read through Matthew 25:1-12Matthew 25:1-12
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
A Story about Ten Girls
25
1 . The kingdom of heaven is like what happened one night when ten girls took their oil lamps and went to a wedding to meet the groom. v to meet the groom: Some manuscripts add “and the bride.” It was the custom for the groom to go to the home of the bride's parents to get his bride. Young girls and other guests would then go with them to the home of the groom's parents, where the wedding feast would take place.
2 Five of the girls were foolish and five were wise.
3 The foolish ones took their lamps, but no extra oil.
4 The ones who were wise took along extra oil for their lamps.
5 The groom was late arriving, and the girls became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 Then in the middle of the night someone shouted, “Here's the groom! Come to meet him!”
7 When the girls got up and started getting their lamps ready,
8 the foolish ones said to the others, “Let us have some of your oil! Our lamps are going out.”
9 The girls who were wise answered, “There's not enough oil for all of us! Go and buy some for yourselves.”
10 While the foolish girls were on their way to get some oil, the groom arrived. The girls who were ready went into the wedding, and the doors were closed.
11 . Later the other girls returned and shouted, “Sir, sir! Open the door for us!”
12 But the groom replied, “I don't even know you!”
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Unless we go camping or hiking frequently, we today tend to think less about lamp oil, the sort referred to nearly 200 times in the Bible, and more about petroleum, which is obviously used to power our hustle-bustle lifestyle. But before electricity, oil lamps were crucial for educating children, working and traveling. In fact, just as people in the old days would not be able to function without oil for lamps, we would be in dire straits economically and socially without petroleum.
In this passage, Christ uses a parable about virgins wandering out to meet the bridegroom, which here represents Jesus, to make a point about the foolish versus the wise. Five virgins prepare before hand to meet the bridegroom by bringing, not only lamps to see through the night, but oil for the lamps. Bringing oil to power the lamps may seem like an obvious necessity to us, but regardless, the other five virgins chose to only bring the lamps with no oil. When the time came to meet the bridegroom, predictably, the five prudent ones were ready at midnight and the foolish ones had to go into the city and purchase oil.
There’s a lot of ground to cover here, but first, the Bible has much to say about followers who prudently navigate a world of widespread darkness, without the light of Christ in many, many people’s lives. In this passage, oil is used to represent our salvation and the wisdom we possess and should seek after because of a relationship with Him. One online commentary here notes that those who possess prudence in God: understand the ways of God, are crowned with knowledge, can identify evil and false teaching, have the ability to control anger and other destructive feelings, and many other attributes. Thus, without oil in our symbolic lamps, that is, without seeking teaching and wisdom from the word of God daily, we are left susceptible to the dangers of the dark, to the dangers of falsehood and evil and to all things void of Christ. So, it is critically important as Christians that we seek to more fully know God and his wisdom and understanding as we go about our lives. Or else, we leave ourselves open to snares. In this parable, the foolish virgins ultimately did not gain entry into the bridegroom’s house because they had not prepared and filled up their lamps. They did not wisely use the resources God had provided.
Second, and perhaps the most exciting aspect of this parable, those who are diligent, who do prepare, and who do desire God’s truth, they will be rewarded with a feast. For us, this doesn’t mean a literal feast, but an eternity with Christ, a feast of everlasting love, joy and peace in a place called heaven. It’s place with no more longing, no more suffering, thirst, hunger or pain. It’s a destiny that we can look forward to, knowing that we have lived lives fully devoted to Christ and his teaching. But, and it’s a big but, as seen in this parable, those who do not rightly prepare, that is surrendering their lives to Christ, will be turned away as were these five foolish virgins, who seemingly thought they could “borrow” someone else’s provisions to get into the bridegroom’s house. Salvation, however, is a personal decision made one soul at the time. No one else can lend you part of their salvation. Salvation comes when Christ calls a person to their knees, and it truly is an individual, personal, relationship with the most high.
This parable teaches, then, briefly gives us the spiritual decisions that we all have to make and their consequences: salvation, rejection of Christ, eternal life, and separation from Christ.
application
Read through a few or all of these verses and answer for yourself what God is teaching about wisdom and prudence in your life: Proverbs 8:12Proverbs 8:12
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
Wisdom Speaks
12 I am Wisdom i Wisdom: See the note at . —Common Sense
is my closest friend;
I possess knowledge
and sound judgment.
WP-Bible plugin, Proverbs 12:23Proverbs 12:23
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
23 Be sensible and don't tell
everything you know—
only fools spread
foolishness everywhere.
WP-Bible plugin, Proverbs: 2:11, Proverbs 13:16Proverbs 13:16
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
16 If you have good sense,
you will act sensibly,
but fools act like fools.
WP-Bible plugin, Hosea 14:9Hosea 14:9
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
9 If you are wise, you will know
and understand what I mean.
I am the Lord, and I lead you
along the right path.
If you obey me,
we will walk together,
but if you are wicked,
you will stumble.
WP-Bible plugin, Proverbs 14:8Proverbs 14:8
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
8 Wise people have enough sense
to find their way,
but stupid fools get lost.
WP-Bible plugin, Proverbs 16:21Proverbs 16:21
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
21 Good judgment proves
that you are wise,
and if you speak kindly,
you can teach others.
WP-Bible plugin, Psalms 112:5Psalms 112:5
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
5 Life will go well for those
who freely lend
and are honest in business.
WP-Bible plugin, Ephesians 5:15Ephesians 5:15
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
15 Act like people with good sense and not like fools.
WP-Bible plugin, Colossians 4:5Colossians 4:5
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
5 . When you are with unbelievers, always make good use of the time.
WP-Bible plugin, Matthew 10:16Matthew 10:16
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
Warning about Trouble
16 . I am sending you like lambs into a pack of wolves. So be as wise as snakes and as innocent as doves.
WP-Bible plugin, Ephesians 1:8Ephesians 1:8
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
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