Matthew 25:1-13.
Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
So the Bride of this era in history would call together all of her unmarried [virgin] friends to attend her and the Bridegroom while preparing for the wedding and while they were on the way; and to enjoy the marriage supper when the marriage had been consummated. They and the Bride would bring their lamps and ‘vessels’ [usually clay jars] with spare oil for their lamps. The Bride would also have her veil near by and those things she might need during her bridal week of seclusion.
As we know, the church is the Bride of Christ. The John the Baptist tells us as much in John 3:28-29, ‘Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.’ Jesus, too, alludes to this in Matthew 9:19, ‘And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.’
Jesus likened the kingdom of God at the time of His return to 10 virgins in the passage above. The following is what He has taught me about the meaning He had for the parable given here. I will break this down into a verse by verse [more or less] layout to show the things I have learned.
Verse 1-2; Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
Jesus named the number of virgins as 10, as in ancient times 10 was the number of witnesses required in Israel to make a valid quorum. [Quorum is the number of members of a group or organization required to be present to transact business legally, usually a majority.] An example of this practice is found in Ruth 4:2, ‘And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down here. And they sat down.’ These virgins may not be saved people, but are those who hang out in Christian circles, such as church members and other religious people who are companions of the Bride, the Church. They are meant to be there to attend to the Bride and Groom, to light their way to the Marriage Feast.
Verse 3; They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
Jesus said that five of these virgins were wise and five were foolish. The foolish brought their lamps only, they brought no additional oil. They made no provision for the future, only brought enough oil for the present. They had not heeded the warning of Solomon in Proverbs 6:6-8, ‘Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.’
This oil is representative of several things in scripture, all of which work here; it is representative of the Holy Spirit in our lives, the truth of Christ, the Gospel message and of our salvation. This oil when it is burning and active in our lives causes the Light of His countenance to shine forth through us. We glow from within. So these foolish virgins had made a profession of faith, but they had not filled their hearts with the truth of this message nor the fullness of its salvation. Their oil would not last long; their light would soon go out. Much like the seed sown on stone ground in Mark 4:16-19. Verses 16-17 say; ‘And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.’ They had no depth of root so there was no room for growth. They withered up and died.
Verse 4; ‘But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.’
These wise virgins had their lamps filled with oil and extra oil in their jars, too. Now in Matthew Henry’s commentary these vessels represented their hearts. Not only had they professed their salvation, it was glowing from deep in their inner most beings. They had oil for today and tomorrow. Their hearts were full and overflowing with His joy.
They had provided for the future and still Jesus found fault with them and with their foolish friends.
Verse 5, ‘While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.’
The Bridegroom had been long in coming, so the virgins all ‘slumbered’ and ‘slept.’ They were not being watchful for their Bridegroom. They had forgotten their duties as attendants.
In John 14:2-3 Jesus said; ‘In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.’ But in Matthew 24:36 he also said, ‘But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.’ So Jesus did intend, and still does plan to return for his bride, but only The Father knows when that return will be. He wants to be sure all is in PERFECT readiness for his Bride before He takes us home to reign with him forever.
I looked up the meaning of these two words to see what the difference was. In the Greek they are two totally different words. The meaning of Slumbered is; ‘to nod in sleep, to be oppressed with sleep, to be negligent and / or careless. The definition of Slept is; ‘to fall asleep normally, to yield to sin and/or sloth, to be indifferent to one’s salvation, to be dead.
Again I went to my Matthew Henry’s. He said that the Foolish virgins slept, while the Wise virgins only slumbered.
So looking back to the definition of these words I felt like Jesus was saying that the Wise virgins had gotten negligent in their watchfulness. They were careless about the ways of the Lord and let slip their focus on their relationship with Jesus. While the Foolish virgins were yielded to sloth and sin instead of to Jesus, they were indifferent to they salvation, they had died or were close to death when the cry came.
Verse 6; ‘And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.’
