Mat 25:1-13 | PNT | STEP | The End of the World SUMMARY OF MATTHEW 25: The Ten Virgins. The Foolish Who Took No Oil. The Bridegroom Comes. The Doors Shut on the Foolish Virgins. Watch Therefore. The Parable of the Talents. The Manner of Using. The Reckoning When the Lord Comes. The Day of Judgment Portrayed. The Gathering of the Nations. The Great Separation. The Blessedness of Those on the Right Hand. The Awful Fate of Those on the Left. The Ground of the Separation. The Everlasting Punishment and Life Eternal. Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened . The third question asked by the disciples, ( ), was about the end of the world. This whole chapter is an answer. The future tense is used. In most of the parables of the kingdom the present is used, because they describe its earthly features. This, however, portrays the closing events, the judgment, the closing of the heavenly gates. To ten virgins . No significance attaches to the number, nor to the fact that they are virgins. The bridesmaids of a maiden at marriage are maidens. Who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom . The whole imagery of the parable is drawn from Eastern marriage customs. The betrothal, which took place some time before the marriage, was a kind of solemn marriage contract, but preliminary to its final consummation. When the time for the celebration of the marriage came, the bridegroom came to the house of the bride and brought her by night to his own house. The virgin bridesmaids awaited his coming and attended the bride to the marriage feast.

Matthew 25:1-13

The End of the World SUMMARY OF MATTHEW 25: The Ten Virgins. The Foolish Who Took No Oil. The Bridegroom Comes. The Doors Shut on the Foolish Virgins. Watch Therefore. The Parable of the Talents. The Manner of Using. The Reckoning When the Lord Comes. The Day of Judgment Portrayed. The Gathering of the Nations. The Great Separation. The Blessedness of Those on the Right Hand. The Awful Fate of Those on the Left. The Ground of the Separation. The Everlasting Punishment and Life Eternal.

Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened. The third question asked by the disciples, (Mt 24:3), was about the end of the world. This whole chapter is an answer. The future tense is used. In most of the parables of the kingdom the present is used, because they describe its earthly features. This, however, portrays the closing events, the judgment, the closing of the heavenly gates.

To ten virgins. No significance attaches to the number, nor to the fact that they are virgins. The bridesmaids of a maiden at marriage are maidens.

Who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. The whole imagery of the parable is drawn from Eastern marriage customs. The betrothal, which took place some time before the marriage, was a kind of solemn marriage contract, but preliminary to its final consummation. When the time for the celebration of the marriage came, the bridegroom came to the house of the bride and brought her by night to his own house. The virgin bridesmaids awaited his coming and attended the bride to the marriage feast. And five of them were wise, and five [were] foolish. The quality that made the difference between them was prudent forethought on the part of the wise. Compare Mt 7:21-27. They that [were] foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them. The Jewish lamp was a shallow vessel filled with oil, on which the wick floated. These virgins had oil in their lamps when they started, but had no oil to replenish them. They started out, apparently, all right, but did not hold out. But the wise took oil in their vessels. In this their wisdom was displayed. They not only "let their light shine" (Mt 5:16), but at the same time kept the grace renewed that was essential to the continuance of their light. While the bridegroom tarried. This suggests that the heavenly Bridegroom will not return as soon as the church expects him. We have a hint of the same kind in Mt 24:48.

They all slumbered and slept. Literally, "nodded and fell asleep". The thought is that the Bridegroom came at an unexpected moment. And at midnight there was a cry made. Midnight is the hour of slumber and silence when an outcry is always startling and unexpected. The implication is that the cry of the coming of the Bridegroom, the trump of the archangel will be sudden and unexpected. Compare Mt 24:27 1Th 5:23. All . . . arose, and trimmed their lamps. The object of trimming would be to secure a brighter light. It would involve the trimming of the wick and replenishing the oil if needed. When the cry does arise there will be a wonderful lamp-trimming. Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. The Revised Version says, more correctly, "Our lamps are going out". They had kept up a flickering light to this time. Their apparent piety, though it satisfied them before, was not sufficient now. Shams disappear in the presence of death or judgment. Lest there be not enough for us and you. The wise virgins had sufficient for themselves, but none to spare, hence could be of no help. No one has a fund of surplus piety that he can turn over to someone else.

Go ye, . . . and buy for yourselves. The advice is the best possible. Every one had to procure for himself the needful grace and piety. And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came. They were now seeking to obtain the oil in the only legitimate way, and all would have been well if they had attended to it at the proper time, but it was now too late. There is no encouragement to death-bed repentance.

The door was shut. The door of the marriage feast chamber. The door of the kingdom stands open now, in life, to every mortal, but it will not always be so. The day of opportunity for everything passes. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. As Augustine says: ``They came looking for mercy when it was time for judgment.'' Lu 13:25 also teaches that the doors finally will be shut. The shutting of the doors teaches that the day of salvation may pass by. I know you not. This means, I do not recognize you as persons entitled to enter. The claims that they might have had once had been forfeited. Watch therefore, etc. The whole parable is an illustration of this solemn admonition. APPLICATION.--The Bridegroom is the Son of man; the time of the "marriage" is the coming to judgment; the "tarrying" is the long and unknown period between his ascension and his return; the "virgins" represent the waiting church; the "wise" virgins represent those church members who are always ready and whose lights are shining; the oil in their vessels is the means by which their light is supplied; the "foolish" virgins are church members who have become cold and lifeless; the "midnight cry" is the summons of death, or the trump of judgment; the "cry for oil" is death-bed repentance, or an attempt at preparation in the face of judgment; the "shut" "door" is a declaration that such repentance is too late to be of avail; the great lesson is to be always in a state of readiness.