The
Ten Virgins
“Then the
kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps
and went out to meet the
bridegroom.” Matthew 25:1
Studying Jesus parables over the years, I have found
them to be Truth. Parables are stories
that help people to easily understand a truth that otherwise may be
difficult. In Matthew 24-25, Jesus is
explaining about the time of the end and so he told them in Parables.
In the story of the ten virgins, he explains that
these virgins represent those who have been made pure by the blood of the Lamb;
Jesus Christ. There is coming a time
when we who are ‘born again’ will be called to the marriage supper of the Lamb
[Revelation 19:9]. Apparently all of the
virgins were believers, but when Jesus came for them, only 5 of the ten were
ready to go with him. The question is,
“Why” didn’t all ten go?
1. Five
of them were well prepared; their lamps filled with ‘oil’ and had extra oil
with them so they wouldn’t run out. They
were so filled with the Holy Spirit (oil) that when the bridegroom was delayed,
they patiently waited.
2. The
other five, (the foolish) as Jesus called them, weren’t prepared in case the
bridegroom would not come when they thought he should. They ran out of oil and wanted the others to
share some with them. This show the
foolish virgins were impatient and unprepared to meet the bridegroom. They thought that because they were also
believers, they would go into the wedding supper even if their relationship
with the bridegroom was fading.
How many have said, “They have been saying he was
going to come back for 2000 years and it hasn’t happened yet. Who knows if it ever will?” In this parable, Jesus was making a point
that he may be delayed, but he is coming when the time is right. We don’t have any idea when he may return,
but we should be living every day like it could be today.
The parable continues; the foolish virgins went off to
buy more oil. Eventually, they returned,
but the door to the wedding supper was closed.
I can see them pounding on the door and desperately crying out for the
bridegroom to open the door, “Lord, Lord, open up for us.” Then the Lord answered them, “I don’t know
you.” I can’t imagine the despair they
felt as they dropped down in front of the door, crying hysterically because
they knew it was too late to ever be with the Lord.
Then Jesus turned to the disciples and warned them to
be watching at all times, because no one know the day or the hour when He will
return to carry us away. If Jesus finds
our greatest desires to be on things of this world other than on him, he will
say that he doesn’t know us.
Long ago, when Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on a
donkey, people were all excited, “The next day, the news that Jesus was on the way to
Jerusalem swept through the city. A large crowd of Passover visitors took palm
branches and went down the road to meet him. They shouted, “Praise God!
Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the LORD! Hail to the King of Israel!” [John 12:12-13] As time went on,
they lost their enthusiasm and many even turned against him. Some of those same
people had seen Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead. Many had seen the blind healed and the deaf
that could hear. Yet, they turned their
backs on him.
How quickly our zeal for the Lord can become stagnant. He wants each and every one of us to be
filled with God’s Holy Spirit and to determine in our hearts that no matter how
long it takes, we will wait for his coming.
Singing songs of worship and praise will do very little for us if they
don’t come from the heart. Just going to
church won’t do much for us if we aren’t seeking God. Church is not about the pastor, the singers,
or what someone else says or does, it’s about seeking God and His
presence. It’s not anyone’s fault if we
‘don’t get anything out of it’. It’s our
lack of zeal for God.
As a Christian, I believe the most terrifying words I could ever hear
Jesus say are, “I do not know you”. If
you think getting saved is enough in your life, you are missing something. All 10 of the virgins were ‘saved’, but were
they following the Lord? The Bible tells
us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, [Philippians 2:12]
which means we continue through life trying to live a holy life and become more
like Jesus.
There is a song we love to sing in our church and it is called, “The Zeal
of God”.
The zeal
of God has consumed me, deep in my soul;
A flaming
fire that keeps burning; a fire that cannot be quenched.
This is where we should be in relationship with the Lord; you may have to work at it, but it can happen for you if you want it bad enough.
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