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Pastor Lars Larson, PhD                                                                                                            FBC Sermon #634
First Baptist Church, Leominster, MA                                                                                        October 23, 2011
Words for children: virgins, bridegroom, lamp, oil                                                                       Text: Matthew 25:1-15
Scripture reading: Revelation 3:1-6

The Gospel of Matthew (98)
The Parable of the Ten Virgins

Our current progress through Matthew:

  I.  Prologue (chs. 1, 2)
 II.  The Kingdom Comes (chs. 3-7)
III.  The Works of the Kingdom (chs. 8-10)
IV.  The Nature of the Kingdom (chs. 11-13)
 V.  The Authority of the Kingdom (chs. 14-18)
VI.  Kingdom Blessings and Kingdom Judgments (chs. 19-25)
          A.  From Galilee to Jerusalem (chs. 19, 20)
          B.  The King enters Jerusalem (chs. 21-23)
          C.  Fifth Discourse: Kingdom Judgment, the Olivet Discourse (chs. 24, 25)
                    1.  Signs of the “End” (24:1-31)
                    2.  Parables Counseling Vigilance (24:32-25:46)

*****************

          We have arrived to Matthew 25, in which we have recorded the continuation of our Lord’s Olivet Discourse.  Our Lord and His disciples were seated in the Mount of Olives, overlooking the temple mount of Jerusalem.  He had told them of the city’s impending judgment and destruction; He was now telling them of the end of the age when He would come again in great glory to judge the world.  He spoke to His disciples of the need for readiness and watchfulness with view to His coming. 
          The matter of our soul’s salvation is in view in these parables that our Lord taught His disciples.  Now it is important to recognize this important point:  In these parables, our Lord is not setting down the grounds of the believer’s acceptance before God and the reason for being exonerated on the Day of Judgment.  That would be the free and full pardon of sins and the imputation of the righteousness of Jesus Christ that God gives freely and fully when the sinner first embraced Christ through the gospel.  When the sinner first fully believed, he was justified by God’s grace through faith alone apart from works; his eternal salvation was secure to him.  But this parable and the other words of our Lord in this larger context are describing the nature and behavior of true Christians when Jesus returns.  He is emphasizing the absolute necessity of sanctification of the believer as the evidence of a truly justified person.  And so, a true Christian is one who is ready and watching for the coming of the Lord.  The hypocrite, the one who claims to be a Christian but whose life is that of an unbeliever, has no promise of salvation.  When Jesus returns, he will be found to be as one of these foolish virgins. 

          Our Lord gave several parables to illustrate their need for watchfulness and He also instructed them in some of the details of what the final judgment will be like, so that they could better prepare themselves.  The parable before us addresses this important, even essential matter of His disciples being watchful with view to His Second Coming.  Their very salvation impinged on their watchfulness and readiness for His coming.  Let us read this Parable of the Ten Virgins in Matthew 25:1-13.

          1“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.  2Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.  3For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.  5As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept.
          6But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom!  Come out to meet him.’  7Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps.  8And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’  9But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’  10And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.
          11Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’  12But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’
          13Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

I.  The details and meaning of the parable (25:1-13)

          This parable of our Lord reflects the common manner in which a wedding would take place in the Jewish culture of the time.  A young man and woman who were to be wed would have entered a betrothal period which would have lasted a number of months.  At a time that was determined by the father of the groom, the groom would go forth in the night with his wedding party to the home of his bride’s parents, surprising his bride.  There the wedding ceremony would take place.  Then the groom would escort his bride with her wedding party through the streets of their town to the groom’s parents’ house, where the wedding feast would commence.  These “ten virgins” that our Lord mentioned would have been young ladies in the town who had previously agreed to be members of the bridal party.  Perhaps they would have been forewarned that the wedding occasion was near, even told of the very night they were to be ready, but they would not have known the exact time when the bridegroom would come.  They were to be ready so that they could immediately go forth from their homes when they were summoned.  Each individual was responsible for herself to be ready.  She was to have her lamp prepared for a moment’s notice. 
          The lamps described were small clay vessels which would hold live oil and contain a wick.[1]  These lamps would be held high on poles by the wedding party as they traveled through the streets to the groom’s house.  Alfred Edersheim who wrote the classic work, The Life and times of Jesus the Messiah, described the practice in this way:

          Another archaeological inquiry will, perhaps, be more helpful to our understanding of this Parable.  The ‘lamps’--not ‘torches’--which the Ten Virgins carried, were of well known construction.  They bear in Talmudic writings commonly the name Lappid, but the Aramaised form of the Greek word in the New Testament also occurs as Lampad and Lampadas.  The lamps consisted of a round receptacle for pitch or oil for the wick.  This was placed in a hollow cup or deep saucer--the Beth Shiqqua--which was fastened by a pointed end into a long wooden pole, on which it was born aloft.  According to Jewish authorities, it was the custom in the East to carry in a bridal procession ten such lamps.  We have the less reason to doubt that such was also the case in Palestine, since, according to rubric, ten was the number required to be present at any office or ceremony, such as at the benedictions accompanying the marriage-ceremonies.  And, in the peculiar circumstances supposed in the Parable, Ten Virgins are represented as going forth to meet the Bridegroom, each bearing her lamp.[2]

