The dispensational interpretation of Scripture is essential for understanding God's program for humanity, Israel, and the Church. The parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25 illustrates four distinct time periods within the present age, highlighting the importance of spiritual preparedness and faithful stewardship. The sermon traces the historical loss and subsequent recovery of these truths, from the early church through the Middle Ages and the Reformation, to the work of key figures in the 19th century who re-emphasized the doctrine of Christ's return. Ultimately, understanding dispensational truth is presented not just as intellectual knowledge but as a motivating power for Christian testimony.
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pleasure and joy to be back again at part of the Palm. There are many lifetime friends that we see in the audience this morning, and it gives one a tremendous amount of pleasure and joy to be among God's dear people. I think the first thing we should recognize today is Thanksgiving Day, and I think we should render thanks to Almighty God for all that He has done for us, each one in our own personal lives. I'd like your mind to go back about three hundred and sixty years when a little company of God's people left England in a little ship called the Mayflower.
And after a long journey, many, many trials on that journey, they landed at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts. There were about one hundred men and women and children. The reason they left England was to get away from religious persecution and intolerance. And they came to this land seeking liberty, the liberty to worship God according to their conscience and according to the word of God. By that first year they went through very, very deep trials. It would be interesting to go into some of the details connected with it. But at the end of the year, fifty percent of them had lost their lives.
There were only fifty left. And the next year, when they planted their crops, God very graciously heard their prayers, and there was an abundant harvest. And at the end of that year, in the month of November, they had a Thanksgiving day to give thanks to Almighty God for preserving them and also for giving them that harvest. Now, many years later, George Washington, the first president of the United States, proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving. And then later on, Abraham Lincoln, he proclaimed to a national day of Thanksgiving in the month of November.
And that is the day that we have come to celebrate the present time. And I think if any people or any country has a privilege and also the responsibility of giving thanks to God, it's this lovely country in which we live. I've been around a little bit in the world, different countries, spent the most of my life in Central Africa, and I have seen starvation close up. I've seen people die of starvation. It's a terrible sight. And my beloved brethren and sisters this morning, let's never forget, while we're sitting here in this comfortable room, that there are many today that are dying of starvation.
Now, I think we have every right to give thanks to Almighty God for what He has done for us, not only in providing all the material things of life, but also that unspeakable gift, our Lord Jesus Christ. So right at the commencement of these meetings, I think all of us should lift our hearts and praise and adoration and thanksgiving to Almighty God for all that He has done for us, not in any... way, in a nominal way, but to do it from the depths of our hearts to thank him for his unspeakable gift, our Lord Jesus Christ, and all the material blessings that we have received from him.
Now it hasn't suggested to me that during these meetings I should speak about dispensational truth in Holy Scripture. This is something that I'm not familiar with. I have never spoken on it before. although I do believe in the dispensational interpretation of Holy Scripture. So I have decided that on a half dozen different occasions that we have the opportunity of opening the Word, I would like to speak on the dispensational interpretation of Holy Scripture. And just by way of a background to what we want to look at, I want to read a passage this morning in the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter twenty-five. a very well-known passage.
Matthew chapter twenty-five, and we'll read from verse one. Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were white, 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 had all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh, go you out to meet him.
Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil, for our lamps. are gone out. But 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 them to the marriage, and the door was shut. Afterwards came also the other virgin, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily, I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour were in the Son of Man common.
May God have His blessing through the reading of His precious word. I don't think I need to tell anyone here this morning that the great hope of the Church at the present time is the second coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe we're coming right to the very end of the present era. the present dispensation. And I believe that the next item on the program is the second coming again of the Lord Jesus. But there is a tremendous lack of confusion in many people's minds concerning that tremendous event. Sometimes people come to me and they say to me, are you pre-millennial or post-millennial or a millennial?
And again they look at you with a quizzical look in their eye and they say, are you pre-trib or mid-trib or post-trib. And of course, these things, they put confusion in many people's minds today, these various ideas and various interpretations of the Word of God concerning the coming again of the Lord Jesus. I believe that if ever there was a day when we need to understand the teaching of Holy Scripture concerning the era in which we live, the present dispensation, and also the other dispensations connected with it, it's in the day in which we live. Now we will have the opportunity of about half a dozen times of looking at the Word of God.
We're not going to go into any high pollutant terminology or anything of that kind, but try to find out from God's Word what it has to say about God's great program, not only for the whole of mankind, but also for the nation of Israel, and then for the church, and then for the nation. We have to rightly divide the Word of God. And I think there is a program in God's word laid down very, very clearly of how that program has been laid down and how it is being carried out. Now this is what we have in mind to speak about very simply during this week's end.
