Transcript
I was fortunate enough to get in on your church supper this evening. And several people after supper asked me if the food was better than a TV dinner. Which is a little like asking if the sun rises tomorrow.
I can see that among the many other assets that you have here at Metropolitan you have some very good cooks.
We turn once again to the well-known Olivet Discourse. This time to Matthew chapter 25.
In reading this familiar parable I should change the word lamps to the word torches since that was what was evidently involved. And I think this will help our understanding of the meaning of the parable.
Matthew chapter 25, reading from verse 1:
Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps, or torches. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh. Go ye out to meet Him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their torches. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil. For our torches are going out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so. Lest there be not enough for us and you. But go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came. And they that were ready went in with Him to the marriage. And the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But He answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore. For ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh.
It is always an exciting experience to participate in a large wedding. I have never been the groom at a wedding. But I have been the best man. And I was very proud of my performance on that occasion.
I had always heard that shortly before the wedding took place the groom got very, very nervous. And I was watching alertly to see if that would happen on this particular occasion. And sure enough, not long before the service began, as the groom and I were off to a little anteroom to one side of the auditorium, my good friend Andy got a very bad case of jitters.
And it was then that I had a positively brilliant idea. It occurred to me that it might relieve the tension if I could get Andy to recite the verb conjugations in the Hebrew language that he had learned in seminary. And so I got him to do it.
And I have a feeling that if someone had poked their head in the door just about that moment and had heard Andy going “yet to tick tock tick tock tick to the ecto,” they would have been convinced that he had cracked under the strain.
I think it may have helped some. But I have often thought since then Andy was probably the only bridegroom in American history who recited his Hebrew conjugations just before his wedding.
But that is the way weddings are. Strange things happen at weddings. And I have come to the place that now before I take part in a wedding I always say to myself, “What is going to go wrong this time?” Because it never fails. Somebody does something wrong. Somebody forgets something that they are supposed to remember. Somebody gets nervous or upset.
You can count on it. Something will go wrong. And that is what makes the passage of Scripture that we have read tonight so true to life and so down to earth. Because it is a parable about some women who took part in a wedding. And some of them made a very serious mistake.
Now wedding customs in Bible days were obviously different than they are in our day. For one thing, very frequently the parents of the bride and groom arranged the match for their sons and for their daughters. How would you young people in the audience like your parents decide who you would be living with the rest of your natural life? That might take a little of the romance out of the experience.
Perhaps I can assure you that my own parents deeply regret that this custom has gone out of style. Otherwise you would be looking at a married man tonight.
But obviously the father of the bridegroom, even if he did not actually arrange the match, had some important responsibilities. And he was usually the one who provided the wedding supper. And the more that I can gather, what would happen on a wedding day was something like this.
In the late afternoon or in the early evening the bridegroom would set out from his home with a group of his companions. One of whom would function very much like our best man. He would go out to a predetermined meeting place, perhaps at the house of the bride. And he would meet the bride with her ladies-in-waiting. And then the two wedding parties would merge. And they would return to the house where the wedding supper was to be held. Usually the home of the bridegroom where the father was presiding.
And if the father happened to be a very wealthy man obviously he prepared a very large wedding supper. He invited many people. He provided a great amount of food. And he provided many entertainments for those who would be guests at the wedding.
And one of the entertainments that was frequently provided was an entertainment that involved some young virgin girls. Now the role of these virgin girls was something like this. They would wait at the home of the bridegroom until the bride and groom and the wedding party were approaching. And then they would take their torches and they would light their torches. And they would go out. And since it was now night they would meet the wedding party. And they would sort of light their pathway back to the house where the wedding supper was to be held. And then they would go into the house with the rest of the wedding party.
And when the guests had all sat down these young virgins would perform the torch dance. That is to say that they would execute a set or series of patterns and movements using their bodies and using their torches very gracefully, very attractively. And they would dance for the entertainment of the guests who had been invited to the wedding.
