(i)
We
must be prepared to receive Him when He comes. This is shown in the parable of
the ten virgins (25:1-13).
(ii)
We
must be ready to give account of ourselves to Christ, when He comes. This is
shown in the parable of three servants that have been given responsibility to
take care of his property (25:14-30).
(iii)
We
will receive an announcement of our final destiny. This is shown in the description of the process of the last
judgment (25:31-46)
We will take our time to consider each of these separately.
In this sermon we will deal with the parable of the 10 virgins (Matthew 25:1-13)
This parable speaks
specifically to those that assume that
they will inherit the kingdom of heaven. It speaks to all those that profess to be members
of the church, Christians. In that regard Jesus uses the picture of a wedding
party, and now specifically the picture of 10 virgins, concerning which He
makes a distinction between 5 foolish and 5 wise virgins.
In this parable Jesus speaks
of 10 virgins- unmarried girls- that are
anticipating the coming of the
bridegroom, whom they would
escort to his bride. Hebrew weddings could take days. Somewhere at the beginning of the wedding
feast, in the evening, the bridegroom, accompanied by his entourage would go to
fetch his betrothed from her father’s house. A procession was formed under the
direction of one of the bridegroom’s friends. He would be the master of
ceremonies and he would remain by the bridegroom’s side throughout the wedding
ritual. On this occasion 10 young, unmarried women formed a part of the
bridegroom’s wedding procession at night, and for this purpose they carried their
lamps. These oil lamps naturally needed to be replenished from time to time. The bridegroom, we are told, took his time in
coming (25:5).
Keep in mind now that Jesus is applying this parable to
Himself. He is the heavenly bridegroom of the church. This is not the first
time He has used this designation for Himself.[1]
And He was speaking to His hearers in
familiar pictures. And if they were
alert (as parables require us to be), His hearers would have understood that He
was making a connection between God (the bridegroom/ husband) and Israel (the
bride/wife) of God[2] and Himself. God considered Himself to be in a covenant relationship
(Hebr. berit) with
Israel. Jesus in identifying Himself as
the bridegroom of God’s people makes
therefore a direct connection between Himself and God!
Returning to the parable of the 10 virgins we read:
25:2-4 “Five
of them were foolish and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps,
they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps“. Five of them were described as foolish
because they took no extra oil with them. Five wise girls were thinking ahead. They made
sure that they had adequate oil supplies, just in case the bridegroom was
delayed. The point of having these lamps was to provide light for the way
ahead to the bride’s house. By the way,
remember that Christians are children of light. The gospel is light, and they
who receive it must not only be enlightened by it themselves, but must shine as
lights, in this dark world (Phil.
2:15,16).
25:5 “As
the bridegroom was delayed they all became drowsy and slept“. Here is the
problem for all the 10 girls. The bridegroom was delayed. This theme is picked up from 24:48. The wicked servant says to
himself, “My master is delayed”, and
because of this he grew careless and acted foolish. Jesus knew that His delayed return (that is
how it always feels for every generation) would become a problem for the early
Christians, and for every generation throughout
the history of the church.
So, we find that all the girls get sleepy. Not even
the wise girls stayed awake. Let’s face
it. Staying awake after a long day is hard. This also happened to the disciples
in the garden of Gethsemane when they are called to watch and pray in the hour
of Christ’s greatest temptation and trial. They all fall asleep (Matt.26:40,43).
Now remember again that this parable is spoken specifically to
remind the church, that with respect to the 2nd coming of Christ we
need to be expectant, watchful and alert to the Lord’s coming. Remember that His
return will be sudden and unexpected! Now
there is a great temptation in waiting. Our zeal for the things of God
diminishes after a time. The ordinariness of daily Christian routines and the
lack of spiritual zeal of those around us make us tired. There is a certain tediousness attached to
being a Christian, and this is a common temptation and we all can fall into it.
We become less vigilant and expectant, and
although all love is not necessarily lost, yet the first love is often absent (Rev. 2:4). There is of course no sin in sleep itself. We
all need it. The fact that Christ’s disciples fell asleep, while they should
have watched and prayed, in order not to fall into temptation, was certainly
not good, but this did not make them non-Christians.
The point is this - are we prepared for Christ’s coming, even
in our sleep? You know that we can be asleep and yet be expectant. I thought
about this. You have a teenager who goes
out at night to visit with their friends. In the meantime your light goes out
at about 10 pm, while they think nothing of visiting into the small hours of
the morning. So, you go to sleep, but in
your heart you are awake. You wait for that key to turn and for that door to
open. That’s the difference between those who are asleep and waiting, and those
who are asleep and who are fast asleep! Preparedness is ultimately the real issue.