The passage that we have read together, the parable of the wise and foolish version, there has been a good deal of discussion about its interpretation. I'm not going to go into the half dozen different interpretations that have been given concerning it. But what I want to do is to look at four time periods in the parable, and I believe it covers the grand of the age in which we live. Now before we look at the passage itself, this passage concerning the wise and foolish virgins, it might be as well to point out the context where we find it. I don't need to tell you that in the last week of our Lord's ministry, just before he went to the cross.
There, on one or all of it, he gave a tremendous discourse concerning his second coming. Remember, he had presented himself as king at the temple. The elders had rejected him. The children received him. And they said, Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. But the elders had deliberately refused his claims. And as the Lord left that temple, He said, Behold, your heart is left unto you desolate. And then he spoke about that temple, that beautiful building, that not one stone would be left upon another that would not be thronged on. Now there were four of the disciples, asked them a question.
Both Peter and James and John and Andrew. And they asked these questions. They said, Lord, when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming? and of the end of the age. Matthew twenty-four, twenty-five. We get the answer to two of those questions. The third one, in connection with the temple, the destruction of the temple, we find in Luke chapter twenty-one. But the other two, the sign of his coming, and also the end of the age, is described for us by our Lord in a tremendous prophetic discourse. Now it's perfectly obvious. that one wanted time this morning to go into detail about that discourse, except to say that it's divided in three parts.
On in that tremendous discourse, the Lord, first of all, in the first part, in Matthew twenty four, verses one through forty four, he speaks about his coming again for the nation of Israel. It has to do particularly with them. The Lord divides a period of about seven years into two parts. He speaks about the beginning of sorrows and then he speaks of the great tribulation. And it has to do particularly with the hope of Israel and the sign of its coming in connection with them. Now in the central part of the discourse there are three parables. One is the parable of the wise and foolish servants.
It has to do with the preacher. The men who have the responsibility of standing up before Anadians on ministering the word of God. The wise, unfaithful servant, he ministers food in due season. But then we read about an evil servant. We find that he self-deceived. He's self-assertive. And we find that instead of giving food to God's people, he's smiting his fellow servant. And we read that when the Lord comes back again, he will cut him asunder and apportion him his portion with the hypocrite. So the first parable in the center of the discourse has to do with the preacher. The second one is the wise and foolish virgin, and it has to do with profession.
That is the period when the Lord is absent. I believe the period, the present time, when the Lord is absent, when he has gone back to heaven and profession at that particular time. The wise and foolish virgin, the test of profession. And then the third parable is the parable of the talents. it has to do with stewardship. We read that our Lord, when he went away, he gave his property to his servants. One man got five, one got two, another one got one talent, and they were expected to use those talents in the period of his absence, and when he came back again, he would reward them for the work that they did.
So the first part is in relation to Israel. The second part is the period when the Lord is absent. that period that's described in the Gospel According to Matthew as the Kingdom of Heaven. On these three parables are three tests, I believe, that apply to us at the present time. First of all, for the preacher, giving food in due season, or doing something else. And secondly, the test of profession, those that have the oil along the lamp. And then thirdly, the test of stewardship, the talent that God has given to us, whether we are exercising the developing that talent until the Lord comes back again the test of stewardship and then the final part of the discourse it deals with the Lord's coming back in glory on dealing with a living nation that will be alive at that time when he comes back again and is appearing at his apocalypse so this tremendous discourse it covers all the great truth concerning the coming again of the Lord Jesus.
These are truths that are elaborated and expounded later on in the New Testament by the Apostle Paul and by the Apostle John and by the Apostle James and the Apostle Jude. These are things we find in the New Testament and the Great Doctrine and the Epistle of the Apostles. But the foundation of the teaching, the foundation of the doctrine is in the teaching of our Lord Himself. Now to come back to our parable, we get here, I believe, in the parable four time periods that cover the present dispensation, that is, from Pentecost right through to the coming again of the bridegroom for his bride.