And the torch dance would go on until their torches went out. And by that time the evening was well advanced. And obviously it is about some young women like this that the parable that our Lord has told concerns. And this very important parable centers about their interest and their involvement in the wedding that is about to take place.
We notice that in the very first verse of the passage that we have read we have an introduction to the content of the parable. Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
Now it is very important to the understanding of this parable that we not take this at the beginning of the story as was frequently done in the telling of oriental stories. An initial statement would be made indicating the content of the story. And the first place of the parable indicates what the story is about. We are going to be talking about ten young virgins. We are going to be talking about their torches. And we are going to be talking about that vital and crucial moment when they go forth to meet the bridegroom.
In addition to serving as the best man, as I indicated a few moments ago, I have frequently served as the presiding minister at a marriage. I am sure I have not performed nearly as many marriages as Pastor Cotton has performed. Nevertheless I have had the privilege and pleasure of performing a fair number.
And I think all of us in the audience tonight realize that there are many roles that one may play in the process of a large wedding. Only the bride and groom get married. But there are other roles that may be played.
And I think that the most obvious point that we can bring to our attention about the parable that we are looking at tonight is that quite apparently the virgins are not the bride. Quite evidently the virgins are not the bride. In fact the bride is not mentioned in this story. Or her presence is assumed when the bridegroom returns. But the virgins are not the ones who are getting married.
And this suggests, I think, very strongly to us therefore that the virgins of this parable do not represent the Christian church. It is the Christian church, that body of believers that belongs to this present day and age, which is described as the bride of Christ, as the wife of the Lamb. But the virgins apparently are someone else.
Who are they? Who are they? For help in this I would like to suggest that we turn briefly to the fourteenth chapter of the book of Revelation. Turn if you will to Revelation chapter 14, reading from verse 1:
And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father’s name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder. And I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps. And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders. And no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women. For they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile. For they are without fault before the throne of God.
During the period that we frequently refer to as the tribulation period, that span of seven years which will follow the rapture of the Christian church, God will call out of Israel a group of believing Jews whom we sometimes refer to as the Jewish remnant. At least a part of this remnant are designated by the term 144,000 that is described in the book of Revelation. And they are described as virgins because living in a time of infidelity to God and infidelity to the truth of God, living in a day of idolatry and blasphemy in world religion, they have a dedication to Christ. They have a loyalty to the Son of God. They have a fidelity to the truth of God. And they are spiritually virgins.
And I would like to suggest to you tonight that the virgins of our parable refer to believers in the tribulation period called out from among the Jewish people.
Now listen carefully. In a very real sense Israel and Jerusalem is the earthly home of our Lord Jesus Christ. Nineteen hundred years ago He left that home to find His bride. And when finally He meets His bride, catching the Christian church up to meet Him in the air, He will then subsequently return to earth with His bride, the Christian church.
And when He returns to set up His kingdom and to enter into that period of joy and gladness and festivity which may very well be described as a wedding supper, when He comes back to set up His kingdom He will be met on earth by those who have believed in Him and who have gone forth to meet Him.
And I believe that it is about Christians like that, not a part of the Christian church but a part of God’s elect in the tribulation period, the parable that we are looking at tonight is speaking.
Having said that, however, may I also suggest that the principles of this parable are principles that apply to us as well. For one thing the virgins in this story remind us of Christians. Some of the virgins were wise and some of the virgins were foolish. Just as today there are truly born-again people who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. And some live wisely and some live foolishly.
Now the folly of the foolish virgins is not to be construed as the fact that they fell asleep before the bridegroom came. Or if you will notice it in verse 5 we read that while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. It was not just simply the foolish virgins that went to sleep. It was the wise virgins as well.
And because our Lord has just gotten finished telling us that five were wise and five were foolish, it is hardly likely that He would turn around and tell us that all of them, including the wise ones, did something that was foolish.
I would suggest to you therefore that the folly involved in the lives of the foolish virgins is not to be found in the fact that they went to sleep. Because the wise ones did so as well.
