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“The foolish said to the prudent, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the prudent answered, saying, Perhaps there will not be enough for us and for you; go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves” — Matt. 25:8-9:
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To buy means to pay a price; we need to pay the price for the filling of the Spirit in our soul — v. 4; cf. Prov. 23:23; Rev. 3:18:
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The Spirit who came into our spirit (Rom. 8:16) was given to us freely, but the saturating Spirit as the extra portion of oil to fill our soul is not free; this is something for which we have to pay a price to buy.
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The price involves matters such as giving up the world, dealing with the self, loving the Lord above all, and counting all things loss on account of Christ — Matt. 16:24-26; Mark 12:30; Phil. 3:7-8.
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Our urgent need is to gain more of the Spirit as the consummation of the processed Triune God, to live a life of buying an extra portion of the Spirit to saturate our entire being — Matt. 25:9; cf. Dan. 5:27.
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The foolish virgins, who do not take oil in their vessels and who are not ready when the Lord Jesus comes, will miss the wedding feast; whether or not we will be raptured early to enter into the wedding feast depends upon our daily buying of the Spirit — Matt. 25:10-12; Rev. 19:7-9; 2 Cor. 4:16; Titus 3:5:
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For us to be qualified to be raptured to enter into the Bridegroom’s marriage feast requires our passing through a long period of accumulating sufficient spiritual oil in our vessel — Rev. 19:7-9.
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If we would be prudent and wise virgins, those who are watchful in life, we need to redeem the time; this means that we seize every available opportunity to be filled with the Spirit; the sufficient oil will be our entry to the wedding feast — Eph. 5:16.
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To be watchful is to be filled with the Spirit all day long; if we allow the Spirit to saturate our entire being, we are watchful persons, making ourselves ready and being prepared by the Lord for His second coming — vv. 14-18; Rev. 19:7; 21:2.
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Every day we need to be watchful by paying the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil so that we may supply the churches with the Spirit for the testimony of Jesus and be rewarded by the Lord to participate in the marriage dinner of the Lamb — Matt. 25:9-10; Rev. 3:18; Zech. 4:6, 11-14; Judg. 9:9.
Morning Nourishment
Matt. 25:8 And the foolish said to the prudent, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.10 ...As they were going away to buy, the bridegroom came; and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast. And the door was shut.
To buy indicates the need of paying a price. The fullness of the Holy Spirit is obtained at a cost, such as giving up the world, dealing with the self, loving the Lord above all, and counting all things loss for Christ. If we do not pay this price today, we must pay it after resurrection. Those who do not pay the price do not have the extra portion of the Holy Spirit.
Those who are ready must be those who are invited to the marriage dinner of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9). We should be ready (Matt. 24:44) by always having oil in our vessel, always being filled with the Spirit of God in our whole being. To watch and be ready should be our daily exercise for the Lord’s parousia.
To go in with Him refers to the rapture of the resurrected believers to the air (1 Thes. 4:17) during the Lord’s parousia. The wedding feast in Matthew 25:10 is the marriage dinner of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9), which will be held in the air (1 Thes. 4:17) during the Lord’s coming, His parousia. It will occur before the manifestation of the kingdom as a reward of mutual enjoyment with the Lord to the believers who are ready, who have been equipped with the fullness of the Holy Spirit before they die.
After those who are ready go in with the Bridegroom to the marriage feast, the door is shut. This is not the door of salvation, but the door to enter into the enjoyment of the Lord’s marriage feast. (Life-study of Matthew, p. 753)
Today’s Reading
For us to be qualified to be raptured to enter into the Bridegroom’s wedding feast requires our passing through a long period of accumulating the spiritual oil. From the time you become a Christian, you should buy the oil to be deposited in your vessel every day.The Christian life is not a matter of legalities... [but of] our buying of the oil….To receive the Holy Spirit into our spirit, our lamp, is free. But to have the Spirit saturating our soul is not free….You must pay the price in dealing with your soul.
We need to pray from the time that we wake up every morning, “Lord, I do not like to do anything that is not under my being watchful, that is not under my buying of the oil. I like to buy the oil at any time and in any instance. Otherwise, that will be a waste of my time.” This should be our prayer and even our prayerful attitude, ... [to] spend all [our] time to be in the spirit.
We have the Holy Spirit in our regenerated spirit, but there is a question as to whether or not we have an extra portion of the Holy Spirit in our soul, saturating our being. The problem was not with the lamps of the virgins. Even the lamps of the five foolish virgins were burning. The fact that their lamps were “going out” (Matt. 25:8) proves that their lamps were lighted, having oil in them, but not having an adequate supply. They did not have the extra portion of the oil in their vessels.
Matthew 25:8 [indicates that]... after resurrection the foolish believers discovered that they were short of the Spirit of God and needed the fullness of the Spirit of God….They [did] not have an extra portion of the Spirit in their vessel, in their soul, their being. Then the foolish ones begged the prudent ones to help by giving them some oil. “But the prudent answered, saying, Perhaps there will not be enough for us and for you; go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves” (v. 9). We should not forget that this conversation takes place after all the believers have been resurrected…. [Many believers] were short of the Spirit all the time during their life, but they were befuddled and stupefied. When they are resurrected, they will discover their shortage, but then it will be too late. They have to go and buy for themselves. (CWWL, 1985, vol. 5, “The Way to Practice the Lord’s Present Move,” pp. 528-529, 501-502)
Further Reading: Life-study of Matthew, msg. 64