The Great Second Advent Movement: Its Rise and Progress

191/761

Chapter 9 — The Tarrying Time

“THEN shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.” 1 GSAM 148.1

Christ is the bridegroom of the parable. 2 The going forth to meet the bridegroom must therefore represent a movement on the part of the Lord’s people to meet Christ at his coming, for the subject of the discourse of Matthew twenty-four and twenty-five is the coming of the Lord. The word of the Lord is the lamp. 3 All the virgins took their lamps. The foolishness of a part of the virgins consisted in their taking simply the theory of the truth, without that earnest consecration to the Lord which would develop the graces of the Spirit in the heart of the believer. This work is represented in the parable by “oil in their vessels.” The tarrying of the bridegroom must represent some disappointment on the part of those going forth expecting to meet their Lord. GSAM 148.2