61 And the Lord said to Moses, 2 Give orders to Aaron and to his sons, saying, This is the law for the burned offering: the offering is to be on the fire-wood on the altar all night till the morning; and the fire of the altar is to be kept burning. 3 And the priest is to put on his linen robes and his linen trousers, and take up what is over of the offering after it has been burned on the altar, and put it by the side of the altar. 4 Then having taken off his linen robes and put on other clothing, he is to take it away into a clean place, outside the tent-circle. 5 The fire on the altar is to be kept burning; it is never to go out; every morning the priest is to put wood on it, placing the burned offering in order on it, and there the fat of the peace-offering is to be burned. 6 Let the fire be kept burning on the altar at all times; it is never to go out. 7 And this is the law for the meal offering: it is to be offered to the Lord before the altar by the sons of Aaron.
8 The priest is to take in his hand some of the meal of the meal offering and of the oil of it, and all the perfume on it, burning it on the altar as a sign, for a sweet smell to the Lord. 9 And whatever is over Aaron and his sons may have for their food, taking it without leaven in a holy place; in the open space of the Tent of meeting they may take a meal of it. 10 It is not to be cooked with leaven. I have given it to them as their part of the offerings made by fire to me; it is most holy, as are the sin-offerings and the offerings for error. 11 Every male among the children of Aaron may have it for food; it is their right for ever through all your generations, from the offerings made by fire to the Lord: anyone touching them will be holy. 12 And the Lord said to Moses, 13 This is the offering which Aaron and his sons are to make to the Lord on the day when he is made a priest: the tenth part of an ephah of the best meal for a meal offering for ever; half of it in the morning and half in the evening.
14 Let it be made with oil on a flat plate; when it is well mixed and cooked, let it be broken and taken in as a meal offering, for a sweet smell to the Lord. 15 And the same offering is to be given by that one of his sons who takes his place as priest; by an order for ever, all of it is to be burned before the Lord. 16 Every meal offering offered for the priest is to be completely burned: nothing of it is to be taken for food. 17 And the Lord said to Moses, 18 Say to Aaron and his sons, This is the law for the sin-offering: the sin-offering is to be put to death before the Lord in the same place as the burned offering; it is most holy. 19 The priest by whom it is offered for sin, is to take it for his food in a holy place, in the open space of the Tent of meeting. 20 Anyone touching the flesh of it will be holy: and if any of the blood is dropped on any clothing, the thing on which the blood has been dropped is to be washed in a holy place. 21 But the vessel of earth in which the flesh was cooked is to be broken; or if a brass vessel was used, it is to be rubbed clean and washed out with water. 22 Every male among the priests may take it for his food: it is most holy. 23 No sin-offering, the blood of which is taken into the Tent of meeting, to take away sin in the holy place, may be used for food: it is to be burned with fire.
71 And this is the law of the offering for wrongdoing: it is most holy. 2 They are to put to death the offering for wrongdoing in the same place as the burned offering; and the priest is to put the blood on and round the altar. 3 And all the fat of it, the fat tail and the fat covering the inside parts, is to be given as an offering. 4 And the two kidneys, and the fat on them, which is by the top of the legs, and the fat joining the liver and the kidneys, he is to take away: 5 They are to be burned by the priest on the altar for an offering made by fire to the Lord: it is an offering for wrongdoing. 6 Every male among the priests may have it as food in a holy place: it is most holy. 7 As is the sin-offering, so is the offering for wrongdoing; there is one law for them: the priest who makes the offering to take away sin, he is to have it. 8 And the priest offering any man's burned offering for him, may have the skin of the burned offering which is offered by him. 9 And every meal offering which is cooked in the oven and everything made in a cooking pot or on a flat plate, is for the priest by whom it is offered. 10 And every meal offering, mixed with oil or dry, is for all the sons of Aaron in equal measure.
