Shut Out of Heaven
By Pastor Jim May
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."
The Second Coming of Jesus is the single greatest event of the future of planet earth. As we draw ever nearer to that great day, all eyes are focused on the eastern sky for the scriptures say in Matthew 24:27, "For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." As with many of the prophecies of the Bible there is a lot of controversy concerning this second coming. The controversy isn’t about “if” Jesus is coming, but “when” that day might come.
Of course we know that we cannot set a date and a time, but we can certainly recognize the season, and we are not seeing the fulfillment of the prophetic word. We are living in the days of Matthew 24 waiting for the coming of the Lord and the rapture of the bride to meet Jesus in the air, and finally for the culmination of human history as the terror of John’s visions in the Revelation begin to unfold one by one bringing us ever closer to that eternal age.
We of the church must look toward that eastern sky with great hope and with joy in our hearts for our redemption is getting closer all the time.
It has been said by many people, even some that I talked to this past week, who have begun to relax their views on the Second Coming of Christ. “I’ve heard it all my life, so what’s new? Jesus hasn’t come yet, and I don’t think he’s coming that soon. After all, one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, so it may be another thousand years.”
This is the kind of attitude that will cause us to miss the rapture. We can’t afford to let our guard down. In the verses we read above, that’s exactly what happened. 10 virgins waited, watched and prepared themselves for the wedding feast, but only 5 entered in. If we are to take this literally as a description of the condition of the church at the time of the rapture then it would mean that fully 50% of all Christians are going to be left behind. Of course these numbers are figurative and not literal. In my opinion, far less than 50% will be ready on that day.
I can’t help but think of the mixed feelings that must be a part of Jesus at the moment of the rapture. First there is great sadness in his heart, just as it was on that day when he stood on the hillside above Jerusalem and wept over the city that he had tried to reach out to for so long, but had been rejected. Because of their rejection, they would not see him again, and would not recognize him as their Messiah until the Second Coming of the Lord. Oh how much would Jerusalem suffer! How many Jews have died in their sin since that day! How many more will go into eternity without God because they missed their chance!
Jesus will look upon his church, upon those of his own people, whom he had called out of darkness into his marvelous light, and he will weep over them as well. Many of them will be left behind to face the wrath and judgment of God on this sinful world, all because they failed to watch and wait to the end. They will see the Lord return to this earth as King of Kings, but they will no longer be a part of the bride, but disobedient servants filled with fear and dread for the judgment to come.
There are 3 main questions asked about the Second Coming of the Lord: 1) When will it happen? 2) What are the signs of it’s drawing near? And 3) When will the end of all things come?
Jesus gave us these answers in Matthew 24:
-There would be spiritual deception covering the earth and even causing some of the very elect to fall away.
-There would be deception in the earth, in governments, in positions of leadership, in politics, in the pulpit and even in the home.
-The church would become an apostate church, having a form of godliness but no real power for the Holy Ghost has departed from them and the gospel is no longer preached.
- Sin, with its death grip on the hearts of men, would increase greatly and even the natural love of parents for children and children for parents would grow cold and uncaring.
-The moral condition of man would be on a constant slide into the depths of depravity until the whole of mankind would be as it was on the day that God destroyed mankind with the great flood.
-Many will presume upon God’s grace, expecting to make it to Heaven, but they won’t be ready.
-Economic, political and national turmoil would spread through the whole world and no one would find an answer to the world’s problems, preparing them for the rise of the Antichrist who will seem to have the answer.
-Finally, Jesus says that there would be “signs” in the earth and “signs” in the heavens. Could these be the “crop circles”, “the trend of global warming”, “UFO sightings”, and many other unexplained phenomenon of our day?
Are we getting close to the Second Coming of Christ? Every indicator and prophetic utterance in the Word of God shouts YES – Jesus is coming soon!
In the parable of the 10 virgins we see the parallel of what happens in a Jewish Wedding ritual.
There are 3 important aspects of a Jewish wedding that Jesus pointed out to us:
1 – preparation
2 – faithfulness
3 – watchfulness
Luke 21:34-36, "And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man."
Charles Spurgeon, in one of his sermons, talked about inward preparation. He said, “A great change must happen within you, far beyond any power of yours to accomplish before you can go to be with the Lord in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. You must be clothed in the wedding dress, reconciled back to God, be made like God or you won’t be ready to go. Your lamp must burn brightly for no child of darkness can go into that place of perfect light.”
Weddings in the ancient culture of Israel were very different from what we have in the western world today.
It was a series of events that was separated into 3 stages.
1) There was an engagement. Now the bridegroom just didn’t give his bride to be a ring and a promise. It went much deeper than that and had far reaching implications. The bridegroom’s father and the bride’s father would have formal meetings where they would haggle over the price of the dowry and the price that the groom had to pay for his bride. Once an agreement was reached, the engagement was settled.
