By Weichen
Facing the day of the Lord’s appearance, every brother and sister, who have true faith in the Lord hope that we are the wise virgins, and that we can welcome the bridegroom and have supper with the Lord. Some of us often read the Bible and pray, watching and preparing; some choose to work tirelessly, sacrificing and expending themselves; others regularly attend meetings, attentively waiting for the arrival of the Lord. … Everyone is preparing for, spending for and awaiting the Lord’s second coming in our own ways and is firmly convinced that we are the wise virgins and that, waiting this way, we can certainly welcome the return of the Lord. But is our preparing oil like this after the Lord’s heart? What are the wise virgins after all? How should the wise virgins prepare oil to welcome the Lord?
Recall the age when the Lord Jesus came to work two thousand years ago. The temples then were desolate and turned into a den of thieves, without God’s glory. When the Jewish people fell into darkness and had nowhere to turn, the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, came and did His work of redeeming mankind, bringing the way of repentance to man. As for those who sincerely sought the truth and yearned for the appearance of God, they, with a seeking heart, could pay attention to listening to God’s voice, and thus they saw that the Lord Jesus’ words and work are brimming with authority and power just like the Creator’s creation of the heavens and earth and all things. One word from the Lord Jesus was capable of bringing the dead back to life, of rebuking the wind and sea to make them calmed, of feeding five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish, and so forth. Peter, Nathanael, Matthew and the others at the time, through the Lord Jesus’ words, recognized that the Lord Jesus is the promised Messiah, and so followed Him. The woman of Samaria heard the Lord Jesus say the secrets held deep within her when talking with Him, and then she realized that only God can disclose these innermost secrets and that these words aren’t what a person can talk about. So she, from the Lord Jesus’ words, ascertained that He is the promised Messiah, and then followed Him. Such people are wise virgins. But the Jewish people who followed the chief priests, scribes and Pharisees, thought that, as long as they rigidly remain in the temple, slavishly clung to the law and doctrines, they were wise virgins and could welcome the arrival of the Messiah. As a result, they would rather thirst or starve to death than seek and investigate the Lord’s words and work. No matter how authoritative and powerful the Lord’s utterances are, they all obstinately maintained their own conceptions and imaginings, following the Jewish leaders’ idea that “You are not the coming of God unless You are called the Messiah.” Consequently they treated the Lord Jesus as an ordinary person, referred God’s utterances as man’s words and even judged and blasphemed the Lord Jesus. Ultimately they joined the Jewish leaders in nailing the Messiah they had long waited for to the cross, becoming the people who believed in God yet opposed Him, and falling under God’s wrath and punishment. This allows us to see that the wisdom of the wise virgins lies in paying attention to listening to God’s voice and in being able to accept the truth after hearing God’s voice. Only in this way will they welcome the appearance of God. On the contrary, the foolish virgins cannot listen to God’s voice and don’t seek even after listening to the utterances of the truth; they stubbornly hold on to various notions and imagination of their own, and observe and reject God’s appearance and work, thereby losing God’s salvation. This reminds me: In regard to welcoming the Lord’s second coming, if the Lord Jesus appears to us and works, what will our attitude be? Can we recognize the Lord’s voice? If we, because of not knowing the Lord’s voice, miss the opportunity to welcome the bridegroom and have supper with the Lord, aren’t we foolish virgins?
So, how should we watch and prepare oil to welcome the Lord? The Lord Jesus said, “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him” (Mat 25:6). “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Rev 3:20). “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Rev 2:7). “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (Jhn 10:27). From these prophecies we see clearly that when the Lord Jesus returns, He will speak to the churches and search for His sheep precisely through His words. The wise virgins, hearing someone testifying to the appearance and utterances of God, will seek and listen to God’s voice and open their hearts to welcome the Lord. A book of “the Utterances of the Holy Spirit” also says, “All who are able to obey the present utterances of the Holy Spirit are blessed. It does not matter how they used to be, or how the Holy Spirit used to work within them—those who have gained the latest work are the most blessed, and those who are unable to follow the latest work today are eliminated. God wants those who are able to accept the new light, and He wants those who accept and know His latest work. Why is it said that you must be a chaste virgin? A chaste virgin is able to seek the work of the Holy Spirit and understand the new things, and moreover, able to put aside old conceptions, and obey the work of God today.” “Since we are searching for the footprints of God, we must search for God’s will, for the words of God, for the utterances of God—for where there are the new words of God, there is the voice of God, and where there are the footsteps of God, there are the deeds of God. Where there is the expression of God, there is the appearance of God, and where there is the appearance of God, there exists the truth, the way, and the life.” From these utterances of the Holy Spirit, it can be seen that the wise virgins watch and prepare oil when it comes to welcoming the Lord; in other words, they can put aside their notions and imagination, focus on listening to God’s voice, search for God’s footsteps, seek the new work of the Holy Spirit, accept and obey God’s work and word of the new age and follow the footsteps of the Lamb. Therefore, those who will seek and examine once hearing God’s voice are the wise virgins. They will be brought before God’s throne, enjoy the provision of the ever-flowing living water of life, and attend the marriage supper of the Lamb; whereas those foolish virgins, no matter how desolate and dark their churches become, firmly remain in them and stubbornly hold on to their own notions and imagination rather than seek God’s words and work, so they will forever lose the opportunity for God’s salvation in the last days.
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