Are You Prepared?

Are you the type of person who tends to wait until the last minute to take care of important things?

• Do you wait until the last minute to study for an exam?

• Do you wait until April 14 to file your income tax return due on April 15?

• Do you postpone going to the see the doctor until you are in great pain?

In this passage, 5 bridesmaids failed to think ahead and made adequate preparation.

• They waited until the last minute to take care of something important.

• It was a wedding event but they were not prepared.

Both the wise ones and the foolish ones were tired after the long wait, and they “all became drowsy and fell asleep.” (v.5)

• But what made them different, what made one group wiser, was that they had brought with them extra oil.

• They were prepared for the longer wait. They were ready when the bridegroom came.

It is important that we plan and prepare for what lies ahead? Yes.

A worker was injured in a construction site and filed for insurance. He was asked to explain how he injured himself. This was what he wrote:

“It would have taken too long to carry the bricks down by hand, so I decided to put them in a barrel and lower them by a pulley which I had fastened to the top of the building. After tying the rope securely at ground level, I then went up to the top of the building and began to load the barrel with the bricks. I swung it out over the ledge for the descent.

Then I went down and untied the rope, holding it securely to guide the barrel down slowly. However, since I weigh only 63kg, the 200-kg load jerked me off the ground so fast that I did not have time to think of letting go of the rope. I met the barrel coming down. This accounts for the bruises to my arms and shoulders.

The barrel went all the way down, pulling me up to the top, where my hand became jammed in the pulley. This accounts for my broken thumb.

At the same time, however, the barrel hit the ground with a bang and the bottom fell out. With the weight of the bricks gone, the barrel weighed only 15kg. Thus, my 63kg body began a swift descent, and I met the empty barrel coming up. This accounts for my sprained back and bruised leg.

At this point, I fell to the ground. I let go of the rope, and the empty barrel came crashing down on me. This accounts for my head injuries.”

A simple mistake can lead to grave consequences.

Jesus uses this parable to highlight the need to be prepared for something that is important – our eternity.

• If this world is not our eternal dwelling place, then we need to consider what Jesus says. He said He will come back one day and bring us back to our heavenly home.

• But are we prepared for that? Do we know that the ‘bridegroom’ is coming, in the first place?

Jesus wanted to highlight a few things with this parable.

1. HE IS COMING AGAIN

Jesus likens Himself to a bridegroom, coming for his bride.

• 25:1 says “the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.”

• The focus of everyone’s attention is on the bridegroom. Not the bride, but the bridegroom.

• The Bible depicts Jesus as the bridegroom. And He is coming. They are going to meet Him.

• Jesus has promised that He would come again. Matt 24:30-31 “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. 31And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”

2. IT WILL BE SOON

The signs of the times are all pointing in the direction that His return is very soon.

Jesus started off saying: “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like…”

• What time was He talking about? He was referring to the end times.

• This parable was told in the middle of a long discourse that started in Chapter 24.

• It started with the disciples asking Him privately in 24:3 “Tell us, when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

What are the signs of the end of the age? When are you returning? How would we know you are coming soon?