Waiting Wisely for Jesus’ Return
Matthew 25:1-13
May 3, 2009
NOTE: THE ME/WE/GOD/YOU/WE FORMAT IS FROM ANDY STANLEY’S BOOK, "COMMUNICATING FOR A CHANGE."
Me/We:
Before I became a pastor I had the privilege of being the best man in a couple weddings for friends.
For the first wedding, I found out about 4 or 5 months ahead of time that I was going to be the best man. For the other, I found out a couple hours before the rehearsal.
They meant to tell me earlier, and thought they had, but hey. It worked out. I didn’t lose the ring or anything, and they got hitched. And still going strong almost 20 years later.
Weddings bring with them a lot of emotion, especially for the bride and groom and their families.
And one of the emotions that comes out most strongly is anticipation.
As the day draws nearer, the anticipation builds until that awesome day when the bride and groom exchange those vows to stick with each other through thick and thin, sickness and in health, richer and poorer, in-laws and outlaws.
During the time of our engagement, my anticipation of the wedding was marred a bit by tensions between certain family members, but overall I was really looking forward to it, because even with all the hassles that come with planning a wedding, I would be marrying the woman I loved and would be beginning a lifelong journey with her.
All of us who are married or have been married know what that’s like.
And I wonder if you can recapture a bit of that anticipation as you look back on your own wedding preparations? Hopefully that anticipation was toward something wonderful, right? That’s the idea, anyway.
God: Jesus uses a common occurrence in life to continue to illustrate the timing of His return – a wedding.
Let me set the stage for just a moment, okay?
Following typical Jewish marriage customs, a groom left his parents’ home with a bunch of friends to go to the home of his bride, where various ceremonies were carried out.
After this, the entire wedding party formed a processional to a wedding banquet, normally at the home of the bridegroom. The wedding feast was often held at night. (NIVAC)
This is the scene Jesus paints here at the beginning of chapter 25.
Matthew 25:1-13 (p. 702) –
1 "At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 "At midnight the cry rang out: ’Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
7 "Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ’Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
9 "’No,’ they replied, ’there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
10 "But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
11 "Later the others also came. ’Sir! Sir!’ they said. ’Open the door for us!’
12 "But he replied, ’I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’
And then Jesus closes with the words we have become very familiar with over the last few weeks:
13 "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
In my office last week I spent a good bit of time posting my sermons to the internet, at a place called Sermoncentral.com, where I’ve been putting them for a good number of years.
And as I was doing this, it dawned on me that we’ve been talking a lot about Jesus’ return, and how it could be at any moment, and how we can’t know when it’s going to happen.
So I thought that maybe you might be getting tired of all that, but then thought, but wait a minute – Jesus talks about it a lot.
And if there’s anything Jesus beats on during chapters 24 & 25, it’s the idea that no one knows when He’s returning.
Why would Jesus have to repeat that over and over in this short span of a couple chapters – maybe 10–15 minutes of talking?
Could it be that He was trying to get a certain point across? I think so. I think it might be Jesus’ way of saying, “Get a clue, people! You won’t know when I’m coming back!”
Well, Jesus continues in that vein with His final declaration before He is taken and crucified.
He gives us this parable of a wedding procession, in which the bridegroom, representing the returning Messiah, comes at a time He is not expected.
And I think there are three lessons we can learn from the virgins in this parable, that if we take them to heart, can help us in our preparations to meet Jesus when He returns.
Here’s the first one:
> They looked for the bridegroom to come at any moment.
All ten of these virgins, both the wise and foolish ones, were expecting the bridegroom to come at any moment.
All ten of them lived in expectant anticipation of it. They went to the house to get ready to meet Him, and were there early so they wouldn’t be too late.
We should also have this view – that Jesus could return at any moment.
He might come at the expected time that bridegrooms are supposed to come – probably early evening, or He might come at midnight or later. Or anytime in between.
He could come today.
In Christian circles we say that Jesus’ return is imminent: in other words, that His return could happen at any time, and probably sooner than later, at least according to most opinions about it.
Some people in Christian history have taken this idea of His imminent return to extremes, however.
Upon (once again) ignoring Jesus’ words that He would come at a time no one expects, and that therefore we should not try to set dates, people set dates that are close to the current time.
And over history, some not only set dates, they encouraged their followers to sell all their possessions and wait for the return of Jesus.
When He didn’t come, these people were terribly disappointed, confused and bewildered, and filled with doubt, as well they should be.
Why? Because they didn’t see the second lesson from the virgins:
> The wise virgins prepared for the long haul.
It says here that the bridegroom came around midnight, far later than would normally be expected.
Apparently the caterer was running behind, or more likely, the ball game ran into extra innings, like last night (when my Twins lost to Marie’s Royals…).
This delay, and how the ladies prepared for it – or didn’t prepare for it, is what separated the wise from the foolish.
They brought extra oil just in case something like this happened. They thought ahead about the possibility, and didn’t want to be left out by running out of oil.
The bridegroom wasn’t on a set schedule determined by these ladies. Just like Jesus’ coming isn’t on a set schedule determined by us.
So these virgins were prepared to wait a long time.
I think that the corollary to current times is pretty obvious.
