Matthew 25: 1 – 13
Who are you?
25 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. 6 “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ 7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. 11 “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ 12 But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
The scariest words I have ever heard is from this Gospel in chapter 7. “21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”
Stop and think about this statement from our Lord. Can you feel and understand the shock when you come into the very presence of our Holy Lord, Savior, Master, King and God Jesus Christ and you hear Him say, ‘Who are you?’
You live your whole life thinking that you are El Shaddai’s son or daughter and He tells you that he does not know you. There is nothing to say. Your whole eternity flashes before your face as a waste of your life. It does not get any scarier than that.
Today we are going to see this fact describe to us by our Lord Jesus Christ in a Parable.
Another emphasis on the fact that all must be ready for His second coming is found in this next parable. It is the parable of ten maidens who were to go out to meet the bridegroom in accordance with custom, to welcome him with their well-lit, oil-soaked torches, to escort him to the banqueting hall where the wedding would take place. These torches would consist of sticks with rags attached at the end which were soaked in oil before they were lit. When lit they would then burn brightly while the oil lasted. But five foolishly ignored the fact that the oil might evaporate and took no spare oil with them. They thought that what they had in their torches was enough. Thus, when after some delay the call came that the Bridegroom was coming they were unable to keep their torches alight because there was too little oil left in them. The oil was drying out. And they had no surplus oil with which to renew them. Only the five who were ready and had brought vessels of oil with which to renew their torches, could thus keep their torches burning brightly. They went happily in with the Bridegroom into the wedding feast, able to fulfil their duties. The foolish were left outside, trying to find somewhere where they could buy oil, and when at length they arrived at the building where the wedding was taking place (we are not told whether they had obtained oil or not) they were refused admittance. They knocked and pleaded but it did them no good. The Bridegroom would not acknowledge them. For the whole main point of the parable is that they should have been watching and prepared. If they had loved Him they would have been ready. By not being ready they had proved themselves as not being the Bridegroom’s true friends, (they were not ‘watching’), and as not being fit to share in the wedding celebrations.
The identity of the Bridegroom is clear from previous parabolic material. The Bridegroom Is The Lord Jesus, and in the latter case the King’s Son. The maidens clearly represent all who should be watching and ready for His coming. The lives of those who are His are to be like a shining light. That is what identifies them. The oil is whatever is needed to provide that light. This may therefore indicate the special blessing of continuing true faith, and/or the drenching in and renewal of the Holy Spirit (3.11). It is to be recognized as whatever is seen as required to keep the torch burning brightly.
25 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
The parable is therefore giving a picture of the outworking of the Kingdom of Heaven in this life, as it describes some who are under that Rule of Heaven, and then leads on to the final consequences in the continuation of the Rule of Heaven in the next life. The wise maidens have entered under the Kingly Rule of Heaven, for they possess the essential light-giving qualities. They have been blessed by God. They have received the divine benefits. Their lives have all the constituents that enable them to shine. But the foolish have not, as is evidenced by the fact that they do not have those qualities. They have not received the divine benefits. They have not been recipients of God’s blessing. They have made do with second best. What they have is dried out and old, and useless for providing light. Thus, the wise will enter the eternal kingdom, for they will eat at His table. The foolish will have no place in it.
The number ten is a number that indicates a complete whole. We may see these virgins either as representing the whole world, for in the end all are called on to look for His coming and to welcome Him, or it may be indicating all who make a profession of being His.
2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
The point is that whether they will be those who are truly prepared when the Lord comes, or whether they will be those who are just carelessly assuming that everything will be all right, only to discover at the last that it is not. They will discover that they lack the vital ingredient that makes all the difference, the oil of true spirituality which reveals itself in giving true spiritual light.
In these verses we have laid out before us the basically important question in life. In what does true wisdom consist? And the answer given is that true wisdom lies in possessing the God-provided oil so that the torch may shine out (5.16).
5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
But there was a delay in the Bridegroom’s coming, just as there had been delay in the return of the Master (24.48). Thus, Jesus’ teaching concerning His coming has built into it the idea of unexpected delay. He wants all to know that it will not necessarily come as soon as expected. And the result was that inevitably all fell asleep, and then continued to slumber. There was nothing sinful in that. We all have to sleep. Indeed as long as they were ready and ‘watching’ it was a wise move. The folly lay in not making full preparations before going to sleep.
6 “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’
And then while they slept the moment that they had been awaiting arrived. In the middle of the night. The cry went out, ‘the Bridegroom is coming! Come out and meet Him’. None had known when He would come, and the middle of the night was an unusual hour. He had come at a time when they did not expect. And that was when their readiness would be tested.
7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.
They did all that was necessary for them to shine out. This was when readiness was vital. If they were not properly prepared their torches would not shine out, because something would be missing. And that was when the foolish recognized that they had no further supplies of oil. We should recognize here that they had failed the Bridegroom. They were to be an essential part of the procession, and then of the dancing. But because of their foolishness they were of no use for the task. The vital element was missing, well lit torches. They could not play their part in the celebration, and all because of their own folly in not being ready.