          The Word of God commonly uses the analogy of a marriage to illustrate spiritual truths.  Our Lord is described elsewhere as a groom espoused to His bride, the church.  But it is important that we keep details of various metaphors and parables distinct from one another lest confusion and wrong interpretation results.  In this parable of the ten virgins, the bride is not mentioned.  The groom’s bride is not to be regarded as pertinent to the meaning of the parable.  In this parable the ten virgins or young women are to be understood as representing professing disciples of Jesus Christ.  The analogy is simply this: just as these ten young ladies were to be ready to join the wedding procession whenever it would occur, but five were ready and five were not ready, so professing Christians, those who claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ, must be earnestly and personally prepared, ready for the Lord Jesus returning at His Second Coming, because not to be ready would result in a tragic forfeiture of salvation. 
          The reason that I say we should keep to the details within the context of any parable is because some have erred in their interpretation at this point.  Some dispensationalists, not all, teach that the ten virgins do not represent professing Christians, but rather of Jewish people during a future seven year tribulation period.  They argue that because the bride is the church (which is true in other scriptural contexts), these ten virgins being as bridesmaids are not Christians, but Jews, who needed to be ready for the second coming of Jesus Christ at the end of a future seven year tribulation period.[3]   This was the position of J. Vernon McGee,

          The Ten Virgins do not refer to the church, they refer to the nation Israel…
          So here in the parable of the ten virgins, Christ, pictured as the bridegroom, is bringing the bride with Him, and the believers on earth are waiting for Him to come.  While the Great Tribulation has been going on upon the earth, Christ has been yonder in heaven with His bride, the church.  Then at the conclusion of the seven years of Tribulation, He comes back to earth with the church.[4]

This is also the position set forth in this one volume commentary:

Some explain the virgins as the professing members of the Church awaiting the return of Christ.  Others apply the parable to the Jewish remnant in the Tribulation.  Though the central theme of watchfulness is applicable to either group, this writer feels that the latter interpretation meets the demands of content and context more precisely.[5]

But it is patently clear that these ten virgins in this context represent professing Christians, those who claimed to be disciples of Jesus Christ, those who knew and believed in the coming of Jesus Christ. 
          There are those who give undo attention or assign spiritual meaning to details of parables that should only be regarded as part of the story of the parable.  In this parable, it is common to assign a spiritual meaning to the “oil” in that was in the lamps of the five virgins but absent in the lamps of the foolish virgins.  The two most common meanings assigned are that “oil”, in this case olive oil, of course, is either an allusion to the Holy Spirit or to a presence of grace in the soul.  The five wise virgins had the Holy Spirit, but the five foolish virgins did not have the Holy Spirit.[6]  Or, the five wise virgins had saving grace; the foolish virgins were without grace.  Although certainly only true Christians have the Holy Spirit indwelling them and every true Christian has a work of God’s grace being conducted in his soul, to assign a spiritual meaning to the word, oil, a meaning that our Lord did not specifically identify, is best avoided.  The point is this, the possession or absence of oil in the parable reflected the carefulness of some to the carelessness of others, the proper preparation of some to the unpreparedness of the others.  The absence of oil was the result of their not being ready and watchful; similarly, disciples of Jesus Christ are to be ready and watchful for His coming.  But we will see in some of the quotations that I included in these notes that it is common for commentators to give a spiritual meaning to the presence or absence of the oil.
          I believe that last week I mentioned one of the old puritan preachers who preached and wrote extensively on this parable.  Thomas Shepherd preached on this parable over the course of 4 years, from June of 1636 to May of 1640.  The book which is still published today is a condensed edition of these sermons, entitled The Ten Virgins.  Another puritan, Thomas Manton (1620-1677) preached a series of 10 sermons on this parable.  Manton set forth in typical puritan fashion stated doctrines taught in the passage on which he was expounding.[7]  The following are the doctrines that he set forth from this passage over the course of his ten sermons on the subject:

1.  That in the visible church, among those that give up their names to Christ, some will be found foolish when others are wise, and come short of the blessedness expected by them.  Or, in the visible church all are not wise Christians, but some are wise, and really such as they profess themselves to be; others negligent, foolish, improvident.
2.  It is not enough to have oil in our lamps, but we must have oil in our vessels too.
3.  This will be found to be our true wisdom , and the other to be the greatest folly.
4.  That this will be found to be true wisdom, and the other folly.
5.  That the foolish and wise both slumber and sleep.
6.  The Bridegroom will certainly come, but at his own time; and then all shall be called upon to go forth to meet him.
7.  That the faithful, as often as they think of the coming of the Lord, should more rouse up themselves to meet Him with           joy and comfort.
8.  Many think they have grace enough to meet Christ at His coming, when the event showeth no such matter; or, many           have great confidence of the goodness of their condition, that will be found foolish virgins at last.
9.  Their lamps will go out who have not a stock of grace to feed and maintain them.
10.  Every one must get oil into his own lamp, or get grace of his own, or else in the day of his accounts the grace of           others will do no good.
11.  They that have most grace have none to spare.
12.  If we would get grace, we must recourse to the ordinances (perhaps better, “to the means of grace”--Lars)
13.  They that have most grace have none to spare.
14.  Those that would have grave must have recourse to the ordinances. (better, “to the means of grace”--Lars)
15.  That the Lord Jesus Christ shall come to His people as a bridegroom at His second coming.
16.  Those only who are ready and prepared for Christ shall enter into eternal joys, when others are excluded.
17.  That those that are finally refused by the Lord may yet have a desire of the joys of heaven.
18.  That it is a dreadful misery to be disowned by Christ at Hs coming: “I know you not.”
19.  The great duty that lies upon them that believe and look for Christ’s coming is watching.

