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Scripture Reading: Matt. 24:37-42, 44, 51; 25:1-30
All Christians love Scripture verses such as John 3:16, which says, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life”; Matthew 1:21, which says, “You shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins”; and 11:28, which says, “Come to Me all who toil and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” They also love the nine blessings in Matthew 5. However, not many Christians appreciate the word in Matthew 24 and 25.
Matthew 24 and 25 speak of slaves and virgins. Regardless of whether we are brothers or sisters, we are virgins as well as slaves before God. Just as we acknowledge that believing in the Lord and being saved are important, we must also acknowledge that the Lord’s word in Matthew 24 and 25 is important. Just as we love the words “Come to Me all who toil and are burdened, and I will give you rest,” we should also remember the Lord’s word in Matthew 24 and 25 concerning the Lord settling accounts with us when He returns.
Matthew 24:51 says that the Lord will cut asunder the evil slave. The Brethren taught that only false believers will be cut asunder. They maintained that the Lord Jesus would not cut asunder a believer who was redeemed with His blood. Therefore, they said that the five foolish virgins and the evil and slothful slave in chapter 25 are false believers. This teaching gave rise to many disputes.
In John 10:28-29 the Lord Jesus said, “I give to them eternal life, and they shall by no means perish forever, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. My Father...is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand.” Based on these verses, the Brethren taught that once we are saved, our salvation is eternally secure; therefore, they argued that genuine believers could not be cut asunder or shut outside the door. However, those who know the Bible know that the Lord would not set a false believer over His household and that a false believer cannot go forth to meet the Bridegroom with a lighted lamp. Hence, we should not say that the foolish virgins are false believers. A father with several children would never say that the clever ones are his real children, but the foolish ones are false children. In the same principle, we should not say that someone is a false slave simply because he is evil and slothful.
In Matthew 13:24-30 the Lord said that the enemy sowed tares in the midst of the wheat and that the tares and the wheat are growing together. The tares are false believers, and the Lord is waiting until the end of the age to weed out the tares, bind them into bundles, and burn them. In chapter 25, however, the virgins die and then are resurrected. The virgins are resurrected believers who are raptured to the Lord’s judgment seat to render an account to the Lord. A false believer would not be raptured to the Lord’s judgment seat to give an account to the Lord. Therefore, the prudent virgins are true believers, and the foolish virgins are also true believers. The good and faithful slaves are true believers, and the evil and slothful slaves are also true believers.
According to the Lord’s word in Matthew 24 and 25, we will either receive a reward from the Lord or be cut asunder by Him in the future. The phrase cut asunder means “to cut apart.” In John 15 the Lord said that He is the true vine, we are the branches, and He will take away any branch that does not bear fruit (vv. 1-2, 5). According to our experience and knowledge of the truth, the Lord cuts off from the vine tree any branch that does not bear fruit. He does not simply cut the branch in two.
Second Corinthians 1:21 says, “The One who firmly attaches us with you unto Christ and has anointed us is God.” When we were baptized, we entered into an organic union with the Lord. When we fellowship with Him, touch His presence, and enjoy His riches, we are one with Him. Sometimes, however, we are separated from the Lord because we commit sin. Even though the Lord has not cut us off, we feel as if our fellowship with the Lord has been cut off.
As believers our union with the Lord is eternal. However, if we are evil and slothful, the Lord will cut us off from His presence when He returns. Concerning the evil slave the master says that he “will cut him asunder and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. In that place there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 24:51). Concerning the good and faithful slave the master says, “You were faithful over a few things; I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your master” (25:21). The master then says concerning the evil and slothful slave, “Cast out the useless slave into the outer darkness. In that place there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth” (v. 30). According to chapters 24 and 25, to cut the evil slave asunder means to cast him into the outer darkness. This is to cut him off from the Lord’s presence and cast him into the outer darkness.
Our union with the Lord is realized through our enjoyment and fellowship. To be cut off means that we lose our fellowship with the Lord and our enjoyment of the Lord. This is a punishment, but it is not eternal perdition. A person may say to his children that whoever receives good grades will receive a reward at the end of the semester, and whoever fails will be punished by being restricted to his room. When the semester is over, the child who receives an A receives a reward, but the child who fails is restricted to his room. Whether he is in his room for half a day or for one hour, while he is in the room, he is cut off from his father’s presence. His being shut in his room is a kind of cutting off. It temporarily cuts the child off from his relationship with his father. In the same principle, for the sake of God’s righteous ways, for His government, and for our benefit, we will be cut off from the Lord if we are slothful.
In the Lord’s recovery the Lord has given us the divine life, truth, and the proper practice. The light that is being released in these days from the Lord’s Word is very clear. If we want the Lord’s recovery to spread and increase, we must be strengthened in the matters of begetting, nourishing, and teaching. We are not Christianity, in which most of the people are “pew members” and only a small number are hired as preachers or pastors because they studied theology. Most Christians think that spreading the gospel, holding home meetings, and teaching the truth are not for the “pew members.” In the Lord’s recovery, however, we must all spread the gospel, hold home meetings, and teach the truth.
