THE PARABLES OF OUR LORD

THE PARABLE OF THE TEN VIRGINS

The parables of our Lord are beautiful stories of truths revealed to those who truly want to know the Lord. Many are filled with mysteries that neither the natural man nor the carnal man can comprehend or enjoy.
To the hungry soul a parable would be compared to the most exquisite meal or the most fascinating trip one could take.
Matthew 25 gives us three parables. They cover three divisions of the human race: the Jews, the Gentiles and the Church.
In this message we will look at the Parable of the Ten Virgins. Over the years many theologians have related this to the Church, but it actually is a parable which relate to the Jewish nation.
Matthew 25:1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
9 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.
10 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.
11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

Many people read this parable and they see ten virgins and say, “Ok these ten virgins represent those who have kept themselves from the wicked ways of the world. Therefore they must be believers. Then they really get confused. They noticed that only five of them go to heaven and five do not. So what is the true meaning of this story?

THE NATION OF ISRAEL: PARABLES OF THE VIRGINS
A – THE MARRIAGE CALL
Matthew 25:1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
“The kingdom of heaven…” You must recall that the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven represent two different places. All people in the kingdom of God are birth into that kingdom by the Holy Spirit and all in that kingdom are eternally saved.
“The kingdom of heaven” is composed of all of Christendom, saved and lost. Only Matthew talks about the kingdom of heaven and his gospel is written to the Jews in hope of converting them to Christ.

“Ten virgins” -- The Church was characterized by two or three meeting together (Matt 18:20) whereas, the Church is called the “bride of Christ.”
The scene here pictures Israel, immediately following the rapture making their decision to accept the Lord.
“Ten” is the number of testimony and testing.
The Ten virgins represent Israel for in the tribulation they will be tested for their testimony.
To properly interpret this passage your focus must be on Israel even though you can draw a very interesting comparison to the Church.
-The time of Israel ran from Abraham to Nebuchadnezzar.
-The time of the Gentile will run from Nebuchadnezzar to the revelation.
-The Church Age runs from Pentecost to the rapture.
-Then God will introduce Israel again in the Millennial Kingdom.
-These ten virgins are friends of the bridegroom that go forth to meet the bridegroom. They are not to marry the bridegroom.

“…which took their lamps;;;”
Psalms 119:105, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
God’s Word is like a beautiful lamp. It is magnificent in every way.
It is historically and prophetically amazing.
It is poetically and doctrinally beautifully.
But, to know the word without having the oil (Holy Spirit) that gives forth light is to be but a beautiful vessel with no light, yea still lost.

“…and went forth to meet the bridegroom.”
Let’s talk about the Heavenly Groom and the Holy Ghost.
1 – The Heavenly Groom v 1
In Bible times a bridegroom would return to his bride’s house, after he had betrothed her and gone away to build his house.
As they left for their life together, along the way various friends would join the procession and then they would all go to the wedding feast.
The call now is for Israel to join the procession of Christ and His Bride.
They will have seven years to make up their mind during the tribulation period, the time of testing.
So when Israel learns that the Messiah has come and redeemed His Church, His Bride, millions upon millions will accept Christ as Savior.
Romans 11:11 “…salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them (the Jews) to jealousy.”

