ANSWER TO THE PARADOX

ANSWER TO THE PARADOX

                In my untitled article dealing with the Revelation 12 sign and the wise and foolish virgins, Jeremy posed a question for which I didn’t have an immediate answer. How can the woman who gave birth to the man child, be the Jews when they have the testimony of Jesus, but likewise how can the foolish virgins be the remnant  for when they return with oil, Jesus says he doesn’t know them?

                In the case of the wise and foolish virgins we need to remember that the wise were ready for the Lord’s return. They had the Holy Spirit.

                In the case of eth foolish virgins, they were believers; they too were waiting for the Lord’s return. However, the fire of the Holy Spirit had died out in their lives. They did not maintain their relationship with the Lord. The lived like the world, like betrothed people who were still out playing the field. They had not cultivated an intimate relationship with the Lord. They were involved in their own agendas and played it loose with the Lord perhaps presuming that they could do their own thing and God would understand.

                When the announcement came, they jumped up and trimmed their lamps only to discover that they had no oil. They came to the wedding, but were not allowed to come in because they had no light in their lamps. They were told to go and buy oil form those that sell oil.

                I likened the foolish virgins to those who would have to go through the tribulation and to pay for oil with their lives, or at least through persecution and suffering.  They would have to be refined and purified by tribulation.             But the question remains then: after having been refined and purified, why did the Lord still say that He didn’t know them?

                This has a lot to do with a wedding, for indeed there is a great difference between the bride and the friends of the bride. Only the bride consummates the marriage in intimacy at the honeymoon. So eth foolish virgins were not ultimately lost because they had received Jesus as their Savior. They had accepted His blood as the forgiveness of their sins, but they had never been transformed into His image. They would never be among those who would reign on His throne with Jesus. They would be friends of the bride but not the bride.

                Remember that to every one of the seven churches Jesus gave His message, but He only made certain promises to them that overcome. Some, say in the Philadelphia church were promised escape from the time of testing whereas others like the Laodiceans were counselled to buy gold tried in the fire. Yet even with the Laodiceans, Jesus promised that those who would let Him in and would overcome would also reign with Him.

                Marriage is offered to all who will let Him come in a do His work in them, but there will be a cut off time, when Jesus returns when those who have never come into an intimate relationship with Him, though saved, will not be a part of His reigning Bride.

                Likewise the woman, who gives birth to the man child, the sons of God, may be the general church. Remember that the feast of Pentecost was celebrated with leavened bread. It is a mixed loaf. Wheat and tares grow together until the harvest. So for those who have never allowed the Holy Spirit to bake the leaven out of them, they will have to go into the oven of the tribulation… to be refined and purified before they can come into heaven. There can be no sin in heaven. Nothing sinful can ever enter therein. It is the place of God’s throne and God is holy and righteous. Sin and sinners are destroyed in His presence, simply because darkness cannot exist in the presence of light and glory.

                So, for those who have not submitted to the work of the Holy Spirit, who have not truly died to self and taken up their cross and followed after Jesus, there will have to be a time of threshing in order to separate the chaff from the wheat.

                These will be saved in due time, but they will not be a part of the Bride who rules and reigns with Him.

                That is as close as I can come to an answer to this paradox and some may gnash their teeth at my answer saying that it is by grace that we are saved through faith and that not of ourselves for it is the gift of God and I agree. But grace is not a license to sin, but the power of God to overcome sin. Grace is the power to make regular people into brides if they will fall in love with the Lord.

                1 John 3:3, 4 says: “And every one who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness and sin is lawlessness.”

                It is good to read those 3 little books of John once in a while. Too many people today, base their faith upon sound bites and not upon the whole counsel of God.