Strictly the picture is of those who would expect to be ready to meet the Bridegroom. If we take it in that way it represents those who had some knowledge of the Bridegroom and wanted to welcome Him, and yet had failed to make the necessary preparations. Outwardly they professed to be His friends. But underneath they were not. Yet we cannot just tie it down to those who profess to be Christians. For the Bridegroom ALL should be ready to meet Him. Thus, in the end the folly is of all who are not ready for His coming. As in all parables, each can apply it to their own case.
8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
The foolish suddenly realized that they had failed to provide extra oil for themselves. They thus knew that they had nothing suitable with which to welcome the Bridegroom, for without further oil the drying out torches would not continue to burn. Their torches were already ‘going out’. The oil simply refers to the divine provision that they had failed to obtain, and which therefore resulted in their lives not shining out. They had been content with the old oil which was drying out. They had not responded to the word of God (15.3, 6), they had not been open to the work of the Holy Spirit (3.11), they had not put their real trust in the Lord, they had not benefited from the blessing of God. Note these things all go together. Had they responded truly to Him their lives would also have shone out, for they would have enjoyed all these blessings. It would have been inevitable.
9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’
The wise knew that they could not help them. They had only brought with them sufficient for their own needs. They had none to spare. And they dared not take the risk of spoiling the wedding. Everyone was depending on them. Similarly, those who are His can be sure that they will receive total sufficiency for all that they need. But they will need it all if their torch is to continue to burn brightly. So all that these virgins could do quite genuinely was point their fellow-virgins to the oil-vendors. The foolish had previously failed to come to God and buy what was without money and without price (Isaiah 55.1). Sadly, they would now find that it was too late to obtain what they needed.
10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.
For while the foolish went off to seek what was needed the Bridegroom came. Those who were ready went out with their brightly shining torches, to welcome him, and they all went into the wedding feast. And then the door was shut! The time of opportunity had passed.
‘The door was shut.’ The point is made quite clearly. There will come a point in history when the Lord comes, and at that point all further opportunities for salvation will cease. Those who are prepared because they have what gives light will enter into the presence of God with Him and enjoy the marriage feast with Him. And for all others their last opportunity will have gone, and that will include many who thought that they were ready, but will suddenly discover that they have no oil. It was true that they were properly dressed. It was true that they had their torches. It was true that they gave every appearance of being ready. But they were not. Their dimly lighted wick was going out, for they had insufficient oil. Their torches could not shine and thus they would not be received. It is a salutary thought that the One Who did not quench the dimly burning wick (12.20) can now be of no help. For they have left it too late. How often He had come to them and sought to resuscitate them, but they had refused. They had been satisfied with how they were. And now the Bridegroom was unavailable, and they had to look elsewhere. And there was nowhere else.
There are many unwise people who argue about whether you can accept Jesus as Saviour and not as Lord. But that is something you cannot do. It is irrational. Receiving Jesus is a personal experience. If you accept Jesus you accept Him for what He is, both Saviour and Lord. How that works out is a different question, and it may take time before the realisation of what has happened can sink in. But the warning here is to beware lest you are found to have no oil, no true work of God within (Philippians 2.13). For if you have oil your torches will shine out. God’s light will shine through your life. But if you have no oil clever theology will not help at all.
11 “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’
Having either purchased oil of a kind, or having been unable to obtain any (it really made no difference), the remaining maidens came running desperately to the door and discovered that it was shut against them. And they hammered on the door and cried out in despair, ‘Lord, Lord open to us.’ We can compare these words, and the double repetition of ‘Lord’, with what Jesus said in 7.21-22. There too there were some who had thought that they were ready, but then discovered that they were not. For only those will enter who had done the will of their Father (7.21), those whose lamp shines out because they have been truly blessed by God. For it was this blessing of God at work within them that would result in their doing the will of the Father.
12 But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’
The reply of the Bridegroom came back firm and strong, ‘Truly I do not know you!’ and note there that He had never known them. This is not a case of the saved being lost, it is a case of people who have wrong ideas and so do not take the trouble to be properly prepared. They are not His elect (24.31) and have never been so. For had they been so they would have had oil, and their lamps would have burned brightly. They would have been blessed by God in a life-transforming (5.16), mind-enlightening (11.25) way; they would have received the Holy Spirit (3.11); they would have looked to Him in faith and trust (John 10.26-28). But they had not. Thus when it counted most they found that He did not recognize them. The lesson is clear. If your torch does not shine out brightly you are in danger of hearing Him say, ‘I do not know you’.
13 “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
And then Jesus applies the main lesson of the Parable. All must watch in full preparedness so that they will be ready for His coming, for they do not know the day or the hour when He will come. And watching does not just mean ‘looking out’, it involves being ready and fully prepared.
