Are You Ready for the Final Exam?

Oh no! The final exam is here!

You haven’t attended a single class! You haven’t read a single page. You haven’t turned in a single assignment. You haven’t written a single paper.

You’re toast!

Then you wake up. You’re soaked with sweat, heart's beating, body's shivering.

Ever had a dream like that? A dream that twisted your stomach into knots?

The parable of the 10 virgins in Matthew 25 is a distinct prophecy and present truth. It is one of the most important parables for our time. It reminds us of the need to get ready for the coming exam. If you are unprepared for it, there will be no waking up from it as you would from a bad dream.

A careful study of the parable reveals that the 10 virgins had 10 similarities:

1. All 10 were virgins, i.e., all professed a pure faith.
2. All had lamps, i.e., the word of God (Psalm 119:105).
3. All had oil, i.e., the Holy Spirit (Zechariah 4:1-6), in their lamps.
4. All the lamps were burning,  i.e., letting their light shine (Matthew 5:16).
5. All were eager to see the bridegroom, i.e., church members who loved Jesus.
6. All experienced the tarrying time.
7. All slumbered.
8. All heard the Midnight cry, i.e., the Great Final Test.
9. All woke up simultaneously.
10. All trimmed their lamps.

In this parable you don’t find five who are wicked and five who are good, or five who are lazy and five who are faithful. What you find in this parable are 10 faithful church members who love present truth. They are the ones who are the first to show up to church on Sabbath, pay tithe faithfully, and are active in the work of the church.

The Difference Between the Wise and the Foolish

There was only one single difference between the five wise and the five foolish virgins:

There was no extra oil (Holy Spirit) to last to the end. “The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out’” (Matthew 25:8).

In the book Christ’s Object Lessons, it says, “The class represented by the foolish virgins are not hypocrites. They have a regard for the truth, they have advocated the truth, they are attracted to those who believe the truth; but they have not yielded themselves to the Holy Spirit's working. They have not fallen upon the Rock, Christ Jesus, and permitted their old nature to be broken up…They do not know God. They have not studied His character; they have not held communion with Him; therefore, they do not know how to trust, how to look and live. Their service to God degenerates into a form.”¹

Have you fallen upon the Rock, Christ Jesus? Do you know God and hold communion with Him? Do you know how to trust, how to look and live?

“It is in a crisis that character is revealed. When the earnest voice proclaimed at midnight, ‘Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him,’ and the sleeping virgins were roused from their slumbers, it was seen who had made preparation for the event. Both parties were taken unawares; but one was prepared for the emergency, and the other was found without preparation. So now, a sudden and unlooked-for calamity, something that brings the soul face to face with death, will show whether there is any real faith in the promises of God. It will show whether the soul is sustained by grace. The great final test comes at the close of human probation, when it will be too late for the soul's need to be supplied.”²

The Final Exam

What is the Great Final Test that comes at the close of human probation when the Midnight Cry is heard? This test is described as a crisis, where many will be taken unaware; it is described as an emergency, a sudden and unlooked-for calamity for some souls bringing them face to face with death?

Consider these statements:

“The Sabbath will be the great test of loyalty, for it is the point of truth especially controverted. When the final test shall be brought to bear upon men, then the line of distinction will be drawn between those who serve God and those who serve Him not.”³

“The Sabbath is the great test question. It is the line of demarkation between the loyal and true and the disloyal and transgressor.”⁴

Are You Ready for the Great Final Test?

The Great Final Test to which the Midnight Cry alerts us to will be the National Sunday Law which precedes the Loud Cry of Revelation 18.

The Loud Cry is the last warning that takes place right before the close of probation and the falling of the seven last plagues. Revelation 18:1-4 pictures the final announcement of the fall of Babylon and the divine call, “Come out of her, My people.” Verse 5 says, “For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.” When does Babylon’s sins reach heaven resulting in the Loud Cry? In Last Day Events we are told: “When do her sins reach unto heaven [Revelation 18:2-5]? When the law of God is finally made void by legislation."⁵

In other words, Babylon’s sins reach heaven when there is a National Sunday Law. When the Sunday law has shown that the sins of Babylon has reached heaven, God’s people will be giving a Loud Cry message that it’s time to come out of Babylon.

In Matthew 25, the entire church wakes up when the Midnight Cry is heard. There will be no sleeping through the final exam. When the National Sunday Law is passed, God’s faithful “wise virgins” will give the Loud Cry. The “foolish virgins” will not be ready and they will fail the final exam (Matthew 25:12).

Call to Action

Do you hear loud and clear that God is telling us, IT’S TIME TO GET READY?

We are living in unprecedented times. COVID-19 has created economic uncertainty, fear, and confusion. There’s civil unrest happening around the world and mass invasions of locusts threatening food security in numerous countries. I hear loud and clear that God is telling us, it’s time to get ready! What do you hear? We are told: “God has a purpose in permitting these calamities to occur. They are one of His means of calling men and women to their senses.”⁶

I find myself these days singing a song that I used to often sing as a child with absolutely no thought about the meaning of the lyrics. “Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning!”

Now is the time to pray and seek God with all our hearts. God says, “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).  We need to spend time in prayer alone with God, and also unite in prayer with God’s people. The early rain fell when God’s people were “with one accord in one place” (Acts 2:1-2). We need both the personal and the corporate experience in prayer!

It’s time to go beyond knowing about Jesus to knowing Him personally and loving Him with all our hearts — so we can be among God’s faithful people who will one day soon give the Loud Cry!

It’s time to ask daily for the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:9-13) so we are among the “wise virgins” of Matthew 25 instead of among the “foolish virgins” where Jesus says, “I do not know you” (Matthew 25:12).

It’s time to prepare for the Great Final Test and claim this Bible promise:

“Ask the Lord for rain in the time of the latter rain. The Lord will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, grass in the field for everyone.”

Zechariah 10:1

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Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

1. Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1900), 411.
2. Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1900), 412.
3. Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy (Mountain View, California: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1911), 605.
4. Ellen G. White, Selected Messages (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1980), book 3, 423.
5. Ellen G. White, Last Day Events (Boise, ID: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1992), 198.
6. Ellen G. White, Last Day Events (Boise, ID: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1992), 28.