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Christ’s Object Lessons
not whence ye are; depart from Me.”
Luke 13:26
;
Matthew 7:22
;
Luke
13:27
. In this life they have not entered into fellowship with Christ;
therefore they know not the language of heaven, they are strangers to
its joy. “What man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man
which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the
Spirit of God.”
1 Corinthians 2:11
.
Saddest of all words that ever fell on mortal ear are those words
of doom, “I know you not.” The fellowship of the Spirit, which you
have slighted, could alone make you one with the joyous throng at the
marriage feast. In that scene you cannot participate. Its light would
fall on blinded eyes, its melody upon deaf ears. Its love and joy could
awake no chord of gladness in the world-benumbed heart. You are
shut out from heaven by your own unfitness for its companionship.
We cannot be ready to meet the Lord by waking when the cry is
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heard, “Behold, the Bridegroom!” and then gathering up our empty
lamps to have them replenished. We cannot keep Christ apart from
our lives here, and yet be fitted for His companionship in heaven.
In the parable the wise virgins had oil in their vessels with their
lamps. Their light burned with undimmed flame through the night
of watching. It helped to swell the illumination for the bridegroom’s
honor. Shining out in the darkness, it helped to illuminate the way to
the home of the bridegroom, to the marriage feast.
So the followers of Christ are to shed light into the darkness of the
world. Through the Holy Spirit, God’s word is a light as it becomes a
transforming power in the life of the receiver. By implanting in their
hearts the principles of His word, the Holy Spirit develops in men the
attributes of God. The light of His glory—His character—is to shine
forth in His followers. Thus they are to glorify God, to lighten the path
to the Bridegroom’s home, to the city of God, to the marriage supper
of the Lamb.
The coming of the bridegroom was at midnight—the darkest hour.
So the coming of Christ will take place in the darkest period of this
earth’s history. The days of Noah and Lot pictured the condition of the
world just before the coming of the Son of man. The Scriptures point-
ing forward to this time declare that Satan will work with all power
and “with all deceivableness of unrighteousness.”
2 Thessalonians 2:9,
10
. His working is plainly revealed by the rapidly increasing darkness,
the multitudinous errors, heresies, and delusions of these last days.