The Parable of the Wise Virgins
The Lord Jesus said, “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened to ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go you rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Truly I say to you, I know you not” (Matthew 25:1–12).
Does Reading the Bible and Praying Often, Working Hard and Waiting Attentively for the Lord’s Coming Make One a Wise Virgin?
Each and every brother and sister who sincerely believes in the Lord hopes to be a wise virgin who can welcome the return of the Lord Jesus, our Savior, in the last days, and attend the feast with Him. To this end, some people often read the Bible, pray and stay alert and prepared, some people work hard, make donations and expend themselves, and some people punctually attend gatherings and wait attentively for the coming of the Lord, and so on. Each and every one of us prepares, expends ourselves and waits in our own way, and we strongly believe that we are the wise virgins and that we will certainly be able to welcome the return of the Lord. And yet, nowadays, there are more and more occurrences of famines, plagues and earthquakes all over the world, wars are breaking out all the time and there are frequent appearances of the awe-inspiring blood moons; the omens presaging the Lord’s return have now basically been fulfilled and, as should be expected, the Lord should return. We have stayed alert and prepared for so many years, however, so how come we have not yet welcomed the Lord? Some brothers and sisters cannot help but begin to worry: “Is our preparing oil in this way at odds with the Lord’s will? How should the wise virgins prepare oil in order to welcome the Lord and attend the wedding feast of the Lamb?”
Parable of the Ten Virgins
What Are the Wise Virgins?
With regard to these questions, we can find the answers by looking at which people recognized the Lord Jesus as the prophesied Messiah and which people lost the Lord’s salvation two thousand years ago when the Lord Jesus came to the world to perform His work. At the end of the Age of Law, more and more people were in danger of being put to death because they were unable to keep the law. In order to save man from being condemned and cursed by the law, God incarnated as the Lord Jesus and performed the work of redemption, He brought the way of “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17) to man and He performed many miracles, such as calming the winds and the sea, feeding the five thousand with five loaves and two fish, and bringing the dead back to life with a word. Those who truly sought the truth and who yearned for God to appear, such as Peter, John and Matthew, perceived the authority and power of God in the words and the work of the Lord Jesus. They therefore recognized Him as the Messiah who was prophesied to come, and so they followed the Lord and received His salvation. Furthermore, the Samaritan woman heard the Lord reveal her secrets buried in her heart. She realized that only God could bring all a person’s darkest secrets into the light, and thus she recognized the Lord Jesus as the Messiah, as Christ. These people heard the voice of God in the words the Lord Jesus spoke, and they recognized the Lord Jesus as God Himself — they were the wise virgins, and they were the ones who welcomed the Bridegroom and attended the feast alongside Him. As for the chief priests, scribes and Pharisees, however, although they were well-versed in the Bible, although they preached the gospel far and wide, suffered greatly and paid a great price, they were arrogant and conceited and they clung to their own conceptions and imaginings, believing that someone who was not called Messiah could not possibly be God. The words spoken by the Lord Jesus possessed authority and power, and yet not only did the Pharisees not seek the truth from within His words, but they tried to find fault in the Lord Jesus’ words, they judged and blasphemed against Him and they deceived and obstructed the Jewish faithful from following Him. They even went so far as to collude with the Roman authorities to crucify the Lord Jesus. Thus, they became people who believed in God and yet defied Him, they offended God’s disposition and they became subject to the wrath and punishment of God.
From this, we can see that the wise virgins were wise because they took heed to listen to God’s voice and, once they were able to understand God’s voice, they were then able to accept the truth and welcome the appearance of God. The foolish virgins, however, were the exact opposite. They did not understand God’s voice, and so even though they heard the utterances of truth, they still did not go forth to seek, they did not accept them, and they did not submit to them. They just stubbornly clung to their own conceptions and imaginings and they rejected the appearance and work of God, and thus, ultimately, they lost God’s salvation. This sufficiently proves that whether or not one can become a wise virgin is not predicated upon how long one has believed in God, how much knowledge of the Bible one understands, how much one appears to work and toil or how much one suffers or expends oneself, but rather it is predicated upon whether or not one takes heed to listen to God’s voice and whether or not one can understand it. Just as the Lord Jesus said: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). If we live within our own conceptions and imaginings and we believe that all we need to do is read the Bible, pray, stay alert and prepared, attend gatherings, wait attentively, work hard for the Lord, make donations and expend ourselves, but we do not take heed to listen to God’s voice and we do not seek or investigate them even when we hear the utterances of truth, then we will be apt to become foolish virgins and we will be abandoned by the Lord!
What Approach Should the Wise Virgins Take to the Lord’s Return in the Last Days?
We are now at the key time of the Lord Jesus’ return. The Lord Jesus said, “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come” (John 16: 12–13). “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him” (Matthew 25:6). “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20). “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). And in chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation, it is prophesied many times: “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” From this, we can see that, when the Lord Jesus returns in the last days, He yet has things to say to the churches and He will lead us to understand and enter into all truths. To say this another way, when the Lord Jesus returns, He will use His utterances to seek out His sheep. The wise virgins are possessed of both heart and spirit, and when they hear someone testifying the news of the Lord Jesus’ return, they are then able to positively and actively seek out and listen to the voice of God. Over a period of seeking and investigation, the wise virgins are then able to recognize the Lord’s voice and, in this way, they are then able to open the doors to their hearts, welcome the Lord in and attend the feast alongside the Lord.
To be continue…
Source from: find the shepherd.
If you want to know more about the mysteries about the second coming of Jesus, click on our Second Coming page.