Put yourself if possible in their place. Here are these young ladies waiting at the house where the wedding supper is to be held. And they reserve event that the bridegroom is going to be made in all probability after midnight. And there is really nothing for these girls to do until the signal is given. The bridegroom is on his way.
And because the wedding supper is going to be after midnight in all probability, and because they are going to have to be active and do the torch dance, the most sensible thing that they could possibly do is to catch a little shut-eye and to conserve their strength. And that is precisely what all ten of them are doing.
But notice this. At this point we see a very sharp distinction between what will be true of the saints of the tribulation period and what will be true and should be true of you and me as we wait for the coming of the Lord.
You remember that in the parable that we looked at last week we pointed out that the unfaithful servant of this parable is condemned precisely because he begins to say in his heart, “My lord delayeth his coming.” Did you notice in verse 5, however, that in this particular parable the bridegroom does delay his coming? Verse 5: while the bridegroom tarried.
And the word is exactly the same as the expression we met in the parable that we studied last week. You see the difference is this. You and I have no prophetic event that lies ahead of us between our present experience and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for us. As far as you and I know the Lord Jesus Christ could come back this very year of 1975 or even in this very month or this very week. For all we know He could come back today.
And we can never afford to go to sleep. We must be on tiptoe, expectant.
But listen. After the church is raptured out of this scene then there will begin to unfold a revealed prophetic program. Seven years in duration. And those who have any knowledge of the prophetic program will obviously know that there will be a period of time while the prophetic program is unfolding and before the bridegroom comes.
And therefore those who live in the tribulation period will live in a time when they will know that there is an opportunity to rest and to conserve their strength.
Now the first three and a half years of this predicted future time apparently are years of world turmoil. But they are years in which the people of God are not to be disturbed. To show you that, glance back at the preceding chapter, Matthew 24 and verse 6:
And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that ye be not troubled. For all these things must come to pass. But the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.
And by using the term sorrows our Lord Jesus Christ is using an expression that was associated with the troubles of the tribulation period, of the seventieth week of Daniel. And we are saying to those who will know Him and understand His word in that day and time, all around you there is going to be world turmoil. Wars, rumours of wars, nation rising against nation, kingdom against kingdom, famines, pestilences, earthquakes in divers places. Do not let it disturb you. See that ye be not troubled. These are only the beginning of sorrows.
And during that first three and a half years therefore the intelligent and perceptive believer of the tribulation period will rest and not be disturbed by the events that are going on around him.
But in the very middle of that week, in the very middle of that seven-year period, there will come what can be described as the midnight cry. The midnight cross. Our Lord refers to it, I believe, in verse 15 of chapter 24. Look back once again:
When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, whoso readeth, let him understand. Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains. Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house. Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day. For then shall be great tribulation.
And in the very middle of the seven-year period the warning through the fulfillment of our Lord’s prophecy about the abomination of desolation will come to all of the people of God like a midnight cry, saying, “Behold, the bridegroom cometh. Go ye forth to meet Him.”
An intelligent and perceptive believer of that day will immediately arouse himself to vigorous action. He will leave Judaea. He will leave Jerusalem. He will flee into the mountains. And in fleeing from Jerusalem and from Judaea they are in a certain sense going forth to meet the bridegroom who is about to come.
From that moment on the lives of these believers will be in a state of deep crisis. That is precisely here, it seems to me, that the lessons of this parable merge with principles of the Bible that are applicable to us.
It is quite clear that you and I will not live during the tribulation period. And we will not have to go through those awful days of crisis through which these believers must pass. But it is equally true that if our Lord tarries at all it is possible that you and I may face crises that would severely test our strength and our faith.
No, the torches that these young ladies carried, I understand, were something like this. They consisted of long poles or sticks. And at one end of the pole or stick rags were wrapped around the pole. And then the rags were soaked in oil. And the torch was lighted.
