of man's coming is unknown and watching means being ready. The oil of grace cannot be borrowed from others or transferred like character when the final emergency comes at the midnight cry, the plagues, the time of trouble, or death, and each must form character through personal cooperation with the Holy Spirit and union with Christ by faith. Empty lamps cannot be replenished in time when the announcement is heard, for fellowship with Christ in this life prepares for His companionship in heaven, and those without oil cannot discern or accept the light, prepare their lamps, or join the procession into the marriage supper of the Lamb. Those who were prepared enter the marriage feast, while the unprepared arrive after the door is shut and are refused, so the warning calls for personal self-examination about whether one is among the wise and ready and for nourishing and using faith and grace now. Neglecting the day of salvation can leave a person shut out, with no opportunity to obtain oil or enter after probation ends.
Readiness requires more than baptism, profession, church membership, human birth, descent, outward activity, or theory, for mere assenting faith that says yes to the Bible does not save, since even devils believe and tremble without the right kind of faith. The ten virgins are two parties among watchers, real Christians who have life in themselves and spurious professors who have not the oil of grace, all starting apparently prepared with a name, a call, a lamp, and a profession of serving God and watching for Christ's appearing, yet five lack oil because they take God's promises for granted while not living as Christ enjoined. The wise have oil in vessels with lamps, meaning unseen principles, open communion with God, a life the Lord is acquainted with, and a visible connection with God through faith which works by love showing true preference, firm reliance, entire willing obedience and consecration, binding life up with Christ in complete identification and oneness with Him. It requires eating Christ's flesh and drinking His blood by receiving His words as spirit and life and practicing them, with truth enthroned in the heart renewing the nature, learning Christ's ways, leaving old habits and worldly customs, and receiving holy grace to stand when Christ appears. The foolish represent people who have a theory of truth but have not brought it into daily life and character, so their lamps do not shine when it matters, and genuine preparation requires godliness to shape life, building character every day as laborers together with God, letting God cleanse every spot and stain of sin, and exerting a molding influence by bringing solid timbers into character with a right disposition.
True watching means denying self, taking up the cross daily and following Christ, obeying and teaching even the least commandments with a righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees, and continuing the lifetime work of sanctification without presumption. It means keeping God's commandments with the faith of Jesus, accepting the final message of mercy including the third angel's message, for the delay gives opportunity to hear that testing message but nominal faith or refusal leaves people unprepared to enter the marriage supper of the Lamb. The wise are those who have perfected Christian character by washing robes and making them white in the blood of the Lamb, remembering how truth was received and heard, holding it fast, and repenting, so as not to be overtaken by Christ coming as a thief at an unknown hour. Those who have not defiled garments are worthy to walk with Christ in white, and he who overcomes will be clothed in white raiment with his name retained in the book of life and confessed before the Father and His angels. Christ's redemption makes it possible for all to become wise virgins, share the divine nature, and be complete in Him, while those who remain impure and unrighteous cannot enter heaven; people are free to choose good or evil and remain responsible, while God works with them as they strive against sin, and self-righteousness cannot provide the wedding garment, for sin if not destroyed destroys the sinner. Those who neglect preparation for slight personal interests will find the door shut and seek entry too late, and slothful professors who postpone diligence with promises to prepare later leave themselves and may keep others unready for the day of judgment.
Watching through the night means having oil in vessels with lamps burning with undimmed flame, which helps swell illumination for the Bridegroom's honor and shines out in darkness to illuminate the way to His home, to the marriage feast, to the city of God and the marriage supper of the Lamb. For followers of Christ, watching means shedding light into the darkness of the world, as God's word through the Holy Spirit becomes a transforming power implanting principles in the heart and developing God's attributes, so the light of His glory, His character, shines forth in followers to glorify God and lighten the path. Readiness is shown in wholehearted service, with followers going out with lamps filled with holy oil ready to give light and helping others receive God's grace. Christ supplies and kindles the church's light, and those who receive that light must share it, for receiving it without giving it as God requires leads to darkness.
Readiness is kept by depending on God every hour and keeping the oil of grace in lamp and vessel without delay, for lamps without oil are knowledge and light without grace and they go out. The oil is the grace and righteousness of Jesus Christ, received by living each day as a branch joined to the living Vine drawing sap and nourishment to bear fruit, and those who live this daily dependence will not come up late when Christ takes those who have oil but will enter the marriage supper, while those without oil will be left outside in midnight darkness, gloom, despair and hopelessness. Watching means living in hourly contact and conscious communion with the principles of truth, righteousness, and mercy that reveal God's attributes within the soul, binding up with God and cooperating with Him as the deep Source of all moral and intellectual power. Having oil is keeping alive the spark of faith through the ordinances of grace and the instrumentalities God employs, depending on Christ's mediatorial work to illuminate understanding and warm the heart, through whom alone man has access to God and becomes a partaker of the divine nature. To have oil is to submit will and ideas to God's will and ways, to look to God at every step, to become meek and lowly in heart, and to receive daily divine enlightenment through experimental knowledge of God and Christ by the Holy Spirit, while to lack oil is to exalt science and powers inherent in man and nature, wander in skepticism, trust contracted confused obscure human ideas, and walk in sparks of self-kindling.
Trimming the lamps means seeking a fresh supply of oil before stepping over the threshold into church, refusing to bring the gloom of unbelief inside, dismissing gloomy depression, and going to the house of worship with joyfulness to meet with God and His people. It means maintaining consecration and devotion with Christ abiding in the heart, assembling as active workers in religious services and meetings for prayer and praise to come near the worshipers around the throne of God. Men in positions of trust who feel they have no time for religious services, absent themselves, lay off spiritual garments, and cease active work fail to keep lamps trimmed and burning and reflect God's light and glory only feebly, their religion degenerating into mere form and the Sabbath becoming only cessation of physical labor rather than a foretaste of the Sabbath above, with spiritual temperature low, having a name to live while dead in Laodicean lukewarmness. Every member must trim his own lamp by first taking heed to himself and then to doctrine, giving himself to the Lord without reserve and keeping the inner lamp burning, which makes the root holy so the fruit is sound, creates a sanctified influence beginning in the home church and borne to the assembled church, and keeps burning during daily toil to keep a sweet disposition and prepare for essential labor, because God cannot accept the service of any soul bound up in self. This trimming means living a pure, elevating, ennobling example and being sanctified, taking up individual responsibility that cannot be placed on any minister, with the church as the great depository of truth working with skill, efficiency and ability as home missionaries, each doing a solemn part at home, in the family, in the church and in the world.
