Prophecy

“Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins,

which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. 

And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 

They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: 

But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.”

Matthew 25:1-4 kjv

Please listen as I share these words of encouragement. Today, I was led to review an article that I wrote about a year ago, (“Go Ye Out To Meet Him”).  After reading it, this is what the Holy Spirit has placed in my heart to share with my brothers and sisters: The Lord has reminded me of the circumstance of many of His children, in what we have been doing for years.  Many have an earnest desire to come out of worldly religion and traditions; which is good.  Yet, we tend to forget one vital truth.  Which is to do so is done not by might nor by power, but by His Spirit¹.  What Yeshua says he will do; he does not lie, he will do what he says he will do.  For He is the Truth.  We have left and come out of many false things and because of His faithfulness he leads us into all truth. 

The Holy Spirit has shown me that many of us are weak in relationship with Him. We must build ourselves up in the Spirit, and be filled in Him.  Somewhere along the way, many have forgotten how to walk in the power of His Spirit.  Because of this we are weak and must become strong.  We must be filled daily with the oil of the Spirit². The Holy Spirit was sent by the Father to be with us always³.  We shouldn’t be stumbling and groping as blind men in the dark for answers, because the Holy Spirit is our guide and teaches us all things. 

The Spirit is very important in our walk, for He gives us the strength to walk. It is He who equips and gives us power and might, to face the trials and circumstances of life.  He is the one in whom we are filled and become bold and courageous in⁴.  Because of the LORD’s love and grace, we have been delivered out of the power of great deception and delivered into salvation through our Savior Yeshua. We have been delivered from the power of darkness and have been translated into the kingdom of the Father’s dear Son⁵.

In taking a look at the above scripture about the virgins and those who took oil, and those who did not take oil in their vessels, they both have one thing in common.  They both took their lamps.  In recalling one scripture about the use of lamps in their culture is a vessel used to carry fuel.  The lamp mentioned here is not a lamp that one might place on a table, but a lamp that resembles a torch. Even a lamp that will light your path.  Review the well-known scripture: thy word is a lamp unto my feet, refers to the word of God as a lamp to light our feet.  The feet is what is used to carry us where we’d like to go. “and a light to my path, if indeed that lamp is filled with oil, it will shine and reveal the path in the way you should go. The goal of the lamp and light of God is to light our way to Him through Yeshua our King.  In reviewing Psalm 115:105-112 directly expresses the intention of the Word to instruct and lead an heir in righteous paths all his days⁶.

Some of us are barely crawling, because we have not been taught the importance of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Have you realized one thing? This is not a suggestion, but a commandment.  All that he instructed the disciples to do, the Savior, (Yeshua) emphasized at his ascension.  He instructed them, to not leave Jerusalem but wait for the promised Holy Spirit,for they were to be baptized then, in the Holy Spirit and with power⁷. The New Covenant is the new Law in Christ, the law of the Spirit in Christ, which are not suggestions but laws.  It is sealed in His blood ⁸.  The command given by Yeshua to tarry, determined the impact of all of Christendom throughout eternity; because if they had not obeyed Him, there would not have been a day of the arrival of the Holy Spirit to fill and empower all believers in Christ.  So, you see the importance of being obedient?

Read this and ponder:

“Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. Mt 25:7-8 kjv 

Be filled with the Spirit. We must be filled and empowered daily by the Holy Spirit.  Yeshua walked with the his disciples three years, and upon his departing He spoke of another that He would ask the Father to send in his place.

What many may have forgotten is this; that the disciples, later called apostles walked with the Messiah three years.  They literally lived with Him.  They shared everything with him, meaning all of their life, and they gave up all they had and followed him.  He taught them.  He encouraged them.  He loved them.  He corrected them and led them, and had a deep cleansing relationship by the washing of His word, making them clean.  Before He returned to the Father he promised, that the Holy Spirit would come and continue to be with them always. Walking, and talking and fellowshipping, and guiding, protecting, leading and empowering them.  Just as his promise was to them, he is with us today, to do the same for us as well, when we embrace a meaningful relationship with Him.

They understood His meaning of this in its fullest.  Examples of this are packed in the New Testament.  There are many examples of how they prayed in Acts 15 about what is required of the gentile converts and Peter said that it seemed well with them and the Holy Spirit that no heavy burden should be place on the gentile believers in Jesus (Yeshua), but these things should be followed⁹…  Another example is of Ananias and Sapphira lying to the Holy Spirit and we know what happened there¹⁰.  Also, Paul mentioned his plans to visit one particular place and was hindered by the  Holy Spirit, so instead he went elsewhere.

