We believers in Christ all need to have a serious realization that the Lord has given us a double status, a twofold status. We are the virgins in the divine life, in God’s life, and we are the slaves in the Lord’s service. We have seen that we need to be watchful and pray that we may always buy the oil to arrive at the maturity in life so that we might be ready for the coming rapture. In this chapter we want to see the way to be faithful in the Lord’s service.
The Scripture reading of this chapter contains portions from Matthew 24 and 25. As a background to our fellowship, I would like to describe each of the four Gospels with a single adjective. According to my understanding, Mark is an easy book. Luke is a pleasant book. John is a deep book. It is so deep that no one can touch the bottom of it nor the boundary. John is most profound. When you dive into it, you may get lost. John begins with the words “In the beginning.” No one can tell us what the beginning is. Also, the book of John does not have a conclusion, an ending. In the beginning was in eternity past and this book opens to eternity future. John does not have a conclusion like Matthew, Mark, and Luke do because John is such a profound and deep book. I would say that the Gospel of Matthew is a heavy book. The more you get into it, the more you understand it, the more you feel that you cannot bear it. Speaking in tongues is not at the conclusion of the pleasant book, the deep book, or the heavy book. It is at the conclusion of the easy book along with picking up serpents and not being harmed if one drinks poison (Mark 16:18). Many ancient manuscripts, even the best ones, omit the final twelve verses of Mark, in which the aforementioned items are listed. Luke ends with going to proclaim the forgiveness of sins (Luke 24:47). John ends with feeding the Lord’s sheep and shepherding His lambs (21:15-16). Matthew ends with going to disciple the nations, baptizing them into the Triune God (28:19).
The Lord’s charge at the end of Matthew is heavy, but not too heavy. The heaviest chapters in the book of Matthew are not in chapters five through seven which concern the reality of the kingdom of the heavens as the very constitution of the heavenly kingdom. The heaviest chapters are neither in chapter thirteen concerning the appearance of the kingdom of the heavens. The heaviest chapters are Matthew 24 and 25 concerning the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens. In these two chapters two heavy and sobering items are mentioned—the portion which is appointed for the hypocrites (24:51) and the outer darkness (25:30). The issue of these two items is the weeping and gnashing of teeth (24:51; 25:30). This is why I say that Matthew is a heavy book.
Matthew 24 and 25 are both a portion of the Bible and are both the word that came out of the Lord’s mouth directly and shortly before His death. These two prophetic chapters were delivered by the Lord on the Mount of Olives (24:3). In the very night before His death, He gave another message, which is recorded in John 14—16 with a concluding prayer in chapter seventeen. John 14—17 is so deep, while Matthew 24 and 25 are so heavy. Anyone who has succeeded in a certain career gives a serious word when he dies. The message in John 14—17 is very deep, unveiling to us all the riches and depths of the divine life, of the Triune God, for our experience. The message given by the Lord in Matthew before His death is a heavy warning. He had no intention to warn the unbelievers, but rather His believers, who all have become the seeking virgins waiting for Him to come back and the slaves partaking in His service. His warning is not to sinners but to virgins and slaves. The believers have such a twofold status. We are virgins going out of the world with a bright and shining testimony, waiting for His coming back and getting ready to meet Him. We are also slaves in service serving Him with a commission. The Lord has delivered His possessions to us and has given us the talents.
I am sorry that such a top student and teacher of the Bible such as C. I. Scofield said that the foolish virgins and the slothful slaves were false Christians. Most of the Brethren teachers felt the same way. However, another group of Bible teachers, among whom were Pember, Panton, Govett, and Lang, repudiated the Brethren teaching. They said that surely these foolish and slothful ones are not false believers. They are genuine Christians, yet they are neither watchful in their life nor faithful in their service, so they will miss the mark in Christ’s rapture and miss the reward in the coming dispensation.
We want to consider again the seriousness of Matthew 24 and 25. I do not have the burden to expound the Bible in this chapter. The truths in Matthew 24 and 25 have been adequately covered in the Life-study of Matthew and in the notes of the Recovery Version. My burden is that we would realize the seriousness of our position. Are we watchful to buy the oil every day and all day to get ready for Him to come to take us up? Have we been faithful and are we still being faithful in His service that we could be at peace when He comes back to settle accounts with us? Will we receive an appraising word and a reward from Him in the age to come or not? These are serious questions.