Peril of Being Unready
When the Bridegroom comes those whose lamps are failing cannot make themselves ready in that moment, for watching means waiting anxiously with lighted lamps and small flagons filled with oil through hour after hour of delay until the weary watchers sleep and then a sudden midnight coming, and only those who prepared for the long delay can trim their lamps and join the torchlight procession with music to the house and banqueting feast before the door is shut. The five who neglected to fill their flasks find their lamps going out and Bibles without the grace of the Holy Spirit to make obedience possible, and their attempt to buy in haste or borrow from the wise fails, so while they go to buy the wise enter the marriage supper and the door is shut. All ten attendants fall asleep while waiting because the timing is unknown, but only the five who brought oil as a vital connection with Christ that nourishes faith, patience, love, character and a life prepared beforehand are ready when the midnight cry announces the arrival. The latecomers standing without in the blackness of the night lose their chance to partake of the marriage supper of the Lamb, hear the master of the feast declare denial, and are left outside in the night to face outer darkness and despair.
There is an hour when the gates are closed and probation is past with no open door left to enter for those who have neglected salvation, and those who delay preparation for slight personal interests or with slothful promises to prepare later will seek entry too late. The foolish supposed there would be no waiting and made no provision to keep their lamps burning brightly until the call, and when time ran longer than expected they let interest fade, stupidity creep over them, and fell into a slumber that if continued is final and never to awake, ending in loss, whereas watching keeps awake to see the angels and makes calling and election sure. Readiness means having oil in the vessel as the grace of God in the heart to replenish the lamp so its light shines forth in good works through character formed after the divine similitude, and now is the time to be hearers and doers of the Word rather than postponing diligence in a way that leaves self and others unready for the day of judgment. Final condemnation is not confined to revolting crimes and open outbreaking sins but falls for neglecting to do what might and ought to have been done for lack of the moral qualifications Christ made every provision to place within reach by clothing divinity with humanity to bring moral power to fallen man, for the foolish had lamps and knowledge of the truth but no living connection vitalized by the Holy Spirit, no saving faith with Christ as personal Saviour, and no growth in grace because they were not doers of His words, while by looking to Jesus and beholding Him the sinner is changed into His likeness and obtains deeper knowledge of God. Self-righteousness cannot supply the wedding garment, and thorough preparation requires the righteousness of Christ.
The foolish show that interest in the gospel, knowledge of righteousness, theory of truth, or expectation of heaven is not enough, for self-love and neglect of the life-giving truth leave a person without grace to keep the lamp burning, with wavering faith vulnerable to deception. Pride, weakness of faith, and spiritual lethargy deprive many of rich blessing and leave them surprised and disappointed at the cry, for faith must not stop with assent to the theory of the third angel's message but must be fed by the oil of Christ's grace that sustains living faith, produces fruit and willing obedience, and causes the light of life to shine to those in darkness. Hidden sin and an unpurified life with a cold, careless, self-satisfied state leave a person unready, so watchfulness requires a living connection with God, searching Scripture, grace, obedience, diligent self-examination, cleansing, humility, conversion, and awakening to responsibility beginning now rather than mere profession or occasional stirred feeling. Despondency, complaining, dissatisfaction and gloom drive the love of Christ from the soul until the lamp goes out like a funeral pall spreading gloom to others, while trimming the lamp and pouring in oil means stopping every word of complaint and mourning, taking Christ as strength, rejoicing in His love, speaking good cheer of His mercy and power, and sending forth clear steady rays to lighten the pathway of those weak in faith and hope.
Many become unready by living to please self and seeking an enjoyable time with the world, walking in its footsteps as half with Christ and half with the world, and through indolence, carelessness, frivolity and careless indifference the great truth they hold loses force until they fail as earnest workers to bring souls to Him and bear fruit to His glory and are separated from their Leader and classed with the foolish. Others become absorbed in business, cares, worldly schemes, dress, practices, appetite, amusement and temporal interests that crowd out the soul, waste probationary time, and leave them bound by doubts, fears, temptations and sins confessed but not forsaken, harming others by criticizing workers and sowing doubt instead of strengthening the church through spiritual labor. Continued self-indulgence darkens understanding and blurs spiritual vision so warnings have no effect, and like the guest without a wedding garment they lack the inward character and experience needed for the feast and recognize their diseased condition too late when sickness and death reveal unfitness to meet the end of life.
Ministers, workers, teachers and younger ministers are warned that having the lamp as the form of truth, words, theories, ordination or office without the holy oil of the Spirit and grace of Christ leaves lamps going out, piety cold, formal, proud, unconsecrated and spiritually senseless despite great light. Through the two anointed ones standing by the Lord of the whole earth provision is made for every soul to be abundantly supplied, but unless there is connection with heavenly agencies workers lack the strong pure influence the work expects and are no more prepared to answer the call to go out to meet Him than the foolish virgins were. Without the Spirit accompanying the worker to correct every unsanctified way, even great zeal and presentation of truth is superficial, weak and ineffective, lacking the power of godly example and living experience, unable to give light or pass on truth, so those who follow the Lamb must give up errors and objectionable traits, be clothed with Christ's righteousness with faith working by love to purify the soul, and have names in the Lamb's book of life. Those failing to live the light received will drop out, while those living up to light even at the eleventh hour will obey, for readiness requires the new life and power from above before the final crisis rather than remaining spiritually dead.
God's people are now like the sleeping virgins with no oil in their lamps as the time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation is right upon them, when every form of evil springs into intense activity and evil angels unite with evil men for a desperate struggle with all the world on one side or the other and the battle of Armageddon fought. Corruption and Satan's devices are already working even among the secure, with destroying angels already permitted to bring disaster and destruction, so the call is to awake, arise, trim lamps and fill vessels with oil as grace and the power of the Holy Ghost sustaining faith and courage, with the Captain of the Lord's host at the head of heaven's angels to direct the battle. They must ask Jesus to place His everlasting arms underneath them and carry them through the coming unprecedented trial on the narrow path, turn attention away from unimportant things and give themselves to God, renew consecration, keep the light shining, and understand that all unrighteousness as transgression of the law is sin.
Active Watchful Daily Life
Watching is not idle waiting but diligent working blended with waiting, watching, praying and resting in the Lord, neither rushing in bustle and excitement to the neglect of personal piety nor sleeping in idle expectancy. The present is trading time in which God-given capabilities, talents and means must be faithfully used for the Master with self-denying, self-sacrificing zeal for the salvation of perishing souls, multiplying talents, planting, building meetinghouses, gathering sheep, and putting goods out to the exchangers, for the night comes when no one can work. This calls for close, critical self-examination of how opportunities have been used, since a name in the church book does not secure entrance and God rewards every faithful servant who begins at once to do missionary work upon denying self and purifying the soul through belief of the truth. The waiting time forbids idleness or absorption in worldly affairs and acting as though the return were delayed, requiring lamps kept trimmed and supplied with the oil of grace, guards against spiritual decline, earnest labor to save others, understanding of the reasons of faith, purity of heart to withstand Satan, and refusal to stand neutral while all represent Christ in active effort.
