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Matthew 25:3-4 mentions two things that are absolutely different—one is the lamp and the other is the vessel. The difference between the foolish virgins and the prudent virgins does not concern their lamps but the contents of their vessels. The prudent prepared oil in their vessels, whereas the foolish did not. Verse 7 says, “Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their own lamps.” This verse mentions only lamps, not vessels. Then verse 8 says, “And the foolish said to the prudent, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” This verse proves that the lamps of the foolish virgins were burning but were soon about to go out. This also implies that there was no problem with their lamps. Instead, the problem was that they did not take oil in their vessels.
We have to pay attention to what the lamp, the vessel, the oil in the lamp, and the oil in the vessel signify. Then we will know what our problem is. Proverbs 20:27 clearly says, “The spirit of man is the lamp of Jehovah, / Searching all the innermost parts of the inner being.” The lamp is the human spirit within us, and our spirit is the lamp of God. Jehovah has a lamp in us, which is the spirit in man. God searches every part of our inner being using this lamp. The parts of our inner being are the parts of the human soul.
Second Corinthians 4:7 says, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not out of us.” The treasure in this verse is the life of God and the Spirit of life. The earthen vessel refers to our being. Verse 16 says, “Therefore we do not lose heart; but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.” The outer man is our natural man, our soul, whereas the inner man is our regenerated new man, our regenerated spirit. Thus, the vessel mentioned in the previous verse refers to our outer man, our soul. The treasure is the life of God, the Spirit of life, mingled with our inner man, our spirit. Therefore, our spirit has the life of God and the Spirit of God, and our outer man, our soul, is a vessel.
Second Corinthians 3:6 says, “Who has also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, ministers not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” Verse 8 says, “How shall the ministry of the Spirit not be more in glory?” Verse 6 mentions the Spirit, and verse 8 mentions glory. Verse 6 says that the ministers of the new covenant are made sufficient to be ministers of the Spirit through which man can have life. Then verse 8 says that there is glory in the ministry of the new covenant. Therefore, the Spirit and glory are closely related. Verses 16 and 17 say, “Whenever their heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. And the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” Our turning our heart to the Lord is our turning to the Spirit. Whenever the veil is taken away, the Spirit works to set us free.
Verse 18 says, “We all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” This means that our being transformed into the image of the Lord is our being transformed from glory to glory. Our being transformed from glory to glory is also from the Lord Spirit. In other words, our being transformed from the Lord Spirit is our being transformed from glory to glory. Anyone who knows Greek should realize that this verse shows that our transformation from glory to glory and our transformation from the Lord Spirit are the same thing. They are two matters that refer to the same matter. This proves that glory and the Spirit are one thing. John 7:39 says, “This He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” This also proves that glory and the Spirit are related.
We have already seen that the way for us as Christians to mature is to let the Lord fill us in our being, that is, to let the Spirit of the Lord have the full ground in us. When the Lord regenerated us, His Spirit with His life entered into us. Thus, our spirit, which was originally deadened, became enlivened. We know that death is darkness. When the spirit is deadened, it is dark and without light. When the Spirit of God with His life entered into our deadened spirit, our spirit was made alive and became bright.
God’s Spirit is God’s life, even God Himself. God Himself is light, and God’s life is also light. Therefore, when the Spirit of God with God’s life enters into us, it is like a great, rich light entering into our spirit. This great and rich light enters into our spirit and brightens it, making it full of light. Our spirit is the lamp of God. The lamp is where the light is. Light is contained in a lamp and shines through a lamp. Our human spirit is the lamp of God. The Spirit of God with God’s life is the great and rich light contained in our spirit, which is the lamp. The spirit in us is bright and shining. God shines out from our spirit into our being. The purpose of His shining out is that He would shine into all our inner parts.
We all know that our spirit is the deepest, innermost, and most central part of our whole being. Surrounding the center of our being is the circumference of our soul, which is our very person, our self. When we talk about what kind of people we are, we are referring to our soul. Our soul, which is our natural man, clearly consists of three parts. These three parts are the organs by which we think, like and dislike, and make decisions. The organ by which we think is our mind, the organ by which we like and dislike is our emotion, and the organ by which we make decisions is our will. When added together, these three parts or organs make up our outer man, our soul.
