(The Great Slumber Party)
The Prophet Isaiah said of Israel:
Isaiah 3:9
9The look on their countenance witnesses against them,
And they declare their sin as Sodom;
They do not hide it.
Woe to their soul!
For they have brought evil upon themselves.
These words actually describe America today. Our nation has sinned just as Sodom did. We have become a society
where any ungodly act can take place without a trace of shame.
Even the world has agreed that things have gone too far. In a recent New York Times article, rock stars who became
famous years ago for their immoral acts on stage and on MTV were quoted. They say the immorality taking place
today is the worst they’ve ever seen, and that the horrible filth being spewed upon America today makes them sick.
Just a few years ago, these same musicians were taking pride in ushering in new heights of filth and immorality. They
readily admit that “Even we can’t handle what’s going on today. This country has totally stepped over the line”.
How will God respond to our shamelessness? When evil abounded in Israel, God responded with economic ruin and
depression. It seemed the only way He could get their attention was to take away their livelihood.
Isaiah 3:1
1For behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts,
Takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah
The stock and the store,
The whole supply of bread and the whole supply of water;
This clearly means economic disaster. Economic hardship may be the only way God can get America’s attention.
Isaiah then describes an unusual scene:
Isaiah 4:1
1And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying,
“We will eat our own food and wear our own apparel;
Only let us be called by your name,
To take away our reproach.”
Seven virgins were trying to make special arrangements to marry a certain
man. Yet no love or courtship is mentioned in this arrangement. Not a word was whispered about an engagement,
intimacy, forsaking others, remaining faithful, etc… Isaiah is telling us that these women don’t want a husband they
can love, or who will supply all their needs. All they want is this man’s name. They are looking for a loveless, non-
committal marriage, to provide them with a certain status. They are telling this man “We’ll make our own living and
provide for ourselves. All we want is your name, to take away our reproach. We want to appear good to the world, and
your name will give us that kind of status”.
This can be applied to the church as we know it today, and the man these virgins wish to marry is Jesus. In times of
turmoil, would be believers are trying to have a marriage of convenience with Jesus Christ. Such believers are Born
Again Christians in name only. They want to appear spiritual, claiming to be a part of the Kingdom of God, but they’ll
try to cut a deal with God. They’ll say “I want You Lord, but I want to go my own way and do my own thing. Just give
me Your name, so I can be seen as Yours, Your bride”.
These people don’t want to be clothed in garments of righteousness. They don’t want to have intimacy with Christ, or
be dependent on Him. They only want to live unto themselves. They want no obligations or commitments. By their very
attitudes they are telling Christ “Let me enjoy my association with You so that others can see me as good, but don’t
get in the way”. These people have attached themselves to Christ’s name wholly on their own. Jesus won’t have part of
such an arrangement.
The wise virgin, however, has a great passion for the bridegroom. She constantly longs for intimacy with him:
Song of Solomon 2:16
16My beloved is mine, and I am His.
He feeds His flock among the lilies.
The cry of the TRUE Born Again Christian is “Lord I don’t want just Your name – I desire YOU at all times. I think
of You every night before I go to bed, and I think of You every morning when I wake up. My heart goes out to
You all day long”.
Isaiah 26:8-9
8Yes, in the way of Your judgments,
O LORD, we have waited for You;
The desire of our soul is for Your name
And for the remembrance of You.
9With my soul I have desired You in the night,
Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early;
For when Your judgments are in the earth,
The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
The true believer, the truly faithful in Christ will declare:
Isaiah 61:10
10I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,
My soul shall be joyful in my God;
For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments,
And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
The Lord is now shaking our nation. God is going to deal with us as He did with Sodom and Gomorrah. I believe this
because I believe that this verse describes us more than ever.
Isaiah 3:5
5The people will be oppressed,
Every one by another and every one by his neighbor;
The child will be insolent toward the elder,
And the base toward the honorable.”
The Lord’s judgments will be apparent to everyone as He starts to cut off our nations prosperity, just as He did to the
Israelites. And as that day approaches, many will claim to be in Christ, but most will not be His at all.
