The "second Coming" Of Our Lord

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The prophecy of the Second Coming of Jesus is often either misunderstood by Christians themselves, or, the object of derision and ridicule among non-Christians. And yet, it is one of the most important doctrines of the Bible. By tradition, advent is the season in which both the Old Testament prophecies concerning the birth of Jesus, which have been fulfilled, and the promise that Jesus made in John 14:3, “I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also”, are given special attention by Christians.

The metaphorical allegory (i.e. “parable”) of the Ten Virgins, found in Matthew 25:1-13, is an excellent illustrative example of Christ’s teaching regarding his future return. As is the case for all Christ’s parables, it is metaphorical in nature. In the metaphors as used by Jesus, commonly understood situations are referenced to help the listener gain an understanding of a transcendent truth that otherwise, without the help of metaphor in an allegorical context, could not be grasped. The Holy Spirit helps the hearer “bridge the gap” between metaphor and the transcendent concept to which it points. Let us consider the parable of the Ten Virgins, a metaphorical allegory pointing to the second coming of our Lord.

As the story opens, we see at first the similarities of the persons involved in the story. Notice that each of the ten all young women who had been invited to a wedding celebration had lamps, and all went out to meet the bride-groom, which was a familiar and customary tradition in those days. These young women were "bridesmaids” so to speak. Their job was to attend to the bride and keep her company until the bridegroom arrived.

Now part of the tradition is that this waiting for the bridegroom was a festive game in which everyone knew that the bridegroom would try to surprise the wedding party and catch them off guard. The bridegroom kept the time of his arrival secret, and would try to arrive at an unexpected time. The wedding party of bride and her guests joined in the game by being on the lookout for groom’s arrival, hoping to catch him coming into the feast.

Here are ten bridesmaids. They all looked alike. Each had a lamp. Each dressed in the garment of a bridesmaid. Each claimed to have been invited. Each acted like the others. They all had the same purpose. None suspected that there was anything different or wrong with any of the others. But there was. There was a flaw in five of them that would, as the story progresses, be revealed. Five of them had neglected to put oil in their lamps.

There are several important meanings that we can draw from this parable. First, while the difference in these persons, the bridesmaids, could not at first be detected, in time it was discovered that five of them were unprepared for the return of the groom, and this is a reminder for us today that the visible church shares a similar problem? Some church members are prepared meet the Lord when He returns, others are not. All Christian church members identify themselves as being followers of Christ, and they all look pretty much the same outwardly. They all claim to be going to heaven. They all claim to be outwardly working for God. But, many of them are not really what they claim to be. And, many “Christians” are not what they themselves think they are. Like the five foolishly unprepared bridesmaids in the parable, many persons today, even though they have been invited to the feast celebrating the marriage of Christ to His bride the church, are not prepared. (Another similar parable, if you are interested, may be found in Matthew 22:1-14, the parable of the unsuitably attired wedding guest.)

Persons may attend church, engage in religious rituals, recite creeds and so on, yet not has Christ in their heart. If one’s religion is superficial it is counterfeit, and that person will not be prepared to meet the “bridegroom”, Jesus Christ, when he returns for this “bride”, church. There is a true and yet invisible church comprised of all those who have Christ in their hearts; and, there is a “visible” church comprised of all those persons who identify themselves as Christians, some of whom are and others who are counterfeit. By “true” or “invisible” church I mean all those of every branch and denomination of the visible church who truly are inwardly one with Christ, and, perhaps even those who have not yet heard the Gospel but in whom the Holy Spirit has begun to work. It is not for us to judge and single out the true from the untrue. That will be done when the Lord returns (see Matthew 13:30).