Transcript
Okay, let’s talk briefly about the parable of the ten virgins. And I won’t read the entire parable, but you have ten virgins. They’re all called virgins. They all have lamps, or these could be understood as torches, if this is the torch dance they used to do. And they all have, obviously, oil, because they light their lamps when they go out to meet the Lord. There’s this midnight cry that occurs in the middle, where they say, “Behold, the bridegroom is coming. Go out to meet him.” But five of them don’t have sufficient extra oil to get them through, and the door is shut for them. And they say, “Lord, Lord, open to us,” and he says, “I do not know you.” Could you talk a bit about what’s going on here?
This parable is, I’ve already suggested, a parable that is designed to mirror or reflect the experience of people living through the Day of the Lord. Therefore, its roots really go back into the early part of the Olivet Discourse. And in the first two verses of that discourse, the Lord describes a period of the end times where He says to His disciples, all of these things you’re going to see happening—wars and rumors of wars, famines, and so on—see that you be not troubled, because the end is not yet. “All of these are the beginning of sorrows.” So don’t get upset by all this.
However, when you see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place, then get going. So what we have clearly taught in the early part of the Olivet Discourse is that this end-time period, which we call the Day of the Lord, has two parts to it. The first part is a part where the followers of Jesus Christ don’t need to get excited. But the second part is signaled by a very grim warning, and they are to begin to move at once, once this event occurs.
So that’s reflected in this story. We’ve got ten virgins, all of whom understand that there is a wedding on. They believe in the bridegroom. No question about that here. They believe in this bridegroom, and they’re waiting for him. Now, in obedience to the obvious situation, it’s a good time to catch up on their sleep, because when the master comes back with his bride, there is going to be a big party that’s going to extend way into the night. But he’s not that close yet, and so they are able to catch up on a few catnaps.
However, there is somebody who is designated to say to them, “The bridegroom comes. He’s on his way.” That’s the midnight cry. Now, when that happens, they’re all on their feet, because this corresponds to the signal of the abomination of desolation, when action is required. But as Jesus made very clear in that unit of the Olivet Discourse, this is going to be a very difficult time through which to live.
“Well, then shall be Great Tribulation, such as was not since the world began, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days be shortened, no flesh would be saved.”
This is such a terrible period of time that it threatens the extinction of the entire human race. We also know from other Scriptures that the man of sin will be ruling, that he will be attempting to suppress anything that reflects the name or testimony of Jesus Christ. So this will be hard times. All right, the five wise virgins are spiritually prepared for this. I think that’s what’s symbolized by the oil there. They are able to keep their torches lighted and bright during the whole grim period as the bridegroom arrives.
The five foolish virgins have not prepared themselves spiritually for this. They’re not ready to keep their torches bright, and therefore they’re in desperate straits. And they have to scratch around, scrounge around, for a merchant who will sell them the necessary oil. So here the picture is, five of these virgins are spiritually equipped for the tremendously serious days of the last half of the Tribulation Period. On the other hand, five of the virgins are in no way really spiritually prepared for this. Believers though they are, and though they do know that the bridegroom is coming, they are not prepared for the hard times here.
Now, while they are trying to get ready, the bridegroom comes, and he goes into the banqueting hall. I think it is correct probably to view these ten virgins as the entertainers of the night. It’s a very great privilege to have been invited to do their special torch dance for the benefit of the bridegroom and his bride and the other assembled guests. And so the five wise virgins, who are prepared for this, go in when the bridegroom arrives. But then the door is shut, and the five foolish virgins arrive too late.
They pound on the door, and the master says from within the house, “I don’t know you.” I don’t think for a single minute that even means, in the parable, the man doesn’t know who they are. Right? This is his way of saying, “I don’t recognize your right to be in here. You’re too late. I’m not going to open the door to you.” I don’t recognize you in that sense. And so what really happens to these foolish virgins is they are deprived of the privilege of performing within the wedding celebration the torch dance that they had been assigned to perform.