The Spirit of God with God’s life shines out from our spirit, shining forth to every part of our soul. The deepest and most central part of our being is our spirit. When the Spirit of God with God’s life entered into this spirit, this spirit began to shine and became bright. Formerly, this spirit was in darkness and was deadened. Now this spirit shines and has been made bright and alive because the Spirit of God with God’s life has entered into it. However, this central part of our being is only one part of our being. Surrounding this central part is our outer man, our soul. This soul consists of three parts—the mind, emotion, and will. All our thoughts and knowledge come from the mind, all our likes and dislikes are from the emotion, and all our decisions, plans, choices, and resolutions are determined in the will. When we talk about our person, most of the time we are referring to what we think about, what we love, and how we make decisions. These are the activities of our person.
Proverbs 20:27 says that this spirit, which is our deepest part, is the lamp of Jehovah. Jehovah God searches the inner parts of man through this spirit. According to psychology, the inner parts of man consist of the mind, emotion, and will. From the human spirit God uses His Spirit to shine forth, penetrate, and search every part of man. Therefore, this spirit is the lamp, and the light in this lamp is the Spirit of God and God’s life. This light needs to shine forth into every part of the human mind, emotion, and will.
What is the way for a Christian to mature in life? We have to say again that the central meaning and purpose of being a Christian is to allow God to mingle Himself with us. The beginning of our being matured in life is when God first mingles with us, that is, when His Spirit with His life enters into our spirit. This is the first step. At this point our spirit has the element of God and is mingled with God, and we are regenerated. Our spirit was in darkness and death before we believed in the Lord. Because our spirit was deadened, we had no feeling, and because it was in darkness, we could not distinguish between black and white or right and wrong. However, when God’s Spirit with God’s life entered into us, our spirit was made alive and bright. The fact that our inner being has been made alive and bright is proof that God’s Spirit with God’s life has entered into us.
Perhaps some may ask how they can tell whether they have been made alive and bright in their inner being. Someone who is dead has no feeling, but someone who is alive has feeling. Before we believed in the Lord and were regenerated, perhaps we did not feel wrong when we quarreled with our family. We had no feeling in our deeper part and were dead inside. If we grab and pinch a person a little bit, he will cry out in pain because he has feeling. If he were a dead person, he would not do anything no matter how much we grabbed and pinched him, because such a person is dead and does not have feeling.
Formerly, our spirit was dead. We did not feel that we were wrong when we did something wrong, such as quarreling with others in our family and causing turmoil. This proves that our spirit was dead and had no feeling. However, one day we believed in the Lord and were regenerated, and our spirit became alive. How do we know that our spirit has become alive? In the past when we blamed others and spoke in anger, we had no feeling. Now, however, whenever we do these things, we feel as if we are being poked by a needle. We feel that there is something wrong, and we have a sense of pain. This proves that we have been made alive. However, this feeling may still be somewhat weak. Though we may be pricked and may have a sense of pain in our heart, we may still want to reason and quarrel with others. The more we quarrel outwardly, the more we sense the pain inwardly. One day we may quarrel with our family outwardly, but inwardly we may be being pricked until we cannot bear it anymore. Then the next morning we may confess to the Lord, saying, “Lord, I lost my temper with my family yesterday. I was truly wrong. What should I do?” The Lord may then lead us to deal with this before our family and to tell them, “I was wrong yesterday. I feel very sorry about that. The Lord has convicted me, and I have no peace. Please forgive me.” What is this? This is the spirit in us being alive, bright, and full of feeling. When the spirit in us is bright, we can distinguish between black and white and between light and dark. By this we know that we have been regenerated and that the Spirit of God with God’s life has been mingled with our spirit. In other words, God and our person have already begun to be mingled in our innermost part.
