Jul 11
15
No oil? (Bonar, “Religion Without the Holy Spirit”)
“The five who were foolish took no oil for their lamps.” Matthew 25.3
This parable has many sides and aspects. It is prophetical; it is also practical. It suits all ages, but especially the last days. It suits the world, but especially the church of God. It is searching and sifting. It is also quickening and comforting. It suits us well in these days of . . . profession, fashionable religion and religiousness. It is a parable for the church. It comes in to the inner circle of Christian profession, and sifts it, divides it.
There are points of likeness between the two classes. They get the same name, virgins; they wear the same dress; they are on the same errand; they both have lamps; they both slumber and sleep. They have thus many features in common.
The peril of mere externalism is that which our Lord points out here. This externalism may not always be hypocrisy, but it is imitation. It is not the flower in its natural color and growth, but painted, artificial. Let us watch against an artificial life, and an artificial religion. What does it profit now? What will it profit in the day of wrath? The name, the dress, the lamp, the outward show, will all go for nothing in that day of universal discovery and detection. Though in most respects they were all alike, yet there was a difference. It was within; it was imperceptible from without; it could only be discovered when the bridegroom came. Up until then all were completely similar. Only then the deficiency came out in the foolish.