2) After the engagement came the betrothal. This was another formal ceremony held in the bride’s family home. This is where mutual promises were made and recorded by each family and a binding contract was sealed. The bride and the groom were bound to one another legally, though they were not yet married. If the groom were to die before the actual wedding ceremony, the bride would still be considered a widow. The betrothal agreement could not be cancelled. If it was, it was not easy, much like a divorce.
3) After about a year, the marriage feast took place. The bridegroom, accompanied by his friends, would go the brides home and took her from her father’s house, brought her back to his own home and there the feast was held and the marriage consummated.
Today, we are engaged to Jesus. We are betrothed to him and bought with a price. The Father in Heaven set the price and it was high indeed. It cost him the life of his only begotten Son and the shedding of Jesus’ perfect blood to pay the cost of redemption. We are bound to Jesus by a legal contract of our own free will, but Jesus paid the price.
We must not break that contract, for if we do, then we are no longer a part of the family, but widows, bound to our former life once again and divorced from the Lord. Unfaithfulness causes that break in the relationship.
When Jesus comes again, we will be changed to be like him, in effect, becoming one with him in every way. Then we will go to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb at our Lord’s house in Heaven.
In the parable of the 10 virgins we see the church, as a bride, waiting for the bridegroom to come and begin the marriage feast.
There can be only one bride, and that bride must be perfect in every way.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11:2, "For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ."
There are a lot of religions in the world that claim to be that bride. Nearly all of them teach that their followers will go to a place of paradise or a heaven of some sort. But there is only one bride that Jesus is coming for and that bride will have to meet every qualification to be chosen. That bride must be set apart from the world, cleansed from all sin, and uncontaminated by the world.
Just as in a wedding here on earth, the bride goes through a lot to make herself ready for that all-important day. She washes, puts on a special garment, prepares herself as much as possible. No bride would show up at her own wedding with dirty clothes and unclean.
After she has prepared and all is ready, there comes a waiting period and it can seem like such a long time. Minutes seem like hours and hours like days while she waits for the ceremony to begin. Where is the groom? Is he going to come on time? Did he forget that today was the day? Does he have the time right?
That’s the condition of the waiting Bride of Christ today! We don’t know when, how or where, but we know he’s coming soon, so we have to be ready all the time.
Of those 10 virgins, 5 were wise and 5 were foolish. The wise ones had plenty of oil representing the anointing power and fire of the Holy Ghost. The light of the gospel was shining brightly for them, and there was very little trimming to be done when the cry came forth to go. There was no time to try to get ready then. It was now or never.
But the foolish had let their lamps grown dim. Their anointing was gone, their fire nearly out, and there was no time to get more oil. Neither could they borrow from those who were ready for my salvation is not enough for you, nor yours for me.
Children won’t go because mom and/or dad goes. Each one must stand on his own relationship with the bridegroom. All over the world, one will be taken and another left behind because they weren’t watching and waiting.
There’s an old song that I really like titled, “The Midnight Cry”.
In Matthew 25:6 Jesus said, "And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him."
No one expects a marriage to take place at midnight! Why didn’t the bridegroom come during the morning, at noon, or before darkness? Why not in the early evening? Why at midnight?
He came then to let us know that He is coming in the darkest hour of man’s history, when the darkness of sin covers the land like the night sky. It’s also to tell us that he is coming when we won’t expect him to come and many will be caught asleep and be left behind. We can’t afford to let our guard down and believe that Jesus is delaying his arrival. We must be ready then, or never!
One morning, the Emperor of France, Napoleon, was scheduled to review his elite guard. The battle weary soldiers were many miles away from his headquarters, so they had to march through rain and deep muddy roads to get where they needed to be. They arrived just after midnight and spent the rest of the night cleaning their uniforms, polishing their boots and preparing for inspection. When Napoleon inspected them the next morning, the face of every soldier showed the fatigue that they felt, but their uniforms were perfectly spotless. Napoleon’s heart was moved and he said to them , “I am proud of you men. You stayed up all night long in order to get ready to meet your emporer. Now you can go and get your rest.”
You and I, the church of Jesus Christ, has a divine appointment with the Bridegroom. We need to spend the time that we have in the darkness of night of this sinful world, preparing to meet the Lord. We must be on the alert all the time because in the darkness of the midnight around us, we can’t see very far, and Jesus may be very close indeed.
The time will come very soon when we will hear the cry, “Come forth my little ones”, “Come Away to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb”. With a shout and the sound of a trumpet we will be caught up and go out with him in the moment and twinkling of an eye.
Are you prepared for that day? Are you watching and waiting? Is your lamp all trimmed and burning brightly? It’s too late now to fall asleep. Jesus is coming soon. Don’t be shut out of Heaven!