God is the Spirit, and the Spirit is the anointing oil. When we have the Spirit of God in our spirit, we have the anointing oil. Today we have electric lights that shine because of the electricity running through their bulbs. However, at the time the Lord Jesus spoke the parable of the ten virgins two thousand years ago, lamps shone because of the oil burning in them. We have seen that the lamp mentioned in Matthew 25 is our human spirit and that the oil that makes the lamp shine is the Spirit. This Holy Spirit is the realization of God and has the life of God. God Himself is light, and God’s life is also light. This light is not given forth simply from the Spirit, the oil. Rather, the light that comes from the Spirit with God’s life shines out through our human spirit. This oil can give forth its light only when it is in the lamp. We who are saved and regenerated have the Spirit in our spirit, that is, we have the oil in our lamps, and we have light.
The ten virgins, both the prudent and the foolish, are exactly the same in this respect—they all have oil in their lamps. In this matter we who are childish and immature are the same as the most mature ones, such as the apostle Paul. Paul’s spirit could shine because he had the Spirit of God, the anointing oil of God. In the same way, our spirit can also shine because we have God’s Spirit, God’s anointing oil. Thus, we are all the same in the matter of the Spirit being in our spirit and the shining oil being in our lamps.
Now we must ask a very serious question. We have the Spirit in our spirit, but do we have the Spirit in our soul? Do we have the element of the Spirit in our mind, emotion, and will? The Spirit is in our spirit, but what about our soul? Is the Spirit in our soul? We most likely have light or brightness only in the central, innermost part of our being, whereas the other parts of our being may still be dark and without light.
Our spirit is the lamp of Jehovah, and our soul is the vessel. What does this vessel contain? It should contain the Spirit mingled with our spirit. For instance, we have a glass with grape juice in it. The glass is the vessel, and the grape juice inside is the content. The grape juice is in the glass, which is transparent. Revelation 21 shows that the wall of the New Jerusalem is composed of precious stones, yet it is transparent. Is our soul transparent like glass? Our soul may be like a wooden cup that conceals what is contained inside. In our thoughts, loves, and choices, we are like wood, which is not transparent.
How do we deal with a cup that is not transparent and that conceals its contents? We must make an opening in the cup to see its contents. If there is light in a light bulb that is transparent, then the light can come forth. But if the light is in an iron box, then the light cannot come forth. What must we do to let the light come out? We must destroy the iron box or make a hole in it to let the light come forth. When the iron box is broken, then the light can shine forth.
In many of us the light of God cannot be seen. Why? The Spirit of God dwells in us, and we have been regenerated and saved and have the Spirit of God as light in our spirit, yet our outer man, including our thoughts, insights, loves, decisions, and determinations, remains absolutely intact. Because there is no opening, God’s light cannot shine forth. There is no way for the Spirit of God who is in us to get out. It is as if we have a sign inside of us that says, This road is blocked. When God’s Spirit wants to shine forth through our mind, we say, “Blocked!” When God’s Spirit wants to shine through our decisions and choices, we also say, “Blocked!” We surround God’s Spirit day by day. We confine the Spirit of God to the central part of our being, our spirit. All our thoughts, loves, and opinions are solely ours. God in us is entirely limited and surrounded by iron walls. He cannot come out even a little. God is inside us, but because our outer man remains absolutely intact, it does not have any openings to allow God to come out.
The way for a Christian to become mature is to accept the breaking from God. Often God works in us and speaks to us through the speaking of the Spirit, the speaking of the brothers, the speaking in the Bible, and the prophecies and testimonies of the saints in order to shine upon us. However, if we do not care about His speaking, do not listen to Him, and do not even respond to Him, then, because He loves us, He will cut an opening or make a hole in us. He will break our mind, destroy our emotion, and overtake our will so that our whole being will be subdued. In this way the light of God and the life of God will shine forth from our incomplete and broken being. When there are openings and cracks in our being, not only inwardly but also outwardly, immediately the light shines out from within us. The more the inward light comes out, the more mature we become. When the light comes out completely, we will be fully matured. Then the Spirit of God, the life of God, and God Himself will fill us completely, and God and we will be mingled together completely. Our whole being will be filled with God. We will not only have God in our spirit, but we will also have God in our mind, emotion, and will. In other words, we will have God in our whole being, from our inner spirit to our outer soul. This is the way to mature in life, and this is why we have to pay the price to buy the oil.
