Sermons and Fellowship: What’s Wise About the Wise Virgins Who Welcome the Lord?
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August 22, 2018 |
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Sermons and Fellowship: What’s Wise About the Wise Virgins Who Welcome the Lord?
“During the Age of Grace, Jesus talked about the wise virgins. What is this mystery all about? What does the term wise virgin mean? The main point is that she recognizes God’s voice. When she hears it, she thinks, ‘Why do I think that the things this Son of man is saying are God’s words? Why does it seem like He has God’s voice? These are things that man cannot say. This is God’s voice. So I must believe in Him. He is Christ. This is God incarnate.’ Look, this is why she is wise. Now, why are foolish virgins foolish? It is because they think, ‘Isn’t this just a man? Isn’t this Jesus of Nazareth? Isn’t this just a normal person? How can he be God? We will not believe in him. We believe in the God in heaven.’ You see, they do not understand spiritual matters, right? These people believe that they themselves are correct and that they are in the right. The result was that God takes the wise in their own craftiness. Aren’t you wise? Aren’t you someone who does not believe in man? Today, God has become incarnate. He has become man. If you do not believe, you will be destroyed, and you will perish. If you think that you are clever and wise, you will have fooled yourself.”
from “Only Those Who Meet the Standard in the Fulfillment of Their Duties Will Be Saved and Perfected” in Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (Ⅸ)
“The Lord Jesus predicted in the Bible that at the time of His return there would be two types of people, He used wise virgins and foolish virgins as a parable for all of the believers in the Age of Grace: All who are able to hear the voice of God are wise virgins; all who are not able to hear the voice of God, who listen and still deny and do not believe it, these are the foolish virgins. Do you all think that the foolish virgins can be raptured? Of course not, right? So how can these foolish and wise virgins be revealed? By using the word of God.”
from Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (Series 133)
“Those who are compatible and of one heart with Christ are the pillars of Christ’s kingdom. They are the ones who will be in power in Christ’s kingdom and they will, from beginning to end, bear witness to Christ and exalt Christ. Understand? (Understood.) During the Age of Grace, what was Jesus’ prophecy? ‘And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him’ (Mat 25:6). Who are those who go to meet the bridegroom? They are the wise virgins. After the wise virgins go to meet the bridegroom, what will happen is: ‘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). What kind of banquet is this? It is the marriage banquet of the Lamb. Here, the passage mentions ‘marriage,’ ‘wise virgin’ and ‘attending banquets.’ Is this the language of humanity? God uses a practical example, to illustrate how God’s chosen people will be brought before God to attend a banquet. Now, in regard to the wise virgins, can it then be said that all those who go to welcome the return of the Lord are women? (No.) Some are men and some are women. So why are wise virgins used as the analogy? This is the incarnate God using human language. This is an analogy. If God’s Spirit spoke, He would not use these words. He would not use this language. This was spoken by Jesus. Jesus is God incarnate. He knows about the matters of man. He has experienced many human situations. Therefore, He uses the matters of man as an appropriate analogy to illustrate attending a banquet in the kingdom of heaven. By doing this, it becomes more understandable for man. Right? (Right.) Now, what is the meaning of ‘virgin’? Virgin is used as a metaphor to describe the purity of man’s faith. ‘I believe in God, I will follow God and I will follow Christ. I will be devoted to Christ. I do not belong to any religion and I do not belong to the secular world.’ This is a wise virgin, right? (Yes.) If you belong to the secular world or to any religion, can you be considered as a virgin? (No.) If you have been married to a few masters, you are not a virgin. If you are married to only one master, then you are a virgin. Right now, those who are devoted to Christ can be considered as virgins. If you are only devoted to Christ and only love Christ and no other, you can be considered a wise and chaste virgin, right? (Yes.) ‘Those who are devoted to Christ are few and far between.’ This was how it was like during the Age of Grace. Now, during the Age of Kingdom, God wants to make a class of people. In the book of Revelation, it predicts that God will make 144,000 overcomers. These are people who are devoted to Christ. They are cleansed by means of judgment before Christ’s throne and in the very end, they become one with Christ and closely follow Christ. They do not miss a single step. This is the class of overcomers that God will make in the last days.”
from Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (Series 153)
