John Johnson had an excellent point about the parable of the 10 virgins in Matthew 25 http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/aug2005/johnj819.htm. The scriptures about the second coming of Jesus are scattered throughout the Bible and we need to seek and search for all of the scriptures that deal with this topic and ask Jesus to reveal his parables to us so we may understand and have a more complete picutre of our Lord's return.Remember when Jesus met two of his disciples walking along the road to Emmaus after his resurrection, Luke 24:13-35. Up to this point in time the disciples had lost hope in their Messiah who was crucified and they were confused because their understanding of the scriputures was incomplete. But when Jesus opened their minds to understand the scriptures about God's plan of salvation the disciples recognized Jesus and they had a more complete faith and hope in their resurrected Messiah. We also need to ask Jesus to open our minds to understand HIS WORDS about his second coming so that we may have greater faith and hope in Jesus.The main point of the parable of the 10 virgins is that the five foolish virgins lamps were going out and as a result they were not allowed to enter the wedding banquet because the Bridgegroom said he did not know them. It would appear that knowing the Bridegroom and being known by him is dependent on if our lamps are burning bright. What do the scriptures have to reveal about knowing Jesus? Are there different levels of knowing Jesus?
When Adam layed with his wife the scriptures say that Adam knew her. It is important to remember that the first Adam is a picture of the last Adam, Jesus. Now could it be that the five wise virgins had a sincere and intimate loving relationship with Jesus as Adam had when he layed with his wife....while the five foolish virgins were not sincerely devoted in love with Jesus as their Bridegroom? Have their been days in your life that you have not been sincerely devoted to Jesus? I know of many days in my life when I was a foolish virgin whose lamp was going out.
2 Corinthians 11:1-3
1 I hope you will put up with a little of my foolishness; but you are already doing that. 2I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 3But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
The Lord reveals different levels of knowing him in 1 John 2:1-14.
1 John 2:1-14
1My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for[a] the sins of the whole world.
3We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 4The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5But if anyone obeys his word, God's love[b] is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
7Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
9Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. 10Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him[c] to make him stumble. 11But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.
12I write to you, dear children,
because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
13I write to you, fathers,
because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you have overcome the evil one.
I write to you, dear children,
because you have known the Father.
14I write to you, fathers,
because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God lives in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.In 1 John 2:12-13, "born again children of God" know that their sins are forgiven and they know the Father but they have not yet grown and matured to know Jesus intimately as their Bridegroom, "him who is from the beginning." Spiritual children need to walk in obedience to the Father and leave behind their childish and sinful ways so they may grow and mature. As spiritual children grow in God's grace they become young men who overcome their sinful desires and the evil one but they still do not intimately know him who is from the beginning. But as a young man matures, his love grows deeper for the Lord and he becomes a spiritual father who "knows him who is from the beginning." Spiritual fathers intimately love and obey Jesus and as a result they reveal the light of Jesus to people so they may become born again children of God. Spiritual fathers love to walk in the light of Jesus while spiritual children often stumble in their disobedience and darkness of sin.
1 Corinthians 4:15
15 Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.
The parable of the 10 virgins reveals that we need to be wise virgins obediently walking in the light and love of Jesus so that we may be known by the Bridegroom as his mature bride when he comes. But the picture of the foolish virgins whose lamps are going out is one of disobedient children that need to repent and walk in obedience to the light of Jesus. Jesus knows the foolish virgins as his children who are stumbling in sin and darkness but he does not know them intimately as his loving and obedient bride that is ready to meet the Bridegroom. The foolish virgins are told to repent and become obedient, buy oil so your lamps may burn brightly....but this is not the end of the parable.
Matt 25:7 "Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8The 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. 'Sir! Sir!' they said. 'Open the door for us!' 12"But he replied, 'I tell you the truth, I don't know you.' 13"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
As John Johnson pointed out, the parable of the 10 virgins continues in Luke 12:34-38:
34 "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
35 "Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning;
36 "and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately.
37 "Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.
38 "And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.In the above scriptures the Lord is revealing another important clue to the parable of the 10 virgins. Jesus is returning from the wedding banquet for the foolish virgins who are ready and have their lamps burning in the second or third watch of the night. The first watch is not mentioned because that is when the Lord came for his wise virgins in Matthew 25.
The parable of the ten virgins is not confined to a few verses in Matthew 25. Instead this parable weaves throughout numerous scriptures hidden within the Bible. Similar words like a thread tie one scripture to another. The scriptural pieces to this puzzle are revealed by the Holy Spirit and when connected together they reveal a beautiful tapestry, a prophetic picture of "judgment that begins with the house of God."
The first, second and third watches of the night are the next clues to solving this prophetic puzzle. In the Old Testament there are several stories that use these phrases and they paint a picture of prophetic events that will happen for the church and Israel during the 7 years of tribulation.
If anyone is interested in how this parable continues in the first, second and third watches of night then let me know and I will have a future post.
Mark 13:35, 35"Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn.