The first parable in Matthew 25 is one of the best known and the least understood- the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. It's a parable that has intrigued me for years and that I've never heard a satisfactory explanation of. Who are the Wise, who are the Foolish? I think you will see that it is not too difficult to answer if we take the parable apart. But the difficult question is "What are the Foolish getting locked out of?" Let's take a closer look at some of the details (Matt 25:1-13) here and see if we can bring this into focus. Who are the players and what happens to them?

(1) All are called virgins.
(2) All of them are waiting for the Bridegroom to arrive.
(3) All of them get tired and fall asleep.
(4) All of them hear the call and wake up.
(5) All of them trim their lamps.
(6) All of them have oil in their lamps.
(7) The Foolish do not have enough oil and they have to go buy more oil.
(8) While the Foolish are on their way to get more oil the Bridegroom comes and takes the Wise.
(9) When the Foolish return they are locked out of something.

(1) Now I believe it is safe to assume that all ten virgins are Christians for the following reasons: they are virgins, they are waiting for the Bridegroom, they have oil, they call Him "Lord": The bible never refers to the lost as virgins. The Foolish are called virgins.

(2) The Foolish are waiting for the Bridegroom, who is Jesus. The lost are not waiting for the return of the Bridegroom Jesus. They don't have a clue about the return of Jesus. There are even a lot of Christians who aren't looking for the Bridegroom so I would say that all ten are in the category of born again Christians.

(4), (5), (6) We also know that there is a warning that goes out just before the Bridegroom comes so they are all awake. The problem is that 5 are ready and 5 are not. What's the matter with the Foolish?. The Foolish find out that their lamps are going out due to an insufficient amount of oil. Oil in the Bible is a picture, a symbol, a type of the Holy Spirit. The Foolish were not devoid of oil. They had some, but not enough. Their lamps were going out.

(7) So what did they do? The Foolish recognizing their predicament first asked the Wise for some of their oil. But the Wise said that they only had enough for themselves and they told the Foolish to go buy their own. So they left to go get more oil. Now some have postulated that the Foolish are Christians who have lost their salvation. But this is an indication that the Foolish are not Christians who have lost their salvation otherwise they could not go out and get more oil. They had some oil and apparently manage to buy more oil.

(8), (9) So what happened to them? When they returned they found out that those who were ready, the Wise, went into the wedding feast and the Foolish were locked out. It's a sobering, sobering picture. In desperation they cry out, "Lord, Lord open up for us". This is another indication that these are Christians. The lost don't refer to Jesus as "Lord". And then the Bridegroom, Jesus, answers: "Truly, truly I say to you. I do not know you." What a horrible thing to hear from Jesus, "I do not know you." When the bible says "truly, truly" or "verily, verily" that means 'listen up, take heed, this is very important'