The oil is the Spirit, who came into our spirit, our lamp, when we were regenerated and saved. This oil was freely given to us by God. We did not need to pay a price. Since then the work of God has been to spread this oil from our spirit to our soul. He wants our soul to be filled with His Spirit. For this we need to pay a price. We have to drop the thoughts in our mind, the desires in our emotion, and the decisions in our will. This is the price that we must pay. What does it mean to pay the price? To pay the price is to drop all that we have. No matter what our thoughts, desires, and decisions are, we have to drop them all because our thoughts, desires, and decisions are always in conflict with the Spirit. They cannot be at peace with the Lord Jesus. We are always in our soul, that is, in our mind, emotion, and will, but God in our spirit wants to come out into our mind, emotion, and will. However, we always surround and hinder Him to ensure that He stays inside. He is a living, moving, and almighty God. He wants to spread in us, yet we argue with Him and hinder Him. This is our situation.
If we struggle with God day by day, unwilling to lose, to drop, all that is in our soul, and to pay the price, then God has no way but to work from the outside and to deal with us through our circumstances. If He cannot win the battle with us from the inside, then He has no other way but to send the angels to deal with us from the outside. Perhaps our family may oppose us, or we may have some problems at work or sickness in our body. Sometimes it may seem that God is using all the armies of the devil to attack us until we are torn down. Do not reject God’s discipline. God does not discipline the unbelievers in this way. Those whom God loves, He surely disciplines. Because God loves us, is merciful toward us, and wants us to be His glorious vessel, He has to break our iron walls. In order to transform us into a transparent vessel, He has to discipline us.
If we accept His discipline, we will be bright and transparent people. Our thoughts will be like His thoughts, our love will be like His love, and our decisions will be like His decisions. When people meet us, they will feel that they are meeting God. We will have the taste of man and also the taste of God in us. We will be the mingling of God and man. Not only so, we will have the element of God in us. We will be transformed into God’s image, that is, transformed from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18). What is this glory? This glory is the Spirit. When the Lord Jesus was glorified, the Spirit came (John 7:39). Glory is the manifestation of God, and the Spirit is also the manifestation of God. When we have the Spirit in us, we also have glory. In our spirit there is God’s Spirit, who is also glory.
Even though we have the Spirit of God in us, who is glory, this glory has not been manifested because it is only in our spirit and has not yet been manifested in our soul, our outer man. Second Corinthians 3:18 says that we “are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” This means that our transformation into the image of the Lord is the result of the Spirit spreading into our soul. Our transformation is from glory to glory—from the inner glory, that is, from the Spirit being in our spirit, to the outer glory, that is, the Spirit being in our outer soul. When we are transformed from glory to glory, or from the Spirit to the Spirit, we will have the Spirit both in our spirit and in our soul, both within and without. We will be transformed into the image of the Lord, even as from the Lord Spirit.
Therefore, whenever there is a struggle in our mind, emotion, or will, we have to drop all that is in our soul and pay the price to let the Lord win. Once we submit and lay down ourselves, the Lord will win, and we will gain the Spirit. This is what is meant by paying the price to buy the oil. At every time and in all matters, whenever we struggle with the Lord in our thoughts, preferences, and decisions, we have to be subdued, admit defeat, and lay ourselves down in order to let the Lord win and to let the Spirit spread out. In this way we will have the Spirit in our soul. This is the way to prepare oil in our vessel.
First, we are regenerated and have the Spirit in our spirit. The Spirit is in the lamp of Jehovah; in other words, we have the oil in our lamp. Gradually, we become mature, and the Spirit spreads from our spirit to our soul that we may have the oil in our vessel. This is the preparation that we need after salvation. Only transformed and matured people can meet the Lord and be co-kings with the Lord.
In the parable of the ten virgins, the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps when the bridegroom came at midnight (Matt. 25:6-7). This means that whether they were foolish or prudent, the first thing that they paid attention to after their resurrection was their spirit. This is the meaning of the phrase trimmed their own lamps. By that time the foolish virgins discovered that they had not received sufficient dealings with their person and that in their soul, their vessel, there was a lack of the Holy Spirit and of the element of the oil. They still had to pay the price and go to those who were selling oil in order to buy the oil. This is the parable of the virgins. It shows the way for a Christian to mature in life. May the Lord have mercy on us that we may prepare the oil in our vessel while we still have time.