In Matthew 25:1 the Lord said, “The kingdom of the heavens will be likened to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom.” This indicates that every believer is a virgin. In 24:40-41 the Lord said, “Two men will be in the field; one is taken and one is left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left.” In order for the two men to be working in the field and the two women to be grinding at the mill, they must be living. The ten virgins in chapter 25 become drowsy and sleep (v. 5). This means that they die. The two believers in chapter 24 are living, and the ten virgins in chapter 25 have died. Two plus ten equals twelve. According to numerical significance, the number twelve represents all of God’s people.
The fact that the ten virgins become drowsy and sleep while they wait for the bridegroom indicates that when the Lord returns, the majority of the believers will have died. Both the foolish and the prudent virgins die. The faithful saints, such as Paul, die, and the slothful saints also die. When the Lord returns, only a small number of believers will still be alive. Some of the believers who are living will be raptured, and some will be left. This concerns all of God’s people, not only the pastors and preachers. The Lord delivers His possessions to all His slaves, not to only a few of His slaves. He delivers His possessions to those who are strong and capable and to those who are weak and not as capable. This parable shows that every believer should serve the Lord.
We do not appoint leaders in the home meetings, because as soon as there is a leader, the saints stop functioning. Any brother in a home meeting can baptize a gospel friend who wants to be baptized. The principle should be the same in the church service. The Lord Jesus sees all believers as virgins and slaves. According to life, all the believers should be chaste virgins; they should be pure in heart. Whether they are male or female, young or old, their eyes should be fixed on the Lord, and they should not have any other goal. Every believer should be like this. Even though we are living in the world, we are going forth to meet our Bridegroom with our lamps. The lamp is our testimony. In the aspect of life we go out of the world to meet the Lord, bearing His testimony.
In the aspect of work we are the Lord’s slaves, and our living is to serve the Lord. A full-timer is a person who lives unto the Lord and is for the Lord; his person, life, living, and career are unto the Lord and for the Lord. A person who has the ability to conduct business but not the gift of preaching the gospel should offer the money he makes for the spread of the Lord’s work.
In Luke 16:9 the Lord said, “Make friends for yourselves by means of the mammon of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they may receive you into the eternal tabernacles.” We can use unrighteous mammon to spread the gospel and save sinners. The money we offer is used to buy Bibles and spiritual books or to support the full-timers who preach the gospel; therefore, people are saved. Our giving enables us to participate in their salvation.
Those who love the Lord will be surprised to see crowds of people welcoming them when they meet the Lord. Someone may never go to America, but because his money went there for the work, there will be Americans saying that they were helped by him. Those who are saved through his offering are credited to his heavenly account. The brothers who do business and use their money only to buy land, houses, or stock are not faithful. A person who uses his money faithfully for the Lord’s need is living full time unto the Lord.
The full-timers should work diligently on the campuses and in the towns and villages. They should also go door to door to visit people. Whomever they bring to salvation will be credited to their heavenly account. Apart from taking care of their living and their children’s education, the believers with jobs should use their money absolutely for the Lord. Any person who is saved and perfected through their offering will be credited to their account, and the churches that are built up through their offering will also be credited to their account. Working full time for the Lord and making money full time for the Lord are two ways to effectively use the Lord’s gift. This is what Matthew 25 refers to when it says that the slave who received five talents gained another five talents (v. 16). The talents given by the Lord refer to grace, which is a gift. We should use this grace to earn interest.
The Lord has given us physical health, good education, and a proper environment. We should not forget the source of all that we enjoy. Everything we have is from the Lord. He is the source. According to the Lord’s grace, His ministry is here; otherwise, we would not succeed in any of our endeavors. Even the full-timers would not succeed. Hence, we should not waste our days. One day the Lord will say, “I gave you talents by placing you in the church and giving you the truth. I also gave you a good job and good health, and I met your needs. What did you do with your talents?”
The Lord has shown us that the three crucial matters needed in building up the church are begetting, nourishing, and teaching. We must seize the opportunity to serve, even if we are newly baptized brothers and sisters. We are all virgins and slaves. As virgins we must be watchful and ready, and as slaves we must be faithful and diligent. Being watchful and ready means that we fellowship with the Lord every day so that our lamps shine brightly. We must also buy oil, which signifies the Holy Spirit. The Spirit in our spirit enables us to shine. However, it is not enough to rely on the oil that is in our lamps; we also need oil in our vessels. The oil in our vessel can be added to our lamp whenever there is a need. Our vessel is our soul, and our lamp is our spirit. The Spirit should be not only in our spirit. He also needs to fill and saturate our entire being, including our mind, emotion, and will. The prudent virgins have oil in their lamps, and they also have plenty of oil in their vessels.