          These are all doctrines or teachings that may be legitimately identified and declared from this passage, although I might modify the language here or there.  But how are we to narrow down these many teachings to that which may be the most pertinent, the most important that our Lord was pressing upon His disciples in this parable?  Now, we are in the Gospel according to Matthew, in which we are dealing with literary genre of narrative.  Narrative portions of the Bible are not always the easiest to interpret rightly, especially when one seeks to identify a main point of a passage.  In those books of the Bible that are epistles, or letters, the task in some ways is much easier.  But one of the simple and best ways to identify the most important teaching of an episode in narrative is to look at the concluding and summary statement.  This is what we have in Matthew 25:13; this is the most important doctrine of the passage.  After telling this parable to His disciples He said to them: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”  And so, we affirm this main point, as did Manton in the last of his listed doctrines: The great duty that lies upon them that believe and look for Christ’s coming is watching.

II.  Watching with view to Christ’s Second Coming

          A.  Watchfulness is a pressing need and duty of every professing Christian.

                    When the Lord Jesus returns a second time, He will find His professing church comprised of professing believers, some of which are true Christians, some of which are not.  All profess to have faith in Him.  All claim to be His disciples.  All are anticipating the return of the Lord.  All are assuming that they will receive their full and final salvation when He comes. 
                    But not all are true Christians who profess to be Christian.  Here our Lord refers to five wise and five foolish, a 50% ratio of professing Christians who will have salvation and 50% who will only then become aware that they do not have salvation.  I do not think that our Lord was intending to give us a precise ratio of true Christians to false Christians by referring to five wise and five foolish virgins.  But do you suppose that He gave an approximate percentage?  Can you imagine if the Lord returned today and only 50% of us were fund to be ready for His return and 50% of us were not?  Half of us would enter into the joy of the Lord but half of us would be denied entrance, but the pronouncement was given to us by the Lord, “Depart from Me; I never know you!”  Charles Spurgeon wrote of this:

Let us fain hope that we are not to gather from our Lord’s words that one half of the professing Church is composed of those whom He calls “foolish.”  Yet our  Savior would not have spoken of so great a proportion if there were not really a very large admixture of foolish professors with the wise professors of the grace of God.[8]

In another sermon Spurgeon referenced this parable.  I have this sermon posted on our website.  His comments were addressed to the text of Luke 13:24, in which Jesus said, “Many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.”

          So the text teaches us.  It does not say “a few may be misled,” but “many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able.”  That many professors are deceived is clear enough from the language of Christ Himself, both here and in other places.  For instance, “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be like unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom; and five of them were wise, and five were foolish.”  We hope that in our Churches we have not such a division this, for it were fearful to contemplate only one half as sincere, and the other half graceless, having the lamp of profession, without the secret vessel of spiritual life!  Yet, so alarming a proportion as five out of ten should make us search ourselves very carefully, lest we be found among the virgins, and among the virgins having lamps, ay, and among those whose lamps are burning, and yet should be cast away as having no oil in our vessels with our lamps.[9]
          The number of truly saved people in any given congregation is a common concern of pastors who have any measure of spiritual sense about them.  We ask our Lord, “How many in our body truly know You?  How many are ‘wise’ as these five and how many are ‘foolish’ as these other five?”  It would seem that one day I, as a pastor, will need to give testimony to the Lord regarding all those with whom I have had some contact.  The writer of Hebrews told his people:

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.  Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. (Heb. 13:17)

I assume that means that I will need to give an account, give an assessment of each of you.  I do hope that I will be able to do this with joy, and not with groaning.
          J. C. Ryle (19th c.) voiced concern in his day about professing Christians who were strangers to God’s saving grace.

The professing Church is compared to “ten virgins, who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom:” all of them had lamps, but only five had oil in their vessels to feed the flame; all of them professed to have one object in view, but five only were truly “wise,” and the rest were “foolish.”  The visible Church of Christ is just in the same condition: all its members are baptized in the name of Christ.  But not all really hear His voice and follow Him; all are called Christians, and profess to be of the Christian religion, but not all have the grace of the Spirit in their hearts, and really are what they profess to be.  Our own eyes tell us that it is so now: the Lord Jesus tells us that it will be so when He comes again.  Let us mark well this description.  After all our preaching and praying,--after all our visiting and teaching,-- after all our missionary exertions abroad, and means of grace at home, many will be found at last dead in trespasses and sins!  The wickedness and unbelief of human nature is a subject about which we all have much to learn.[10]

It would appear to me that one difference between the true Christian and the deluded professing Christian, is that the true Christian is moved by God’s Word, the Holy Spirit, the command of the Lord, and His own conscience, to be watchful with view to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.  Our Lord told His disciples in Luke 12:37 and 38:

“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.  And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.”

They are “blessed” for they who are watching will receive the grace of salvation in its finality and fullness.