Watching requires feeling a daily burden to keep the soul in the love of God by earnest self-denial, cross-bearing, and doing to the utmost with entrusted talents, drawing freely and continually from the ocean of God's fullness with Christ within as a well of water springing up to everlasting life. It means taking time to pray, to search the Scriptures, and as far as possible to attend public worship, for no soul can prosper without this, with prayerful study and willing obedience keeping the oil of grace in the vessels and neglect in speech and conduct marking the foolish. Repentance for past neglect in worship, sharing present truth, waking from sleep, and seeking truth as it is in Jesus belong to this readiness, and God pardons those who turn to Him. Those who work in this way have heavenly angels minister to them and increase their ability to trade with and increase their talents. Workers thrown among worldlings need this most, needing Jesus held up as the Lamb of God and personal labor bestowed upon them, lest close relation to godless talk and atmosphere let the worldly element steal the heart away from God, which is forsaking the pure snow of Lebanon for turbid streams of the valley.
Staying awake at duty means not sleeping at the post while Satan spreads spiritualistic sophistries, scientific spiritualistic philosophy, higher criticism, evolution, spiritualism, theosophy and pantheism to weaken faith in Scripture. Strong men precious to God may be under a spell without knowing it, with minds taken from the present message, living merely to criticize, associating with those taught by the deceiver, and bearing the serpent's sting in readiness for unbelief. Satan is not to be pictured with horns and hoofs, for having once been an angel of light he has intelligence and watches for an unguarded moment to possess the mind, leading those trusting their own intelligence to correct the Scriptures, an infidelity to be met in high places, so believers must neither be ignorant of his devices nor be overpowered by them. Watching therefore means being clothed with the whole armor of God, fighting manfully against darkness, exerting strong spiritual influence, warning the world, exposing hypnotism in its true bearing, entertaining no vestige of doubt as to present truth, and turning not toward Egypt but toward Canaan, the land of promise. Those with a precious past experience must now awake and trim their lamps, reject sophistry without being consumed by arguments over it, leave skepticism before it is too late to find bearings, and find entire consecration putting an end to vain suppositions, while keeping alive the spark of faith through ordinances of grace and Christ's mediation to illuminate the understanding and warm the heart rather than making science everything and wandering in skepticism without need of grace.
Watching means keeping fervor, devotion, love of prayer and meditation on sacred things corresponding to the greatness of the truth believed, instead of falling from high spirituality into cold formality or letting love of the world and some darling sin wean the heart from love of Jesus. It is being a burning and shining light today because time is passing, work accumulating, time for doing it diminishing, souls deciding for evil or good, and warfare increasing, with the lamp supplied with oil, trimmed and burning so light gleams out. A formal round of religious services without love of Jesus is torpor and mournful deterioration, and the lamp of truth will flicker and go out in darkness unless continually replenished by grace. Genuine watching cultivates heart-piety and then diffuses light in a pure consecrated life, for without a holy root there can be no healthy branches bearing fruit to God's glory, and smartness and fluency of speech are not accepted without it, nor is spiritual force kept unweakened without the soul's need constantly supplied.
Readiness is shown in the home and daily duties, where every lamp in the home circle must be constantly replenished with the oil of grace from the divine source of God's full love so light burns brightly and does not go out, making human affection stronger, purer, more elevated, refined and holy instead of letting temporal interests and conversation crowd out the soul's needs and the Word. Parents are not ready unless they examine and reform character, humble hearts before God, overcome defects, pray earnestly, receive faith that works by love and purifies the soul, awaken to responsibility, and begin changing now, shining out in faithful consecrated work for their children with the inner lamp trimmed and burning. Daily life, including love and respect for fellow believers, must form a character fit to join those who overcome through the blood of the Lamb and their testimony, keeping the Lord and His ways before the mind amid business and cares with Christ's sustaining power so character and work stand the test of judgment. Faithfulness in little things belongs here, restraining thoughts, words, habits and faults lest oil be wanting in great emergencies.
Watchful light is spread by warning the world and proclaiming the warning to all peoples to prepare others to stand in the final day, praying and watching while waiting, since the signs show the world stands on the verge of eternity with no time for selfishness or careless work. It means keeping lamps trimmed and burning amid moral darkness by circulating publications containing the messages of warning, a work requiring canvasser-evangelists, sending truth in publications everywhere by men under Christ as Master-worker without letting commercial work become all-absorbing, so truth lived is as seed sown touching the ends of the earth. Those who know the truth but sleep as to God-given responsibilities will share the future of the unwise and sleep the sleep of death, so they must awake, receive holy kindling, gain divine wisdom to prepare the Lord's way, and give time to missionary work even when unpaid, putting out talents and trading on the Lord's goods until light increases in brightness. Trimming the lamps means keeping the light-bearing work active in lowliness and unity, training youth in their own countries for mission work, hastening the kingdom by carrying the gospel to all so people turn to God, following Luther who filled his lamp from truth in seclusion and Enoch who walked with God and warned his age.
The coming of the Lord marks the far limit of time for urging parental responsibility, and those unmoved by books, writings and sermons will feel no burden from urging it from now till then. Getting ready now means filling the vessel with holy oil without delay, for the end is near and He that is to come will come and will not tarry, cleansing from every selfish purpose, confessing sins before God, cleansing the hands and purifying the double mind, and being converted to become laborers together with God fit in this life to unite with the redeemed and obtain fitness for heaven. It requires more than profession, having the truth in the heart with God's converting power at work, lamps trimmed and burning with the light of truth carried to the world, humbling at the foot of the cross, seeking cleansing through the Lamb's blood, praying earnestly, bearing a burden for the perishing, and warning that the end is near, each person being accountable to God. Watching in this sense is being converted in heart and spiritually fit to stand the judgment rather than merely professing present truth or having a name on the books, keeping the oil of grace and the robe of Christ's righteousness with no uncertainty about the warning, staying ready every moment, working for God and souls with wisdom and diligence rather than lying idle waiting for directions, because counting on a long tomorrow is a mistake and today is the time to answer.
Christ closes the parable of the ten virgins waiting for the bridegroom with a call to watchfulness because no one knows when He will come. His coming is certain but its day and hour are hidden, so readiness must be kept with patient, earnest preparation rather than trust in a timetable. To watch is to secure beforehand the oil for the lamp, which is the Holy Spirit with the word, the grace and righteousness of Christ abiding in the heart to transform character and keep the light shining. That readiness is not idle waiting but diligent, self-denying work with the talents entrusted, in personal piety and unselfish labor until the account is required. The midnight cry was raised in the 1844 proclamation of His imminent return, while the Bridegroom's coming is His coming to the Ancient of Days in heaven to receive the kingdom and begin the final mediation, which the ready enter by faith before the door is shut.