It seems to men – both ancient and in this age – that Jesus has taken much too long in His return – yet God set the perfect time and date for His return. Jesus will never be too early, nor too late.
Jesus gave a parable of God’s perfect timeline in Luke 12:16-23 where He spoke of a certain rich man who had more produce than he knew what to do with. He decided to build new barns and store his wares for years to come and the Bible says, ‘And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?’ He had much earthly wealth, but had nothing left with which to honor God. He lost his life because it was God’s appointed time for him.
The second coming of Jesus, unlike His first one, will be announced to us. In 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, ‘Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.’ Also in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 it tells us. ‘For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.’ Jesus will clearly announce His return with the shout of the archangel and the sounding of the last trumpet or shofar.
Verse 7; ‘Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.’
This verse reminds me of growing up in the country. It seems that just about every year we had heavy storms that would knock out our electricity for days at a time. When we lost power we would have to get all of the kerosene lamps out of the cupboard and prepare them to be used. We would wash the globes, trim the burnt part of the wick back so the unused portion is able to be lit, or replace them if they were too short for use. Then we would fill the lamps with oil, light the wick, replace the globes and adjust the height of the wick for maximum light with little smoking. With this illustration in mind I can see our virgins waking up at the announcement of the Bridegrooms coming, blowing out their lamps, trimming their wicks, filling them with oil and relighting them to light the way.
This symbolizes their preparing to meet the Bridegroom when he comes to fetch His bride. These virgins were actually cutting away the useless things in their lives that had polluted their relationship with Christ our Bridegroom, cleansing their lives from the sins and such that had caused them to become careless of their Salvation. Refilling their hearts and lives with the oil of the Holy Spirit. The wise virgins in our parable have taken extra oil in their vessels – their hearts. They have recommitted their lives to their Bridegroom. But the foolish do not have any oil left in their lamps, and they have not brought oil in their vessels – they have nothing with which to renew their lives. Too late they find they are lacking. Their lamps have gone out. They are dead, dead in their spirit. Dead unto the Lord God.
Verses 8 & 9, ‘And the foolish said unto the wise, give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.’
These foolish virgins lacked truth in their hearts. They lacked Gods grace and Salvation. So, they asked of the wise ones to share what they have in their vessels with them.
Remember the Strong’s definitions sited for the word ‘slept’ in this parable? Two of these strike me here as I look at the actions of our foolish virgins. First, they were indifferent to their Salvation. They gave it little or no thought whatsoever. And second, they were dead, dead in their spirits due to this indifference.
I am reminded of a lesson learned many years ago, that being that the opposite of LOVE is not hate as so many of us believe. It is actually APATHY. Hate is actually another emotion reserved for those who have wronged us in some way. When you love someone you are constantly ‘doing’ nice things for that person, acts of kindness, gifts for no reason, etc. But when you do not love a person you feel nothing, therefore you do NOTHING for them. This is the state of our foolish virgins; they felt nothing in their hearts’ for the Bridegroom. Their vessels were empty.
In their state of apathy, these virgins became selfish and asked the wise virgins to give up some of their oil. They thought to make further show of their faith while their lights fizzled out and died completely. They sought the comfort of being in the truth without actually having the truth within them. They were fearful of death and darkness. They didn’t want to live the life of the faithful, but sought to die the death thereof. So they requested the wise to share their oil with them. In their selfishness they sought to have the grace, the Salvation, of the wise, without getting it for themselves. They wanted to put the wise in the same position they found themselves in.
But the wise replied, ‘Lest there not be enough for us and you.’ In the original text the two words ‘not so’ are not there. Translators have added them for clarity to the readers. The wise didn’t out rightly tell the foolish they wouldn’t share their oil; instead they gave a reason why they could not share. Their natural instinct would always be to help those in need, but they were wise enough to know that this would be detrimental to their eternal security, so they declined. They also knew that each person needs their own oil of Salvation. This reminds me of two sayings I have frequently heard within Christian circles, the first being; ‘Jesus has no grandchildren.’ The second is, ‘You can’t get to heaven on your parents coattails.’ Each person has to have his or her own personal relationship with Jesus – our very own Salvation. And this is actually borrowed from Christ, is doesn’t originate within us at all.
