“Then the kingdom of heaven will be likened unto ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom . . . . Afterwards came also the other virgins, saying Lord, Lord open to us. But he answered and said, verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore for ye know not the day nor the hour” (Matt. 25:1–12).
The year of 1984 is upon us.
We ask and wonder what it will bring to and for us. At such times as this we are encouraged to live by faith in God’s promises, knowing that all of the coming year will also be controlled by the hand of our Heavenly Father. We are also admonished to live godly lives as people who are in this world but not of the world.
Does the thought occur to you that Jesus could come back in 1984?
Someone might object that this is impossible since all the signs of His coming have not yet occurred. The antichrist hasn’t come and surely the battle of Armageddon has not yet taken place. If we calculate this way we are doing exactly what the Lord told us not to do. He warned us not to try to “figure out” when He would return. The New Testament also tells us that He will come back at a time when we think He will not be returning (Matt. 24:44).
Again and again the New Testament tells us that the church must live in the expectation of His return. The many predicted signs tell us, not when He is coming back, but that He is coming back. And they must “tell” the church to wait for His corning.
Many times we are told to watch and be ready. With that awareness we must face the new year. Christians had to live with it in 984 A.D. as well as in 1984. 1984 might be the last year of time; and of this world!
The Lord told the parable of the ten virgins. We must remember that parables have one main lesson; not every detail can or should be explained.
The imagery used is that of a common wedding. Groom and bride were betrothed by the parents. This was really the wedding ceremony; this made them husband and wife. Their becoming betrothed was much more than engagement in our day. After the betrothal a certain time, usually not a very long time, was allowed to elapse, and then on a certain evening or day the groom, accompanied by his friends, proceeded in a festive procession from his own or his father’s house to the house of the bride to bring her and her maiden companions to the groom’s home for the consummation of the marriage with its days of wedding festivities. This explains the action of the ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom, who was going to the bride’s home to take his bride to himself. It is interesting that the emphasis in this parable does not fall on the bride, but on the virgins who are awaiting the groom.
These ten young women have lamps with them. The lamps were something like our cups with a hole in the side near the top of the cup. One end of the wick would draw oil from the base of the cup while the other end, like a torch, would give light. The number ten is not accidental but symbolic denoting fullness, completeness. We have ten commandments, there were ten plagues, ten talents, and ten pounds in other of our Lord‘s parables. The ten virgins, no doubt, symbolize the full, nominal church.
Five were wise, five were foolish. The foolish virgins (who later were even told by the bridegroom that he didn’t know them) were with the five wise virgins, expecting the bridegroom to come. They knew he was coming, and they even had lamps with which they awaited his coming. But at the right time they lacked the necessary oil for their lamps. Much has been made of this lack, in interpreting the parable. The one thought that should be underscored is that they were not ready when the bridegroom came.
The v•rgms naturally symbolize the church of Christ. Christians are called virgins in the Bible more than once (II Cor. 11:2; Rev. 14:4). As a virgin is a young woman, sexually pure and chaste, God‘s people must live a pure and spiritual life, remaining unspotted in the world. The number ten (the number of fullness) represents the complete nominal church.
Five were wise and five were foolish. What made the wise virgins wise and the foolish virgins foolish? There is properly only one answer to this question; the wise virgins were waiting and ready for the bridegroom, and the foolish were not. (That the bridegroom did not come until midnight may perhaps be understood to mean that Christ is delaying His coming, at least, as it seems to the church on earth.) Weren‘t the five foolish virgins also expecting the bridegroom? Didn‘t they, too, have lamps? That’s exactly the point!!! They looked so much like the wise virgins, acted like them, but actually were not ready. That made all the difference. What a necessary admonition this is for all who treat the Christian faith and church as mere forms.
The five wise were waiting and ready. The Bible at times uses the moving example of comparing the life of the true church with the waiting of a bride for her husband to return home. Think of a young couple just married. The husband must answer the call of the government to enter military service away from home, perhaps even overseas. How the heart and mind of this young bride eagerly awaits his return. Even if she knew that he would return safely, she would still be longing for him to come. That is to be the mood of the church!
The five wise virgins were waiting and ready. To be ready for Christ’s return means that we know that we belong to Him, that our sins are washed in His blood. It means much more than that. We have to have more than the knowledge that we are right with Christ. Being ready means also that we as Christians are living consecrated lives. The church must not only know that He is coming back, it must be eagerly waiting for Him. Isn‘t the last prayer of the Bible a prayer of Christ’s bride, “Come Lord Jesus, come quickly”? Because there is so little expectation, even in true Christians the Bible warns us not to be like the foolish virgins. Recall other such reminders.
Looking for the blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Titus 2:13
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Phil. 3:20
And to those that wait for Him He will appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Heb. 9:28
Be ye therefore ready also, for the son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not. Luke 12:40
Who are the five foolish virgins?
They are members of the church, perhaps even active in it. Likely many of them attend church services faithfully. They know the confessions of the church, also that Christ is coming back. But this confession they have neatly tucked away in the back of their hymnal. They observe church forms. But they are neither waiting for the Lord’s return, nor ready for it. In their hearts they don’t even begin to long for it as a young woman waits for the return of her husband. The Lord does not know them, never did. Even as church members they are total strangers to Him.
That there are five foolish virgins may imply that the number of this kind of people in the church is large.
The parable has deep implications for all of us who live in a mad, materialistic, money-minded and sports-minded world, and in complacent churches.
In history Christians have often expected Christ to return in their day. They were looking for it in the days of the persecution brought on by Nero in Rome. Luther much later thought it could happen in his life. The same was true in the days of persecution during the great Reformation and at the time of the French Revolution. As we look back now we know that all of them were mistaken. They were wrong in their calculations, but not in their expectations. That‘s how the Lord wants His people to live at all times.
Peter says that the end of all things is at hand. It could happen in 1984. One thing is sure; this year will bring the return just that much closer. If He does tarry, remember that with His coming each of us will meet the Lord in the very condition in which we were when death removed us from this world.