Jesus has waited to return for about 2000 years, now, and while we might be able to point to some things happening in our world to indicate He’s coming soon, the plain fact of the matter is that we don’t know when He’s coming back, as I’ve mentioned countless times over the past few weeks.
I mentioned a few moments ago that we need to have the view that Jesus might return at any moment.
But we also need to keep in mind that He might take another 2000 years. It’s up to the timing of the Father, not us.
We need to be ready for the idea that He may not come during the lifetimes of anyone in this room.
So what are we going to do, if that’s the case? We stay ready. We keep watching. We keep living for Christ and working for Him by helping others find Christ and live for Him.
We keep meeting with God privately as well as in church. We keep praying. We keep maturing in the faith. We keep allowing the Holy Spirit to make us more like Jesus through the Scriptures.
We keep on.
Don’t become lazy in your relationship with Christ. Don’t get the idea that you can slough off and just hope that you’ll see Him coming in time to get prepared.
Don’t disregard the fact that Jesus might come back at any moment.
You keep watching and waiting, prepared to meet Him when He comes.
Here’s the third lesson we can learn from the virgins:
> When the bridegroom comes, it will be too late to get ready.
In the parable, the foolish virgins have to scramble to get some oil so they can meet the bridegroom and be part of the wedding, but they’re too late.
And no matter how much they plead with the bridegroom to let them in, it’s too late. They don’t get in.
In the social setting of this, this would be humiliating. This would be like falling flat on your face in a beauty pageant on national TV. Everyone sees it, everyone knows who you are, and everyone knows you blew it.
Speaking of beauty pageants, did you hear about the Miss USA pageant a couple weeks ago and how Miss California responded to a question about gay marriage? (What’s that kind of question doing in a pageant, anyway?)
She said that she believes marriage should only be between a man and a woman. And she was mocked and scorned and ridiculed around the world for it.
Isn’t it great that freedom of speech is still alive and well – unless you hold to a biblical view of marriage?
These virgins were shut out of the wedding, and as I said, in a social setting, this would be humiliating.
But in terms of the kingdom of God, it’s an issue of being shut out for eternity.
The destiny of those outside the door is seen in the passage just before this, which we didn’t cover in-depth last week, and in the next passage: a place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. In other words, the sufferings of hell.
This might seem kinda heartless on the surface and from the outside, but really it’s not.
(This parable shows)… the rejection of those who, despite appearances, never made preparation for the coming of the kingdom.” (BEC, p. 514)
These people join with those back in chapter 7 where they say, “Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy and do miracles in Your name?” And Jesus says, “Hey – I never knew You. You said all the right kinds of things, you were very religious, but I never had a relationship with me. You trusted in all these things, but you never put your trust in Me. Away from Me, you evildoers!”
Harsh words, don’t you think? But the fact is that these people knew the truth or had access to it, and yet rejected it, and therefore rejected Christ.
Jesus said that many would say, “Lord, Lord,” but would miss heaven.
Folks, the point here is that you need to be prepared to meet Christ ahead of time. And most important part of that preparation is for you to put your faith in Christ.
As true as it is that when Jesus returns it’s too late to prepare, it’s also true that if you die before you’re prepared, it’s too late, as well.
Proverbs 27:1 says this:
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.
In James 4:14 we find these words:
You do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
Just like we don’t know when Jesus is returning, we also don’t know when it’ll be our turn to die.
For anyone in this room today, this might be our last day on earth.
Now, I don’t like to dwell on that, and I think you know me well enough to know that I’m not a big doom & gloom guy.
But the fact is that your life may end at any moment.
And I’d hate for you to have the attitude that says, “I’ll get right with God later. Right now I’ve got other things to, other priorities to take care of.” Because you may not have a “later.”
Jesus tells the story of rich man who got greedy and decided to build even bigger barns for himself, planning on enjoying his wealth for many years.
But God came to him one night and said, “Look, fool. You’re not going to enjoy those things, because your life ends tonight.”
Don’t make that same mistake. Get ready to meet Christ should He come today, tomorrow, or a hundred years from now. Or should you leave this earth earlier than you had planned.
You: Michael J. Wilkins, author of The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew) has a life motto that expresses what he believes to be the reflection of what Jesus is trying to communicate in the parables in Matthew 24 & 25:
Live as though Jesus is coming back today; plan as though He is not coming back for a hundred years. (p. 815)
I tried to come up with something tangible I could give you in terms of an application, but really, I think you just need to leave with the truth that Jesus could be return at any time, and that you need to be ready.
If you are already a believer in Jesus, this means continuing to live for Him in every area of your life.
If you are not yet a believer in Jesus, this means getting right with Him today. And you can do that right now, because I’m going to say a prayer that you can say along with me in your heart to get that going.
If you want to leave here today knowing that you’re ready to meet Christ whether He comes during your lifetime or you pass away, then I want to invite you to pray this along with me.
(Pray)
We: Folks, as we leave today, my hope is that you will leave here with a sense of anticipation that Christ could come at any moment.
And I hope that it fills you with joy because you’re prepared to meet Him no matter when He returns.
And I hope that others will see you and see that joyful hope and want it for themselves.
And if they do want it, I hope you can help them find Jesus for themselves so they can be ready to meet Him also.
Let’s pray.