The wise virgins gave the foolish the very best advice they could have if it had not already been too late; ‘but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.’ But time had run out for getting their hearts prepared for the Bridegroom, He was already in route to the Bride’s home to catch her away and take her to His home forevermore. They didn’t have time to seek out the truth and be at the ready when he appeared. Having a vessel full of oil is not quickly done. Being full of His Grace, Righteousness and Salvation is a life long process.
In Esther 2:12-13 is given an example of virgins being prepared for their presentation before the King, ‘Now when every maid's turn was come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after that she had been twelve months, according to the manner of the women, (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, to wit, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odors, and with other things for the purifying of the women;) Then thus came every maiden unto the king; whatsoever she desired was given her to go with her out of the house of the women unto the king's house.
It took much time to be prepared for their presentation before the king. In Like manner it takes us much time to be prepared to be presented to our Bridegroom when He appears. We also must be purified before we can enter into His presence as only the redeemed can enter in and be with Him forever more. For the door will be SHUT when all who are prepared have entered in.
Verse 10; ‘And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.’
Hebrews 3:12-16 says, ‘Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.’
The time for getting right with God is NOW, while it is yet day. For the night time is coming and there will be no time left to prepare to enter in as the door will be closed and you will be left standing on the outside in the dark. II Corinthians 6:2 reads, ‘(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)’
Verses 11 & 12, ‘Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.’
The Bridegroom did not know those foolish virgins, even though they dressed and spoke like their wise counterparts, they were phonies. Truth, Grace, and the Holy Spirit that comes in with Salvation did not fill their vessels – their hearts. They were empty of these important ingredients necessary for entrance with the Bridegroom.
Their hearts were not totally empty; they were full of course things. They were full of self assurance, instead of God’s assurance. They were full of self righteousness, instead of His righteousness. They were also full of backbiting and complaining instead of Love, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost. They sought to fill their hearts with His truth much too late and were not allowed to enter into the wedding feast. Jesus saw right through their façade as he could look straight into their hearts. HE saw their emptiness deep within. The appeared to Him much like Esau of old who came seeking the blessing of his father much too late, who asked of Israel his father while in a fit of crocodile tears; ‘Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?’ Jesus answered this correctly when He said, ‘Verily I say unto you, I know you not.’
Jesus repeated this denial in Luke 13:24-28, ‘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 ye are: Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.’
However He did give us a warning at the end of this parable …
Verse 13, ‘Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.’
Jesus warned his listeners, as well as all those of us to follow after, to be ever watchful for His return. He has told us in Matthew 24:36 that only His Father knows the perfect time for His appearing. ‘But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.’
Mark 13:32 also says, ‘But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.’
This warning is for ALL who would hear His voice and listen to His call. Proverbs 6:9-11 also gives us warning of our sleepy nature, ‘How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.’
There is still time to awaken and prepare for His return. And He is anxious for each of us to do so.
Song of Solomon 5:2, ‘I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.’
And Ephesians 5:14-16 also encourages us to awake from our sleep and prepare to meet Him, ‘Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.’
There is also still time for foolish virgins to become wise. Heb 3:15 says, ‘While it is said, today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation …’
Also in Matthew 6:33 it reads, ‘But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.’
Seek to find His truth, Seek to have your vessels filled to overflowing with His Salvation. With His Grace. With His righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. When you seek Him with your whole heart, He is glad to reward you accordingly. As it says in Ephesians 3:16-19 says, ‘That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.’
Matthew 5:14-16 says, Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
We as, wise virgins, are to hold high our lamps to shine forth to the world and lead them all into the body of Christ. So, let your vessels be full to over flowing with all that He has to offer you and shine forth your light in the darkness to draw the foolish virgins and all non believers to Him. He says in II Peter 3:8-10, ‘But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.’