Now, it would be wrong to draw the conclusion that therefore they are dragged away to some prison cell and tormented for the rest of their natural days. There’s nothing in the parable about that. This parable ends with their exclusion from the privilege of performing for the benefit of the bridegroom and his bride. So here again we probably have the same kind of implication that we had in the earlier parable about the unfaithful servant. Even in the Tribulation Period, people who endure will reign with Christ. We’re told, for example, in Revelation 20, those who were beheaded lived and reigned a thousand years with Him.
So the faithful Christian who passes through this dreadful period with fidelity to Christ, and keeping his torch bright, can expect to rule with Christ. But those who do not so pass this period, who were unsuccessful, who are unfaithful, who are, in the terms of this parable, foolish, will not be allowed to do this. So I think the implication of both parables is more or less the same. That privilege is withdrawn from the unfaithful individuals in the parable.
Okay, just a couple other points. These women, then, they’re not the bride. These are people who are performing at the marriage of the bridegroom and the bride. So is the bride then the church? And is this not more support for your idea that this is referring to people in the Tribulation?
Yeah, clearly these ten virgins are not the bride. For one thing, in the parable the man is marrying one woman. He’s not marrying ten women. And so what is involved here is a scenario that will be very natural in the ancient Middle East. The bridegroom has gone to the home of the bride to pick her up, and then together they’re going to return to his father’s banqueting hall. They’re going to go in with all the other invited guests, and the wedding celebration is to take place.
The ten women, the ten virgins here, have a role in the wedding, but they are not being married. So this does completely fit the idea that during the Tribulation Period we have individuals who are commanded to be faithful to Christ, who are promised the privilege of ruling, but nevertheless they’re not part of the church. They’re not part of the bride. And so basically, I think that distinction does support the distinction I was making earlier, that this is a reference to tribulation saints and not to members of the church.
Okay, another point. It’s interesting, in verse 12 he says, “I do not know you,” but in Matthew 7:23 He said, “I never knew you.” Is there any kind of significance to the fact that here he doesn’t say, “I never knew you,” but, “I do not know you”? Is that at all support for your contention that this is saying, “I don’t know you in this context as a torchbearer”? In other words, you’ve missed out on that opportunity.
Well, I think what I would want to say is that every context is different, and that in this parabolic context, totally apart from the Matthew 7 context, in this parabolic context the obvious meaning of “I don’t know you” is, “You’re not getting in. You’re not going to perform the torch dance.” There’s no suggestion here of eternal judgment or anything of that kind. And it so happens that the word for “know” in Matthew 7 is a different Greek word for “know.” It’s not even the same word as here. This is the Greek verb *oida*. The one in Matthew is *ginosko*.
And there we are obviously talking about the day of judgment, and the individuals standing before the Lord Jesus Christ are hoping to gain access by virtue of their works. They’ve done all these things, performed miracles, cast out demons, and so on. And Jesus is saying, “I don’t know you. I don’t have anything to do with you.” So the context determines the significance of the statement. But we ought to also keep in mind that in the separate context we don’t even use the same Greek word.
Also, I’m just trying to follow what you’re saying. Okay, these people, the ten virgins, during the first half of the Tribulation, that’s the time when they’re to be getting ready for the second half of the Tribulation. In other words, they have three and a half years to do what develops sufficient resources, strength, what? And how does that relate to us today?
Well, I think we would say that the parable is not really concerned very much with the details of the first half of the Tribulation Period. What we see is that when the ten virgins wake up, five of them have not made the necessary preparations. Now, if we were trying to illustrate how that happens, along with the resting, that might be a little difficult from a parabolic point of view. They’re all resting. If they’re all asleep, they’re not doing anything at the moment they’re asleep, right? But that doesn’t mean that they, you know, even in the parable, it doesn’t mean they’ve been sleeping indefinitely.
But this is parabolic, to indicate the truth that Jesus has just told, that during this period of time His disciples don’t need to be disturbed. They can relax. So this is pictured under the image of sleeping. But in the background, somewhere along the line, these virgins had to supply their torches with the extra oil. Presumably they did that before they fell asleep in the parable. But that sequence is not a concern to the parable. The Lord doesn’t go into that.
So what we would say is that whatever is the process that Christians during the first part of this period must go through to get ready spiritually, these are examples of people who didn’t go through that process. Now, we would be interested in knowing what the process is, but we would be partly speculating on that. But obviously spiritual readiness is very closely related to prayerfulness, very closely related to attention to the Word. We also know that during the first half-week we will have two prophetic witnesses raised up by God, who will presumably be instructing the disciples of Jesus during that period, getting them spiritually ready.
And we can imagine people who don’t really give much attention to their instruction, don’t spend much time in prayer, don’t spend much time in the Word, and when the midnight cry comes they’re really not spiritually strong. They’re spiritually weak, and the torches which they are supposed to maintain for Christ, they don’t have the resources within themselves, spiritually speaking, to keep those torches alight. But I think it would be wrong to try and put all of the elements of the parable and project them backward into a period that the parable is not really addressing. The period addressed by the parable is really, here we are at the point of the midnight cry. These virgins have gone out to meet the bridegroom. They’re resting. That’s all we’re really told. Then the midnight cry comes, and the rest is given to us in some detail.
Okay, very good. And then the whole thing ends with, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” And in light of what you had said earlier in our introduction to the Olivet Discourse, this then is not really addressed to the ten virgins. This is addressed to us in this age and our need to be watchful in light of our Lord’s imminent return. Is that correct?
That is correct. And here I would refer us back to the statement made by our Lord before either of these parables has begun, in Matthew 24:43:
“But know this, that if the householder had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be dug into.”
“On account of this, you also be ready, because you do not know the hour when the Son of Man comes.”
All right, already, before He gets to the first parable, He has exhorted readiness.
Now, thinking of the householder, the householder could be looking—there would be stupidity in this—but the householder could be saying, “Okay, this is the night that the thief is coming, so I’m going to keep my eye out for him.” But what do I do when I arrive? How does he prevent his house from being dug into if he hasn’t prepared any weapons or strengthened his defenses or anything? I think he’s not ready for the thief, even though he might be watching for him. So even before both of the parables were told, Jesus has emphasized not only staying awake, but being ready.
So now He tells a parable. The first one emphasizes staying awake and watchful. The second one emphasizes being ready. It just so happens He chooses a story that can apply to people living during the Tribulation Period. But the lesson of being ready is forceful for us just as much as for people living in that day.
Okay, then I had one other question that struck me after we’d actually finished, and that is in verse—and it’s verse 9, actually—it says, the wise answered, saying, “No, lest there should not be enough for us and for you, but you go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.” And they went out to buy, and that’s when the bridegroom came. And my question is, why this reference to buying? It sounds like works. And is it works?
What we need to keep in mind, of course, is that salvation is totally free and totally apart from works, and we don’t need to buy it. We receive it as a free gift. But starting at that point, nothing is totally free. Growth is possible, but growth requires attention. It requires time and requires energy. If I am not willing to expend—notice the word expend there—the necessary time and energy, and even money at times, then I’m not going to progress spiritually.
So there is a sense in which all spiritual growth is purchased at the cost of something. It’s costly. It’s the same thing as saying that discipleship is costly. In other words, if we’re not willing to take all that we have, we’re not going to make it as disciples. So the principle that is here is simply the principle of discipleship. They were not ready to be His disciples consistently through the end of this period. They needed to go and make the necessary expenditures of time and energy to do so.
Well, this is very enlightening. And then wouldn’t that mean that the other five had made the necessary expenditures? They had already bought the oil, so to speak. They had done what was necessary. So that does bring out that point you were talking about earlier, doesn’t it?
That’s exactly right. They had made the necessary expenditures of time and energy, and whatever else was the cost of becoming spiritually ready people. And if we are ready for the Lord’s coming, we will necessarily make the expenditures of time and energy that are required for that.