Are these girls ready when the bridegroom comes? Let’s see …
25:6&7 “But
at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet Him.’
Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps”. So, they all got up to meet the
bridegroom, but the difference begins to show. 5 of the girls did not have enough oil. They
did not plan. They did not think, or anticipate
what might happen if the bridegroom comes late, and so they asked the wise girls:
25:8-9 “Give
us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out“. But there was clearly
not enough oil to sustain them all, and so the wise girls answered them, “Since there will not be enough for us and
for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves …”. This was not
selfishness. This was wisdom speaking. The
point is that if the wise girls would share the oil with the foolish ones, all
the lamps would go out at some stage of the journey to the bride’s home. Now, remember that Jesus did not intend this to be a lesson on
sacrificial sharing! The lesson of this parable is that we cannot ultimately
rely on one another’s preparedness. You
cannot get to heaven on the back of the faith of your father, mother, brother
or sister or friend! In this regard you
must enter by the narrow gate yourself! (Matt 7:13,14). We will see this clearly in conclusion.
25:10 ”And
while they were going to buy, the
bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with Him to the
marriage feast, and the door was shut.” The bridegroom returns while the five foolish
girls are shopping for oil. In the
meantime the wedding party goes to marriage feast, “and the door was shut!” Too late for latecomers! Jesus is making a weighty point here. If you
are unprepared at Christ’s coming, though you may try all you can to secure
entrance at that time, you will be excluded from the wedding feast. Being a member of the bridal party, being a baptised
member of the church at this stage does not count. The question is this, ”Is
your heart prepared? Are you prepared to go with the bridegroom when He comes?”
Now listen to these next words of the parable, and see
whether you can relate them to another similar passage in the gospel of Matthew:
25: 11,12:
“Afterward the other (five) virgins came also, saying ‘Lord, Lord open to us’. But He answered, ’Truly, I say to
you, I do not know you.’”
These words recall the chilling words of Matthew 7:22-23. This does not literally mean that Jesus does not know them. He knows everyone, for He has created all people (Jn. 1:3,4). But it does mean that He does not know them as His own (i.e. His sheep Matt. 25:32ff; Jn. 10:1-18). And, think about this carefully! The foolish girls did not think of the bridegroom as their own either! They had such little anticipation in their heart about His return, and the wedding feast, that their most basic preparations (such as having sufficient oil) was lacking. They were “hangers on “– their heart wasn’t in it, and it is a shock to them when they suddenly discover themselves to be excluded from the wedding feast. ‘Lord, Lord open to us’.
God has something to say to such
people on that day!
Those who cry out on that day of His coming … “Lord, Lord …”, but who had never made
sure that they were truly prepared in their soul for His coming, will not be allowed into God’s
eternal kingdom. They will be
excluded. And so Jesus makes the simple
and striking appeal again…
25:13 “Watch
therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
The lesson is plain and simple: A true follower of Christ
must watch and be prepared for His
coming. And when He comes we must not have divided hearts like Lot’s wife. We must
not first want to go do this and that. We must go with Him, …then!
In this parable Jesus warns nominal, distracted, unprepared,
disinterested Christianity and church members. Christianity is not a cultural
affair. It is not a casual attachment to
religion. It is not an insurance policy. Biblical Christianity is a state of
being – a state of preparedness. Christ is our Saviour and Lord. That means
that I must continue to grow in my love
for Him. Continue to serve Him. Continue
to obey Him. Continue in fruitful service to Christ. Don’t stop. Don’t
backslide. Don’t get distracted. Don’t lose heart. Prepare your soul. Be constantly ready. Always be ready to face
Christ. It is not enough to be a mere member of the church. You must be a prepared
and ready lover of the bridegroom.
Remember that the narrow gate is open now.
Then it will be shut and bolted, and a great gulf will be fixed. This will be like the shutting of the door of the ark after Noah had entered. When he was in he was safe. Those outside the ark perished.
Flee to Christ, NOW!
[1] See Matt. 9:15, Mk. 2:18,19; Lk. 5:34,35 ; Jn. 3:27-30 ; 2 Cor. 11:2 ;
Eph. 5:25-27 ; Rev. 19:7-10 , 21:2, 22:17..
[2]
There are a couple of references in the OT scripture in which God is called a bridegroom (e.g. Isa.
54:4-5; 62:5 ; Jer. 2:2; Ezek. 16:7-34 ; Hos. 1-3) and Israel His
bride. Ps 45 is a wedding Psalm, and it has messianic
overtones
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