But the striking thing about this kind of a torch was that it only burned for a short time. Something like fifteen minutes unless it was repeatedly re-soaked in oil. And this is what apparently happened.
All ten of these virgins have gone to sleep in the house because they realize that the bridegroom is tarrying. The midnight cry comes. And all ten of them wake up. All ten of them trim their lamps. In other words they light their torches.
But as they do so five of them make a horrifying discovery. They have forgotten to bring any supply of reserve oil. The five wise virgins have brought vessels filled with oil with them. And therefore from these vessels they can repeatedly douse the torch that they are carrying.
The foolish virgins have not brought any reserve oil. And they are stunned with the realization that their torches cannot burn very much longer. And in their desperation they turn to the wise virgins and they say, “Our torches are going out. Give us some of your oil.”
And the wise virgins reply, “We can’t do that. There may not be enough for us and for you. What you are going to have to do is to go round up some merchants and get them to sell you the oil. Go to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.”
Now listen. What the foolish virgins lacked was not salvation. What the foolish virgins lacked was not salvation. For if it had been salvation they would not have been told to go and buy it. Because salvation is free. The wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. By grace are ye saved through faith. And that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast.
And whether a man has lived in Old Testament days or whether he has lived in these days in which you and I are living or whether he lives in the future, he will owe his eternal salvation always to the grace of God and always to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Nobody in any day and in any time can buy their way into heaven.
Many people are trying it. They are trying to buy their way into the acceptance of God with good works or with a fine life or with religion or prayers or giving to the church. Is it possible that in an audience like this I may be talking to some unsaved person now? You are trying to win acceptance with God and in a sense buy your way into His presence. It can’t be done.
And it is the good news of the gospel that the Lord Jesus Christ has bought for you your salvation. That by His blood He paid the price for your sins. And all He is asking you to do is to receive from His hands by faith the free gift of eternal life.
Jesus said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation. But is passed from death unto life.
And though it may sound too simple to you while you are sitting here in this audience, this means to a message about the future. You can find eternal life if you will put your personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ according to His word. Salvation is free. It always has been. It always will be.
And what the foolish virgins lacked was not salvation. What they lacked were reserves of spiritual oil. Reserves of spiritual oil. And these are costly.
If you and I should face a serious personal crisis or even a national crisis in the days that lie between today and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ we too may have to draw upon the spiritual reserves that we have stored up for such a moment as that.
Let me say to you very simply that if you as a Christian are not willing to spend the time and energy that is required to really get into this book, to know it for yourself and to appropriate its truth so they become a part of your life, you as a Christian are not really willing to spend the time that is required for really effectual prayer, you are not willing to spend the effort to fellowship with God’s people regularly and to benefit from their fellowship and from the collective instruction of the word, in short, if you are not willing to pay the price for the spiritual reserves of strength and faith and vitality which all of us urgently need, the time could come when you, finding the lamp and torch of your testimony flickering, fading and failing.
You know it is not going to be easy to live for God during the tribulation period. We sometimes are horrified by the environment in which we must live our Christian life. I certainly am.
A couple of weeks ago, I think it was the issue before last, the cover story on Time magazine blazed the headline “I am a homosexual.” And within the feature story described the efforts of people like this to gain acceptance and equality with other people for their lifestyle. And the remark was made in the article that if they gain this we will be the only known culture or society past or present to grant it.
And if we need any indication of the terrible decay into which our society has fallen this is one of the clearest indications. It is hard to live for God now. But if it is hard now it will be doubly hard in the tribulation period.
For then as never before Satan’s wiles will be let loose on mankind. Then as never before iniquity will be in control. The man of sin ruling the world, controlling commerce, controlling religion. And it will be hard to keep the lamp of life in those difficult days.
Jesus warns His followers of that earlier in Matthew chapter 24. He says, “Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” There will be Christians, true believers in that day, who have loved the Lord Jesus Christ and have loved His people and loved His truth. But once the man of sin has come to power and brought to bear all the pressures which evil can bring to bear they will not have the reserves of spiritual stamina and vitality to see it through.
