KEEPING THE LIGHT BURNING
Matthew 25:1-7; Revelation 19:7,8
We sang in our hymn, ‘Let not our light be burning dim’ (Hymn 182). That is a great challenge to us, because the trials of life affect us. We get accustomed to working things out in a routine way and there can perhaps be a lack of vitality. Our brother has been bringing before us the attractiveness of the Lord Jesus as the One who has gone into death. There is nothing like occupation with that glorious One to bring life into the soul.
This scripture speaks of these ten virgins with their torches, and “the bridegroom tarrying, they all grew heavy and slept”. We are in the waiting time. There is a danger of being overcome by slumber, allowing things to slip, our affections not so living as they should be. But there has been the cry “Behold, the bridegroom”. That cry went out, we might say, at the beginning of the recovery in which we have our part. It is still going out; let us be refreshed as we hear it; “Behold, the bridegroom”. It is not just His coming as an event. The Spirit has been bringing before us the Lord Jesus Himself. If we are waiting on prophetic events, we will grow heavy and we will start to sleep, but this cry has gone out. As we are attracted, we, like these virgins, should be trimming our torches.
There is a great need, at the present moment, for trimming our torches. There might be something that is dimming our light, but when we hear this cry, the first thing we do is that we trim our torches. That is, you would take away whatever is dimming your light. And then there is something very important regarding our vessels. There is a Man in heaven, Jesus, seated at the right hand of God, He is enthroned there. He has been into death, but He has broken the power of death, He has come out victorious, He has risen and He has been glorified. It is from heaven that this call has gone out by the Spirit, but not only that, there is oil in five of the vessels. I do not want to speak about the foolish virgins, but every believer should be among the prudent ones. Every true believer has the Spirit of God. You could not really be a believer without having the Spirit, and we are to allow the Spirit full room, so that there might be this shining out. There are persons whose lights are not shining, but as having had to do with the Lord Jesus, having received the gift of the Spirit, each one of us has the wherewithal for our light to be shining brightly. ‘Let not our light be burning dim’. What is going to encourage us on that way? “Behold the bridegroom”, the Person. It brings out bridal affection; that is, that there is nothing that would come between you and the Lord.
Revelation speaks of that “fine linen, bright and pure;” which is “the righteousnesses of the saints”. One of the moral features of the Lord Jesus is that He “loved righteousness and hast hated lawlessness”, Heb.1:9. That feature is being worked out currently in believers and will come into display. Every stitch in that garment is being worked out, “the righteousnesses of the saints”. It is not going to be on display just yet. Let us judge everything, whether in our personal lives, or in our households or our local meetings, according to what is said of the Lord: He “loved righteousness and hast hated lawlessness”. That is what will maintain us and it goes into the making of this garment; “the righteousnesses of the saints”. You might not have thought too much of that little act of care of a sister, or a brother – that is part of the righteousnesses of the saints. Someone perhaps stood firm in an exercise regarding their employment – that is part of the righteousnesses of the saints. Christ has the first place; our lives are governed by what affects Him and what a wonderful matter it is that each act of righteousness is not going to be missed. It speaks in Psalm 45 of the “raiment of embroidery” (v.14); every stitch is important.
Let our hearts be encouraged therefore to see what will come out in the assembly, in the Lamb’s wife, as a result of her affections for her Husband. The affections of a wife are in relation to her husband. It has been worked out in every act of faithfulness to Him; there is this answer to Christ. May our hearts be encouraged, because these things are very precious. Our occupation is to be the Lord Jesus. The Lamb is the One who has suffered, and His wife has come through the time of suffering. These righteousnesses of the saints are worked out in this time of suffering, in our everyday lives. May our hearts be encouraged, for His name’s sake.
Word in meeting for ministry, Grangemouth
11 November 2014
A.G. Mair