Matthew 25:1-13 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened to ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.… Because, to speak first of faith, we need not merely enough to live on through our ordinary experiences, but stores of it to fall back on and draw on when ruin and disaster seem to have it all their own way. When we wake up suddenly to wonder whether God can be in heaven and we so forlorn on the earth; whether the Christ was not mistaken in His abiding confidence, and all the saints; and what better thing there can be left than just to grit our teeth and bear it. Millions have struck the same troubles, but have risen out of them through their reserves into the very life and light of God. No disaster has overcome them utterly; no trial broken them clean down. It was no matter that the heavens were black as midnight, except for the fierce pain of it — or that " from out waste nature came a cry and murmurs from the dying sun;" the reserves were there, and they drew on them to the last, and went in to the joy of the Lord. Poor creatures some of them, who could give no reason why they should hold on so and stay so cheerful, any more than the fountain can give a reason for its flowing, or the plant you find in some deserts for its store of cool water! They have been sending out roots far and wide, tapping the secrets of reserved power and storing up the treasure, and now nothing can exhaust them. The old Bible has been drawn on, and the stores open to them outside in thought and life; and, above all things, the inward and inexhaustible fountains of God's own blessing. No danger of the oil giving out; it burns clear away until they pass beyond the veil. (R. Collyer, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. |
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