Now looking at the parable itself, you notice that there are ten virgins. Ten is the number of responsibilities. The term virgin, it speaks of chastity and purity. And then we read about a lamp. Each one had a lamp. That of course would bring before us the idea of testimony. And then we read about a vessel, an oil in that vessel for the lamp. Oil in Holy Scripture always speaks of the Holy Spirit of God. One can't go into detail about that and offer a proof. Why we believe that is so. but anyone that would read Zechariah chapter four would have no doubt at all that they oil in the land it speaks of the indwelling spirit of God that is on the heart of every born-again believer at the present time in the present age now looking at the parable itself you'd notice that there are four time periods in it and I would suggest that these four time periods cover the present age the age of grace the age when the Holy Spirit is working, the age of testimony, the age when God is calling out a people
for his name. And I want you to look at the first one. Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. That is the first time period in the parable. They went forth to meet the bridegroom. And I would suggest that that would cover possibly about the first two hundred years of Christian testimony in the present age, the present dispensation. We read, 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. And then verse five, while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
For the first time period they went forth to meet the bridegroom. And in those first two hundred years of church testimony, the hope of the Lord's coming that's outlined for us in the great doctrinal and epistles of the New Testament was bright and clear. But then there came a crisis. And at that crisis we read, while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. That word slumber, it means to nod your head. Do you ever feel like that in a meeting on a Sunday afternoon after you've had a good dinner and you sit down on a meeting and it's awfully hard to keep awake?
It means to nod your head, to slumber. But the second word, it means that deep sleep of midnight. They all slumbered on set. And I personally believe that this time period covers the dark Middle Ages. About a thousand years from AD of about fifteen hundred AD. A thousand years they slumbered, they slept. And at that time the hope of the Lord's coming was almost completely obliterated, was completely lost. I want to speak in a moment or two about the reasons for that and the men who were responsible for it. So the first time period is they went forth to meet the bridegroom.
The second is while the bridegroom turned, they all slumbered and slept. That period of a thousand years had been called the devil's millennia, a thousand years of darkness, a thousand years when practically all the fundamental teaching concerning the Lord's coming, and dispensational teaching was practically lost. They slumbered, they slept. But notice the third, at midnight. Now midnight is the darkest hour of the night. At midnight there was a cry made, Go ye forth to meet him. And I believe that that indicates another going forth. Getting back to first principle. At midnight there was a cry made, Go ye forth to meet him.
The recovery of the truth of the Lord's coming and the great doctrines concerning it. The third period. The darkest hour of the night, midnight, there we find a recovery. We want to speak about that too in a moment or two. And then the final period is the door opens and the bridegroom comes. on things that were ready, went in with them to the marriage, and the door was shut. I believe that we're right on the verge of the fulfillment of that final time period. But all thank God today, their husband revival, the husband recovery, the great recovery of the truth of the Lord's coming.
Thank God today in practically every part of the world where you find a truly born again, evangelical believer. understanding the teaching of the Word of God concerning the coming again of Christ. On the different phases of it they have their heads up and they know that the coming of the Lord is drawing nigh. Now let's think of these four time periods just for a few minutes this morning and some of the men associated with it. I think that anyone that wants to know the reason for what has happened during this present dispensation of approximately Two thousand years should understand the four time periods of it that we find parabolically in the parable that we have read together.
They went forth to meet the bridegroom. You know, the foundation of the doctrine is in the teaching of Christ himself. First of all, in the Synoptic Gospel, the passage that we have read together here in Matthew, on the parallel passage in the Gospel according to Mark, chapter thirteen, And then again in the Gospel according to Luke chapter twenty one there we get and the three synoptic gospels the great overall truth of the coming again of Christ but the emphasis there the hope of Israel for anyone that will take the three passages in the synoptic gospels and put them together you'll find that the emphasis there is on the hope of Israel on that period Daniel seventy of week divided in two parts first of all the beginning of sorrow and then the setting up of the temple on an image in that temple of which men have to bow and worship those that refuse they will be persecuted on the great tribulation will be inaugurated when many many will lose their lives now the synoptic Gospels the
emphasis on the hope of Israel But in John chapter fourteen, the Lord with a little company, seated at a table, he said this, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me and my Father's heart, or many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. that where I am there you may be also now it's perfectly obvious that this is a completely new revelation this is not his coming to the earth this is not his apocalypse his epiphany his appearing his manifestation he's coming to the air to receive us through the Father's house on taking the two together the three great revelations and the three synoptic Gospels on what we find in the Gospel according to John we get the complete picture of the coming again of the Lord Jesus.
And this is what is emphasized in the big doctrinal epistles of the New Testament. Now these were the things that were held by the early church. If we would dip for a little while into church history and mention names of some of those early men, in those first two hundred years of church history, these were the truths that they held. They believed that the Lord was coming. And that was the bright hope, the full star of the church. At that time was the second coming again of Christ. But then something happened. I personally believe that there were three men responsible for the slurring of the great truth, the great dispensational truth of the second coming again of Christ.
One was a man called for Regent. He was born in one hundred and forty-five AD. and he died in two hundred and fifty four AD and anyone that would read the history of that man would see that he was a man responsible largely for something that has something that has come down to the present day what we call a millennialism just a word or two about him without going into a lot of detail he was born in Alexandria and he was a teacher in a Bible school or a Bible college in Alexandria at that time. A very clever man, one of the most clever men in Christendom at that time.
