Matthew 25
-Jesus, still within the context of talking about His second
coming and the last things, compares the Kingdom of Heaven to ten virgins who
took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish
and five of them were wise. The wise ones brought along oil in flasks for their
lamps due to the uncertain nature of the length of time the bridegroom would
take to come for the wedding feast. This was cultural and easily understood to
those in the audience of Jesus’ teaching. This is a foreign concept in our day
and bears some need for instruction here.
-Jesus explains the story of the Jewish wedding and the
mirror image it portrays of the first and second coming of Jesus Christ the
Messiah. Looking at the parable of the Ten Virgins it is easy to speculate that
it only refers to the second coming of Christ.
But, for our edification, I am going to give the whole picture of the
first coming of Christ, the Church, and the second coming for His bride. The Jewish wedding in the time of Christ is
different than a Jewish wedding in this modern age. In Bible times the Jewish people were given
in marriage by a betrothal (Kiddushin)
which means to sanctify, this was the stage in which a covenant agreement was
made for the marriage (Lamm, 146).
-The marriage consists of three stages and is expressed by
the Biblical term kichah. In the
first stage, the man gives a women money known as a kessef. The kessef is
usually a coin, or something of value. The man is to stand before two witnesses
and say, “You are hereby betrothed unto me with this symbol in accordance with
the Laws of Moses and Israel.” The bride
then agrees to the price given and accepts. This is an indication that she is
willing to marry the groom (Lamm, 146).
The bride and groom are not allowed to be live together, but are
considered married. No intimate
relationship occurs during this time of the marriage process.
-The second stage of the marriage agreement is the bond
known as the she’tar. This pact is
given by the man to the women as a contractual agreement which contains the
names of the couple and the groom’s intent to marry. This contract does not
give legal evidence for the marriage, but is done before two or more witnesses
to move the marriage forward. The
second half of this stage is known as the Ketubah
(Lamm, 197). This is an agreement before witnesses that he, the husband, will
take care of his wife humanely and financially. This contractual agreement
secures a certain financial obligation to the wife in the event of a divorce
(Lamm, 198).
-The third stage of the marriage is the consummation known
as the bi’ah. This occurs after the wedding feast has taken
place. The bride and groom go to private quarters and consummate the marriage
with sexual intimacy and intercourse. At
this stage, the marriage is complete both officially and legally.
-The process of the marriage agreement is drawn out for
several months. The longest period of time from the betrothal to the
consummation period is twelve months.
The son returns to his father’s home until the time of the wedding
feast. During this twelve month period the bride and the groom are immersed in
water for sanctification before the wedding feast and consummation. Confession
of any sin is stressed and emphasized during this period. Also, the bridegroom
gets living quarters ready for his new bride, while the bride prepares and gets
everything in order for her new married life.
-On the day of the wedding ceremony, the bride and groom
fast for a cleansing of their sins and to avoid drinking or being stained by
worldly temptations (Lamm, 189-196). The
groom has a table set up for the feast known as Kabbalat Panim (Lamm, 197).
A throne is set up at the feast for his bride where she can be
surrounded by her bridesmaids (virgins) in honor. The groom sings praises to
his bride and all that are present partake in a glorious banquet.
-Historically and biblically speaking, this is the picture
of Christ. The betrothal is a picture of the covenant agreement the Lord gave
to Abraham and the people of Israel.
Genesis 17:9 God said further to Abraham, "Now as for
you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout
their generations.”
-The prospective
bridegroom would then travel to meet his bride and negotiate the price
(contract) for her. Christ came to earth
to pay the price for His bride, the church, including both Jews and Gentiles.
The price (kessef or mohar) that
Christ negotiated for His bride was death on the cross, the ultimate gift (1
Corinthians 6:20, Isaiah 27:9). He then rose again on the third day.
-The Period of
Preparation - Jesus after paying the price for our sins, returned to the
Father’s House for a period of time. This is the period of the church age.
This, then, is the stage between the betrothal and consummation period. In Matthew 25:1 it states, "Then the kingdom of heaven will be
comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went out to meet the
bridegroom.” The analogy given in
this parable relates to people of the church.
Each one of us should be waiting for the second coming of Christ just as
the bridesmaids did for their wedding feast.
-In ancient Judaism the
bride and the bridesmaids did not know when the bridegroom would come. Signs
and indications were given to the bride and her party that the bridegroom was
on his way, but they did not know the day or the hour. As the days came closer
the virgins (bridesmaids) would wait outside with their lamps. The groom would always come at night, the virgins
(bridesmaids) had to be ready to light the way to the feast.
-The bridegroom would
arrive with a ‘shout’! He was coming to
get his bride. This is a picture of Christ returning for the second time: Matthew
25:6, "But at midnight
there was a shout, 'Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.'”
-The wedding feast and
all who were ready for the bridegroom go into the wedding feast. The bride was given a throne were the
bridegroom would honor her. The virgins and bridesmaids would be all around her
in the wedding feast.
-*Application* The most essential element to this parable is
preparation. Is the church ready to meet the bridegroom? In answering the key
questions of this passage one has to look at every aspect listed. The ten women
in this parable were all virgins, equipped with a lamp and oil; all of them
fell asleep waiting for the bridegroom. Let’s look at each piece and define the
meaning.
