SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/25/2024 11:53 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-5 “The Bridesmaids”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
25:1-5
Message of the verses: “1 "Then the
kingdom of heaven will be
comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the
bridegroom. 2 “Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. 3 “For when
the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the prudent
took oil in flasks along with their lamps. 5 “Now while the bridegroom was
delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep.”
I want to finish this section by quoting the last
four paragraphs from John MacArthur’s commentary for reasons that I mentioned
in my last Spiritual Diary.
“In
one sense, life should go on much as usual for the believer who eagerly
anticipates the Lord’s return. Readiness
for His coming is not evidenced by going apart somewhere to wait idly for Him
but by being about His business with enthusiastic dedication. Even the most ardent service of the Lord does
not exclude such normal activities as eating, drinking, laboring, and
sleeping. Therefore, when Christ comes, ‘there
shall be two men in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mil; one
will be taken, and one will be left (Matt. 24:40-41).’
“It will not be their common participation in the
normal activities of human life that will distinguish the prepared from the
unprepared when the Lord returns, but the supernatural, internal participation
in the life of God that only believers will possess.
“The
nineteenth-century Bible commentator William Arnot observed: ‘There is not a more grand or more beautiful
spectacle on earth than a great assembly reverently worshipping God together. No line visible to human eye divides into two
parts the goodly company; yet the goodly company is divided into two
parts. The Lord reads our character and
marks our place. The Lord knows them
that are his, and them that are not his, in every assembly of worshippers’ (The Parables of Our Lord [London: Nelson, 1869], p. 290).
“The
Lord can look down on every group of bridesmaids, as it were, and accurately judge
between those who are unbelieving and deceived about their readiness, and
therefore foolish, and those who genuinely believe and are therefore wise. But when He appears in power and glory at His
second coming, the difference will be apparent for all to see. The torches of believers will shine brightly,
but those of unbelievers will not even burn.”
Lord
willing in tomorrow’s SD I will begin looking at Matthew 25:6-12 entitled “The
Bridegroom.”
2/25/2024 12:15 PM
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