I think we will also witness a scene from Jesus parable:
Matthew 25:5
5But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
All the virgins, both foolish AND wise were fast asleep. Christ is describing a slumbering church just prior to His coming.
He very clearly warns us:
Mark 13:35-37
35Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the
crowing of the rooster, or in the morning—36lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. 37And what I say to you, I
say to all: Watch!”
Paul gives us a warning and an admonishment about this very thing:
Romans 13:11
11And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than
when we first believed.
Paul’s warning is suggesting that just before Jesus returns, a great slumber will fall upon the Church. I believe we are
now in the midst of this great slumber. We see it all around us, and even hear some teachers and preachers calling
on the Church to WAKE UP!!!!!!!
Paul also warned:
Ephesians 5:14-16
14Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.” 15See then that
you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Paul is urging us to wake up, and not be like the sleeping virgins. Be wise and stay watchful for Christ’s return.
1 Thessalonians 5:6-7
6Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. 7For those who sleep, sleep at night, and
those who get drunk are drunk at night.
Many Christians are going to be tested by this great slumber. Right now, we live in a dark hour, with midnight quickly
approaching. As we look around, we can see many believers falling into this deep slumber, and losing sight of what
their salvation is all about. We spend a great deal of time each day doing the things that WE want to do. How much
time do we send seeking an intimate relationship with Christ? We talk on the phone, watch tv, go out to eat, read
books, stay on our computers, etc… How much time each day do we devote to getting closer to Christ, and
strengthening our relationship with Him?
God is merciful to all of us. Even though we neglect Him and neglect our relationship with Him, He still loves us. He
blesses us, prospers us, and takes care of us. But one day we will have to stand in judgment and give account for
our actions, or inactions as His children, and as His bride. What are we going to say when asked to give an account
of our works, and our faithfulness to Him?
Many Christian’s lamps are burning out, and they are fast asleep. The meager (at best) relationship that they have
with Jesus Christ is slowly passing away right in front of them. The scriptures warn us of this:
Hebrews 2:3
3how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was
confirmed to us by those who heard Him,
Why would the Lord want slumbering, lukewarm, disinterested followers in heaven with Him? Why would He want those
who are ashamed of Him here on earth, who are bored with the things of God, who couldn’t care less about church,
fellowship, and intimacy with Christ? Our purpose in heaven will be to worship the Lord, and serve Him forever. How
could anyone expect to enjoy eternity there, if they can’t even tolerate a walk with Jesus here on earth?
Don’t misunderstand. God loves, and yearns over His repentant, though slumbering people. All He wants from us is an
open heart to hear His voice, and a passion to hear from Him. Yet, even after we’ve heard warning upon warning,
many true believers also neglect the Lord, and His gift of salvation. Jesus is saying “Not only do they neglect me, and
not only have they laid aside all passion for me, they don’t even think about me. I am rarely even a passing thought to
them now”.
The Lord is hurting over the multitudes who were once wise virgins. At one time, these people longed for His coming,
and diligently prepared to meet Him. They were wide awake, their hearts on fire for Him, and their minds and souls full
of passion for Him. Over time, these wise virgins began to slowly turn away from Him. After a while, they cross the line,
and become the foolish virgins that Jesus spoke of.
You may not see yourselves as one of the foolish virgins, but ask yourself this: Do I still have the passion for Jesus
that I had when I first got saved? Do I still hunger and thirst for His knowledge, and an intimate relationship with Him?
I proclaim my love for Him, but is my love lukewarm, or even cold? Even if we are still on fire, and faithful to seek Him
each day, we can still find ourselves in trouble if we are not careful.
Proverbs 19:15
15Laziness (slothfulness) casts one into a deep sleep,
And an idle person (soul) will suffer hunger.
We may not think of ourselves as slothful, or lazy, but that is exactly what is happening all over the world to once
devout Christians. We have gotten lazy, and self absorbed. We have started to lose that passion, and lose that desire
to seek Him with fervor. We are becoming slothful when we allow foolish, fleshly things to get into our lives (where we
would have never let them in before). As time goes on, and we indulge more and more of these foolish, fleshly things,
we start to get complacent about them. Pretty soon, we don’t think much about it at all. Then we start allowing more
and more of this into our lives. Pretty soon, they take over and we lose our zeal for Christ. We start to neglect our
prayer times, our Bible reading times, our times that we used to spend seeking Jesus in our quiet places, and start
losing interest in seeking a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus.