-The lamp is a symbol of light. Each virgin, being pure and set apart, was equipped
with the ability to produce light in dark places. Many scriptures can be cross
referenced to back the meaning of the lamp. Let’s look at Psalm 119:105 “Thy word is a lamp to my feet, And
a light to my path.” The lamp is
the word of God; each of the virgins was equipped with the ability to know the
Lord. Other illustrations given in the Scriptures, especially in Matthew, make
the point that the lamp refers to the soul. (Matthew 6:22, Luke11:25) Once a
lamp is lit who would hide it (Matthew 5:15)? From reading the parable all were
equipped with a lamp and oil. Each girl was set apart and pure (virginity) before the Lord. Yet, five
unwise virgins were not prepared with extra oil.
-The oil- What is the meaning of the oil and the preparation of the coming of
Christ? Do we literally sell our homes,
buy a virgin dress and sit outside waiting for our Messiah. Some have attempted
this. However, this is not what the Lord meant by preparation.
-We must first take a
look at Exodus and the meaning of the lamp stand and the oil in the Old
Testament. Aaron was a required by the Lord to refill the lamp day and night to
keep the flame burning at all times (Exodus 27:20-21). The people of Israel
were to bring pure, crushed olive oil to Aaron daily. This refers to the
constant presence of the Spirit of the Lord that is needed and essential if
there is to be His indwelling blessing.
-The preparation for the
five wise virgins illustrates how we are to honor the Lord with our lives and
wait for His coming. Those who are wise
understand that the cultivation of the soul is essential to their walk with
Christ. Having an abiding relationship should naturally result in the daily
reading of the Word of God, prayer, and meditation, all of which are vital to
being ready for the Messiah. As believers we are to let our light shine before
men that they may see our good works and glorify the Father in Heaven (Matthew
5:16). As Christians we cannot afford to
grow complacent, drifting into worldliness while we are waiting. A good example
of this is found in Matthew 24:35-51 referring to a servant who was caught
unaware.
-The unwise virgins, or
fools, represent hypocrisy in Christianity. These women were not prepared; they
had a form of godliness but denied the power (2 Timothy 3:1-5). During the
great day of testing those who do not have an abiding relationship through the
oil of the Holy Spirit will find their lamps going out. By studying Scripture
you can observe that those whose lamps are going out cannot borrow at the time
of Christ coming from the wise. Each
believer is responsible for attending to his or her own soul. Do not be like
the unwise who is caught unaware with worldliness, complacency, and drifting in
the faith. You do not know the day or
the hour in which the Lord will return. Are you ready?
-Source: Talmud, Jewish Tradition of Love and Marriage by Maurice Lamm
-The next section depicts the scene when Jesus, the Son of
Man, comes in His glory with all the angels and sits on His glorious throne
(Matthew 25:31-46). All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will
judge them separating the sheep (believers) from the goats (unbelievers). Sheep
will go to the right into an inherited Kingdom with blessed eternal life and
the goats will go to the left departing into accursed eternal punishment, which
was prepared for the devil and his angels (notice it was not designed for
mankind but his rejection of Christ led them there) (Matthew 25:34, 41, 46).
-First of all in the parable of the giving of talents we see
that the Lord’s Kingdom is compared to a man who went on a journey and entrusted
his possessions to his servants (doulous,
slaves). Next we see that there is a distribution given out according to each’s
ability but in abundance (a talent, or resource, was a great amount of money).
Then we see either the produce of effort, or the squandering of opportunity by
the servants. There is a “long” time before the master comes back and settles
his accounts with the servants blessing the first two who produced double and
chastising the one who was lazy. The disciples were near Jerusalem and thought
that the Kingdom of God was going to appear immediately (Luke 19:11), but Jesus
says basically that He (as the nobleman in the story) was going to be going
away to receive a Kingdom for Himself and then return (Luke 19:20). The focus
is on how the stewards of the kingdom’s treasures use their resources to
increase. The king was so hard on the man who didn’t increase because: 1) he
didn’t share his master’s interest in the kingdom; 2) he didn’t trust his
master’s intentions; 3) his only concern was for himself; and 4) he did nothing
to use the money. *Application* Like
the king of this story, God has given you gifts to use on behalf on His
Kingdom. How bad do you want His Kingdom to increase? You have been given much
and have the power to make a difference. So you may not have all the talents in
the world, but you have been given abundant measure. Don’t squander any
prospect to do God’s work and especially don’t throw your opportunity for
salvation away by neglecting what Christ has done for you. Those who have done
more in this realm will be given even more in the Heavenly realm if they
produce.
-The Lord makes the point that it was Him who these were
ministering to, or not ministering to, in each situation whether it be feeding
the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, including the stranger, clothing the
naked, visiting the sick, or coming to the prisoner for companionship and
encouragement.
-*Application* It
is obvious here that we will be held accountable for everything we do in the
Name of Jesus Christ here on this earth. These acts of kindness come from a
pure heart that has been changed by the love of Christ and extends to others
who are in true and desperate need. Don’t reject the promptings of the Holy
Spirit when He tells you to help people. You are actually doing it, or not
doing it, directly to the Lord as we plainly see here in this passage.
Verses to Memorize:
Matthew 25:13, 46
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