Opening illustration: Articulate my early arrival for my marriage ceremony and the people from the bride’s side were not ready and waiting at the church gate for welcoming the guests from the bridegroom’s family. On a similar note my youngest brother-in-law arrived 3 hours late during his wedding to my youngest sister. This caused chaos, frustration and confusion. But even then everything was ready and on the move. No matter what the circumstances, we must always not only be ready, but ready to go.
Introduction: The circumstances of the parable of the ten virgins were taken from the marriage customs among the Jews to explain the great day of Christ’s coming. There were two phases to Jewish weddings. First the bridegroom went to the bride’s home to obtain his bride and observe certain religious ceremonies. Then he took his bride to his own home for the resumption of the festivities. Christ will take his bride, the church, to heaven before the tribulation period begins; then He will return with His bride at His second coming to the marriage supper on earth. In this passage many have a lamp of profession in their hands, but have not, in their hearts, sound knowledge and settled resolution, which are needed to carry them through the services and trials of the present state. Their hearts are not stored with holy dispositions, by the new-creating Spirit of God. Too many real Christians grow remiss, and one degree of carelessness makes way for another. Those that allow themselves to slumber will scarcely keep from sleeping; therefore dread the beginning of spiritual decays. The ten virgins in this parable were waiting for the wedding procession that went from the bride’s home to the home of her husband. This nighttime procession would use lamps to light the way because ancient cities did not have streetlights. This passage tells us that every person is responsible for his or her own spiritual condition. When Jesus returns to take His people to heaven, we must be ready. Spiritual preparation cannot be bought or borrowed at the last minute. Our relationship with God must be our own. Watch therefore; attend to the business of your souls. Be in the fear of the Lord all the day long.
If we look at this parable with western eyes, it may seem to us to tell an unnatural and a “made-up” story. Therefore we have to keep the western concept of marriage outside this context. There may seem to be some problems with the parable. Although this is a parable about a wedding, there is no bride! And when the bridegroom does arrive—at midnight!—the wise bridesmaids tell the foolish ones to go out and buy oil for their lamps—at midnight! We have to understand that a Biblical/Eastern wedding revolves around the bridegroom and not the bride and wedding can run late into the night. But in point of fact, it tells a story which could have happened at any time in Palestine and even happens today in the middle-east and Asian countries. Now the point of this story lies in a Jewish custom which is very different from anything we know. When a couple got married in Palestine, they did not go away for a honeymoon; they stayed at home; and for a week they kept open house; they were treated, and even addressed as a prince and princess; it was the gladdest week in all their lives. To the festivities of that week their chosen friends were admitted; and it was not only the marriage ceremony, it was also that joyous week that the foolish virgins missed, because they were unprepared. The story of how they missed it all is perfectly true to life. It gives us the imagery of how we need to be ready for Christ’s return which could apparently happen anytime.
How to prepare ourselves for Christ’s return?
1. Determining the ‘Real’ and ‘Fake’ (vs. 1 – 4)
Now, as we come to the parable of the ten virgins, for some reason, many people think that these virgins are the bride. There are some who believe that this parable represents the bridegroom coming for his bride at an hour she does expect. Here, we have no mention of a bride, but rather ten virgins. Maybe they could be called bridesmaids. They were part of the brides’ wedding party, but they were not the bride. So we cannot associate these virgins with the bride of Christ, the church.
So who are these virgins? We know from Jewish culture, that at the wedding celebration for the whole town, one of the acts of entertainment was to have ten virgins perform a wedding dance around the bride and groom. They would hold lamps or torches and perform a torch-dance. It would symbolize the light of their love and the bright future they had together. They would dance for the entertainment of the guests and wedding party. They would dance until their torches burned out.
(a) Fake: The foolish took no oil with them - No more than kept them burning just for the present. None to supply their future want, to recruit their lamp’s decay. The five foolish virgins probably expected that the bridegroom would come immediately; they therefore made no provision for any delay. As we go through this passage, we will discover that the five foolish virgins did not really “run out” of oil; they never had it.
(b) Real: The lamp is faith. A lamp and oil with it, is faith working by love. It also symbolizes the presence of the Holy Spirit [God] in our lives. For a believer it is evident in our fruit bearing. The wise took oil in their vessels - Love in their hearts. And they daily sought a fresh supply of spiritual strength, till their faith was made perfect. This needed to be kept burning continually even in undesirable circumstances.
The difference between the real and fake virgins is that the real ones had enough oil for their lamps, the fake ones did not. This is the difference between the two. The torches they carried were long sticks. One end was wrapped with rags and strips of cloth which had been soaked in oil. If you have ever made a torch like this, you know that it only burns for a few minutes.
They had their torches, but forgot their vessels filled with oil. It is a silly thing to forget, and highly unlikely that anyone would forget to bring an oil vessel with their torch, but that is why this parable is so memorable. These foolish virgins truly are foolish for forgetting something as simple and essential as spare oil. The oil represents something very significant that no Christian should be without.
Jesus is warning us in this parable that there will be a number of people who look like Christians, who associate with Christians, and who even think they are Christians, who will be shocked to learn that they are not saved at the return of our Lord. What a sobering thought. This text is not seeking to create uncertainty and doubt in the heart of the Christian. It is not seeking to rob the Christian of his assurance. But it is seeking to warn those who have a false assurance, but not salvation. In the last days, just as in Jesus’ time and today, there will be those who appear to be Christians, but in reality are not!
2. Making OR Missing the Mark (vs. 5 – 9)
• All slept and slumbered (the ready and unprepared) ~ yet could either be ready or miss the bus.
• All heard the midnight cry (will be sudden) ~ yet some could meet and some didn’t.