Parable Setting and Context
The verse is the closing call to watchfulness of the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25:1-13. The whole twenty-fifth chapter develops principles of eternal justice to be revealed when the judgment sits and the books are opened in the decisions of the great day. Final condemnation there falls not only for revolting crimes and open outbreaking sins but for neglecting to do what might and ought to have been done, for lack of the moral qualifications placed within reach of every sinner when divinity was clothed with humanity to bring moral power to fallen man. The midnight cry, Behold the Bridegroom cometh, belonged to that parable as applied to the 1844 message calling people to meet the coming Lord. The parable divides five wise from five foolish because the foolish took lamps with no oil in their vessels, which means they received not the grace of God, had knowledge of the truth and appearance of giving light, supposed themselves wise while wise only in their own sight, had no living connection with God, were not vitalized by His Holy Spirit, had no saving faith, did not have Christ as a personal Saviour, had not grown in grace and knowledge by doing Christ's words and beholding Him to be changed into His likeness and work in His lines, and were a fraud. Mere profession of belief in the Scriptures does not save, since devils believe and tremble without right faith, and to watch is to have grace from Christ, build character daily, labor together with God instead of hiding the talent in the earth from self-centered fear, cease making feelings the criterion of acceptance, take up the burdens close at hand, let God build and cleanse every spot and stain of sin since no one can build or cleanse self, and exert molding influence by bringing solid timbers into character and cultivating right disposition rather than a fractious, fretting, miserable temper that cannot enter the kingdom.
The parable is set at an evening wedding where a company waits for the bridegroom to appear so they can join his torchlit procession with music to his home where a feast is prepared. The coming is delayed hour after hour until the weary watchers sleep, then comes suddenly at midnight. Only those who prepared for the long delay with lighted lamps and small flagons filled with oil can trim their lamps and enter with the bridal train before the door is shut. The five who neglected to fill their flasks find their lamps going out, fail to borrow oil, are left behind while they go to buy, and standing without in the blackness of the night hear the master of the feast declare I know you not.
Christ told the parable to His disciples while sitting looking upon a party waiting for the bridegroom, and the experience of the ten virgins illustrates the experience of the church that shall live just before His second coming. It belongs to His prophetic discourse on the Mount of Olives about His second coming, given shortly before He entered Gethsemane, embracing Matthew 24 and 25 with warnings about the future, the duty to be ready, and the parable of the talents. It teaches the same watchfulness commanded in Matthew 24 beginning at verse 42, where the difference between wise and foolish is between mere assenting faith that says yes to the Bible and a faith that eats Christ's flesh and drinks His blood by receiving His words as spirit and life and practicing them. To watch for the Son of man coming at an unknown hour is to be ready as a faithful and wise servant giving meat in due season, by eating and working, sinking the shaft deeper for truth as for precious gold and diffusing every ray of light to others, rather than burying truth like the man who buried his talent and did nothing. Spoken on the Mount of Olives, it warns against falling from high spirituality into cold formality, for watching means keeping fervor, devotion, love of prayer, and meditation corresponding to the greatness of truth believed, instead of letting love of the world and some darling sin wean the heart from love of Jesus, since a formal round without love of Jesus is torpor and mournful deterioration and the lamp of truth will flicker and go out unless continually replenished by the oil of grace.
The verse is joined to the parable of the talents that follows it in Matthew 25:13-30, which explains that watching does not mean waiting idly but spending the time in diligent work. The parable of the ten virgins presents the duty of watching and waiting for Jesus' second coming, while the parable of the talents shows readiness also requires unselfish vigilant labor in God's cause, so Christian fitness for His appearing requires both personal piety and diligent service without neglecting either. Christ is the master soon to leave earth for heaven and His servants are His professed followers, who are not their own but belong to Him by purchase of His blood and must give an account at the judgment for their service, though all people belong to God and are called to serve Him. Waiting must therefore be watchful and active rather than passive, for the foolish represent those who sleep instead of preparing, and careless work leads to spiritual decline leaving people unready when the day comes unexpectedly, while preparation includes earnest efforts to save others, a strengthened discerning mind, and a heart purified by truth.
The parable of waiting is connected with the reward of grace received by those who serve God with simple faith and love even when work is humble or brief. Readiness for Christ's coming must be personal, for the oil of grace and righteous character cannot be transferred from one to another, and character cannot be formed or changed when the Lord comes. At His coming Christ will separate the righteous who obey God's commandments from the wicked even among those who have lived and worked together, for He alone reads character and gives each their true position, gathering the righteous to Himself to receive life while the disobedient are eternally separated from God, and the foolish will then have no time to obtain the oil they lack.
The ten virgins represent the professed Christian church watching in the evening of earth's history at the close of earth's history before Christ's coming. Their watching places the church among those watching for the Lord's appearing and earnestly seeking to be acknowledged as the Lamb's wife, and makes the parable a serious lesson for the church and for each person. The warning to watch calls for serious thought, personal attention to the lesson, and earnest prayer for God to lead into all truth. Each person's true condition before God is shown by conduct and conversation, and because the Bridegroom's coming is near with the marriage supper of the Lamb a reason for rejoicing, professing to wait is not enough since some will be unprepared and surprised when the final day comes and the unready are shut out of the feast.
Unknown Day and Hour
The coming of the Son of man is certain, but its day and hour are unknown, so all must watch and be kept ready. Readiness is not confidence in a timetable but patient, earnest preparation maintained in the time of expectation. It is a present, daily need to seek grace today, to resist being overcome by the cares of life and caught unready like the foolish virgins, and to keep a complete, living connection with God. The soul's lamp must be kept trimmed and filled and burning with holy oil, with spiritual life replenished through Christ's grace and the Holy Spirit, lest it decline and go out. For the day may come unexpectedly like a thief in the night, and the warning searches the spiritual condition of the church at the second coming, calling each one to examine whether he is among the wise who enter the marriage or the unready who are shut out, and calling followers to give the message of preparation and invitation while guarding against fanaticism and misleading extremes. Watching in the last days therefore means remaining spiritually alert, praying, serving faithfully, and letting the light reach others in steady witness and seeking to save the lost.
No finite person can know the exact period of the Lord's coming by any figuring of numbers, symbols, or types. What is to be known is learned by studying the signs that show He is at the door and near. The concealment of the timing is designed to keep people watchful and prepared, while the preaching of a definite time served to bring people to decision and to seek present preparation, lest without it many look far into the future for the judgment and the end of probation instead of preparing now.
The long delay before He comes is God's appointed time of testing to prove who has a supply of grace to stand trial and who has the real, genuine righteousness of Christ with patience. The foolish failed because they had no such supply, grew weary in waiting, and doubted He would come. Christ delays His coming from long-suffering patience, not willing that any should perish but giving time to repent and receive eternal life. When the redeemed look back from eternity the period of probation will seem short, though now the bridal lamps must be kept trimmed and burning while they wait in all lowliness of mind as a blessing to one another, and blessed are those servants whom the Lord when He comes shall find watching.
The tarrying of the bridegroom represents the passing of the expected time and the ensuing delay, whose chronology and duration are found in Matthew 25. During that delay both wise and foolish slumbered, losing sight of the timing and losing some zeal and devotion while still believing the coming near. Readiness must therefore be maintained through an unknown and possibly prolonged waiting, for only the five who brought oil are prepared when the midnight cry announces his arrival and enter the wedding feast, while the unprepared arrive too late and find the door shut. The warning to watch underscores the need to awaken, remain ready, and hold fast through the delay rather than presume to know its length.
