Today is the day the Parable of the Ten Virgins is commemorated, as well as The Parable of the Talents. I choose to focus on The Parable of the Virgins because of the emphasis on keeping watch and keeping your lamps lit:
“ Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And 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. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” (Matthew 25:1-13).
This parable has always required some discernment and comparison to other Scriptures. The point is to keep your oil stocked and lamps ready. At first it seems straightforward, that we need to be Spiritually alert and ready for Jesus’ return, “Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is he who stays awake and who keeps his clothes [that is, stays spiritually ready for the Lord’s return], so that he will not be naked—spiritually unprepared—and men will not see his shame” (Revelation 16:15 AMP), and that is true, however, when the foolish virgins try to enter the marriage feast, which is Wedding Supper of Lamb and His Bride, “Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,
“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God” (Revelation 19:6-9), they cannot enter because Christ says “I never knew you.” (Matthew 25:13). This is important, because Jesus says elsewhere in Scripture, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3), and “” (John 10:26-30). Its important we not just know Christ as in gnosis, about him, but to know him which is ginosko, to truly have a relationship with Him and let Him into our hearts, minds, and souls; this knowing ensures we fear no judgement (See Gospel of John, Chapter 5). Yes we are saved by believing in Jesus (John 3:16) and confessing Him as Lord (Romans 10:9) but it doesn’t work like a pledge or sign up where you then ignore the Lord, no!, that is the beginning of a relationship, Christ died and rose from death so He could be with you forever, covering your sins so that you can be close to Him. If you don’t want to know the Lord, what’s the point then in believing? We arnt joining a AAA Membership, where we expect God to bail us out but don’t relate to Him ever! He died to be close to us, the reality being God lives in us and we live in God, “All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.” (1 John 4:15). So the foolish virgins seem to forgone this, they wanted eternal fire insurance but did not have a relationship with Christ and had no interest in His Return; I mean if they didn’t even want to relate to Jesus spiritually, why would they want Him to return in His Resurrected Body? There in lies their folly, they don’t actually love or want to be close to Christ, even though salvation and the get out of hell free card means being with Christ forever! “And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” (Revelation 21:21-27). So we see Christ rejects these foolish virgins because they actually are rejecting Him even though they have lamps and look like Christians, in truth they don’t want Christ, they just want to avoid hell or are religious for perhaps monetary reasons to earn trust from wealthy Christians; I mean Annais and Sapphira were struck dead by Christ (Acts 5:1–11) over similar evils. Of course we are glad that Jesus keeps the Second Death of Hell away from us, that isn’t a wrongful motivation (but shouldn’t be the only one) to have in our love for Him; to be thankful hell is defeated, but the foolish virgins don’t want Christ, neither in relationship or His return in a body to relate and reign; these foolish virgins just want the benefits without having to be bothered with knowing Christ, which is bizarre; and yet there are people in church like this, they go to church but don’t want the Holy Spirit to manifest or the Father to speak or The Son to make His love felt; they are content with dead and frozen chosen cold church sanctuaries; their lamps have no oil from the Holy Spirit, nor tongues of Fire from God’s Spirit to keep the
Lit.
It is no secret I subscribe to “One saved always saved.” (John 10:26-30, Romans 10:9-10). That said you can’t ignore God, and not have a relationship with Him! The whole point isn’t just to be spared damnation, but to be with our loving redeemer in heaven and the new earth and heaven that is coming! We are going to spend forever with Christ! And if you cannot stand spending time with Him in prayer, manifestations of His Spirit, the Gifts pf Holy Spirit moving, hearing his voice, and etc in this life; then in truth why should The Lord have you with Him at the Wedding Feast? Would you invite people to your wedding who have no relationship with you and chose to not relate to you on purpose even though you died to have intimacy with them? Yes we are saved by faith and grace through Christ, but you gotta want to be with your Savior and to know Him now and forever! For only in Christ Jesus may we come to the Father (John 14:6), so if you don’t want a relationship with the Son, no dice for you and your empty oil lamps!
We are God’s Bride and Children, that is how intimate He desires to be with us. He didn’t get tortured and die on cross to give you salvation so you could hardly know Him and be in some mansion away from Him in heaven. Nope! Our God is love (1 John 4:8) and so He wants a loving relationship with us! Of you want to safeguard your lamp, keep close to Oil maker, Jesus was Taciton, He made olive presses that make olive oil, He is one who can supply your Lamp, and keep it full, just as He is Living Water, and Bread of Life. Our oil stays full through loving and being loved by Jesus, in a relationship, that is why He warns in the church in the apocalypse, “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches” (Revelation 2:4-5 NLT). Notice the concern is love, loving God and one another: relationships! Commune with Christ, and build on that believing and confession by knowing Him in an intimate relationship! God doesn’t want to be alone, He wants to have a wedding party with us, dance with us, talk with us, and so much more now in this life and the next forever! For his name is also Immanuel: God With Us, He wants to be with us! Amen.
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