Another basic principle relating to God’s dealings with us is that we are God’s crop (1 Cor. 3:9). As God’s crop we need to reach ripeness, maturity (Rev. 14:15). If the wheat growing in the field does not ripen, it will never be taken to the barn; it will be left in the field. If we are wrong, we need to be chastised; if we are immature, we need to be left in the field to ripen. No one can argue with these two principles.
With these two principles in mind, let us come to Matthew 24 and 25. Matthew 24 reveals that, in a sense, the Lord will come in a secret way, for we are told that He will come as a thief (Matt. 24:42-43). No thief comes in a noticeable way. Matthew 24:44 says that we should be ready, “for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.” When we think the thief will come, he does not come, but when we are at peace, thinking that no thief will come, he comes. The Lord gave the same warning to Sardis in Revelation 3:3, saying, “If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.”
Matthew 24:40-41 says, “The one shall be taken and the other left.” This undoubtedly refers to the secret rapture, to the rapture of the ready ones, the matured ones. A thief only comes to steal treasures, things that are precious; he does not steal junk. We need to be a treasure in the eyes of the Lord. We need to be precious by being mature so that He will come and take us secretly. This will happen one day. Perhaps a young person will say, “I don’t know what happened to my friend who loved the Lord so much. She has disappeared. Where did she go?” Such a one has been raptured. Do not believe the teaching that there is only one rapture and that all the saints will be raptured at the same time before the tribulation. That concept is not accurate. Yes, the majority of the saints will be raptured according to 1 Thessalonians 4:17, but the mature ones will be taken secretly according to Matthew 24:40-44. There are two aspects of the Lord’s coming: the secret presence, which is first, and the public appearing, which follows later. First Thessalonians 4:15-17 speaks of those “which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord.” Here we see two categories of living saints: those who are living and have already been taken, and those who are alive and remain. Likewise, in Matthew 24 one living one is taken and the other is left.
In Matthew 25:1-13 we have the parable of the ten virgins. The two saints mentioned in Matthew 24 are the living ones, for they are working in the field and grinding at the mill. The ten virgins in Matthew 25, however, are the sleeping ones. Sleep here does not refer to any kind of spiritual sleep but to physical death. Since the Lord has delayed His coming back, many saints have died. The number ten is the majority of twelve, which is the number of the church. The ten are found in Matthew 25 and the two in Matthew 24. When these two numbers are added together, we have the whole body of church people. At the time of the Lord’s coming back, the majority of the church people will have died; only a small number will still be living. Hence, the ten virgins represent the dead saints, and the two living ones represent the living saints.
All ten virgins in this parable were saved. Do not believe that the five foolish virgins were unsaved. To be foolish is very different from being false. For example, a foolish child is not a false child. Hence, all these virgins in Matthew 25, both the wise and the foolish, were saved. The lamps of both the wise and the foolish were shining, but the problem was that the foolish virgins did not have enough oil. When the bridegroom came and the virgins arose (this means that they were resurrected), the foolish virgins discovered that they did not have an extra portion of oil. The lamp of the Lord is our spirit (Prov. 20:27), and the extra portion of oil is the transforming Spirit in our soul, in our being. Our human being, our soul, is God’s vessel (Rom. 9:21, 23). To have oil in our lamp means that we have the Spirit in our spirit. The foolish virgins, however, never became transformed by having the Spirit saturate their soul. They did not have the Spirit in their soul, in their vessel. So they had to pay the price to gain the extra portion of the Spirit in their soul that they might be transformed. This is why the wise virgins told the foolish, “Go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves” (Matt. 25:9). If you do not pay the price to gain the transforming Spirit in your soul today, you will pay it when the Lord comes back.
We all need to pay the price to have our soul transformed by the Lord, the Spirit. Second Corinthians 3:18 says, “We all, with unveiled face beholding and reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit” (Gk.). This transforming Spirit is the extra portion of the oil that we need. The Spirit who comes into our spirit, lighting the lamp of our spirit, is free, and every regenerated person has it. But after we have been regenerated, we need to be transformed in our soul. This requires that we pay a price. Many who have believed in the Lord Jesus and who have been regenerated in the spirit are not willing to pay the price to be transformed by the Spirit in their soul. Although our spirit, the lamp of the Lord, is enlightened by the Spirit, our soul, which is our vessel, needs to be transformed by the Spirit. We need to pay the price to have the transforming Spirit in our soul. If we do not pay the price in this age, we shall have to pay it in the next.
Many Christians hold the concept that everything concerning God’s purpose will be completely accomplished when the Lord comes back, and that the millennium will not be an age for the Lord to deal with His believers. According to their concept, the Lord’s dealing with His believers is only in this age, leaving nothing for Him to deal with in the coming age. In this sense, the millennium should be in the new heaven and new earth, without the need for the Lord to accomplish anything more for God’s eternal purpose. But, as we have seen, the millennium will be the last part of the period of time in which God accomplishes His eternal purpose. The Scriptures unveil clearly that both this age and the coming age are the time for the Lord to work on and deal with His believers so that they may mature and be fully perfected for God’s eternal purpose. If He cannot complete this work with us in this age, He will complete it in the coming age. It all depends upon our response to His work of grace. If we would cooperate with Him, He would surely prefer to perfect us and make us mature in this age; otherwise, He will be forced by our foolishness to postpone His dealing with us to the next age. In His wisdom, God has ordained the next age with the millennial kingdom to be an age of reward as an incentive for us to seek Him and respond to His work of grace in this age. If we are willing to take this incentive, we shall enjoy Him with the church life as today’s Sabbath rest, and we shall be rewarded by Him with the millennial kingdom as the Sabbath rest in the coming age. But if we neglect this incentive, we shall miss the enjoyment of Him with the church life as today’s Sabbath rest, and we shall be disciplined, chastised, and punished in the coming age, to say nothing of the loss of the enjoyment of Him with the millennial kingdom as the better Sabbath rest. Of course, this present age of the church is very crucial for the Lord to work on His believers for their maturity and perfection. However, the coming age of the kingdom is also needed for the Lord’s dealing with those of His believers who are unwilling to cooperate with His grace in this age. This is why the book of Hebrews encourages us to endeavor to enter the Sabbath rest that remains for us.