Paul admonished us not to say we are going to do this or that tomorrow, but we should say if the Lord is willing we will do this or that.  This is a clear indication that we should do even as our Savior who had the fullness of the Spirit and was able to conquer death. For He was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil¹¹.

We are to nurture the same kind of relationship and mindset of Christ with the Holy Spirit, as Yeshua had with Him.  Embrace Him and be filled in him and by him.  Yeshua (Jesus) is encouraging us to have the fellowship of the Comforter as He had, and to have our vessels filled continually by the Holy Spirit; just as he did,  just as the Apostles and the first century church¹². 

Remember: Those Whom He Loves He Corrects

Throughout this parable Yeshua emphasized the profound need of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life, to ensure that we are ready for his return. The five foolish virgins had the word (they had the lamp), but they did not have the light (the oil of the Spirit). They were not able to enter in, and the door was shut because they were not prepared. They had the appearance of purity, but they had not prepared their vessels. They had not filled their vessels with oil as directed.

Yeshua spoke of the virgins on this wise: they appeared the same on the outside, they were different on the inside. Five virgins had oil for their vessels, but five did not bring oil (filled in the knowledge of the Holy Spirit in which to walk). My thought is that the foolish virgins were zealous in the flesh, but not in the Spirit, and there is an end to the zeal of the flesh, but there is no end to the power of the Holy Ghost. The foolish virgins had not learned that the requirements of the law is fulfilled through believing in Christ and in obeying his commandments. You cannot fulfill the requirements of the Law of the Spirit of Life In Christ without being filled with the Holy Spirit; just as our Savior was.

A quote from F. B. Meyer

Matthew 25:1-13

BE READY FOR THE BRIDEGROOM

“Three remarkable parables occupy this chapter and follow a marked sequence of thought. First, we are called upon to look to ourselves, and be sure that we are prepared to enter the wedding feast; that is, to enter into the holiest and closest union with our Lord. Many are called into that union of thought, and prayer and service, but, alas, how few there are who approve themselves as chosen for that inner intimacy! We must see to it that our hearts are pure with virginal purity, and that the light is ever burning in our hearts, through the continual inpouring of the oil of the Holy Spirit.

How marvelous the power which, from the noisy night procession of an oriental wedding, could bring this exquisite parable! The short, warm Eastern night, the ten girls, the cry, the peace of the prepared, the anguish of the unready, the inside and outside of the door! O blessed Comforter, may we not fail thee, as thou wilt not fail those who in their weakness seek thy help!”

In closing I humbly ask that we all ponder the seriousness of our call to be the church and to be the bride of Christ.  In all honesty, while preparing this word, reverence and the fear of the LORD has grasped my heart and brought me to a sense of sobriety. 

Help us Lord to prepare and make ourselves ready while we yet have time.¹³

“Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory,

for the marriage of the Lamb has come,

and His wife has made herself ready.”

Rev. 19:7 kjv

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Reference Verses:

¹ Zach 4:1-7And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep,  And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof:  And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.  So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.

² Ephesians 5:8-21 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:  (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)  Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,  Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;  Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;  Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;  Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

³ John 14: 15-17 If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever;  Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

⁴ Ephesians 6: 10-18 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

⁵ Colossians 1:9-14 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;  That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;  Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;  Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

⁶ Psalm 115 105-112 נNUN (seed, son, heir, continue)Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments.I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O LORD, according unto thy word.Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD, and teach me thy judgments.My soul is continually in my hand: yet do I not forget thy law.The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from thy precepts.Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart.I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even unto the end.

⁷ Acts 1:4-7 And while they were gathered together, He commanded them: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift the Father promised, which you have heard Me discuss. / For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

^{8 “}The phrase “new covenant in My blood” appears most prominently in Luke 22:20 and 1 Corinthians 11:25. In the Berean Standard Bible, Luke 22:20 reads: “In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.’” The “new covenant” refers to the divinely established relationship between God and humanity, mediated and sealed by the sacrificial death of Jesus. This covenant supersedes the Old (or Mosaic) Covenant given at Mount Sinai and introduces a transformative promise: salvation by grace through faith, rather than by adherence to the letter of the Law.”  https://biblehub.com/q/what_is_the_'new_covenant_in_my_blood'.htm

₉  Acts: 15:22-29 Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren:  And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia:  Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:  It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,  Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;  That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.

¹⁰  Acts 5:1-11 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,  And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.

¹¹Mt 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

¹² 1Cor 2:14-16 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

¹³ Rev.19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready