“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
“‘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.’
“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.
“Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
“But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
Matthew 25 contains three parables, and they all have the same meaning: The Lord may return at any moment: make sure you are ready if He comes today!
My plan for these three parables is to take them one at a time, along with the parallel passages from Luke for the second two and then give a more detailed explanation at the end, rather than repeating it three times.
Here we go with the simple part:
There were ten virgins waiting for the bridegroom to arrive; five had oil for their lamps and five did not, which is to say that half were ready for his coming and half were not prepared for it. When the bridegroom came the five who were ready were able to find their way to the banquet while the other five had to rush off in search of lamp oil. When they finally arrived at the banquet the doors were closed and they were left out: A wonderful day for the first five, but a sad coming for those who were unprepared, for they were left on the outside looking in.
The bridegroom is Jesus, the virgins were His bride, the Church. Five followed Jesus and let the Holy Spirit grow withing them and shine through them into a dark world. The other five neglected their faith and their relationship with God, and when the Great Day arrived, they were not ready to go into the wedding banquet, which is the Culmination of the Church at His Coming.
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