When the Lord comes He will call His elect, His saints, His warriors, to Himself. They will be drawn from one end of the heavens to the other. This is the answer to the question posed by the disciples.

After the Lord appears and the elect are gathered to Him, the wrath of God will be poured on the wickedness of the world. It will be as the days of Noah. This will be the time when two are working together, one is taken and the other left.

So the sequence is: the Gospel of the Kingdom is preached to all nations; the worldwide tribulation takes place; the Lord returns; the wrath of God is poured on the wicked.

Now we are ready to discuss the two parables. At that time . . .

The Parable of the Ten Virgins

At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. (Matthew 25:1—NIV)

We are speaking about the Kingdom of Heaven. This is important to note because our tradition has residence in Heaven as our goal. The Lord Jesus did not appear on earth to tell us about our going to Heaven but about the coming of the Kingdom to the earth. Right now the Kingdom is in Heaven. When the Lord returns with His saints the Kingdom will come from Heaven to earth.

The coming of the Lord is the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth. It is not the going of the Church to Heaven. This change in concept is radical in the present hour but soon will be as accepted as going to Heaven is now. This is because the time is near.

We know the ten virgins represent Christians because they went out to meet the Bridegroom. This would not be true of unsaved people.

We think the "lamps" represent the Bible, the Word of God, or the doctrinal beliefs of the believers.

Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. (Matthew 25:2-4—NIV)

Notice that this parable does not have to do with sin, as we usually think of sin. Ordinarily we do not view carelessness as sin. Yet Hebrews warns us against neglecting our salvation.

"Oil" often is used in the Bible as a symbol of the Holy Spirit. We think this is the portrayal here. In any case it is the Life of Jesus Christ that is at issue.

How can people have the Word of God and yet not have the Life of Christ, the Holy Spirit, dwelling in them? Easy! It happens every day.

We refer to people who speak in tongues, or who have at some point in the past spoken in tongues, as being "Spirit-filled." In many instances they are not Spirit-filled at all. They spoke in tongues at some previous time past but ever since have been living in the flesh, for the most part.

Do you know anyone like that?

To be continued.