The foolish virgins were Christians in theological belief but had not maintained the Life of Christ. So it is today that numerous Evangelical believers in America are living in the flesh, not in the Spirit. They will not be prepared to be caught up to meet the Lord when He comes, although their doctrine is sound.

Apparently the foolish virgins were accustomed to going to the wise for support, just as today fleshly believers count on the strong Christians to help them out of their problems. But it will not be possible in that day.

When the Lord appears, only those who are qualified to appear with Him will be resurrected (or transformed) and caught up to meet the Commander-in-Chief in the air. These are the Lord's victorious saints, His "mighty men," His overcomers. The rest of the dead will not be raised until the end of the thousand-year Kingdom Age.

But what about the foolish virgins? As we will see in the next parable, the parable of the talents, when the Lord appears He will demand an accounting from those who were not ready. They will not rule with Him. They will be sent to the outer darkness.

But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. (Matthew 25:10—NIV)

It will not be possible for the believers to prepare themselves at the last minute. During the period of time that it takes them to prepare themselves spiritually, those who are ready will go up to meet the Lord.

Then we see the five most dreadful words in the Bible: "And the door was shut."

How would you like to have that happen to you? You were doing your best to get yourself right with the Lord, realizing you have been behaving carelessly and neglecting your salvation. Now you begin to pray and cry but you know within yourself you are not being heard. You realize the fervent Christians have been lifted from the earth and you have been left behind to be judged along with the other hypocritical believers. And you do not really know how you will fare when you are judged.

You realize now that the teaching you have heard about how grace will take care of your foolishness was not correct, not coming from the Lord. If that part was not true, then you do not know where you are spiritually. You do not know what to expect from now on.

If you do not desire to be placed in such a position in the future, go to the Lord right now and make sure that as you go about the house, or on the job, or in school, or on the road traveling, the song of the Lord is bubbling up in your spirit. You know you are with Jesus and He is with you. His Life, His "oil," is burning brightly in your lamp and you are storing up more of His Life every day so you will never get caught unprepared in the future.

Does that sound like wisdom to you?

To be continued.