Vigilant watching calls for sanctified waiting with no relaxation of effort to secure eternal life. Many expect to meet the Bridegroom and share the marriage supper yet are unprepared for the King's arrival and blind to their danger, like the foolish virgins who do not recognize that their lamps are going out until too late. Readiness means consecrating the whole life to God and living out Christ's example, keeping the lamp trimmed and burning as a life reflecting the light received, for greater light brings greater responsibility to respond. The present opportunity to find Jesus and renew allegiance to God must be used, since ability or eloquence alone is not enough and time already wasted cannot be recovered.
Fulfillment in Advent History
The midnight cry, Behold the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet Him, was the 1844 proclamation of Christ's imminent personal return in the seventh month, given under the first and second angels' messages when believers preaching His second appearing in the clouds of heaven were compelled to go out from the churches to meet Him. The tarrying time with its chronology and duration, the slumber of both wise and foolish through losing sight of the timing while still believing Him near, and then the cry and the going forth all correspond to events in the history of the Second Advent movement, making the ten virgins an apt symbol for the present time. That autumn 1844 midnight-cry movement was understood as proclaiming His coming in connection with prophetic and sanctuary-type arguments, calling the whole world to awaken, watch, and hold fast through delay rather than presume to know its length.
The awakening led those spiritually asleep to prepare as though God had spoken, with heart-searching, repentance, prayer, consecration, separation from worldly concerns, and earnest seeking for a living experience and unmistakable evidence of acceptance rather than depending on one another. The waiting saints watched and prayed earnestly as they expected deliverance and transformation to immortality, but when the expected time passed and they remained on earth they were disappointed. The midnight cry and the Bridegroom's coming are distinct parts made known at different times, the cry in December and the coming in February following, and the going forth to meet the Bridegroom took place in 1844. Some who then went forth were afterward deceived by false shepherds until they lost understanding of the Advent message and did not know where they were or what they believed, while others who had never heard the doctrine are now coming to truth, requiring not resting without the abiding witness that one's ways please God.
The Bridegroom's coming in the parable is not His second advent to earth to deliver His people on the tenth day of the seventh month, but Christ's coming to the Ancient of Days in heaven to receive His kingdom and begin the final work of mediation in the most holy place for the cleansing of the sanctuary, as the Lord coming to His temple. The marriage takes place in heaven before Christ returns, marking a change in the position and work of Christ the great High Priest, when He rose from His mediatorial throne and went into the Holiest as Bridegroom to receive His kingdom. The ready are represented as entering the marriage by faith by following Christ in that final mediation and patiently seeking clearer light from Scripture, while the church waits for Him to return from the wedding with garments spotless and faith fixed on Him until He receives them. The shut door marks the point after which opportunity to enter has ended and probation is past, settling the shut door.
The ten virgins' experience at first led Advent believers to conclude probation had closed when the expected time passed, but that conclusion came from not yet understanding the heavenly sanctuary. At the close of the 2300 days in 1844 Christ closed His ministration in the holy place and began ministration in the most holy where He presents His blood before the Father for sinners, so the door of mercy was open not closed. Many who went forth under the first and second messages refused the third angel's message, the last testing message still needed, and only the five wise made the provision essential to join the company walking in the light that had come to them. Had all acted their part as wise virgins the message would already have been proclaimed to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people; faith in the third angel's message must therefore be cherished and cultivated and the light and evidence received followed, for Bible truth practiced makes wise unto salvation and receiving the Holy Spirit is a positive necessity.
Lamps Oil and Virgins
The ten are two parties among watchers, all with a name and call and lamp and profession of serving God and confident expectation of the near appearing, with knowledge of the Scriptures and the message of the soon approach and no difference seen at first. They are real Christians with life in themselves and spurious professors without the oil of grace, five wise and five foolish, about half ready and half unready, the five to five division showing the proportion of ready and unready as great events are soon to open. Only a small number of those with great light and abundant opportunities and continuous privileges have more than theoretical knowledge, for the foolish think theory is all that is required and are not doers of the Word. The wise are worked by the Holy Spirit, bear living testimony, search the Scriptures, walk in the light received, communicate precious truth to others, receive more light as they impart what they have, and in holding forth the Word of life cooperate with heavenly agencies. The wise anticipate delay and fill their flagons prepared for any emergency so their lamps are supplied and do not go out.
They are called virgins because they profess a pure faith, and they represent not open sinners who make no profession but those who claim to be children of God and church members and Christians while not practicing the truth. The foolish are professed believers of the truth who remain unconverted, with hard hearts and blinded minds through self-indulgence, self in all its perverted attributes hardening the heart and shutting the door against Jesus entering and abiding. They have no burden for souls, do not deny self and do not lift the cross, but seek an enjoyable time with the world, wear a mask, refuse to yield to authority, and by worldly principles seduce many and do great harm. They are a class of religionists suiting men of the world who do not want the light of truth, one in spirit with those who never let light shine in words of truth and deeds of holiness, while those who truly serve God reveal progression heavenward and help others serve Him with whole mind, heart, soul, and strength with vessels well filled with oil. Their presence alongside the wise does not mean there is no church or that faithful members should leave it.
No one can now reliably distinguish wise from foolish or judge who belongs to either group, because some holding truth unrighteously appear outwardly wise. Each person's true condition is shown by conduct and conversation and fruits, which angels discern without mistake, and readiness is shown by a life bearing good fruit and doing the Father's will, not merely by professing faith or performing religious acts.
Lamps are Bibles, the word of God as a lamp to the feet and a light to the path, and also an outward semblance of religion or profession or theory of truth. All ten had lamps meaning outward semblance, but only five had inward piety with oil to replenish them, only half being wise because only five shake off sleep, arise, and trim their lamps. The wise do not trust in mere theory but have the oil of grace so their lamps shine and the world takes knowledge that they have been with Jesus and learned of Him. Having a lamp without oil is not enough, and without this oil all outward preparation is worthless, even the highest profession, ordination, or appointment as superintendent or teacher when entrusted with high responsibilities. Having just enough religion to deaden conscience, deceive the senses, and ruin the soul, just enough outward show to have the name to live while dead, leaves one unready. Every individual must send forth clear steady rays that never grow dim or burn low, for the church has been made the depository of truth and light has been imparted to its members, so they must have works corresponding to privileges and opportunities and be sanctified through the truth, set apart for special service, to represent it correctly.
Lamps also represent the remnant people, who need a constant supply, and the oil represents truth and heavenly love, supplied through servants laboring in the harvest.
Oil in vessels with lamps is the Holy Spirit with the word, the grace and righteousness of Jesus Christ, the Spirit of life abiding in the heart that feeds the lamp to send clear rays, links the holder with Christ, and gives heavenly light. It is sustaining grace received through vital connection with Christ, nourishing a daily experience of faith, patience, love, and character, for knowledge of truth alone is not enough. It is grace in the heart to replenish the lamp so its light shines forth in good works through character formed after the divine similitude, sanctifying the heart, transforming character, and making the light of life shine to guide those in darkness. Mere interest in the gospel or knowledge of righteousness without life-giving truth leaves self-love and wavering faith vulnerable to deception, and profession without genuine conversion leaves the lamp without Christ's grace.