I think that there are many Preachers, Pastors, teachers, etc… that are out there telling the people the same things. I
think God has put it into their hearts and minds, just as He did the Prophets of the Old Testament. But, there are many
of God’s shepherds that have fallen asleep too. Isaiah saw this, and cried out:
Isaiah 56:10
10His watchmen are blind,
They are all ignorant;
They are all dumb dogs,
They cannot bark;
Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
The unwise virgins were not present at the marriage supper. They were shut out completely. Jesus’ parable gives a
clear truth that we must learn to accept: When the Lord came, only those who were prepared were allowed to be with
Him. According to the parable, there was a cry made:
Matthew 25:6
6“And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’
As we look all around us, we see pleasure mad Christians plunging headlong into the ways of the world. They are
starting to slumber, and are losing sight, and a grasp on what is to come. They are not watching for the bridegroom,
and will not be ready when He approaches. Many servants of God are out amongst the brethren declaring this very
message right now. They will not be silenced, even though they are being mocked, ridiculed, and made out to be
idiots by a large number of slumbering church leaders who are not prepared for His return, nor are they convinced
that anything is going on.
Deep down, everyone in this nation knows that we are hitting rock bottom. There is an inner knowledge, a kind of
intuition that is telling us all that the world cannot continue like it is now. Something supernatural has to happen. There
has to be some kind of intervention from on high. Man cannot clear the mess, and correct the situation – mainly
because we are the ones who created it with our greed, our lusts, and our slumbering hearts. We have forsaken the
Truth in exchange for pleasure and gain.
Luke 21:26
26men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the
powers of the heavens will be shaken.
When the time is at hand for Christ’s return, the slumbering Christians will be running around like chickens with their
heads cut off, looking for spiritual and church guidance to “find their way back to Him”. Unfortunately, the ones they
are going to be running to are the very ones who will be looking to find their way.
Jesus already warned us with this scripture:
Matthew 25:10
10And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and
the door was shut.
The wise virgins had told the foolish virgins to go and buy oil for themselves. While they were gone, doing what they
should have done to start with, the Bridegroom came. When that moment arrives, those who were caught slumbering
are going to realize that they were not prepared. They are going to realize that they spent all of their time chasing the
pleasures of this world, and forsaking their relationship with Christ. When the Bridegroom closed the door, the foolish
virgins were left outside crying “Lord, open up. Let us in! We are your children! But, we were warned, and Jesus
makes it very plain:
Matthew 25:12
12But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’
Kinda scary – ain’t it. All of a sudden, the door will be shut in our face. No more appeals, no more to be said. The Lord
will simply declare that the door is shut. This is proof in Christ’s own words that only the truly saved believers will be
included in His bride hood. All who tried to hold onto sin in this world - who wanted only His name but not His love –
will be left out.
If you want to be a wise virgin, there are two steps you must take. They are simple steps, but they cannot be left out or
overlooked if you are to be included amongst the wise virgins.
1. Make Christ the center of your life – Let Christ be in all of your thoughts. When you wake up in the morning,
call out His name. When you go to bed at night, call out His name. During the day (or before you go to bed at night)
get on your knees and talk to Him. You cannot build an intimate relationship without communicating. The more
communication, the stronger the relationship becomes.
Philippians 4:8
8Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are
pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything
praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
1 Corinthians 3:20
20and again, “The LORD knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”
God records all of our thoughts. He knows every time you think of Him. So be sure to include all of your “thank you”
thoughts to Him.
2. Pray throughout the day – “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner”. This simple prayer is the oil for your lamp.
Praying it daily is how you prepare to meet the Lord. You are telling God that “I am not worthy to be called by Your
name. I need Your mercy. I realize that I am not what I thought I was. I am weak, and You are strong. I need Your
strength and Your guidance. I humble myself before You now, Lord. Have mercy on me, a sinner”.
When the Tax Collector prayed this prayer, Jesus said of him:
Luke 18:14
14I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be
humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”