And The Door Was Shut
Donald R. Cooper
In Matthew 25:1-13 Jesus speaks a parable of ten virgins who went to meet the bridegroom. Five were wise, but five were foolish. Those foolish ones took their lamps but did not take a sufficient amount of oil. At midnight, when it was announced that the bridegroom was coming and that all should trim their lamps, the foolish realized that they had not enough oil. They left to buy oil, and while they were gone the bridegroom came, “and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut” (vs. 10). These surely are some of the saddest words found in the Holy Scriptures. They serve as a warning to us, even today. We must be prepared when the Lord returns and we are called to judgment.
Pleading and weeping will be to no avail when that time comes. The hope of heaven will be gone forever. The Lord said, “Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). He said that many will plead their case by telling of the times they prophesied, cast out devils, and had done many wonderful works. He said, “Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (vss 22, 23).
Those who fail to use their energy for living for Christ cannot expect to walk through an open door into glory. To shut Christ out of our devotion and loyalty will cause us to be refused and sent away into everlasting torment (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9). Our priority needs to be adjusted in order to give absolute first place to Christ (Matthew 6:33). The one thing that really ought to count now is living a life of devotion to God and His Son Jesus Christ so that we can, with the psalmist, feel secure even as we “walk through the valley of the shadow of death.” We will have no need to fear, and we can be confident that we will “dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:4,6).
Many will miss heaven because they have lived and died in sin (John 8:21). The door of heaven will be shut against those who failed to become Christians due to a budget of time that excluded a proper response to the gospel of Christ. They will have been too busy and too interested in shallow matters of the fleshly appetite. “No Time For God” will be the appropriate epitaph on their tombstones.
Friend, be prepared. Do not be late in preparing for eternity, lest the door be shut. -225 Knollwood Drive, Wadsworth, Ohio 44281.