As a matter of fact, later on he translated the Bible into six different versions, six different languages. It's called the Hexapla, a very, very clever man. But he came up with some ideas there in Alexandria and he was accused of heresy. connected with a person of Christ, and he finally had a leave. He went to Caesarea, and there in Caesarea he spent the last part of his life. Now, he started to spiritualize the Word of God. He spiritualized the resurrection. Not only that, but he spiritualized the millennia. And instead of taking the millennium as a literal one thousand year reign of the Lord Jesus Christ, he spiritualized it.
He actually was the founder, and the author, and the father of what we call a millennialism today, spiritualizing the word. Along with other things, he suggested that Debbie should be a five, and that the new birth was communicated by a seventh. And then, towards the end of his life, he went into universalism, and he believed that all mankind irrespective of what kind of a life is to live, would finally be reconciled to God. And even the devil himself would be reconciled to God. Now that is Origen. He was the founder of what we call today a millennialist, spiritualizing the word.
I was brought up at a school with a religious background. And I remember in those days we had a Bible. And in the Old Testament, in the Bible, where we find in the book of Psalms and the prophet Isaiah a curse. That was always given to Israel. But wherever there was a blessing, that blessing was given to the church. And there was complete confusion between Israel and the church. And that was the act of fear in which I was brought up. I didn't know anything in my early days about the dispensational interpretation of the Word of God and the difference between Israel and the church. But the men particularly responsible for the spiritualizing of the word of God was for Egypt.
Now, a second man was Constantine. Again, all we can say is just a word or two concerning him. He became the Roman Emperor. Up until this point, C.H.H.H.H.C.H.A.D. Up until that point, the church was being persecuted. One persecution after another. The Smyrna day. of persecution when hundreds of thousands of God's dear people were persecuted and thrown to the lions in the arena here in the Colosseum at Rome. Today is the persecution. Constantine became a nominal Christian. He became a Roman Emperor and immediately persecution stopped.
But he was the man responsible for fusing the church and the state. That is something that we see in some part of today. for instance, in certain countries over in Europe, we find the Church and State are allied together. It was the official dogma of the Roman Catholic Church on AIDS to the present time, although they don't push it. But the Church and State fused together the men responsible for it was Constantine, the Roman Emperor, in three hundred and thirteen. Now the third man responsible for that, for this condition that we have mentioned, was A man called Augustine. Augustine of Hippo.
I believe a man that God spoke to him. His mother Monica was a very sincere Christian that prayed for her son again and again. And at thirty-three years of age, God spoke to his heart when he was in Rome, formerly a promulgate, formerly an adulterer, but God spoke to his heart and brought him to himself. Sir Augustine was very, very much intrigued by the teaching of Origen. And he introduced some things at that time in his life that has been the official dogma of the Roman Catholic Church up until the present time. One thing that he emphasized was, baptismal regeneration.
I think it was William Kelly who said that that was one of the most damnable doctrines. that ever has been formed. That's his most regeneration. It has meant that many, many today, millions of people trust for their salvation on the fact that they were baptized or sprinkled as a child. That's his most regeneration. Augustine was the man responsible for bringing that into the Roman Catholic Church on making it one of their principal governments. Not only that, but a millennialism as well. He wrote a book called The City of God. And he followed the ideas of Constantine, on Origen, and also introduced some other thing.
For instance, Pergadre. It means to say that the work of Christ is plus something else for salvation. When a person dies, they have to go to Pergadre to go through the purgadre before they can get to heaven. It was Augustine who introduced that. And also a millennialism. Now at least with the three men, and without going into any more detail about it, I believe we're principally responsible for the condition that we find in the Dark Middle Ages. One could speak about forty different doctrines that were introduced from that time up until the present time, that completely confused the teaching of the Word of God concerning the different dispensations where God is working on working out His plan.
First of all, they went forth. to meet the bridegroom. Secondly, breathe while the bridegroom carries. They all lumbered and slept. And for one thousand years, you will never find anyone testifying to the second coming again at Christ as the hope of the church. It was almost completely lost at that time. There may have been a few voices here and there, but the overall picture at that time is a dark middle age of the great fundamental teaching concerning the dispensation and concerning the coming again of Christ was lost. But then at midnight there was a cry made, Go ye forth to meet him.
