How can I avoid being left behind in the rapture?

First, we must be "ready" in title; and, secondly, we must be "ready" in our moral state — ready in conscience, and ready in heart. The one is founded upon the work of Christ for us; the other is connected with the work of the Spirit in us. If we are simply resting by faith on the finished work of Christ, if we are leaning exclusively on what He has done and what He is, then are we in very truth ready in title, and we may rest assured of being with Him when He comes.

This middle parable is a similitude of the kingdom of the heavens. Here only is found a dispensational view of the state of things among those professedly Christ's on earth while He is on high. Here accordingly, the constant expectation of those who took the place of entering into the interests of His love is treated, with the issue at the end for such as were “foolish” and had no share in the anointing of the Spirit, for this alone could enable any to be “ready” to go in with Christ to the marriage. The “then” of the comparison (Matt. 25:1), when judgment is executed on the evil servant of Matthew 24, carries us up to the foolish virgins shut out and disowned by Him: a complete proof that they were not saints. Indeed, the theory that any member of Christ's body will be left behind when He comes to receive His own to Himself and translate them to the Father's house, is opposed to the clearest testimony of Scripture, and unworthy of a spiritual mind. Think of Christ's body without an ear or an eye or a finger or a toe — the Bride of the Lamb mutilated and deformed in glory! “They who are Christ's as His coming,” not some who have some external mark or believe some subordinate truth, will be raised to share the kingdom when He reigns and to be with Him before the kingdom and during it and after it. All such will have His presence and love in a glory deeper and higher. The scheme that denies this revealed certainty as in John 17:24, Romans 5:17, 1 Thessalonians 4:17 (last clause) and Revelation 22:5 is not only anti-scriptural but repulsive and destructive of all sound judgment and of the best affections.

Now it is plainly revealed. We shall not all "sleep" (i.e. die) but we shall all be changed, whether alive or dead at the moment when the Lord comes for His saints. The change will involve the swallowing up of all that is mortal or corruptible about us, in life and in victory. We shall "all be changed," you notice, "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye" — not in many, or at least several, different moments, as would be the case if by a partial rapture, or series of partial raptures, the church is destined to enter into its glory.

In the interpretation of a parable, the first thing to be ascertained is its main object. In that before us, it is evident from verse 13 that it is to impress upon us the need of being constantly ready, ever on the watch, for the Lord's return, because, as the day and the hour are unknown, it may occur at any moment. To turn aside from this, and to discuss the meaning of the number ten (albeit there may be significance in it according to its general usage), and to enquire whether, because half this number were wise, and the other half foolish, we are to conclude that half of all professing Christians are unreal, is altogether to miss the Lord's mind, and consequently to lose the solemn instruction conveyed. The characteristic of all the virgins is, that they go forth to meet the Bridegroom. All Christians therefore, all professing Christians even, are on one common ground, whether consciously or unconsciously, of waiting for Christ. But, owing to the Bridegroom's delay, all the virgins "slumbered and slept;" the whole church fell under the soporific influences of the world, and lost the blessed hope of the coming of the Lord. In mercy the Holy Spirit wrought and caused the cry to be rung out in the stillness of the night, "Behold the Bridegroom." The effect was to arouse all the virgins; and then those that were foolish made the fatal discovery that they were lacking in oil, the one essential element of readiness for "going out" to meet the Bridegroom. And, alas! they found still further, that it was now too late to repair the consequences of their neglect, for "while they went to buy, the Bridegroom came;" and, as the issue shows, they were, spite of their pleading entreaties, finally and for ever excluded. Only those "that were ready" went in with the Bridegroom to the marriage. The question then is one of practical readiness to meet Christ at His coming. There are four features of this indicated; first, there is the fundamentally essential one of having oil in our vessels, oil being, as ever, a type of the Holy Ghost. Unless, therefore, we are born again, and have the indwelling Spirit, we could not be ready to meet Christ. There must be, in addition, separation ("go ye out to meet Him"), lamps trimmed, that nothing might obscure the bright shining of the light (Christ displayed in the life); and, finally, as already noticed, there must be watching. The Lord give us grace to lay to heart the teaching of this parable.

How solemn! How awfully solemn! Those who were ready went in, and those who were not ready were shut out. Those who have life in Christ, who are indwelt by the Holy Ghost, will be ready. But the mere professor — the one who has truth in the head and on the lip, but not in the heart; who has the lamp of profession, but not the Spirit of life in Christ — will be shut out into outer darkness — in the everlasting misery and gloom, the eternal monotony of hell.

The coming of the bridegroom (v.10) is plainly not His coming in judgment, but His coming to rapture Home to His presence His redeemed saints. Being ready, they go in with Him to the marriage. As to this occasion we read of "a door opened in heaven" (Rev.4:1), and in our present chapter, "the door was shut." No true believer will be missing, but others will be shut out.

It is all utterly vain. No one can give of his oil to another. Each has just enough for himself. A man can give light, but he cannot give oil. The latter is the gift of God alone. "The wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you, but go ye rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the Bridegroom came and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage; and the door was shut." It is of no use looking to Christian friends to help us or prop us up. No use in flying hither and thither for some one to lean upon-some holy man, or some eminent teacher-no use building upon our church, our creed, or our sacraments. We want oil. We cannot do without it. Where are we to get it? Not from man, not from the church, not from the saints, not from the fathers. We must get it from God; and He, blessed be His name, gives freely. "The Gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

I suppose the great majority of my hearers present tonight are professors, — but, are you possessors of Christ? Are your sins forgiven? If you cannot answer that question honestly, you will be surprised in the day of the Lord's coming. You will be stirred up, and you will turn and say, — "Give me of your oil." But the answer will be, — "Go and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came." Content with a name to live, and yet dead; content to live without knowing the real Name, they learn He knows them not. Do not lay your head on the pillow tonight without having the matter of your soul's eternal salvation settled, — really, and definitely, and solemnly settled before God. Why? Because the Lord is coming. "While they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut." Ah! how many of us are ready in this hall this evening? Are you ready? Are all ready? Am I ready? Through infinite mercy, yes, through the blood of the Saviour, who died for me and rose again. Dear unsaved one, come now, drink of the living water, and then you will be one of the ready ones; and in the moment when you hear the shout, you will rise and meet the blessed Lord, and say, — This is the Lord that I have been waiting for.

Friend, are you in earnest, again I say Are you ready? You ask, "Can a soul be ready?" Yes. "But what about my sins?" Did you never hear this — "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many?" He settled for me the question of sin when He suffered, the just for the unjust. How do I know I am ready? Because He died for me, He bore all my sins on the cross, and met all the claims God had against me. Are my sins to be put away by what He will do? No, by what He has done. A Christian stands between the first coming of Christ and the second; between the cross and the glory. I look back to the cross and see the work all finished there, when He was offered up. If I think of my sins, I am ready, because of what Christ has done; our readiness consists in this, that we have believed in the One who died and rose again, and we look forward now to Him as the coming One, enjoying meantime all the fruits of His finished work.

But mark the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to His young disciples: He assures their hearts, that in the order of events connected with His coming, the first that takes place is the resurrection of those who had fallen asleep in Jesus, and that, in place of losing anything by having departed, they will be the first that are ready to go up and meet the Lord. "The dead in Christ shall rise first." So far from those who have fallen asleep in Jesus missing the joyful hour of His coming, they will be raised before the living are changed. This is grace, the grace of the Lord Jesus at the same time we know that every event connected with His coming shall be accomplished in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, so that the interval cannot be estimated.