Christ was born of a virgin in Bethlehem of Judea. Christ is here among His churches today, testing our hearts. Christ will come in the clouds of the heaven to receive His inheritance—the nations and the farthest reaches of the earth.

The important concept we should derive from all this is that the Lord is here among us today. Now is the hour of our salvation. Now is the time when the Bride is arising to join the Bridegroom in holy union. If we miss the present hour of visitation, which is the personal fulfillment of the Blowing of Trumpets and of the last two feasts, we will not be revealed in glory when Christ appears.

Many forces are pressing on us. Many hurdles and obstacles are before us. Will we turn aside from the present world and seek the face of the Lord? Will we forsake all to follow the King, the Lord Jesus Christ? The issue is here now. It will be decided now, not in the future. The Lord is here now. In one sense, at least, the five wise virgins are responding now.

You and I are being weighed in the balances. Will we be found wanting?

The Lord Jesus has come suddenly to His temple, which is the heart of the believer. Will we be able to stand the searchings and burnings of the Spirit of God? Do we have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches?

Christ is calling us forth from Sodom. Are we looking back? "Remember Lot's wife"!

Now is the Divine appointment to salvation. Now the Lord has come to those who are looking for Him, not as the sin offering to remove the guilt of our sins but as the Lord of Armies who is ready to deliver us from the power of the enemy.

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. (Hebrews 9:27,28)

Deliverance from sin and rebellion is here now and we must give our undivided attention to pressing into it.

Esther could not come before the king until she had been prepared:

Now when every maid's turn was come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after that she had been twelve months, according to the manner of the women, (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, to wit, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours, and with other things for the purifying of the women;) (Esther 2:12)

Six months of myrrh and six months of sweet odors. So it is true that each believer must submit to the "myrrh," to the sufferings of Christ, and then he will receive the "sweet odours," the fullness of the blessings of Heaven. After we have received both the myrrh and the sweet odors we shall be ready to be received by the Father and the Lord Jesus.

To be continued.