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From Here to Forever
their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all
slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold,
the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.”
Matthew 25:1-6
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The coming of Christ, as announced by the first angel’s message,
was understood to be represented by the coming of the bridegroom.
The widespread reformation under the proclamation of Christ’s soon
coming answered to the going forth of the virgins. In this parable,
all had taken their lamps, the Bible, and had gone “forth to meet the
bridegroom.” But while the foolish “took no oil with them,” “the
wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.” The latter had studied
the Scriptures to learn the truth and had a personal experience, a faith
in God which could not be overthrown by disappointment and delay.
Others moved from impulse, their fears excited by the message. But
they had depended upon the faith of the brethren, satisfied with the
flickering light of emotion, without a thorough understanding of
truth or a genuine work of grace in the heart. These had gone forth
“to meet” the Lord in the prospect of immediate reward but were not
prepared for delay and disappointment. Their faith failed.
“While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.”
By the tarrying of the bridegroom is represented the passing of the
time, the disappointment, the seeming delay. Those whose faith
was based on a personal knowledge of the Bible had a rock beneath
their feet which the waves of disappointment could not wash away.
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“They all slumbered and slept,” one class in abandonment of their
faith, the other patiently waiting till clearer light should be given.
The superficial could no longer lean upon the faith of their brethren.
Each must stand or fall for himself.
Fanaticism Appears
About this time, fanaticism began to appear. Some manifested a
bigoted zeal. Their fanatical ideas met with no sympathy from the
great body of Adventists, yet they brought reproach upon the cause
of truth.
Satan was losing his subjects, and in order to bring reproach
upon the cause of God, he sought to deceive some who professed
the faith and drive them to extremes. Then his agents stood ready
to seize upon every error, every unbecoming act, and hold it up in