11 And this is the law for the peace-offerings offered to the Lord. 12 If any man gives his offering as a praise-offering, then let him give with the offering, unleavened cakes mixed with oil and thin unleavened cakes covered with oil and cakes of the best meal well mixed with oil. 13 With his peace-offering let him give cakes of leavened bread, as a praise-offering. 14 And let him give one out of every offering to be lifted up before the Lord; that it may be for the priest who puts the blood of the peace-offering on the altar. 15 And the flesh of the praise-offering is to be taken as food on the day when it is offered; no part of it may be kept till the morning. 16 But if his offering is made because of an oath or given freely, it may be taken as food on the day when it is offered; and the rest may be used up on the day after: 17 But if any of the flesh of the offering is still unused on the third day, it is to be burned with fire. 18 And if any of the flesh of the peace-offering is taken as food on the third day, it will not be pleasing to God and will not be put to the account of him who gives it; it will be unclean and a cause of sin to him who takes it as food. 19 And flesh touched by any unclean thing may not be taken for food: it is to be burned with fire; and as for the flesh of the peace-offerings, everyone who is clean may take it as food: 20 But he who is unclean when he takes as food the flesh of the peace-offerings, which are the Lord's, will be cut off from his people. 21 And anyone who, after touching any unclean thing of man or an unclean beast or any unclean and disgusting thing, takes as food the flesh of the peace-offerings, which are the Lord's, will be cut off from his people. 22 And the Lord said to Moses, 23 Say to the children of Israel: You are not to take any fat, of ox or sheep or goat, for food. 24 And the fat of that which comes to a natural death, and the fat of that which is attacked by beasts, may be used for other purposes, but not in any way for food. 25 For anyone who takes as food the fat of any beast of which men make an offering by fire to the Lord, will be cut off from his people. 26 And you are not to take for food any blood, of bird or of beast, in any of your houses. 27 Whoever takes any blood for food will be cut off from his people. 28 And the Lord said to Moses, 29 Say to the children of Israel: He who makes a peace-offering to the Lord, is to give an offering to the Lord out of his peace-offering: 30 He himself is to take to the Lord the offering made by fire, even the fat with the breast, so that the breast may be waved for a wave offering before the Lord. 31 And the fat is to be burned by the priest on the altar, but the breast is for Aaron and his sons. 32 And the right leg you are to give to the priest for an offering to be lifted up out of what is given for your peace-offerings. 33 That man, among the sons of Aaron, by whom the blood of the peace-offering and the fat are offered, is to have the right leg for his part. 34 For the breast which is waved and the right leg which is lifted up on high I have taken from the children of Israel, from their peace-offerings, and have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons as their right for ever from the children of Israel.
35 This is the holy part given to Aaron and to his sons, out of the offerings made to the Lord by fire, on the day when they were made priests before the Lord; 36 Which the Lord said the children of Israel were to give them, on the day when he made them his priests. It is their right for ever from generation to generation. 37 These are the laws for the burned offering, the meal offering, and the offering for wrongdoing; and for the making of priests, and for the giving of peace-offerings; 38 As they were given by the Lord to Moses on Mount Sinai, on the day when the Lord gave orders to the children of Israel to make their offerings to the Lord, in the waste land of Sinai.
251 Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins, the friends of the bride, who took their lights, and went out with the purpose of meeting the husband. 2 And five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 For the foolish, when they took their lights, took no oil with them. 4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lights. 5 Now the husband was a long time in coming, and they all went to sleep. 6 But in the middle of the night there is a cry, The husband comes! Go out to him. 7 Then all those virgins got up, and made ready their lights. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lights are going out. 9 But the wise made answer, saying, There may not be enough for us and you; it would be better for you to go to the traders and get oil for yourselves. 10 And while they went to get oil, the master came; and those who were ready went in with him to the feast: and the door was shut. 11 After that the other virgins came, saying, Lord, Lord, let us in. 12 But he made answer and said, Truly I say to you, I have no knowledge of you. 13 Keep watch, then, because you are not certain of the day or of the hour.
14 For it is as when a man, about to take a journey, got his servants together, and gave them his property. 15 And to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one; to everyone as he was able; and he went on his journey. 16 Straight away he who had been given the five talents went and did trade with them, and made five more. 17 In the same way he who had been given the two got two more. 18 But he who was given the one went away and put it in a hole in the earth, and kept his lord's money in a secret place. 19 Now after a long time the lord of those servants comes, and makes up his account with them. 20 And he who had the five talents came with his other five talents, saying, Lord, you gave into my care five talents: see, I have got five more. 21 His lord said to him, Well done, good and true servant: you have been true in a small thing, I will give you control over great things: take your part in the joy of your lord. 22 And he who had the two talents came and said, Lord, you gave into my care two talents: see, I have got two more. 23 His lord said to him, Well done, good and true servant: you have been true in a small thing, I will give you control over great things: take your part in the joy of your lord. 24 And he who had had the one talent came and said, Lord, I had knowledge that you are a hard man, getting in grain where you have not put seed, and making profits for which you have done no work: 25 And I was in fear, and went away, and put your talent in the earth: here is what is yours. 26 But his lord in answer said to him, You are a bad and unready servant; if you had knowledge that I get in grain where I did not put seed, and make profits for which I have done no work, 27 Why, then, did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I would have got back what is mine with interest? 28 Take away, then, his talent and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will be given, and he will have more: but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And put out the servant who is of no profit into the outer dark: there will be weeping and cries of sorrow.