• All trimmed (adorned – casting away the works of darkness) their lamps ~ yet some passed and some failed.
(a) Presence of Oil: Possessing oil illustrates the concept of being prepared; lack of oil represents being unprepared for Christ’s return. Biblically oil has been the symbol of the Person and ministry of the Holy Spirit. Throughout the Old Testament we see oil being used for holy purposes. The priests were consecrated and ordained unto God as oil was poured upon their heads … "Then you shall take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him" (Exodus 29: 7 - see also Leviticus 8). The evidence of the operation and the working of the Holy Spirit in and through our lives are of prime importance.
(b) Absence of Oil: No faith nor love nor light or the absence of the Holy Spirit being exhibited from our lives can put us in an embarrassing situation like the virgins with no oil in their lamps. Right from the beginning, they did not have the oil and wanted to ride on other folk’s oil.
Are we giving more importance (precedence) to the physical things of this world and neglecting in building our spiritual relationship with God?
Filling your lamp: it’s not really negotiable. You have to do it. There are some kinds of oil you can’t borrow from anyone else, as the bridesmaids learned. You can borrow your friend’s homework, but not the hours they put in studying for the test. You can borrow your neighbor’s lawnmower, but not their peace of mind. There are some kinds of preparation we can only do for ourselves, reserves that no one else can build up for us. We have to figure out what fills us up, spiritually, and then make sure we have some to carry with us, every single minute of the day, because that’s how often you’ll need it. The parable is not intending to teach selfishness. It is intending to teach the non- transferable nature of salvation. The saved can't save the lost. Give us your oil is a request that no one can answer. One cannot ride on someone else’s salvation. Every person must procure his own. You can't grab my arm and be dragged into the Kingdom. You can't share my oil. You and I have to get our own salvation and work it out our daily with trembling and fear.
Oil was plenty. And oil was available. But not at midnight and not right now. You had equal opportunity but you slept away the day of grace and you slept away the time of opportunity.
Illustration: Even today during the wedding week in some cultures like the Armenians, Kurds etc. in the middle-east while people sleep, there will be someone who will cry out during midnight hours that the bridegroom has come and those who are ready would be given the opportunity to go with him. A marriage ceremony in India is described by Ward (View of the Hindus) in Trench’s Parables: “After waiting two or three hours, at length near midnight it was announced, as in the very words of Scripture, ‘Behold the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.’“
3. Open/Closed Door (vs. 10 – 12)
(a) The Accepted: They will be ready who have repented of their sins; who truly believe on the Lord Jesus; who live a holy life; and who wait for his coming. The door of the kingdom stands open now, in life, to every mortal, but it will not always be so. The day of opportunity for everything passes. You were not in the company of those who attended me to the marriage-feast, and are unknown to me. Applied to professing Christians, having only a profession of religion, but no real piety, it means, I do not know or acknowledge you as Christians. I do not approve of you, or delight in you, or admit that you are my friends.
(b) The Rejected: The door was shut speaks of being shut out of the Kingdom. The unwise virgins were not ready when Christ returned. Compare the wedding feast in Revelation 19: 7, 8. I do not acknowledge you for my disciples - you are not like him who is love - you refused to receive his grace - you sinned it away when you had it; now you are necessarily excluded from that kingdom where nothing but love and purity can dwell. So, when the truly righteous shall all be received into heaven, the door will be closed against all others. There will be no room for preparation afterward. They were now seeking to obtain the oil in the only legitimate way, and all would have been well if they had attended to it at the proper time, but it was now too late. There is no encouragement to death-bed repentance.
Application: Final Exhortation (v. 13) ~
Be ready. Get prepared. Although this is about believers living during the tribulation, there is application for us as well. Some Christians today are looking for Christ’s return, but are not preparing for it. The Bible says that if you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. The real test of our strength is not when things are going well, but how we react when things do not go well.
The May 1984 National Geographic showed through color photos and drawings the swift and terrible destruction that wiped out the Roman Cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in A.D. 79. The explosion of Mount Vesuvius was so sudden, the residents were killed while in their routine: men and women were at the market, the rich in their luxurious baths, slaves at toil. They died amid volcanic ash and superheated gasses. Even family pets suffered the same quick and final fate. It takes little imagination to picture the panic of that terrible day. The saddest part is that these people did not have to die. Scientists confirm what ancient Roman writers record–weeks of rumblings and shakings preceded the actual explosion. Even an ominous plume of smoke was clearly visible from the mountain days before the eruption. If only they had been able to read and respond to Vesuvius’s warning!
There are similar “rumblings” in our world: warfare, earthquakes, the nuclear threat, economic woes, breakdown of the family and moral standards. While not exactly new, these things do point to a Coming Day of Judgment (Matthew 24). People need not be caught unprepared. God warns and provides an escape to those who will heed the rumblings. Let us therefore watch, and get ready.
Universal warnings ~
(i) There are certain things which cannot be got at the last minute. It is far too late for a student to be preparing when the day of the examination has come. It is so with us and God. It is easy to leave things for the last minute that we can no longer prepare ourselves to meet with God. When Mary of Orange County was dying, her pastor sought to tell her of the way of salvation. Her answer was: “I have not left this matter to this hour.” To be too late is always tragedy.
(ii) There are certain things that cannot be borrowed. The foolish virgins found it impossible to borrow oil, when they discovered they needed it. A person cannot borrow a relationship with God; he must possess it. He cannot borrow a character; he must be clothed with it. We cannot be always living on the spiritual capital which others have amassed. There are certain things which we must win or possess for ourselves, for we cannot borrow them from others.
Are you ready to meet your Lord of lords and King of kings? If you aren’t, will you be challenged today to pursue to get right and ready to meet your Savior, Lord and King whenever He turns up?
