The Parable of the Kingdom of Heaven, Treatise · Verse 11, 12
Vers. 11, 12. Afterward came also the other Virgins, saying, LORD, LORD, open unto us: But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
Afterwards, or last of all, that, is after the wise Virgin-saints were entred into the Marriage Chamber with Christ the Bridegroom of his Church, and after the door of the Kingdom of Christ was shut, then came the foolish Virgin-professors, a multitude or very many formalists and Hypocrites, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. They called and cryed earnestly, prayed and beseeched the Lord Jesus Christ again and again to open the door of his Kingdom unto them, and let them have an entrance admitted into his Everlasting Kingdom.
But he answering, said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. As they were earnest in their Request, so was Christ very positive in his Answer, Verily, assuredly, indeed and and truth, I know you not, I love you not, I do not approve of you, I own you not to be of the number of those that my Father gave me, and whom I redeemed with my blood, and whom I called and sanctified by my Spirit and Grace, and who sought to worship God by the Spirit and in truth, I know you not to be the adopted Children of my Father, justified and sanctified by faith that is in me. You are Formalists and Hypocrites, impenitent Backsliders and Apostates, who have denyed my Headship, my Kingly Office, and would not that I should reign over you. In a word, you are workers of Iniquity, Depart from me, I profess I do not know you, so as to approve of you, to own you, to open the door of my Kingdom to you, Luke 13.24, 25, 26, 27. Strive to enter in at the strait Gate, for many I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able. —When once the Master of the house is risen up and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us, and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence you are. Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunken in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets, —But He shall say, I tell you know you not whence you are, Depart from me ye workers of Iniquity.
Meditation. It will be a sad astonishing and miserably woful condition, that all foolish Virgin-Professors will be in, when the Lord Jesus Christ shall exclude them and shut them out of his Kingdom, and disown them for ever.
Virgin-Professors having a strong confidence, Hosea 1.8. and great hope and expectation, 1 Cor. 15.19. of the pardon of all their Sins, and of Eternal life and Salvation, and then at last find by woful experience, that the Lord hath rejected their confidence, Jer. 2.37. and their expectations be in vain and perish, Prov. 10.28. and their hope like the Spiders Web, Job 8.13, 14. For what is the hope of the Hypocrite, when God shall take away his soul, Job 27.8. and that God will not forgive their Iniquities, Jer. 14.10. and 16.18. but will give them the wages of their sins, Rom. 6.23. and reward them according to their evil deeds, Rom. 2.6, 9, 11. yea and they having had a strong perswasion or presumption, rather that when Christ comes, they shall have an entrance admitted to them into his everlasting Kingdom; and at last Christ comes, and shuts the door of the Kingdom, and then they come and knock, and say Lord, Lord, open to us, and be denyed and repulsed, and Christ tell them he knows them not, and say depart from me ye Hypocrites, ye formal Professors, ye foolish Virgins, and all ye workers of Iniquity, what an amazement and astonishment will it be to them? And then they will begin to say, LORD we have eat and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets, Luk. 13.26, 27. That is, we have been under the Ministry of the Gospel, and all the Administrations thereof. We have been often at the Lords Table, and have been partakers of all the holy Ordinances of God, Matth. 7.21, 22, 23. Not every one that saith, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven. — Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have done many wondrous works, and then will I profes unto them, I never knew you, depart from me ye that work Iniquity.