(Read Matthew 25:1-13)
The circumstances of the parable of the ten virgins were taken from the marriage customs among the Jews, and explain the great day of Christ's coming. See the nature of Christianity. As Christians we profess to attend upon Christ, to honour him, also to be waiting for his coming. Sincere Christians are the wise virgins, and hypocrites the foolish ones. Those are the truly wise or foolish that are so in the affairs of their souls. Many have a lamp of profession in their hands, but have not, in their hearts, sound knowledge and settled resolution, which are needed to carry them through the services and trials of the present state. Their hearts are not stored with holy dispositions, by the new-creating Spirit of God. Our light must shine before men in good works; but this is not likely to be long done, unless there is a fixed, active principle in the heart, of faith in Christ, and love to God and our brethren. They all slumbered and slept. The delay represents the space between the real or apparent conversion of these professors, and the coming of Christ, to take them away by death, or to judge the world. But though Christ tarry past our time, he will not tarry past the due time. The wise virgins kept their lamps burning, but they did not keep themselves awake. Too many real Christians grow remiss, and one degree of carelessness makes way for another. Those that allow themselves to slumber, will scarcely keep from sleeping; therefore dread the beginning of spiritual decays. A startling summons was given. Go ye forth to meet Him, is a call to those prepared. The notice of Christ's approach, and the call to meet him, will awaken. Even those best prepared for death have work to do to get actually ready, 2 Peter 3:14. It will be a day of search and inquiry; and it concerns us to think how we shall then be found. Some wanted oil to supply their lamps when going out. Those that take up short of true grace, will certainly find the want of it one time or other. An outward profession may light a man along this world, but the damps of the valley of the shadow of death will put out such a light. Those who care not to live the life, yet would die the death of the righteous. But those that would be saved, must have grace of their own; and those that have most grace, have none to spare. The best need more from Christ. And while the poor alarmed soul addresses itself, upon a sick-bed, to repentance and prayer, in awful confusion, death comes, judgment comes, the work is undone, and the poor sinner is undone for ever. This comes of having oil to buy when we should burn it, grace to get when we should use it. Those, and those only, shall go to heaven hereafter, that are made ready for heaven here. The suddenness of death and of Christ's coming to us then, will not hinder our happiness, if we have been prepared. The door was shut. Many will seek admission into heaven when it is too late. The vain confidence of hypocrites will carry them far in expectations of happiness. The unexpected summons of death may alarm the Christian; but, proceeding without delay to trim his lamp, his graces often shine more bright; while the mere professor's conduct shows that his lamp is going out. Watch therefore, attend to the business of your souls. Be in the fear of the Lord all the day long.
(Read Matthew 25:14-30)
Christ keeps no servants to be idle: they have received their all from him, and have nothing they can call their own but sin. Our receiving from Christ is in order to our working for him. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. The day of account comes at last. We must all be reckoned with as to what good we have got to our own souls, and have done to others, by the advantages we have enjoyed. It is not meant that the improving of natural powers can entitle a man to Divine grace. It is the real Christian's liberty and privilege to be employed as his Redeemer's servant, in promoting his glory, and the good of his people: the love of Christ constrains him to live no longer to himself, but to Him that died for him, and rose again. Those who think it impossible to please God, and in vain to serve him, will do nothing to purpose in religion. They complain that He requires of them more than they are capable of, and punishes them for what they cannot help. Whatever they may pretend, the fact is, they dislike the character and work of the Lord. The slothful servant is sentenced to be deprived of his talent. This may be applied to the blessings of this life; but rather to the means of grace. Those who know not the day of their visitation, shall have the things that belong to their peace hid from their eyes. His doom is, to be cast into outer darkness. It is a usual way of expressing the miseries of the damned in hell. Here, as in what was said to the faithful servants, our Saviour goes out of the parable into the thing intended by it, and this serves as a key to the whole. Let us not envy sinners, or covet any of their perishing possessions.