And they will have to say, “Our lamps are going out.”
You know the Bible says, “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.” If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.
The real test of our Christian life is not when everything is going well but when everything is going badly.
I know a lady in the city of Dallas who a number of years ago was a faithful attender at a certain church in that city. She lost her husband who was called home to be with the Lord quite unexpectedly, relatively young. This woman now is no longer in the fellowship of the church, no longer outwardly interested in religion, bitter perhaps, disappointed at what had taken place.
But her story can be multiplied many, many fold throughout the country. True Christians who have faced a moment of tragedy, a moment of crisis, a moment of frustration, a moment of disappointment, and they have discovered they did not have the oil they needed. And the lamps, the torches, went out.
You know what a claim like that is. Nobody can give you the oil that you yourself have not stored up. So often in a time of crisis we turn to someone and we might say, “I wish I had your faith. I wish I had your courage. I wish I had your stamina.” And maybe we wish we could give it to the person. But we can’t. We need it all ourselves.
And those who lack spiritual reserve can find it no place except by paying the price. There must always be pay for a life of fellowship with God, for a life of depth in His word, for a life of commitment to His will.
Go and buy for yourselves.
And so the foolish virgins are on their way looking for the oil that they need. A tragedy takes place. For the bridegroom comes. And the virgins who are ready go in with him into the wedding supper. And the door is shut.
And then the foolish virgins come. And they find the closed door. And they begin to knock on the door. They say, “Lord, Lord, open to us.” And from within they hear the reply, “Verily I say unto you, I know you not.”
Now once again do not misunderstand what the text is attempting to say to us. There is no suggestion in this text that the foolish virgins are now in hell. There is no mention here or even intimation of punishment, physical or personal suffering. No mention of weeping and gnashing of teeth such as we met last week.
But there is a closed door. There is a closed door.
May I make a suggestion? It must only be a suggestion. But I would propose this to you. It does appear as if it is probable that unfaithful Christians who live during the tribulation period will die before the period ends.
Jesus says, “Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” But then He adds these words: “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”
Now that verse is very frequently quoted in reference to eternal salvation. I doubt that that is what it means. For a few verses later on in the same chapter we read these words:
Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved.
Now our Lord Jesus Christ is teaching us that the tribulation period that is coming upon the world is so intense and so severe that it threatens the extinction of the human race. And unless the days of the tribulation were shortened by the grace of God no human being would survive it. But for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
And I believe in the light of the context as a whole it would be much to be preferred to understand the statement “he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” in reference to physical preservation. If you are faithful to me, if your love does not wax cold, says Jesus, if you are faithful right through to the very end, you will be preserved. You will go on alive into my kingdom.
Of course there will be martyrs in the tribulation period. And we are told in the book of Revelation that they will be raised when our Lord comes back to set up His kingdom.
But what of unfaithful Christians who have lost their life through their unfaithfulness during that period of time? When will they be raised? I do not know. But it is possible that they will not be raised until the end of the thousand-year reign.
It may be therefore that the passage that is before us is designed to hint that during the one thousand years of the wedding feast, the millennial reign of Christ, those who have lived unfaithfully will be standing on the outside of that feast.
It may be that the passage suggests this. But it is not necessary to press this idea to get the basic and crucial lesson of the passage.
Whether the suggestion that I have made to you is accurate or not, one thing stands boldly before us. The unfaithful, unwise virgins encounter a closed door.
I am sure that you understand that on more than one occasion the New Testament presents to us the concept of a door open as opportunity set before us. And a closed door therefore will be opportunity from which we are excluded.
For the faithful believer, not only of the tribulation period but of our day as well, the kingdom of God is a tremendous door open to wonderful privileges and important responsibilities and special joys which belong to the faithful.
We saw that last week. If the faithful servant is doing his job right up to the very end the master of the house will return and make him ruler over all of his goods. He will open up to him, so to speak, a tremendous door of privilege and responsibility into which the faithful servant may enter.
