Matthew 25:1-13
Jesus has just completed giving a detailed explanation of ‘when’ and ‘what’ will be the signs of His coming…something we have looked at for the past three weeks… emphasizing the need to be ready because:
You do not know which day your Lord is coming [24:42]
Jesus gives two additional parables…one that focuses on the importance of being ready at His return…and the consequences for those who are not…and the other stressing the importance of being good managers of what God has loaned you.
Matthew records eight parables Jesus gives during Passion Week…each parable is focusing on what a life of faith as Jesus’ disciple looks like…this particular parable is vigilance.
1 At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
9 “‘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.’
10 “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.
11 “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’ 12 “But He replied, ‘I don’t know you.’
13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
There’s no mention of what is required for eternal life…these parables assume you are already a believer…in these two parables Jesus is defining:
- the expectations on how we are to live our life while on earth
- the blessing associated when we do.
Something I said last week…the mystery is not understanding what Scripture says about Jesus’ second coming…that is clearly laid out…the mystery is how people can lackadaisically go through life not even considering the events that will one day take place…and even worse…that at Jesus’ coming there will be a day of reckoning for every person who has ever lived.
A time when every person will be called to give account for their decisions and their actions.
So in this parable…which return is Jesus referring to…is it His return for the rapture of the Church, or is it His return to set up the Millennial Kingdom at the end of the Tribulation?
Theologians have debated this for years… but it’s really irrelevant…because regardless of which return it is, the lessons to be learned are applicable to both.
So Jesus tells the Parable of the Ten Virgins…a setting His listeners would all be familiar with…it was a custom among the Jews for the bride and her bridesmaids to wait at the bride’s home for the groom to arrive.
The bridegroom would leave his house at night with some close friends to go to the bride’s home where her bridesmaids were attending her.
When the bridegroom approached an announcement would be made and the maidens would go out with lamps to light his way to the house for the celebration.
There are several things we need to consider before we attempt to interpret this parable.
We need to set aside our modern-day assumptions about weddings…bridesmaids and lamps.
The word used here for ‘lamp’ is not the normal term for ‘lamp…the lamp here is more of a torch…a larger…brighter lamp than what was used inside a house.
This kind of lamp could be fixed to a pole and used as an outdoor torch to illuminate your way as you walked at night…there was no attached tank in which oil would be stored…lamps were transported without oil in them…Scripture says they took oil in jars along with their lamps.
There is a mis-conception that five of the virgins ran out of oil…oil was carried in flasks and added to the lamps when needed…the wise virgins carried flasks filled with oil…Scripture clearly indicates… The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them [3].
SO, for some reason, the groom was running late, and the bridesmaids fell asleep… their sleepiness is not the problem since both wise and foolish both become drowsy.
The bridegroom is delayed…in reality a groom’s delay was not altogether that uncommon…for instance, there could be last minute negotiations between the groom and the bride’s relatives over the gifts exchanged…the text does not bother to explain the delay…who cares…the reason for the delay is not the bridesmaids’ concern.
BUT…when it was announced at midnight that the groom was on his way, it caught the bridesmaids unaware…they all lit their lamps but the foolish virgins quickly discovered that without any oil they would not be able to keep their lamps burning.
The foolish virgins claimed that their lamps were ‘going out’ [8] but the reality is…they had no oil…they simply were burning any residue oil that was left on the wick…that quickly burned out moments after being lit…probably the reason they all went out at the same time.
So, they asked the more prudent bridesmaids to borrow some of their oil…and were immediately denied any.
The overall intent of the parable is that like the groom…Christ will return at an unknown hour and they need to be ready…emphasizing Jesus’ warning [24:14]
Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.
The wise maids’ suggestion to those out of oil was to go and buy more oil…the text says it’s midnight [6] …that sounds a little ridiculous…where would the maids buy oil in the middle of the night?
As foolish as that sounds…that detail is important…Scripture doesn’t reveal that they found a place to buy more oil…it says they went out to make the purchase [10] and later they came back [11].
Here’s the key…when the foolish maids were away attempting to buy oil that they should have already had…the groom arrived…the procession occurred without the foolish bridesmaids, and the banquet began.
When they returned, ready for the processional…it was over…they knocked on the door of the house, but their entrance to the wedding banquet was denied by the groom. They missed the grand procession.
The KEY difference between the five wise virgins and the five foolish virgins is not the lack of oil…it’s a lack of salvation.
It’s not as some people think…that the five foolish virgins were once saved and then ran out of salvation…they never were saved.
The five foolish virgins represent the unsaved…never had any oil…they were just empty lamps…they looked useful…they seemed to give a promise of light…but never produced it…the five virgins without oil represent false believers who enjoy the benefits of the Christian community without a true love for Christ.
These ladies were expressing the difference between Biblical and cultural Christianity…their hope is that their association with true believers as expressed in the phrase ‘give us some of your oil’ [8] would get them into the kingdom.
As a result, they were shut out of the banquet…the maids’ plea of ‘Lord open up for us’ [25:11] recalls Jesus’ warning that not everyone who cries ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven (7:21-23).
If you’re familiar with Christianity…or history to any degree then you’re aware that at one time being a Christian in the first century was countercultural…Christians were persecuted…to be a Christian meant you were willing to give up everything for Christ…even your life.
However, as time went on, Christianity became more acceptable…it even became comfortable to be a Christian…it was even expected…people would freely call themselves “Christian” even if they weren’t…because their family and neighbors were Christians.
But as cultural Christianity rose, biblical Christianity suffered…the lines between the two became blurred…and today it is even less defined…but clearly there is a difference between cultural Christianity and Biblical Christianity.
The five characteristics of cultural Christianity
Anyone can be a cultural Christian
If you’re familiar with the name Richard Dawkins…he was a renowned atheist who argued against the very existence of God…but on several occasions he identified himself as a ‘cultural Christian.’
“I like singing carols along with everybody else. I’m not one of those who wants to purge our society of our Christian history” …as an atheist he didn’t believe in God and wanted nothing to do with the Church…but he did realize the benefits the church provided in the community…he relished the cultural or moral benefits of Christianity without having to embrace Christ or even believe in God at all.
It’s no different today…people embracing what the church does…it’s involved in the creation of hospitals, orphanages and universities…Christians were instrumental in the development of modern science…as well as in the flourishing of the arts…. Christianity has led to social reforms…the abolition of slavery…and recognition of universal human rights.
BUT to identify as a Christian is a little too confining…it’s too inhibiting…it goes against our culture about what real freedom is…our culture thinks that to be free you have to have no restrictions…the path to freedom is to shed all authorities, all constraints and to discover yourself and then live out of that.
Cultural Christianity is Comfortable.
It’s comfortable to claim Christianity…there are no downsides socially…no one’s going to persecute you…fire you from your job…it means you can look to religion when it’s to your benefit.
Cultural Christianity is often called “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.” It’s a generic belief without having to make a commitment to Biblical truths:
—A god created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.
—God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other.
—The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
—A god who’s mostly hands-off except when needed to resolve a problem.
Nothing there that is going to have you make a commitment to any specific belief system.
Cultural Christianity is more about outward appearances.
Cultural Christianity embraces being pleasant, gathering with friendly people, enjoying the benefits of a comfortable social environment…the cultural Christian might even attend church from time to time.
Cultural Christianity produces cultural Christians…people who consider themselves Christians simply by virtue of birth or heritage…in addition to viewing faith as merely a system of morals within socially acceptable parameters.
In cultural Christianity good people go to heaven and most people are categorized as “good” …sin doesn’t figure much into the picture so it really has no impact.
Cultural Christianity picks and chooses.
When culture and Christianity clash, the cultural Christian adjusts his or her worldview accordingly…cultural Christianity focuses on passages about loving everyone…all the while ignoring passages about sin…death…and repentance.
When directives in the Bible don’t line up with what the cultural Christian wants, they rationalize their actions…as long as you’re a nice person.
Cultural Christianity dismisses the claims in the Bible of miracles and the divinity of Jesus … a cultural Christian is often willing to acknowledge Jesus as a “good man” and the books of the Old Testament as moralistic and tales rather than truth.
Cultural Christianity requires little sacrifice.
It doesn’t take much to claim the label of being a Christian…being a “nice person” doesn’t take much either…being nice and tolerant to people leads to acceptance from people…as does putting in the occasional hours of community service or donating a few dollars to a worthy cause.
On the Other Hand, Biblical Christianity is nothing less than a commitment to serving Jesus as Lord and Savior… surrendering oneself to Him for salvation and forgiveness.
Biblical Christianity requires something of believers…God becomes intimately involved in the lives of His people…as a result…He places demands on them…He requires commitment…repentance from sins…and a relationship with His followers.
He is not okay with ‘whatever’ as long as people get along…He’s more interested in a person’s eternal well-being than their temporal happiness…what defines a Christian is not how often one sets foot in a church…it’s the relationship one has with the risen Christ and God the Father.
A Biblical Christian is defined by communication with and submission to God… those who adhere to only cultural Christianity miss out on the true joy of Christianity: knowing God.
Biblical Christianity embraces the fullness of the Bible, even when it is unpopular or uncomfortable. Biblical Christianity puts the Bible first, culture second.
Being a Biblical Christian is more than believing; it means giving up everything to God…though God may require different things from different people, He will never accept being an afterthought. God demands to be the center of our lives.
Being ready means preparing for whatever contingency arises in our lives and keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus at all times while we eagerly await His coming… this is illustrated in the fact that all the virgins were sleeping when the call came.
The parable is summed up in verse 13…in the original language the word we translate as ‘keep awake’ is in the imperative …it’s a command…might best be rendered, ‘be vigilant.’
In this parable, the bridegroom’s arrival was certain…He was coming…the uncertainty of the timing illustrates the need for constant vigilance.
Here’s the importance in that…it doesn’t matter…to a certain degree…what we are doing when Christ returns…we may be working…eating…sleeping…or pursuing leisure activities…regardless of whatever it is we must be doing it in such a way that we don’t have to “make things right” (get more oil) when He comes.
Whether this parable is referring to Jesus’ coming for His Church…or for the Tribulation saints as they await His second coming…we are commanded to not become lax in our wait.