In John 10:28-29 the Lord assured us that He gave to us eternal life and that we shall by no means perish forever. The Son’s hand and the Father’s hand are holding us and no one can snatch us out of their hands. In Matthew 24 and 25, the Lord is not referring to eternal perdition in the lake of fire, but to a place set apart for the believers to be disciplined. The Lord did not say that believers would perish, but that many of them will be in a place where they will weep and gnash their teeth. If we believe that John 3:16 and 10:28-29 are the word of the Lord that we shall have eternal life and never perish, we should also believe the word in Matthew 24 and 25. This heavy book of Matthew tells us that if we are not faithful in His commission in 24:45-51 or in His gifts in 25:14-30, we will be put into a place called outer darkness where we are cut off from the coming Lord. To be cut asunder in 24:51 means to be separated from the Lord in His coming glory. His presence is the glory and the full enjoyment of the eternal life we have received, so this is a place where the believers will be cut off from His presence, a place called outer darkness.
If we believe in this portion of the Word and that the Lord will return, we must consider the seriousness of our readiness to meet Him. The Lord Jesus is coming. Are you ready to meet Him? The parable of the ten virgins shows us that to be ready for His coming we must buy the oil. To be ready is to be saturated with the oil, to get our vessel, our being, filled up with oil. To get the oil we have to pay the price; we have to buy the oil. For us to receive the regenerating Spirit did not require a price, but for us to receive the filling and saturating Spirit, saturating every avenue of our entire being, our mind, will, emotion, and conscience, does require a price. Everything related to these main parts of our being has to be saturated and filled with the Spirit who is the very oil. This is what it means to be ready for the Lord’s coming.
Quite often I get warned by this portion in Matthew. Are you buying the oil or are you wasting time? Do you let the time slip away without getting any more saturating of the oil? Some may feel that they still have plenty of time before the Lord returns and this could be true. Even the Son, standing in the position of the Son of Man, does not know the day and hour of His coming back; only the Father knows (Matt. 24:36). If the Son of Man does not know, how could you and I know? On the other hand, none among us knows when he will die. Are any of us sure that we will be alive tomorrow morning? I am not cursing anyone, but I am warning you. Do you know that you will live for another two years? It may be that you will live a long life, but will you have bought enough oil?
It is not a matter of when the Lord will come or when we will die, but a matter of our having bought the oil. It is not a matter of when the exam for the students will be, but a matter of whether the students have prepared their lessons. To prepare lessons by studying is not an overnight matter. Many students in the top academic universities are very competitive. If you would try to seduce them to play some sports or watch television, they would say that they must take care of their studies. To prepare for a final examination requires you to study your lessons every day. The preparation is an accumulation of your study of the books. You may pray for two hours to repent and get yourself thoroughly cleansed, but that alone could not be sufficient to prepare yourself for His coming. The Lord might admit that you are clean and pure, but He would ask you where your oil is. A student may behave well and study for the final two days of his schooling, but that does not mean he will graduate. He will not graduate unless he has taken care of his lessons day after day. Therefore, it is not a matter of when we will die or when the Lord Jesus will come, but a matter of how much oil we have accumulated. To buy the oil takes a lifetime.
We have to remember that the Lord is fair. His judgment will be measured fairly to each one of us. If a person were saved last night and died this morning, I do not believe that the Lord would exercise a long judgment over him. For many of us, though, who were saved years ago and have been in the Lord’s recovery for a number of years, the Lord will ask us how much oil we have bought and accumulated since we came into the recovery. A student’s accumulated learning and knowledge over a long period of time is what qualifies him for graduation. My burden is that we would all wake up. Many of us have been asleep. This is why Paul said in Ephesians 5:14, “Awake, sleeper, and arise from among the dead, and Christ shall shine on you.” Today is a day that you should not lose for buying the oil. Today you must pay some price to buy the oil.
When I consider the subject of this chapter, the way to be faithful, my heart is nearly broken. By His mercy, I do not like to lose one day in which I am not doing my service, but the present situation in the recovery greatly concerns me. According to my observation, most of us are not doing our best to fulfill our service. This is why my burden is here. It is better for us to be exposed today than for us to be exposed at His judgment seat.