“And while they (foolish virgins) went to buy oil, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready… went in with him to the wedding; … and the door was shut.” (Matt. 25:10)

Not everyone went in to the wedding; just those…who were ready.

Jesus shared this parable talking about these ten virgins who had lamps and all ten of them were looking for the bridegroom to come. (vs.1)

Because we know from studying the bible that God often uses types and foreshadows and word pictures to represent truth…it is safe to say that oftentimes the church is represented in these stories by a ‘woman’ or a ‘virgin’. We see this well in Revelation 12:13-17 and the great conflict that arises between the ‘serpent’ who makes war with the ‘woman’ and wants to cause here to be ‘carried away by the flood’ and then takes on her ‘offspring’.(those whom the church has given birth to). We also know that Christ is coming back for a ‘spotless bride’ as Paul details in Eph. 5:27-28). Sounds sort of like a wedding might be taking place with much of this symbolism.

Now in this story of our ten virgins, Jesus makes a point to distinguish a difference between them informing us that five of them were wise and five of them were foolish. The foolish ones, we are told, took no oil with them when they went out to meet this bridegroom. In other words, they may have started out with enough to keep their lamp burning but they did not take an ample supply to keep them lit. You probably know that a lamp is a type of God’s word –{Ps. 119:105) and the ‘oil’ represents the Spirit.

Without the aid or supply of the Spirit working in our lives, can I just tell you now that this Bible is a closed book to us? We can’t possibly understand much, if not most of what it is saying, unless the Spirit reveals it to us. (Matt. 13:11; Luke 24:32). Now that is not to say you can’t learn a lot of information from it along with gaining historical knowledge and good moral lessons as you read through it; but if you are not walking in the Spirit, as in abiding in/with Christ, it is a closed book. I bet that is why a lot of well-meaning folks turn to devotionals and ‘Christian novels’ and commentaries and such that ‘help them gain insight’ because the Bible can be hard to understand. It’s only hard to understand when you are not abiding in Him because Jesus said He makes all things known to us. (John 15:15)

And can I just tell you now that Jesus desires to make His truths and mysteries known to us and understood…but we have to come to Him first with all our hearts. I know I make that point often in my writing, this idea about being ‘all the way in’ or ‘whole-hearted’, and for good reason. I think part of the great deception today is so many people believe they already have come to Him with ‘all their hearts’, but their fruit (or lack thereof) tells another story. But don’t worry, I’m not your judge and will leave that up to you and God to sort through as to where your heart is.

Would you care to see another instance where Jesus was distinguishing the difference between a wise person and a foolish one? You can read at the close of His Sermon on the Mount as He wrapped up with another word picture, of course. :- ) He says: “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of mine…and DOES THEM…is like a ‘wise’ man who built his house on a rock.” (Matt. 7:24) He then goes on to share how that house withstood the driving storm and flood that came and beat against his house. You might just make note of this use of ‘flood’ once again.

Then Jesus explains how everyone who hears these sayings of His and does NOT DO them is like a …’foolish’ man who built his house on the sand. The same storm and flood came and beat against that house and it was destroyed completely. (27)

Both men ‘heard’ the sayings or words of Jesus, but it was the ‘wise’ one who actually did or put into practice what He said. Can you just chew on that for a moment?

Did James not touch on how one can be easily deceived in his letter talking about being ‘doers of the word and not just hearers only lest we deceive ourselves? (James 1:22). And have we not talked in recent days about all the widespread deception that Jesus warned would take place in the end times or the ‘end of the age’? (Matt. 24)

So when I mention how part of the great deception unfolding today among many well-meaning folks (and I have to specify church folks as in those who ‘think’ they are part of the bride/virgins), it is for good reason. We have this parable of ten virgins all looking for the bridegroom’s coming. Nothing in there to suggest that unbelieving folks are in that mix. And you should have Matt. 7:21 memorized by now…”Not everyone who says ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven but those who…DO…the will of God.”

And yet all ten of those virgins grew drowsy, and they fell asleep because for reasons unknown to us, the bridegroom delayed his coming. (Matt. 25:5) Fortunately, because of this thing called mercy and grace, a warning cry went out at midnight to awaken them with news that he was indeed on his way. And this is where the story takes a tragic turn…for half of them. For the foolish virgins, their ‘light had gone out’. They were out of oil and nothing to illuminate the way. Kind of reminds me of those who ‘left their first love’ in the church at Ephesus as we read in Rev. 2:4). That can happen to people…in church, you know. (Matt. 24:12). They ‘drift away’, in ‘spirit’ at least. Doesn’t mean they stop attending church and singing with the choir and going through all the motions though. (2 Tim. 3:1-5; Matt. 7:22; Titus 1:16)

I bet that is why we read in Hebrews that warning that we should remind ourselves often; go mark that passage if it’s not marked already in your Bible- Hebrews 3:13-14. You can thank me later. ;-)

I have to tell you…as I was typing this out this morning I thought to myself that this must sound repetitive to anyone who has been reading along with me here for a while. And the Lord reminded me how there are times when people can be a deep sleep and have an important meeting or appointment or job interview they need to wake up and get ready for. Maybe they forgot to set the alarm, or as a backup, they asked you to wake them up by such and such a time if they were not up. If you went in to their room and whispered their name one time, and then left the room as they continued to ‘saw logs’ (zzzzz) do you think it might be good to return to the room and try again? Maybe raise your voice a notch or two, repeatedly? If that did not work, (assuming they are not dead) you might go shake them some to get them out of the coma-like state of slumber.

And why would you be persistent in doing so? Two reasons…For one- you recognize how important it is for them to get up and get ready. And two- you love them.

So as we circle back to the story of the ten virgins, we know that while the five foolish ones were gone trying to ‘figure it out’, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding, and the door was shut. There’s an interesting passage found in Rev. 19 that you might want to go mark and it’s verse 7 that is heralding the marriage of the Lamb that has come…and “His wife…has made herself ready”

I know this idea of us having anything to do with ‘making ourselves ready’ messes with some folk’s theology…but would you care to explain 1 John 3:3, 2 Cor. 7:1 and Heb. 12:1 to me? And let’s not forget Luke 13:3,5 either.

If you are not ready, you are not going in. And there will be the ‘shutting of a door’. Jesus reminded us of that in the lesson He gave just before this parable of the ten virgins. He was likening this day to the days of Noah and how everyone was out just blowing and going (my words) before Noah entered the ark. We read how God ‘shut them in’ back in Genesis 7:1, presumably by shutting a door. That is when the floods came and it was not pretty for those on the outside of that ark. Nor will it be pretty in that day Jesus speaks of how they will come knocking and it will be too late. Nor was it pretty for those foolish virgins who beat on the door and were told “I do not know you.” (Matt. 25:11-12; 7:23)

Can I just tell you now that this idea of being ‘in Christ’…is to be ‘in the ark’. IF you are abiding in Him, there is no better place to be. And I don’t need to remind you that you can easily be ‘in church’ but not be ‘in Christ’. Why you can even be ‘in ministry’ and still not be….”in Christ”. Trust me on that one. How can one know if they are indeed…”in Christ”? Take the test that Paul encourages us to take in 2 Cor. 13:5. John spells it out for us in his letter right there in 1 John 2:3-6….”By this...we know that we are in Him…

Go read through that passage on your own…and have a little talk with Him today. There’s still time to get ready. Really, there is. I don’t care where you have been or what you have done or how asleep or deceived you have been. There is still time. The door has not shut yet. But it will be shutting…we just don’t know exactly when.