2 – The Holy Ghost v 2-4
Think; we have ten virgins that are in many ways alike. They have lamps; they all set out to meet the Bridegroom; they all fall asleep.
Outwardly all ten virgins are the same. You can’t tell one from the other.
But the Lord says, (2) And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
It is simple to see the fact that five took oil with them. The oil is a picture of God’s Spirit. Oil keeps a car running cool. Without oil the engine will lock up and quit. Outwardly these ten virgins looked the same, but inwardly they were different.
The lamp represents that each had the word of God and evidently knew that it was necessarily to use it to as a guide in a dark world.
Oil in the lamp fuels the wick or life of the believer that shows forth God’s light in this dark world and displays the fruit of the Spirit.
(This truth is true for the Church today and for Israel yet in the future).
Listen: The reason many vessels have not God’s fruit is because they have not God’s spirit.
So, 1 – Five of the virgins neglected salvation (2-4).
2 –But, all ten of the virgins neglect God’s son (5).
5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
The reason many preachers put the Church in this passage is because the Church historically fell asleep and even today most people in the Church, though saved are asleep spiritually. What I mean by that is they are spiritually unconcern about the things of God. Thank God for the Wednesday night prayer crowd and the Sunday night faithfuls.
Paul cried in Ephesians 5: 14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
Just like today, because it has been nearly 2,000 years since our Lord left, many just don’t really believe He could come back today, so they eat, drink and live for now. Yet, this passage even pictures the same attitude of these ten virgins during the seven year tribulation.

Let me give you a picture of the historical asleep church:
The first three to five hundred years after Calvary, the Church was awake and alive for Jesus Christ.
-They longed for and looked for His return.
-Then The State-Church took over. The conviction of the Holy Spirit gave way to the command of the State-Church.
-Within a few hundred years the Dark Ages began.
-It was a time the Church began to slumber and sleep.
-The organized wealthy state church began to pervert the Scriptures.
-They kept the original Scriptures from the common man.
-They told the common man that they could not understand them.
Heresies began to be preached.
-By the twelfth century they changed worship to a Mass.
-They taught that the elements of communion literally became the body and blood of Christ.
-They taught man could not know for sure that he would go to heaven but had to go to purgatory until his family paid the church for masses and prayers till their sins could be forgiven.
That brought to pass what we call the “Dark Ages.”
Stop! Now there has always been the true blood washed church.
We learned of Peter Waldo and the Waldensians that stood true in the eleventh-twelfth century. They hand printed the gospels of John and gave them out around France. They were condemned and put to death by the State Church.

Then there was John Wycliffe, an Oxford professor, scholar, and theologian. He was the first to hand-write in the English language the entire New Testament . They were produced in 1380 AD. He died 1384.
Wycliffe was well-known throughout Europe for his opposition to the teaching of the organized Church, which he believed to be contrary to the Bible. With the help of his followers, called the Lollards and many other faithful scribes he produced many English copies of the scriptures.
The Pope was so infuriated by his teachings and his translation of the Bible into English, that 44 years after Wycliffe had died, he ordered his bones to be dug-up, crushed, and scattered in the river Swiff!

One of Wycliffe’s followers, John Hus, actively promoted Wycliffe’s ideas: that people should be permitted to read the Bible in their own language, and they should oppose the tyranny of the Roman church that threatened death to anyone possessing a non-Latin Bible.
John Hus was captured by the Papacy and was burned at the stake in 1415, with Wycliffe’s manuscript Bibles used as kindling for the fire.
The last words of John Hus were that, “in 100 years, God will raise up a man whose calls for reform cannot be suppressed.”

Almost exactly 100 years later, in 1517, Martin Luther nailed his famous 95 Theses of Contention on the church door at Wittenberg.
As Martin Luther studied the Bible he listed 95 heretical theological errors of the Roman Catholic Church, which was sending people to hell. The prophecy of Hus came true.
Yet the persecutions and dark ages continued. Men and women were strangled, tortured, burned and drown for not agreeing with the state-church. Their bodies were put on racks and stretched till their arms and legs were pulled out of join and they died from eternal bleeding.
And I could tell you more horrible stories, but you get the picture.
True Christianity does not kill someone because someone does not believe as we do. We witness to them. We plead with them. We love them. But, we don’t kill them.

6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
This passage actually deals with Israel waiting the coming of the Lord in what we call “The Revelation” not the rapture but there is a very good application here to the Church.

There was no preaching on the Lord’s second coming during the dark ages when the church slumber and slept.
But, our Lord tells us in the last days, at the midnight hour the cry will come again – Get Ready! Prepare! Behold the bridegroom cometh!
Men like John Wycliff and John Huss got the word into the hands of the common man.
Then came Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox and others that began the reformation.
But, not till the 1800’s did the preachers begin to preach of the second coming beginning with men like J.M Darby.
David Livingston took it to Africa.
Adorinam Judson took the message to Asia.
Dwight L. Moody took the message to America.
Hudson Taylor took the message to China
Charles Spurgeon took the message to England.

The Truth today is this: The Lord is coming and tens of thousands of preachers are preaching the Lord is coming all over the world.
I believe we are living in the last days prior to the coming of the Lord.

Look at some of the proofs of the Lord’s coming:
1-The fulfillment of the prophecy of Matthew 24 of Israel becoming nation took place in 1948.
2-The prophecy of the Jews going back into their land has been going on for over fifty years.
3-Daniel’s (Dan 12:4) prophecy of knowledge increasing began at the turn of the 1900’s. Man has invented more things in the past 100 years that man invented the first 5900 years.
4-Wars and rumor of wars have begun. Up till the 20th century you did not have nations against nations but with WWI and WWII we did.
5- Famine and pestilence is on a worldwide scale and it is only the shadow of things to come. Philosophies are everywhere.

A - We saw a “MARRIAGE CALL…”
B - THE MIDNIGHT CRY 6-10
6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
1 – The Guests are aroused 6-9
At Midnight something happens to awake the nation of Israel. Exactly what we are not told, but suddenly it is clear that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and Savior of the world.
It is clear that there is only a short time to hurry and meet the Lord.
Note this: To believe the Lord is coming back is not the same as being God’s child. 7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
9 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.
Understand a truth here:
-You can’t go to heaven because you are a member of the Church.
-You don’t go to heaven because you are an Israelite.
-You don’t go to heaven because you are good or the best in your class.
-And you don’t go to heaven on another person’s religion.
Ill. I’ve heard people talk about how mama and daddy worshipped and how grandpa and grandma believed and that is good.
But every person must answer this question:
“Do you go to church on Sunday’s for mama and papa or for Jesus Christ?”
“Do you do what you do because you don’t want to disgrace mom and dad or grandpa and grandma or does the spirit of God actually live in you?
And if God’s spirit lives in you, is the light of God evident in your life?


2 – The Groom Arrives v 10
10 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.
The foolish virgins and foolish church members not only miss the rapture, but they miss the reception as well.
Learn this and warn people: One of the greatest deceptions of Satan is procrastination. He says over and over, just wait one more day to get saved. And he says to the believer wait another day to get dedicated.
A - We saw THE “MARRIAGE CALL 1-5
B – We saw THE MIDNIGHT CRY 6-10
C –Now, we see THE MISTAKEN CLAIM 11-13
11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
In verses 11-12 the five foolish virgins make an appeal.
They have the language of the believer (Lord, Lord), but they don’t have the life of a believer.
They find themselves on the wrong side of the door.
They are rejected by the Lord whom they seem to be so sincerely seeking because they waited to long.

D – Lastly, we see THE MASTER’S CAUTION
13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
If you think the power of Satan to make people procrastinate is powerful today, wait until the Tribulation period when the world is dominated by this Satan.
The midnight hour is closer than ever yet, so many are asleep, so in the tribulation many will even slumber and sleep then.
The talk of Israel will be “The Rapture”, “Kingdom Truth,” “The Messiah has come” and “He is coming again with in seven years.” And yet many will neglect the all-important step of accepting Christ personally as Savior and Lord.
Just like in Noah’s day, though the Ark was there, no body repented.
Just like in Lot’s day, though the signs were there, no body repented.
Even today, with the signs of the times so evident, yet the many in the Church sleep to prayer, to seeking God, to witnessing, to worship and many sleep to salvation, thinking, another day another time.
I say as Jesus said, “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”