I believe that the first cry at that time was John Whitecliffe. John Whitecliffe was called the morning star of the Reformation. I thank God for men of that type. I thank God for my Bible today translated into the English language. I thank God for William Tyndall, a man who was persecuted and gave his life too for the translation of the Word of God into the language that we speak. But after all, it was Martin Luther. On the, I think it was the seventh, on the thirty-first of October, fifteen-seventh, he nailed his ninety-five seizes to the door of a church in Wittenberg.
And those hammer blows were heard around the world. It's quite popular today to say all kinds of things about Martin Luther. We should never do that. He was an instrument of the Holy Spirit for the recovery of a tremendous body of truth. Justification by faith without words. Secondly, an open Bible. And thirdly, religious liberty. I take off my hat with the memory of Martin Luther. One would look to pause and went to some detail about the men associated with him. Ulrich Zwingli in Switzerland. John Knox in Scotland.
John Calvin in Geneva. And men of that type. And certain amount of truth was recovered at that time. Unfortunately, they went a certain distance. And unfortunately, too, they poured their metal into the wrong mold. Thank God for the truth that was recovered. I thank God from the bottom of my heart for men of that type. They went a certain distance but then stopped. But then there comes another period. In the nineteenth century God raised up certain men. All I want to do is to mention three of them. And I believe there were instruments of the Holy Spirit of God in the recovery of tremendous truth connected with the dispensational interpretation of the word of God under the comfort of the truth of the Lord's coming on the different phases of it.
First man I want to mention is John Nelson Garvey. I know there's some today and have all kinds of on-kind things to say about Garvey. Now I know he wasn't perfect and I know a little bit about his life. I was in the place over in Ireland a little while ago where he ministered when he was a young man. an Episcopalian clergyman in the church, twenty-six years of age. And in that place he started the minister. But he was having some Bible reading along with some others in a home of a titled lady, Lady Farscourt. On sitting at that table through the study of the Word of God, they recovered the great truth of the second coming again of Christ.
I want to mention three men that were responsible at that time. One was Darley, another was William Kelly, and the third one, I believe, was Robert C. Chapman. Again, time wouldn't suffice to go into detail about these dear men. I believe that their eyes were opened by the Holy Spirit of God to see the great truth of the difference between the rapture and the appearing. On the dispensational interpretation of the Word of God was recovered at that time. Someone might say the day, after all, isn't it something new? After all, you find it in the Schofield Bible, and Dr. C.I. Schofield was the man that recovered it.
You know, people who talk like that, they don't know their history, and they certainly have never studied it. But I believe that right through, from Martin Luther, right down to the present day, God had his men, men who were illuminated by the Holy Spirit of God to the great truth of Holy Scripture and the truth concerning the coming again of Christ or his church, and then coming back again later for the nation of Israel. And the dispensational study of the Word of God, the dispensational interpretation of it was recovered at that time. First of all, Darby, and then William Kelly, and then Robert C.
Chapman. These were outstanding men, and I thank God that there were men that were used by the Holy Spirit of God. So open our eyes to the truth of Holy Scripture, and from that time on it is spread right around the world. I thank God for men that not only Noah, not the present time, but who teach it. I thank God for a man like Louis Ferry Schaefer, and the men associated with him. Men who are writing today, men, I believe, who are illuminated by the Holy Spirit of God. Men like John Wilbur. men like Charles Ryrie, men like Charles Feinberg, and Dr.
Dwight Pentecost. These are men who have done some tremendous writing even in our day. And I thank God that this is a comfort of the truth. It's something that is spreading right around the world at the present time. But to have them all, and many, many learned men today that still hold on to a millennialism. And when we consider its origin, where it came from, it shows that the origin was anything but according to Holy Scripture. My beloved friend to you this morning, without going into any more detail or time has gone, all I want to say is this. Let's never forget that the truth has been recovered.
Not only learn it and know it and hold it. But let's have it as a motivating power in our lives on testimony for Christ until he comes back again for his name's sake. I shall we pray. Our blessed God and Father, we lift our hearts to thee now in the name of the Lord Jesus. We do thank thee again for this Thanksgiving day. We have so much to praise thee for. Our Father, we thank you above all for thy beloved son, thine unspeakable gift, and all the material blessings that we so freely enjoy with him.
We are grateful and thankful. And, our Father, we pray that thou wilt help us through in the study of thy word while we gather together to the great foundations of our faith. Our Father, we thank you for men, even at the present time, that are preaching thy word and making on the bright hope of the coming again of the Lord Jesus. Our Father, we pray too that this may not just be knowledge in our mind, but we do pray that it may reach our heart and our feet and that it may influence our lives as long as I just leave it down here. I now recommend this to thee, thank thee, for the opportunity of being with my dear people this morning in the worthy name of the Lord Jesus.