But if the man is unfaithful then when the master of the house returns no such privileges. He is appointed his portion with the hypocrites.
If your lamp burns brightly for God to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ the kingdom of God will be like an open sesame for you. And you will be able to enter into unforeseen joys and wonderful rewards which the Lord Jesus Christ has promised to those who love Him.
And if, like the unwise virgins, your lamp somehow goes out, the doorway into those opportunities is closed. And from within, in typical oriental fashion, the master of the house says, “Verily I say unto you, I do not know you.”
He does not mean He does not know who they are. This is a way of saying, “I deny your claims upon me.”
Here are these virgin women. They had expected to do the torch dance inside. They still want to do the torch dance inside. But the door is closed. “Lord, open to us. We are part of the wedding party. We have a function to perform in there.” “No, you don’t. There is the Lord. No, you know, in that respect I do not know you. You are too late to perform the function which you thought you would perform.”
Now I know that an audience like this contains many, many sensitive consciences. And I want to be clear, to be very clear with you about what I am saying and what I am not saying.
Both of the parables that we have studied thus far are a study in sharp contrast. The parable last week, the contrast between the unfaithful and the faithful servant. The parable this week, the contrast between the wise and unwise virgins.
And I have found that sensitive Christian consciences are inclined to look at themselves and say, “I can think of all sorts of ways that I failed the Lord. I must be an unwise and an unfaithful servant.” That is not what these parables are talking about. That is not what I am trying to say.
The faithful servant of the parable we looked at last week is the man who is living his life for God. The unfaithful servant is the man who is living his life for himself.
The wise virgins are those who have cultivated a life of fellowship with God out of which they can draw spiritual strength. The unwise virgins are those who have not. And whose Christian testimony goes out.
There is not one of us in this audience, not a single Christian here including the speaker up here, who cannot look in the mirror and find all sorts of blemishes on his Christian experience. Maybe I can find more of them than most of you.
But I want to tell you this. If in our hearts we know that our lives are basically lived for God, if in our hearts we know that we are attempting to cultivate a life of communion with God, then we are not the people that the parables are speaking of when they talk of unfaithful servants and foolish virgins.
But nothing could be more unfaithful than a life lived for self. And nothing more unwise than a life lived out of touch with God.
And it is to these lacks that our Lord addresses Himself in both of these crucial passages.
And then in verse 13 I think He takes the material of this parable and attempts to use its principles and apply them to us. “Watch therefore,” He says, “for ye, you, whoever you are out there, know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh.”
The parable in its details refers to the tribulation period. But its principles are applicable to us. The wisdom of readiness. The importance of the torch that burns.
After the meeting last week I overheard someone say that they had difficulty singing the joyful song that was called for at the end of the meeting because, I guess, the message was a little too heavy for our joy.
The last thing in the world that I would want to do through this series of messages is to rob you of the tremendous and superlative joy of looking forward to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we certainly are not trying to do that.
But we are saying this. That we can rob ourselves of joy as we look forward to that day and as we enter into it if we are unfaithful and unwise.
And when our Lord Jesus Christ says, “Watch ye therefore,” He is not simply saying, “Think about the coming of the Lord.” He is not simply saying, “Look forward to it.” He is saying, “Be ready for it. Be ready for it.”
And that involves vitality and communion with God and a torch brightly burning for the ages.
It may be at morn, when the day is awaking, when sunlight through darkness and shadow is breaking, that Jesus will come in the fullness of glory to receive from the world His own.
It may be at noon. It may be at twilight. It may be perchance at the blackness of midnight. Will burst Him to life with the blaze of His glory when Jesus receives His own.
And if we are ready we can say, “O Lord Jesus, how long, how long?” And we shout the glad song, “Christ returneth. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Amen. Hallelujah. Amen.”
Shall we pray?
Father, for so splendid a hope, for so glorious an expectation, we praise thee from the bottom of our hearts. For salvation so free and an expectation so bright we thank thee.