Matthew 25:1-13
1 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be
comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the
bridegroom. 2 “Five of them were foolish, and
five were prudent. 3 “For when the foolish took their
lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but
the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps. 5 “Now
while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to
sleep. 6 “But at midnight there was a shout,
‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 “Then
all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 “The
foolish said to the prudent, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going
out.’ 9 “But the prudent answered, ‘No,
there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the
dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ 10 “And
while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those
who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was
shut. 11 “Later the other virgins also
came, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open up for us.’ 12 “But
he answered, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 “Be
on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.
Jesus continues to prepare His followers for His second
coming. He wants us to realize that things
will not always go according to our plan or schedule. When the Lord returns there will be those who
are prepared and ready for His coming and there will be those who are not
ready. Jesus wants to make sure that His
followers are prepared by making the consequences of being unprepared very
clear. There will be no second chances. In many ways the prepared and the unprepared
will look very similar; until the coming of the Lord. At the return of Christ, the judgment will be
made as to who are the true followers of Jesus and who are foolishly
unprepared.
THE COMING OF CHRIST MAY DELAY BUT IS IMMINENT: The lesson
Jesus seems to be repeating over and over again in this passage is about the
delay in His coming. However, there is a
balance to that teaching that we must always be on the alert and prepared because
His coming is imminent. As we consider
the coming of Christ, we cannot lose hope and begin to live as if He were not
coming. We also must be careful not to
generate false hope that we will see Him return in short order. The second coming of Christ is something that
only the Father knows. It is not our job
to predict or even try to guess when it might be. Our job is to faithfully, expectantly and vigilantly
work as we wait for His return.
THE PRUDENT WILL PREPARE TO WAIT FOR AND WELCOME THE LORD:
The five prudent virgins were prepared to wait for the bridal party for a long
time. The preparation was simply bringing
extra oil for their lamps. Whatever the
cultural implications for having a lamp might have been, it is clear in the story
that being with out a lit lantern would have had serious implications for the
guest, including exclusion from the wedding feast. While there are many things that the oil
could likely signify, it is likely unwise to try to come up with some sort of allegorical
interpretation for what the lantern, the oil or the wick represents. It seems that wisest way to interpret the
parable is to simply state that it symbolizes preparedness. Being prepared for Christ’s coming would certainly
require genuine salvation. The most
important preparation we can make for the second coming of Christ is to believe
in all that He accomplished in His first coming. Trusting in our works or religious rituals is
not genuine salvation. It may look very
similar to salvation, but it will not endure.
Only genuine saving faith in Jesus will eternally save a person from sin
and guarantee entrance to the presence of God.
THE FOOLISH WILL BE UNPREPARED AND UNWELCOME: The fact that
there are five virgins that think they are prepared for the groom’s arrival,
but are not, is a sobering teaching. They
want to be at the feast, are expecting to be at the feat, were waiting for the
bridal party to arrive just like the other and they had made some basic preparations. However, time revealed that they were not
truly prepared. There will be those who make
positive, initial responses to the Gospel but are not truly saved. They may think they are saved. Others may think they are saved. However, they are not saved. This passage makes it clear that once Christ
returns, there will be no opportunity to change this condition. It is of vital importance for every person in
church or out of church to examine their faith to make sure it is genuine.
APPLICATION: Be prepared for the Lord’s return. Stay attentive but be patient because it may
take longer than expected. Trust Christ
exclusively for forgiveness of and freedom from sin. Examine yourself to make sure that you have
truly turned to Christ as your only hope for eternal salvation. Wait expectantly and work for His glory until
the Groom comes.
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