Part 5 of 7"While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept" (Matt 25:5).
What initial fruit do these wise virgins have that separates them from the foolish? Initially, I believe they have a superior rest!
Though up for debate, I believe the wise virgins peacefully rested in God, while the foolish virgins slept in ungodly lethargy. Why do I believe this? Because there is a difference between resting and sleeping; there is a difference between slumbering and sleeping. Are we resting comfortably in the will of God, having ceased from our own works? Or are we backslidden, overtaken with the awful sleep of un-watchfulness? The presence or lack of the Holy Ghost (oil) in our lives will always be the deciding factor!
Before the 2nd coming of King Jesus, the body of Christ will have to make a choice... Will we perpetually rest in the presence of God, or will we be found sleeping, as was so with the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane: "Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matt 26:38-41).
On the contrary, such a Godly slumber is referenced with Adam before his fall. Of him, the Bible says God put him in "a deep sleep" while Eve was taken out (Gen 2:21). This slumber was God-ordained and God-furnished; It was full of purpose too. Furthermore, concerning such a peaceful and Godly slumber, Scripture records of the Shulamite, "I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night" (Song 5:2). Can this be said of us?
Are we resting in the presence of Jesus, lying down in green pastures (Ps 23:2; Song 1:7), or are we too "heavy with sleep" to see His glory (Lk 9:32)? The Bible tells us that "Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep" (Prov 19:15).
Are we lying and resting in the pastures of God, "in a good fold" (Ezek 34:14), or do we find ourselves in the folds of another, needing to be abruptly awakened, rising, as it were, even from the dead (Eph 5:14)?
Are we, like Jesus, able to peacefully rest (in God) through the storms and trials of life (Lk 8:23), or must we be awakened out of a different kind of sleep: "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light" (Rom 13:11-12).
The choice is always ours, friends. Will we be resting in God, or sleeping in lethargy? Oh the difference that OIL makes!
To be continued...
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