From the holy ones standing in God's presence the Spirit is imparted to consecrated workers, and through the two anointed ones standing by the Lord provision is made that every soul may be abundantly supplied with holy oil emptied through golden pipes and communicated to the churches. It is the holy golden oil, the Holy Spirit in the heart working by love and purifying the soul, received only into vessels prepared by those who practice the truth and do the Word, not by hearers only who keep truth in the outer court and to whom the Spirit's work is strange. Unless there is connection with heavenly agencies workers lack the strong pure influence needed and are no more prepared to answer the call to go out to meet him than the foolish were, with the Spirit not represented in their labors and the power of godly example and living experience lacking. Without the Spirit accompanying the worker to correct every unsanctified way even great zeal and presentation of truth is superficial, weak, and ineffective. When lamps go out, faith, love, and knowledge of God and truth have left, and those following natural impulses and cherishing hereditary and cultivated traits misrepresenting Christ will be without it.
The foolish failed because they supposed there would be no waiting and made no provision for disappointment or delay to keep lamps burning brightly until the call.
Securing Readiness in Time
Readiness must be secured beforehand during probationary time now today, because the time of the Son of man's coming is unknown and watching means being ready. The oil of grace cannot be borrowed from others or transferred like character when the final emergency comes at the midnight cry, the plagues, the time of trouble, or death, and each must form character through personal cooperation with the Holy Spirit and union with Christ by faith. Empty lamps cannot be replenished in time when the announcement is heard, for fellowship with Christ in this life prepares for His companionship in heaven, and those without oil cannot discern or accept the light, prepare their lamps, or join the procession into the marriage supper of the Lamb. Those who were prepared enter the marriage feast, while the unprepared arrive after the door is shut and are refused, so the warning calls for personal self-examination about whether one is among the wise and ready and for nourishing and using faith and grace now. Neglecting the day of salvation can leave a person shut out, with no opportunity to obtain oil or enter after probation ends.
Readiness requires more than baptism, profession, church membership, human birth, descent, outward activity, or theory, for mere assenting faith that says yes to the Bible does not save, since even devils believe and tremble without the right kind of faith. The ten virgins are two parties among watchers, real Christians who have life in themselves and spurious professors who have not the oil of grace, all starting apparently prepared with a name, a call, a lamp, and a profession of serving God and watching for Christ's appearing, yet five lack oil because they take God's promises for granted while not living as Christ enjoined. The wise have oil in vessels with lamps, meaning unseen principles, open communion with God, a life the Lord is acquainted with, and a visible connection with God through faith which works by love showing true preference, firm reliance, entire willing obedience and consecration, binding life up with Christ in complete identification and oneness with Him. It requires eating Christ's flesh and drinking His blood by receiving His words as spirit and life and practicing them, with truth enthroned in the heart renewing the nature, learning Christ's ways, leaving old habits and worldly customs, and receiving holy grace to stand when Christ appears. The foolish represent people who have a theory of truth but have not brought it into daily life and character, so their lamps do not shine when it matters, and genuine preparation requires godliness to shape life, building character every day as laborers together with God, letting God cleanse every spot and stain of sin, and exerting a molding influence by bringing solid timbers into character with a right disposition.
True watching means denying self, taking up the cross daily and following Christ, obeying and teaching even the least commandments with a righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees, and continuing the lifetime work of sanctification without presumption. It means keeping God's commandments with the faith of Jesus, accepting the final message of mercy including the third angel's message, for the delay gives opportunity to hear that testing message but nominal faith or refusal leaves people unprepared to enter the marriage supper of the Lamb. The wise are those who have perfected Christian character by washing robes and making them white in the blood of the Lamb, remembering how truth was received and heard, holding it fast, and repenting, so as not to be overtaken by Christ coming as a thief at an unknown hour. Those who have not defiled garments are worthy to walk with Christ in white, and he who overcomes will be clothed in white raiment with his name retained in the book of life and confessed before the Father and His angels. Christ's redemption makes it possible for all to become wise virgins, share the divine nature, and be complete in Him, while those who remain impure and unrighteous cannot enter heaven; people are free to choose good or evil and remain responsible, while God works with them as they strive against sin, and self-righteousness cannot provide the wedding garment, for sin if not destroyed destroys the sinner. Those who neglect preparation for slight personal interests will find the door shut and seek entry too late, and slothful professors who postpone diligence with promises to prepare later leave themselves and may keep others unready for the day of judgment.
Watching through the night means having oil in vessels with lamps burning with undimmed flame, which helps swell illumination for the Bridegroom's honor and shines out in darkness to illuminate the way to His home, to the marriage feast, to the city of God and the marriage supper of the Lamb. For followers of Christ, watching means shedding light into the darkness of the world, as God's word through the Holy Spirit becomes a transforming power implanting principles in the heart and developing God's attributes, so the light of His glory, His character, shines forth in followers to glorify God and lighten the path. Readiness is shown in wholehearted service, with followers going out with lamps filled with holy oil ready to give light and helping others receive God's grace. Christ supplies and kindles the church's light, and those who receive that light must share it, for receiving it without giving it as God requires leads to darkness.
Readiness is kept by depending on God every hour and keeping the oil of grace in lamp and vessel without delay, for lamps without oil are knowledge and light without grace and they go out. The oil is the grace and righteousness of Jesus Christ, received by living each day as a branch joined to the living Vine drawing sap and nourishment to bear fruit, and those who live this daily dependence will not come up late when Christ takes those who have oil but will enter the marriage supper, while those without oil will be left outside in midnight darkness, gloom, despair and hopelessness. Watching means living in hourly contact and conscious communion with the principles of truth, righteousness, and mercy that reveal God's attributes within the soul, binding up with God and cooperating with Him as the deep Source of all moral and intellectual power. Having oil is keeping alive the spark of faith through the ordinances of grace and the instrumentalities God employs, depending on Christ's mediatorial work to illuminate understanding and warm the heart, through whom alone man has access to God and becomes a partaker of the divine nature. To have oil is to submit will and ideas to God's will and ways, to look to God at every step, to become meek and lowly in heart, and to receive daily divine enlightenment through experimental knowledge of God and Christ by the Holy Spirit, while to lack oil is to exalt science and powers inherent in man and nature, wander in skepticism, trust contracted confused obscure human ideas, and walk in sparks of self-kindling.
Trimming the lamps means seeking a fresh supply of oil before stepping over the threshold into church, refusing to bring the gloom of unbelief inside, dismissing gloomy depression, and going to the house of worship with joyfulness to meet with God and His people. It means maintaining consecration and devotion with Christ abiding in the heart, assembling as active workers in religious services and meetings for prayer and praise to come near the worshipers around the throne of God. Men in positions of trust who feel they have no time for religious services, absent themselves, lay off spiritual garments, and cease active work fail to keep lamps trimmed and burning and reflect God's light and glory only feebly, their religion degenerating into mere form and the Sabbath becoming only cessation of physical labor rather than a foretaste of the Sabbath above, with spiritual temperature low, having a name to live while dead in Laodicean lukewarmness. Every member must trim his own lamp by first taking heed to himself and then to doctrine, giving himself to the Lord without reserve and keeping the inner lamp burning, which makes the root holy so the fruit is sound, creates a sanctified influence beginning in the home church and borne to the assembled church, and keeps burning during daily toil to keep a sweet disposition and prepare for essential labor, because God cannot accept the service of any soul bound up in self. This trimming means living a pure, elevating, ennobling example and being sanctified, taking up individual responsibility that cannot be placed on any minister, with the church as the great depository of truth working with skill, efficiency and ability as home missionaries, each doing a solemn part at home, in the family, in the church and in the world.
Peril of Being Unready
When the Bridegroom comes those whose lamps are failing cannot make themselves ready in that moment, for watching means waiting anxiously with lighted lamps and small flagons filled with oil through hour after hour of delay until the weary watchers sleep and then a sudden midnight coming, and only those who prepared for the long delay can trim their lamps and join the torchlight procession with music to the house and banqueting feast before the door is shut. The five who neglected to fill their flasks find their lamps going out and Bibles without the grace of the Holy Spirit to make obedience possible, and their attempt to buy in haste or borrow from the wise fails, so while they go to buy the wise enter the marriage supper and the door is shut. All ten attendants fall asleep while waiting because the timing is unknown, but only the five who brought oil as a vital connection with Christ that nourishes faith, patience, love, character and a life prepared beforehand are ready when the midnight cry announces the arrival. The latecomers standing without in the blackness of the night lose their chance to partake of the marriage supper of the Lamb, hear the master of the feast declare denial, and are left outside in the night to face outer darkness and despair.
There is an hour when the gates are closed and probation is past with no open door left to enter for those who have neglected salvation, and those who delay preparation for slight personal interests or with slothful promises to prepare later will seek entry too late. The foolish supposed there would be no waiting and made no provision to keep their lamps burning brightly until the call, and when time ran longer than expected they let interest fade, stupidity creep over them, and fell into a slumber that if continued is final and never to awake, ending in loss, whereas watching keeps awake to see the angels and makes calling and election sure. Readiness means having oil in the vessel as the grace of God in the heart to replenish the lamp so its light shines forth in good works through character formed after the divine similitude, and now is the time to be hearers and doers of the Word rather than postponing diligence in a way that leaves self and others unready for the day of judgment. Final condemnation is not confined to revolting crimes and open outbreaking sins but falls for neglecting to do what might and ought to have been done for lack of the moral qualifications Christ made every provision to place within reach by clothing divinity with humanity to bring moral power to fallen man, for the foolish had lamps and knowledge of the truth but no living connection vitalized by the Holy Spirit, no saving faith with Christ as personal Saviour, and no growth in grace because they were not doers of His words, while by looking to Jesus and beholding Him the sinner is changed into His likeness and obtains deeper knowledge of God. Self-righteousness cannot supply the wedding garment, and thorough preparation requires the righteousness of Christ.
The foolish show that interest in the gospel, knowledge of righteousness, theory of truth, or expectation of heaven is not enough, for self-love and neglect of the life-giving truth leave a person without grace to keep the lamp burning, with wavering faith vulnerable to deception. Pride, weakness of faith, and spiritual lethargy deprive many of rich blessing and leave them surprised and disappointed at the cry, for faith must not stop with assent to the theory of the third angel's message but must be fed by the oil of Christ's grace that sustains living faith, produces fruit and willing obedience, and causes the light of life to shine to those in darkness. Hidden sin and an unpurified life with a cold, careless, self-satisfied state leave a person unready, so watchfulness requires a living connection with God, searching Scripture, grace, obedience, diligent self-examination, cleansing, humility, conversion, and awakening to responsibility beginning now rather than mere profession or occasional stirred feeling. Despondency, complaining, dissatisfaction and gloom drive the love of Christ from the soul until the lamp goes out like a funeral pall spreading gloom to others, while trimming the lamp and pouring in oil means stopping every word of complaint and mourning, taking Christ as strength, rejoicing in His love, speaking good cheer of His mercy and power, and sending forth clear steady rays to lighten the pathway of those weak in faith and hope.
Many become unready by living to please self and seeking an enjoyable time with the world, walking in its footsteps as half with Christ and half with the world, and through indolence, carelessness, frivolity and careless indifference the great truth they hold loses force until they fail as earnest workers to bring souls to Him and bear fruit to His glory and are separated from their Leader and classed with the foolish. Others become absorbed in business, cares, worldly schemes, dress, practices, appetite, amusement and temporal interests that crowd out the soul, waste probationary time, and leave them bound by doubts, fears, temptations and sins confessed but not forsaken, harming others by criticizing workers and sowing doubt instead of strengthening the church through spiritual labor. Continued self-indulgence darkens understanding and blurs spiritual vision so warnings have no effect, and like the guest without a wedding garment they lack the inward character and experience needed for the feast and recognize their diseased condition too late when sickness and death reveal unfitness to meet the end of life.
Ministers, workers, teachers and younger ministers are warned that having the lamp as the form of truth, words, theories, ordination or office without the holy oil of the Spirit and grace of Christ leaves lamps going out, piety cold, formal, proud, unconsecrated and spiritually senseless despite great light. Through the two anointed ones standing by the Lord of the whole earth provision is made for every soul to be abundantly supplied, but unless there is connection with heavenly agencies workers lack the strong pure influence the work expects and are no more prepared to answer the call to go out to meet Him than the foolish virgins were. Without the Spirit accompanying the worker to correct every unsanctified way, even great zeal and presentation of truth is superficial, weak and ineffective, lacking the power of godly example and living experience, unable to give light or pass on truth, so those who follow the Lamb must give up errors and objectionable traits, be clothed with Christ's righteousness with faith working by love to purify the soul, and have names in the Lamb's book of life. Those failing to live the light received will drop out, while those living up to light even at the eleventh hour will obey, for readiness requires the new life and power from above before the final crisis rather than remaining spiritually dead.
God's people are now like the sleeping virgins with no oil in their lamps as the time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation is right upon them, when every form of evil springs into intense activity and evil angels unite with evil men for a desperate struggle with all the world on one side or the other and the battle of Armageddon fought. Corruption and Satan's devices are already working even among the secure, with destroying angels already permitted to bring disaster and destruction, so the call is to awake, arise, trim lamps and fill vessels with oil as grace and the power of the Holy Ghost sustaining faith and courage, with the Captain of the Lord's host at the head of heaven's angels to direct the battle. They must ask Jesus to place His everlasting arms underneath them and carry them through the coming unprecedented trial on the narrow path, turn attention away from unimportant things and give themselves to God, renew consecration, keep the light shining, and understand that all unrighteousness as transgression of the law is sin.
