The five wise virgins stand for those who are waiting for the Lord’s return. They are ready in the sense that they come to God for forgiveness and repented of the sins and trusted in Christ for salvation, having been born again by his Spirit. Whether they die first, or they remain alive to the second coming, they are ready. What madness it would be to fail to prepare for Christ’s coming until the last moment. That would be to totally underestimate the enormity of the change that was required. When Christ returns, he will find some on earth looking eagerly for his return. These will be gathered in and welcomed into the marriage supper of the Lamb, but the rest will be shut out.
This door is the door of heaven and the door of opportunity to enter heaven; it is Christ himself, for he says, ‘I am the door. If anyone enters by me he will be saved.’ Once that door is shut it will never be opened again for all eternity. Where we are in eternity is fixed here. Our eternal destiny is final in this life. If the door of heaven is shut to us, in the last moment of life, it is shut for ever. Right now, it is open and Christ invites all to come and enter the door, to come to him for life. No matter what we have done, no matter how seriously we have broken his commandments and even blasphemed his name, he will receive us, but we must come now. He is the only door that leads to heaven and all other doors that claim to lead to God lead nowhere, indeed they lead to destruction. Christ stands now in pity pleading with sinners to come to him and to receive salvation which only he can give, and he weeps over those who will not come. But if we continue to refuse, the time will come when all further opportunity will be withdrawn and then no appeal to his mercy will move his heart again. Mercy and grace are offered to sinners with unreasonable patience, but no one should conclude from this that when the door is closed it can be re-opened and that fresh calls for mercy will prevail with God. He has told us in advance what he will do, and he will keep his word. O that the rebellious would take seriously this warning and realise that God is not fickle and changeable like a man. Repentance and faith are the gifts of God and it is possible to leave it too late, so late that the Spirit who must give us these gifts will not work in our hearts. What state will the world be in just before Christ returns, after it has so long rejected the goodness of God? How terrible is the finality of that shut door!