          B.  What is it to be “watching” with view to His Second Coming?

          Watching, then, is all important.  It is the duty of all, but sadly, it is not the practice of all.  But what does our Lord mean to be “watching”?  Certainly “watching” does not mean that we are to be chiefly “watching” for His coming as if we are to try and determine when it will occur; we do not have access to that information.  Too many attempt to do that and many others follow them that make such claims.  What does it mean to be watching?  What our Lord was telling His disciples and by extension all of us who claim to be His disciples, that due to the certain and sudden return of our Lord, we are each to be watching over our own souls.  “Watching” implies a very attentive care for the spiritual well-being of our souls. 
          Watching is a great attention of concern given to one’s own soul because of the danger that is always present to its well-being.  What kinds of dangers are there for which we to be watchful?

          First, there is the danger to our souls that temptation to sin poses to us.  Our Lord told His disciples, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.  The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt. 26:41).  You are to be watchful, praying always, “Father, lead me not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matt. 6:13).  There are temptations that are too great for you to handle that can come upon you unawares. 
          Now one might ask, “But pastor, does not the Scripture say that we will not be tempted above that which we are able to handle?”  That is how 1 Corinthians 10:13 is often paraphrased, but that is not what the Word of God states exactly.  The full verse reads,

“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

One “way of escape” from temptation is to watch and pray that you enter not temptation.  But if and when you do enter temptation, thankfully, God is able to deliver you through it by His grace.

          Second, we are also to watch because of the danger the devil poses to our souls.  Peter warned,

Be sober-minded; be watchful.  Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. (1 Pet. 5:8f)

Just as Peter declared that by knowledge of the faith, which is sound doctrine, the Christian can resist the devil, Paul also argued that people may be delivered from the snare of the devil by a knowledge of the faith.

And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, 25in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, 26and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will. (2 Tim. 2:24-26)

One way the devil is able to gain ascendancy over us is when we are ignorant of his devices.  For example, the devil can gain an advantage over you, even though you are a Christian, if he can lead you to be unforgiving toward someone who has wronged you.

Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive.  For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, 11lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices. (2 Cor. 2:10f)

Paul would forgive others so that the devil did not gain an advantage over him.

          Third, we are to be watchful regarding sin that we have allowed ourselves to indulge.  Our Lord told His disciples in another place,

“But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.  35For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.  36Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things.” (Luke 21:34-36)

Sin harbored within, sin practiced without, sin in the mind, sin through our members, sin is the great enemy of our souls.  We are to hate sin.  We are to see our sin as a defiling, degrading thing, that strips us of our dignity and the noble calling to which we have been called.

          Fourth, we are to be watchful of our hearts, due to our own propensity to sin.  The greatest enemy to our soul is the sin that dwells with us.  It is not just the things we do, or do not do, but the propensity to sin that is very defiling and damning.  We are to be ever vigilant respecting our propensity to sin resulting in a hardening of our hearts to the things of God. 

There is in us all a sinful proneness to evil, which we must seek to cure and prevent: Proverbs 4:23, “Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life”…  It is the heart that God aimeth at in all He doth upon us, and it is the heart that is the ground of all our actions.  The fountain must be kept pure from pollutions, that the streams may be the more limpid and clear.  Every man hath a little garrison to keep, and he himself is the watchman of it; his conscience is to sit porter at the door, and to examine whatever cometh out and entereth in, as a watchman doth at the gates of a city.  All the thoughts, affections, words,  actions, are to be examined, what they are, whither they go, whence they come, whither they tend, lest a temptation be let in, or a corruption be let out; otherwise the heart cannot be kept pure and loyal to God.  Solomon telleth us, Proverbs 25:28, “He that hath no rule over his own spirit, is like a city that is without walls.”  A town without walls lieth open to every corner: sin and danger, and all kind of evil motions go to and fro, without any kind of check and control: things will pass out which should be suppressed and kept in, and temptations will enter which should be kept out.  Now this caution is no more than needeth, if we consider the enemies of our salvation, the devil, the world, and the flesh. [11]

Our sin wars against us.  Peter begged his readers, “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul” (1 Pet. 2:11). 

          Fifth, we are to be watchful of the fallen world that tempts us to sin against our Lord and to sin against the well-being of our own souls.  There are many allurements of the world to tempt us and draw us away from Christ.  We need to be watchful concerning these.  John wrote,

Do not love the world or the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  16For all that is in the world-- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life-- is not of the Father but is of the world. (1 John 2:15f)

The world has a temptation tailored for every weakness of your soul, for every propensity to sin.  There is the honor of the world for those who are proud and ambitious ofheart, who seem to live on attention and the praise of men.  The world has wealth or the possibility and prospect of wealth for the covetous heart.  The world provides ample opportunity for pleasure for those who are driven by a sensual heart. 

Here one plunges himself over head and ears in the world; another is intemperate in the delights of the flesh and the entertainment of sense; another is aspiring after honor, great places, and pomp of living, or esteem in the world; or at least we give ourselves too great a liberty and freedom in these things.  Wherefore you see what need there is of watching, when alluring objects lay such close siege to the appetite and senses.[12]

          Sixth, we are to be watchful of our hearts that we have them fixed upon that which the Lord sets before us and has promised to us. 

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Pet. 1:13)

          Seventh, we are to watching with expectation and longing desire for Christ’s return for us.

Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing. (2 Tim. 4:8)

          The last things in this watching is earnest expectation of Christ’s last appearance, and the grace He will bring along with Him: 1 Peter 1:15, “Gird up the loins of your minds, and be sober, and hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought unto you ate the revelation of Jesus Christ.”  Our hearts and minds should be more taken up with the thoughts of His coming, and the privileges we shall have  by Him.   It is expressed by looking, longing, waiting; and Christians are often described by these acts: Titus 3:13, “Looking for that blessed hope; Phil. 3:20, 21, “From whence we look for a Savior,” Heb. 10:27.  We should stir up our minds to look for His coming; and not only stir up our hopes, but our desires: 2 Timothy 4:8, “To them that love His appearing;” it is a sign and token that He cometh with a blessing to us: to them He cometh with a crown of righteousness.  So for waiting: 1 Corinthians 1:7, “Ye come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  We were converted for this end, to wait for His coming from heaven , 1 Thessalonians 1:10.[13]

III.  A few parting comments on these matters

          Consider Matthew Henry’s comments on this passage of Matthew 25:1-13.[14]

Verses 1-13. Here, I. That in general which is to be illustrated is, the kingdom of heaven, the state of things under the gospel, the external kingdom of Christ, and the administration and success of it.  Some of Christ’s parables had shown us what it is like now in the present reception of it, as chapter 3.  This tells us what it shall be like, when the mystery of God shall be finished, and that kingdom delivered up to the Father.  The administration of Christ’s government, towards the ready and the unready in the great day, may be illustrated by this similitude; or the kingdom is put for the subjects of the kingdom.  The professors of Christianity shall then be likened to these ten virgins, and shall be thus distinguished.

II. That by which it is illustrated, is, a marriage solemnity.  It was a custom sometimes used among the Jews on that occasion, that the bridegroom came, attended with his friends, late in the night, to the house of the bride, where she expected him, attended with her bride-maids; who, upon notice given of the bridegrooms’ approach, were to go out with lamps in their hands, to light him into the house with ceremony and formality, in order to the celebrating of the nuptials with great mirth.  And some think that on these occasions they had usually ten virgins; for the Jews never held a synagogue, circumcised, kept the Passover, or contracted marriage, but ten persons at least were present. Boaz, when he married Ruth, had ten witnesses, Ruth 4:2.
          Now in this parable, 1. The Bridegroom is our Lord Jesus Christ; he is so represented in the 45th Psalm, Solomon’s Song, and often in the New Testament.  It bespeaks his singular and superlative love to, and his faithful and inviolable covenant with, his spouse the church.  Believers are now betrothed to Christ (Hos. 2:19); but the solemnizing of the marriage is reserved for the great day, when the bride, the Lamb’s wife, will have made herself completely ready, Rev. 19:7, 9.

2.  The virgins are the professors of religion, members of the church; but here represented as her companions (Psa. 45:14), as elsewhere her children (Isa. 54:1), her ornaments, Isa. 49:18. They that follow the Lamb, are said to be virgins (Rev. 14:4); this denotes their beauty and purity; they are to be presented as chaste virgins to Christ, 2 Cor. 11:2. The bridegroom is a king; so these virgins are maids of honour, virgins without number (Canticles 6:8), yet here said to be ten.  

3.  The office of these virgins is to meet the bridegroom, which is as much their happiness as their duty. They come to wait upon the bridegroom when he appears, and in the mean time to wait for him.  See here the nature of Christianity.  As Christians, we profess ourselves to be, (1.) Attendants upon Christ, to do him honour, as the glorious Bridegroom, to be to him for a name and a praise, especially then when he shall come to be glorified in his saints.  We must follow him as honorary servants do their masters, John 12:26.  Hold up the name, and hold forth the praise of the exalted Jesus; this is our business.  (2.) Expectants of Christ, and of his second coming.  As Christians, we profess, not only to believe and look for, but to love and long for, the appearing of Christ, and to act in our whole conversation with a regard to it.  The second coming of Christ is the centre in which all the lines of our religion meet, and to which the whole of the divine life hath a constant reference and tendency.

4. Their chief concern is to have lights in their hands, when they attend the bridegroom, thus to do him honour and do him service.  Note, Christians are children of light.  The gospel is light, and they who receive it must not only be enlightened by it themselves, but must shine as lights, must hold it forth, Phil. 2:15f.  This in general.  Now concerning these ten virgins, we may observe,