Active Watchful Daily Life
Watching is not idle waiting but diligent working blended with waiting, watching, praying and resting in the Lord, neither rushing in bustle and excitement to the neglect of personal piety nor sleeping in idle expectancy. The present is trading time in which God-given capabilities, talents and means must be faithfully used for the Master with self-denying, self-sacrificing zeal for the salvation of perishing souls, multiplying talents, planting, building meetinghouses, gathering sheep, and putting goods out to the exchangers, for the night comes when no one can work. This calls for close, critical self-examination of how opportunities have been used, since a name in the church book does not secure entrance and God rewards every faithful servant who begins at once to do missionary work upon denying self and purifying the soul through belief of the truth. The waiting time forbids idleness or absorption in worldly affairs and acting as though the return were delayed, requiring lamps kept trimmed and supplied with the oil of grace, guards against spiritual decline, earnest labor to save others, understanding of the reasons of faith, purity of heart to withstand Satan, and refusal to stand neutral while all represent Christ in active effort.
Watching requires feeling a daily burden to keep the soul in the love of God by earnest self-denial, cross-bearing, and doing to the utmost with entrusted talents, drawing freely and continually from the ocean of God's fullness with Christ within as a well of water springing up to everlasting life. It means taking time to pray, to search the Scriptures, and as far as possible to attend public worship, for no soul can prosper without this, with prayerful study and willing obedience keeping the oil of grace in the vessels and neglect in speech and conduct marking the foolish. Repentance for past neglect in worship, sharing present truth, waking from sleep, and seeking truth as it is in Jesus belong to this readiness, and God pardons those who turn to Him. Those who work in this way have heavenly angels minister to them and increase their ability to trade with and increase their talents. Workers thrown among worldlings need this most, needing Jesus held up as the Lamb of God and personal labor bestowed upon them, lest close relation to godless talk and atmosphere let the worldly element steal the heart away from God, which is forsaking the pure snow of Lebanon for turbid streams of the valley.
Staying awake at duty means not sleeping at the post while Satan spreads spiritualistic sophistries, scientific spiritualistic philosophy, higher criticism, evolution, spiritualism, theosophy and pantheism to weaken faith in Scripture. Strong men precious to God may be under a spell without knowing it, with minds taken from the present message, living merely to criticize, associating with those taught by the deceiver, and bearing the serpent's sting in readiness for unbelief. Satan is not to be pictured with horns and hoofs, for having once been an angel of light he has intelligence and watches for an unguarded moment to possess the mind, leading those trusting their own intelligence to correct the Scriptures, an infidelity to be met in high places, so believers must neither be ignorant of his devices nor be overpowered by them. Watching therefore means being clothed with the whole armor of God, fighting manfully against darkness, exerting strong spiritual influence, warning the world, exposing hypnotism in its true bearing, entertaining no vestige of doubt as to present truth, and turning not toward Egypt but toward Canaan, the land of promise. Those with a precious past experience must now awake and trim their lamps, reject sophistry without being consumed by arguments over it, leave skepticism before it is too late to find bearings, and find entire consecration putting an end to vain suppositions, while keeping alive the spark of faith through ordinances of grace and Christ's mediation to illuminate the understanding and warm the heart rather than making science everything and wandering in skepticism without need of grace.
Watching means keeping fervor, devotion, love of prayer and meditation on sacred things corresponding to the greatness of the truth believed, instead of falling from high spirituality into cold formality or letting love of the world and some darling sin wean the heart from love of Jesus. It is being a burning and shining light today because time is passing, work accumulating, time for doing it diminishing, souls deciding for evil or good, and warfare increasing, with the lamp supplied with oil, trimmed and burning so light gleams out. A formal round of religious services without love of Jesus is torpor and mournful deterioration, and the lamp of truth will flicker and go out in darkness unless continually replenished by grace. Genuine watching cultivates heart-piety and then diffuses light in a pure consecrated life, for without a holy root there can be no healthy branches bearing fruit to God's glory, and smartness and fluency of speech are not accepted without it, nor is spiritual force kept unweakened without the soul's need constantly supplied.
Readiness is shown in the home and daily duties, where every lamp in the home circle must be constantly replenished with the oil of grace from the divine source of God's full love so light burns brightly and does not go out, making human affection stronger, purer, more elevated, refined and holy instead of letting temporal interests and conversation crowd out the soul's needs and the Word. Parents are not ready unless they examine and reform character, humble hearts before God, overcome defects, pray earnestly, receive faith that works by love and purifies the soul, awaken to responsibility, and begin changing now, shining out in faithful consecrated work for their children with the inner lamp trimmed and burning. Daily life, including love and respect for fellow believers, must form a character fit to join those who overcome through the blood of the Lamb and their testimony, keeping the Lord and His ways before the mind amid business and cares with Christ's sustaining power so character and work stand the test of judgment. Faithfulness in little things belongs here, restraining thoughts, words, habits and faults lest oil be wanting in great emergencies.
Watchful light is spread by warning the world and proclaiming the warning to all peoples to prepare others to stand in the final day, praying and watching while waiting, since the signs show the world stands on the verge of eternity with no time for selfishness or careless work. It means keeping lamps trimmed and burning amid moral darkness by circulating publications containing the messages of warning, a work requiring canvasser-evangelists, sending truth in publications everywhere by men under Christ as Master-worker without letting commercial work become all-absorbing, so truth lived is as seed sown touching the ends of the earth. Those who know the truth but sleep as to God-given responsibilities will share the future of the unwise and sleep the sleep of death, so they must awake, receive holy kindling, gain divine wisdom to prepare the Lord's way, and give time to missionary work even when unpaid, putting out talents and trading on the Lord's goods until light increases in brightness. Trimming the lamps means keeping the light-bearing work active in lowliness and unity, training youth in their own countries for mission work, hastening the kingdom by carrying the gospel to all so people turn to God, following Luther who filled his lamp from truth in seclusion and Enoch who walked with God and warned his age.
The coming of the Lord marks the far limit of time for urging parental responsibility, and those unmoved by books, writings and sermons will feel no burden from urging it from now till then. Getting ready now means filling the vessel with holy oil without delay, for the end is near and He that is to come will come and will not tarry, cleansing from every selfish purpose, confessing sins before God, cleansing the hands and purifying the double mind, and being converted to become laborers together with God fit in this life to unite with the redeemed and obtain fitness for heaven. It requires more than profession, having the truth in the heart with God's converting power at work, lamps trimmed and burning with the light of truth carried to the world, humbling at the foot of the cross, seeking cleansing through the Lamb's blood, praying earnestly, bearing a burden for the perishing, and warning that the end is near, each person being accountable to God. Watching in this sense is being converted in heart and spiritually fit to stand the judgment rather than merely professing present truth or having a name on the books, keeping the oil of grace and the robe of Christ's righteousness with no uncertainty about the warning, staying ready every moment, working for God and souls with wisdom and diligence rather than lying idle waiting for directions, because counting on a long tomorrow is a mistake and today is the time to answer.