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The word pure means to be free from moral defilement; without blemish (marks), and without spot (sinless), it is being chaste or genuine and uncorrupted. To stand before God we need to be pure, without marks and without sin, since we all disqualify as being pure it was important for a sacrifice to be made that would make us pure. That sacrifice would be Jesus Christ, who is the only person in the flesh that has never sinned. The time was soon coming, Jesus knew that it was time for the prophecies concerning His betrayal, capture, and crucifixion to come to pass. That did not stop Him from trying to reach as many people with the Gospel before He was captured. To explain further, He gave a parable about ten virgin women awaiting their groom.
“And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye 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 him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.” – Matthew 25:6-12.
This is an illustration of the bridegroom, Jesus Christ, coming to get His bride, those whom have received Him personally as their Savior. The foolish virgins represent those whom have not received Christ, they knew of Christ coming, but relied on those already saved to save them, only to be shut out of the kingdom because Christ returned and they were not there to receive Him. Too many people die and end up in hell because they chose to wait to get saved, salvation does not come from obedience, salvation comes from believing and receiving Christ alone. “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:” – Romans 3:20,24.
To further explain who can enter the kingdom of God, Jesus speaks through another parable, this one is about three servants who were given talents and what happened to the servant who hid the talent. “Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”- Matthew 25:24-30.
This is an illustration of someone who has be given the greatest talent they could receive, the Gospel. Instead of receiving Christ and telling others about Him, they ignored it, buried it, and continued in their own works. God gives us all talents to be used for one purpose and one purpose only, to get others saved. If we are saved and use the talents God gives us solely for our own purpose we will not be profitable, but if we do use them for His purpose we will not only be profitable in all that we do we will see others get saved as well. “Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.” – James 5:19,20.
Perhaps the most infamous person to use that illustration on would be Judas Iscariot, he was definitely presented with the Gospel, and perhaps even told people about the Gospel, but he never received Christ, he didn’t even believe in Him. In fact, he illustrated the whole plan to get Jesus captured. “Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.” – Matthew 26:14-16.
Jesus knew the time was near that He would be captured, at any time He could have intervened and chosen another way to save mankind, but continued for one reason and one reason only, to be that pure sacrifice needed to redeem a soul once and for all. Before things began to happen He goes up to Gethsemane and begins to pray. Even though Jesus is God, He gave all His power to the Father and submitted to His will. Since He has the same flesh that we do, He felt deep sorrow for what was about to happen to Him, but knew that if it didn’t come to pass there would be no victory.
“Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” – Matthew 26:36-41.
The will of God takes us to places we cannot imagine, if not for the power of God in us we would never get through them. While He would rather see us receive Christ and trust Him with all things without any pain and agony in our lives, the majority of the time people do not receive Him or understand the purpose of having received Him until they are faced with pain and agony. It is the pains and agony’s of life that not only bring us closer to God, but give us the victory. “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” – 1 John 5:1-4.
Today’s Prayer: God, I have chosen today to stand by You, when things are going great, I will stand by You, when I am being persecuted, I will stand by You, when I feel all alone and it seems like life is falling apart, I will stand by You. Nothing gives me more comfort, hope, and peace than when I remind myself that You are with me, even when I fall, I know You will pick me back up because You never leave nor forsake me. And although I know my works do not save me, I know that my faith and acceptance of Your Son in my life does. Let me never lose the joy of my salvation and let me never forget that You love me and that Christ lives in me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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