          (1.)  Their different character, with the proof and evidence of it.
                        [1.] Their character was that five were wise, and five foolish (v. 2); and wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness; so saith Solomon, a competent judge, Eccles. 2:13.  Note, those of the same profession and denomination among men, may yet be of characters vastly different in the sight of God.  Sincere Christians are the wise virgins, and hypocrites the foolish ones, as in another parable they are represented by wise and foolish builders.  Note, those are wise or foolish indeed, that are so in the affairs of their souls. True religion is true wisdom; sin is folly, but especially the sin of hypocrisy, for those are the greatest fools, that are wise in their own conceit, and those the worst of sinners, that feign themselves just men.  Some observe from the equal number of the wise and foolish, what a charitable decorum (it is Archbishop Tillotson’s expression) Christ observes, as if he would hope that the number of true believers was nearly equal to that of hypocrites, or, at least, would teach us to hope the best concerning those that profess religion, and to think of them with a bias to the charitable side.  Though, in judging of ourselves, we ought to remember that the gate is strait, and few find it; yet, in judging of others, we ought to remember that the Captain of our salvation brings many sons to glory.
                        [2.] The evidence of this character was in the very thing which they were to attend to; by that they are judged of.  First, It was the folly of the foolish virgins, that they took their lamps, and took no oil with them, v. 3.  They had just the oil enough to make their lamps burn for the present, to make a show with, as if they intended to meet the bridegroom; but no cruse or bottle of oil with them for a recruit if the bridegroom tarried; thus hypocrites, 1. They have no principle within.  They have a lamp of profession in their hands, but have not in their hearts that stock of sound knowledge, rooted dispositions, and settled resolutions, which is necessary to carry them through the services and trials of the present state. They act under the influence of external inducements, but are void of spiritual life; like a tradesman, that sets up without a stock, or the seed on the stony ground, that wanted root.  2. They have no prospect of, nor make provision for, what is to come.  They took lamps for a present show, but not oil for after use. This incogitancy is the ruin of many professors; all their care is to recommend themselves to their neighbours, whom they now converse with, not to approve themselves to Christ, whom they must hereafter appear before; as if any thing will serve, provide it will but serve for the present.  Tell them of things not seen as yet, and you are like Lot to his sons-in-law, as one that mocked.  They do not provide for hereafter, as the ant does, nor lay up for the time to come, 1 Tim. 6:19.  Secondly, It was the wisdom of the wise virgins, that they took oil in their vessels with their lamps, v. 4.  They had a good principle within, which would maintain and keep up their profession.  The heart is the vessel, which it is our wisdom to get furnished; for, out of a good treasure there, good things must be brought; but if that root be rottenness, the blossom will be dust.  Grace is the oil which we must have in this vessel; in the tabernacle there was constant provision made of oil for the light,Exodus 35:14.  Our light must shine before men in good works, but this cannot be, or not long, unless there be a fixed active principle in the heart, of faith in Christ, and love to God and our brethren, from which we must act in every thing we do in religion, with an eye to what is before us.  They that took oil in their vessels, did it upon supposition that perhaps the bridegroom might tarry.  Note, In looking forward it is good to prepare for the worst, to lay in for a long siege. But remember that this oil which keeps the lamps burning, is derived to the candlestick from Jesus Christ, the great and good Olive, by the golden pipes of the ordinances, as it is represented in that vision (Zec. 4:2, 4:3, 12), which is explained John 1:16, Of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.

          (2.)  Their common fault, during the bridegroom’s delay; They all slumbered and slept, v. 5. Observe here, [1.] The bridegroom tarried, that is, he did not come out so soon as they expected.  What we look for as certain, we are apt to think is very near; many in the apostles’ times imagined that the day of the Lord was at hand, but it is not so. Christ, as to us, seems to tarry, and yet really does not, Hab. 2:3.  There is good reason for the Bridegroom’s tarrying; there are many intermediate counsels and purposes to be accomplished, the elect must all be called in, God’s patience must be manifested, and the saints’ patience tried, the harvest of the earth must be ripened, and so must the harvest of heaven too. But though Christ tarry past our time, he will not tarry past the due time. [2.] While he tarried, those that waited for him, grew careless, and forgot what they were attending; They all slumbered and slept; as if they had given over looking for him; for when the Son of man cometh, he will not find faith,Luke 18:8.  Those that inferred the suddenness of it from its certainty, when that answered not their expectation, were apt from the delay to infer its uncertainty.  The wise virgins slumbered, and the foolish slept; so some distinguish it; however, they were both faulty.  The wise virgins kept their lamps burning, but did not keep themselves awake.  Note, Too many good Christians, when they have been long in profession, grow remiss in their preparations for Christ’s second coming; they intermit their care, abate their zeal, their graces are not lively, nor their works found perfect before God; and though all love be not lost, yet the first love is left.  If it was hard to the disciples to watch with Christ an hour, much more to watch with him an age. I sleep, saith the spouse, but my heart wakes, Observe, First, They slumbered, and then they slept.  Note, One degree of carelessness and remissness makes way for another. Those that allow themselves in slumbering, will scarcely keep themselves from sleeping; therefore dread the beginning of spiritual decays; Venienti occurrite morbo—Attend to the first symptoms of disease. The ancients generally understood the virgins’ slumbering and sleeping of their dying; they all died, wise and foolish (Psa. 49:10), before judgment-day. So Ferus, Antequam veniat sponsus omnibus obdormiscendum est, hoc est, moriendum—Before the Bridegroom come, all must sleep, that is, die. So Calvin. But I think it is rather to be taken as we have opened it.

            (3.) The surprising summons given them, to attend the bridegroom (v. 6); At midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh. Note, [1.] Though Christ tarry long, he will come at last; though he seem slow, he is sure. In his first coming, he was thought long by those that waited for the consolation of Israel; yet in the fulness of time he came; so his second coming, though long deferred, is not forgotten; his enemies shall find, to their cost, that forbearance is no acquittance; and his friends shall find, to their comfort, that the vision is for an appointed time, and at the end it shall speak, and not lie. The year of the redeemed is fixed, and it will come.  [2.] Christ’s coming will be at our midnight, when we least look for him, and are most disposed to take our rest. His coming for the relief and comfort of his people, often is when the good intended seems to be at the greatest distance; and his coming to reckon with his enemies, is when they put the evil day furthest from them. It was at midnight that the first-born of Egypt were destroyed, and Israel delivered, Exodus 12:29. Death often comes when it is least expected; the soul is required this night, Luke 12:20. Christ will come when he pleases, to show his sovereignty, and will not let us know when, to teach us our duty.  [3.] When Christ comes, we must go forth to meet him. As Christians we are bound to attend all the motions of the Lord Jesus, and meet him in all his out-goings. When he comes to us at death, we must go forth out of the body, out of the world, to meet him with affections and workings of soul suitable to the discoveries we then expect him to make of himself. Go ye forth to meet him, is a call to those who are habitually prepared, to be actually ready.  [4.] The notice given of Christ’s approach, and the call to meet him, will be awakening; There was a cry made. His first coming was not with any observation at all, nor did they say, Lo, here is Christ, or Lo, he is there; he was in the world, and the world knew him not; but his second coming will be with the observation of all the world; Every eye shall see him. There will be a cry from heaven, for he shall descend with a shout, Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment; and a cry from the earth too, a cry to rocks and mountains, Rev. 6:16..