We must pay a price in order to gain oil. When we fellowship with the Lord in the morning, He may touch our conscience, telling us to deal with our sins against others. When we obey Him, we are inwardly filled with the Holy Spirit. This is the first step in buying oil. Throughout the day we must also live a life of buying oil. When we read the Bible and pray, we are buying oil. When we preach the gospel, we are buying oil. When we attend home meetings, we are buying oil, and when we teach Truth Lessons, we are buying even more oil. We cannot borrow oil. This can be compared to eating and breathing. No one can eat or breathe for us. When the Lord comes, we will be unable to borrow oil from the brothers and sisters.
If we fellowship with the Lord when we are at home, we will have oil when we speak in the meetings. We will supply the saints, and our prayers will cause them to touch the Lord. If we watch television instead of enjoying the Lord, our prayer in the home meetings will be without oil, and we will not supply the saints.
The Lord Jesus gave us a principle: “Whoever has, it shall be given to him, and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him” (Luke 8:18). If we spend one and a half hours contacting the Lord every Saturday, our speaking in the home meetings will be full of oil, and everyone will be supplied. Because we are using the riches that the Lord gave us, we will feel that there is more oil flowing into us than there is flowing out of us. We supply others, and they supply us. Everyone gains something. In this way the church is built up. When each member fulfills his function, the meetings are fresh, living, strong, and bright, and they can attract, supply, support, and gain people.
We must be people with oil. We must have oil when we preach the gospel, meet in the home meetings, and teach Truth Lessons. If we have oil, we will not need many words when we speak to the unbelievers who come to our home meetings. We will be able to open their hearts with a simple prayer. If we lack oil, we will be unable to speak when an unbeliever comes to our home meeting. Regardless of what we serve as refreshments, they will not want to come again, because they were not supplied. People today want and need oil. If we lead people to diligently read Truth Lessons, they will receive it, and they will spontaneously enter into the truth.
During the classes on Truth Lessons we must lead the saints to read each lesson, but we should not explain too much. The classes should be small, and we should fellowship after reading. If the saints cannot digest the text, they should take it home and read it again. If we do this faithfully for fifty-two weeks every year, the lessons will become the riches within the saints that they can apply, and they will have oil when they preach the gospel, meet in the home meetings, and teach the truth. Through such a practice the church will be built up, the number of believers will increase, and those who are cold and backslidden will begin meeting again. The church will spontaneously multiply and increase.
Regrettably, some brothers and sisters still emphasize the big meetings. In the home meetings there are children, young people, and old people. There might be only ten people in the meeting, and not one of them is talented. They do not know how to speak eloquently, and they sing out of tune. This is the reason that some people do not want to attend the home meetings. They consider the big meetings to be better. However, the people gained in the big meetings are not as stable as the people gained through the home meetings. Those who are saved in the big meetings do not know anyone. When the meeting ends, everyone is dismissed, and there is no solid contact. If two home meetings save one person every week, the four hundred home meetings in the church in Taipei will have two hundred new ones. These two hundred new ones are the personal contacts of the brothers and sisters. Therefore, they will be stable and more likely to remain.
Every home meeting has approximately seven or eight people. When we say that Taipei has four hundred home meetings, we mean that more than three thousand people are actively meeting in the homes. This may seem insignificant, but it is more effective than a big meeting. Any society that relies only on outward show cannot be built up. The practice in modern society is to encourage stable families. In this way society has a proper structure and can be healthy. This also applies to the church. It is not practical for the church to have big meetings every day. The most practical way is for everyone to meet in the homes to supply and care for one another.
We must diligently read the Bible, pray, visit others, preach the gospel, build up home meetings, and teach Truth Lessons. We cannot be lazy in any of these things. We should never think that we can be loose because the Lord has not come for two thousand years, even though He said that He comes quickly. Even though He delays, we will meet Him one day. We must be prepared to meet Him. We cannot prepare in one day; we need a lifetime to prepare. We cannot wait until we are about to die before we prepare to settle accounts with the Lord. We must prepare daily. The brothers who have gone before us are patterns. They spent their entire lives preparing to meet the Lord because they feared that they would not be ready when the Lord comes.
We are now in the age of grace, and our salvation is eternally secure. After the age of grace is the age of the kingdom of righteousness, in which the Lord will settle accounts with us according to His righteousness. We will either be rewarded or punished for one thousand years. This is not a light matter. We are considering this serious matter in order to encourage everyone to diligently and faithfully participate in begetting, nourishing, and teaching. Our preparing to meet the Lord can be compared to saving money in a bank account. We do not save all our money in one day; instead, we save our money gradually. We must daily seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit, deal with our sins, and have proper fellowship with the Lord so that we mature in life and our work is accepted by the Lord. If we do these things, we will be rewarded at the Lord’s coming. We will participate in His wedding feast, partake of His joy, enter into the kingdom, and reign together with Him.
