Mat 25:2-13 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. (3) They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: (4) But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. (5) While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. (6) And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. (7) Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. ( 8 ) And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. (9) But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. (10) 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. (11) Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. (12) But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. (13) Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
Good morning, Reader! How many of you love weddings? I surely do! I especially enjoy reading the history of weddings; and I especially love Jewish weddings from the Scriptures and Jewish historical documents. To get a full blessing, you should study the Jewish wedding as compared to Jesus and His church. If you’re born again, you will be rejoicing as much as I am!
Jesus gave us the parable of the wedding story in the above Scriptures in order to for us to make sure that we are ready for His unknown arriving. Re-read the Scriptures and picture this event in your mind.
I truly believe this is a story about the Rapture of the Church! The act of anointing with oil in the Scriptures usually refers to the Holy Spirit. They would anoint someone to send them out to the mission field. The Christian is anointed with the Holy Spirit upon salvation and He dwells within us never more to leave us, amen?
1 Jn 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
In this parable of the ten virgins, we see that half are ready while the other half is not. The significant detail of why they are not ready is because half of them have oil (the Holy Spirit) for their lamps and the other half do not. The Scriptures refer to them as five foolish virgins and five wise ones. The five that were foolish took their lamps to meet the bridegroom but they didn’t have any oil so they had to leave the five wise virgins to go get oil. These are symbolic of people who call themselves “Christians” but they are Christians in name only: they are the unsaved. They have not been born again and do not have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them (symbolized by the oil). How do I know that they are not born again? Verse 12 in this parable gives us the answer:
Mat 25:12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
Joh 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
Jesus, Himself, says that He does not know these five foolish virgins! Jesus knows those who follow Him and have the Holy Spirit, which are born-again believers!
Now let’s discuss the five wise virgins (the Church) who have their lamps (they are the light of the world) and their oil (the Holy Spirit). At the moment the Bridegroom comes for His Church, the foolish five virgins who didn’t have oil in their lamps (the Holy Spirit dwelling within them as a result of salvation) were not ready for His coming and when they returned from getting oil, the door was shut to them and Jesus said He knew them not. Wow!
Rev 3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Rev 4:1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.
Can you imagine what it will be like after the Rapture when people go to church and the people who are normally in attendance are no longer there? Can you imagine when a person comes to the realization that he was not truly born again and totally missed the Rapture? That person will have to go through the awful judgments of the Tribulation! That person will have to make a choice of whether or not he will take the mark of the Beast! If that person gets saved, he will have to go through the Tribulation even though he is saved! He will suffer the judgments and may even have to be martyred for Christ or go underground struggling to survive. Why would one delay accepting Christ?
I was raised catholic so I never heard of the Rapture before I was saved; but you can be sure that I was very excited to get saved so I would be included in that blessed event! It is very scary to think that many would rather choose to live in sin like the rest of the world rather than getting to know the Lord personally and accept His free salvation!
To the one who is not saved, this could be your story. Friend, it is no coincidence that God has placed you here for such a time as this so that you may be saved. Please click here and the link will open up in a separate tab to You Can Be Born Again and Know It!