            (4.) The address they all made to answer this summons (v. 7); They all arose, and trimmed their lamps, snuffed them and supplied them with oil and went about with all expedition to put themselves in a posture to receive the bridegroom. Now, [1.] This, in the wise virgins, bespeaks an actual preparation for the Bridegroom’s coming. Note, even those that are best prepared for death, have, upon the immediate arrests of it, work to do, to get themselves actually ready, that they may be found in peace (2 Peter 3:14), found doing (ch. 24:46), and not found naked, 2 Cor. 5:3). It will be a day of search and enquiry; and it concerns us to think how we shall then be found. When we see the day approaching, we must address ourselves to our dying work with all seriousness, renewing our repentance for sin, our consent to the covenant, our farewells to the world; and our souls must be carried out toward God in suitable breathings. [2.] In the foolish virgins, it denotes a vain confidence, and conceit of the goodness of their state, and their readiness for another world.  Note, Even counterfeit graces will serve a man to make a show of when he comes to die, as well as they have done all his life long; the hypocrite’s hopes blaze when they are just expiring, like a lightening before death.

          (5.)  The distress which the foolish virgins were in, for want of oil, v. 8, v. 9.  This bespeaks, [1.] The apprehensions which some hypocrites have of the misery of their state, even on this side death, when God opens their eyes to see their folly, and themselves perishing with a lie in their right hand. Or, however, [2.] The real misery of their state on the other side death, and in the judgment; how far their fair, but false, profession of religion will be from availing them any thing in the great day; see what comes of it.

          First, Their lamps are gone out. The lamps of hypocrites often go out in this life; when they who have begun in the spirit, end in the flesh, and the hypocrisy breaks out in an open apostasy, 2 Peter 2:20.  The profession withers, and the credit of it is lost; the hopes fail, and the comfort of them is gone; how often is the candle of the wicked thus put out? (Job 21:17).  Yet many a hypocrite keeps up his credit, and the comfort of his profession, such as it is, to the last; but what is it when God taketh away his soul? (Job 27:8).  If his candle be not put out before him, it is put out with him, Job 18:5f.  He shall lie down in sorrow, Isaiah 50:11. The gains of a hypocritical profession will not follow a man to judgment, ch. 7:22, ch 7:23. The lamps are gone out, when the hypocrite’s hope proves like the spider’s web (Job 8:11, etc.), and like the giving up of the ghost (Job 11:20), like Absalom’s mule that left him in the oak. 
          Secondly, They wanted oil to supply them when they were going out. Note, Those that take up short of true grace, will certainly find the want of it one time or other. An external profession well humoured may carry a man far, but it will not carry him through; it may light him along this world, but the damps of the valley of the shadow of death will put it out.
          Thirdly, They would gladly be beholden to the wise virgins for a supply out of their vessels; Give us of your oil.  Note, the day is coming, when carnal hypocrites would gladly be found in the condition of true Christians.  Those who now hate the strictness of religion, will, at death and judgment, wish for the solid comforts of it.  Those who care not to live the life, yet would die the death, of the righteous.  The day is coming when those who now look with contempt upon humble contrite saints, would gladly get an interest in them, and would value those as their best friends and benefactors, whom now they set with the dogs of their flock.  Give us of your oil; that is, “Speak a good word for us;’’ so some; but there is no occasion for vouchers in the great day, the Judge knows what is every man’s true character.  But is it not well that they are brought to say, Give us of your oil? It is so; but, 1. This request was extorted by sensible necessity.  Note, those will see their need of grace hereafter, when it should save them, who will not see their need of grace now, when it should sanctify and rule them.  2. It comes too late. God would have given them oil, had they asked in time; but there is no buying when the market is over, no bidding when the inch of candle is dropped.
          Fourthly, They were denied a share in their companions’ oil.  It is a sad presage of a repulse with God, when they were thus repulsed by good people.  The wise answered, Not so; that peremptory denial is not in the original, but supplied by the translators: these wise virgins would rather give a reason without a positive refusal, than (as many do) give a positive refusal without a reason.  They were well inclined to help their neighbours in distress; but, we must not, we cannot, we dare not, do it, lest there be not enough for us and you; charity begins at home; but go, and buy for yourselves.
          Note, 1. Those that would be saved, must have grace of their own.  Though we have benefit by the communion of saints, and the faith and prayers of others may now redound to our advantage, yet our own sanctification is indispensably necessary to our own salvation.  The just shall live by his faith. Every man shall give account of himself, and therefore let every man prove his own work; for he cannot get another to muster for him in that day.  Those that have most grace, have none to spare; all we have, is little enough for ourselves to appear before God in.  The best have need to borrow from Christ, but they have none to lend to any of their neighbours.  The church of Rome, which dreams of works of supererogation and the imputation of the righteousness of saints, forgets that it was the wisdom of the wise virgins to understand that they had but oil enough for themselves, and none for others.  But observe, These wise virgins do not upbraid the foolish with their neglect, nor boast of their own forecast, nor torment them with suggestions tending to despair, but give them the best advice the case will bear, Go ye rather to them that sell.  
          Note 2, Those that deal foolishly in the affairs of their souls, are to be pitied, and not insulted over; for who made thee to differ?  When ministers attend such as have been mindless of God and their souls all their days, but are under death-bed convictions; and, because true repentance is never too late, direct them to repent, and turn to God, and close with Christ; yet, because late repentance is seldom true, they do but as these wise virgins did by the foolish, even made the best of bad.  They can but tell them what is to be done, if it be not too late, but whether the door may not be shut before it is done, is an unspeakable hazard.  It is good advice now, if it be taken in time, Go to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.  Note, Those that would have grace, must have recourse to, and attend upon, the means of grace. See Isaiah 55:1.

          (6.)  The coming of the bridegroom, and the issue of all this different character of the wise and foolish virgins. See what came of it.

                    [1.]  While they went out to buy, the bridegroom came. Note, With regard to those that put off their great work to the last, it is a thousand to one, that they have not time to do it then. Getting grace is a work of time, and cannot be done in a hurry. While the poor awakened soul addresses itself, upon a sick bed, to repentance and prayer, in awful confusion, it scarcely knows which end to begin at, or what to do first; and presently death comes, judgment comes, and the work is undone, and the poor sinner undone forever. This comes of having oil to buy when we should burn it, and grace to get when we should use it.  The bridegroom came. Note, Our Lord Jesus will come to his people, at the great day, as a Bridegroom; will come in pomp and rich attire, attended with his friends: now that the Bridegroom is taken away from us, we fast (ch. 9:15), but then will be an everlasting feast. Then the Bridegroom will fetch home his bride, to be where he is (John 17:24), and will rejoice over his bride, Isa. 62:5.

                    [2.]  They that were ready, went in with him to the marriage. Note, First, To be eternally glorified is to go in with Christ to the marriage, to be in his immediate presence, and in the most intimate fellowship and communion with him in a state of eternal rest, joy, and plenty. Secondly, Those, and those only, shall go to heaven hereafter, that are made ready for heaven here, that are wrought to the self-same thing, 2 Corinthians 5:5. Thirdly, The suddenness of death, and of Christ’s coming to us then, will be no obstruction to our happiness, if we have been habitually prepared.

                    [3.]  The door was shut, as is usual when all the company is come, that are to be admitted. The door was shut, First, To secure those that were within; that, being now made pillars in the house of our God, they may go no more out, Rev. 3:12. Adam was put into paradise, but the door was left open and so he went out again; but when glorified saints are put into the heavenly paradise, they are shut in. Secondly, To exclude those that were out. The state of saints and sinners will then be unalterably fixed, and those that are shut out then, will be shut out for ever. Now the gate is strait, yet it is open; but then it will be shut and bolted, and a great gulf fixed. This was like the shutting of the door of the ark when Noah was in; as he was thereby preserved, so all the rest were finally abandoned.

                    [4.]  The foolish virgins came when it was too late (v. 11); Afterward came also the other virgins. Note, First, There are many that will seek admission into heaven when it is too late; as profane Esau, who afterward would have inherited the blessing. God and religion will be glorified by those late solicitations, though sinners will not be saved by them; it is for the honour of Lord, Lord, that, of fervent and importunate prayer, that those who slight it now, will flee to it shortly, and it will not be called whining and canting then. Secondly, The vain confidence of hypocrites will carry them very far in their expectations of happiness. They go to heaven-gate, and demand entrance, and yet are shut out; lifted up to heaven in a fond conceit of the goodness of their state, and yet thrust down to hell.

          [5.]  They were rejected, as Esau was (v. 12); I know you not. Note, We are all concerned to seek the Lord while he may be found; for there is a time coming when he will not be found. Time was, when, Lord, Lord, open to us, would have sped well, by virtue of that promise, Knock, and it shall be opened to you; but now it comes too late. The sentence is solemnly bound on with, Verily I say unto you, which amounts to no less than swearing in his wrath, that they shall never enter into his rest. It bespeaks him resolved, and them silenced by it.

          [6.]  Lastly, Here is a practical inference drawn from this parable (v. 13); Watch therefore, We had it before (ch. 24:42), and here it is repeated as the most needful caution.  Note, 1. Our great duty is to watch, to attend to the business of our souls with the utmost diligence and circumspection. Be awake, and be wakeful.  Note 2. It is a good reason for our watching, that the time of our Lord’s coming is very uncertain; we know neither the day nor the hour.  Therefore every day and every hour we must be ready, and not off our watch any day in the year, or any hour in the day.  Be thou in the fear of the Lord every day and all the day long.

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Footnotes:

[1] The ESV Study Bible says that these were torches of rags wrapped on a pole that had to be dipped in oil occasionally in order to keep burning.  I do not know their source for differing from the commonly held position the lamps were typical clay vessels of wick and oil, but I suspect that there must be some more recent archaeological research that has led them to include this description.  See the note on Matthew 25:3f in the ESV Study Bible (Crossway Bibles, 2008), p. 1876.