This week I want to look at the story Jesus tells us about the Kingdom in Matthew 25:1-13.
The kingdom is like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise and five were foolish.
In this story, we see Jesus responds to a question that was asked by the disciples about the signs of the times and the end of the age. These are things that Jesus tells them to look for, things that will be prevalent in the Kingdom. Other things will be signs in the world but this is something we can look for in the kingdom.
First, there will be wise and foolish people in the Kingdom. What distinguished them was not their lifestyle, they were all pure, but the preparation five of them did and five did not do. All ten of them had oil, but five of the ten took more than just the oil in their lamps.
So many Christians are scraping by day by day with a short prayer and a quick “Hi God” and feel that it is enough to carry them through for when the night comes. The lackadaisical spirit that is prevalent in so many people has left them unprepared for when hard times come. We have enough oil to see us through the first part of the night but when He comes we will scatter to see if somebody in the room has more than we have. The little oil we have in our lamps have given us a false sense of security. We don’t pray until it is a crisis or we need some breakthroughs, and we come up short every time. That should tell us something.
The number one thing that marked the Church in Acts was that they were a praying Church. They prayed until they were filled with the Holy Spirit. We cannot do less and expect to walk in the same power as they did. It is not that God cannot or even will not help. He has warned us. Be prepared for what is coming for you don’t know when He will come back.
I am not a doom and gloom preacher, the devil is good enough at his job, but we stand accountable for the hour we are living in. The second thing these virgins did was they all slumbered and slept. Wake up Church. Will we sleep while the world is going under the full sway of the enemy. He is playing like he wants to win it. Will we choose to sleep instead of watching and waiting.
Rev 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready.
Then at the midnight hour, it happened. There was a watchman on the wall. He was not one of the virgins. He was waiting for the coming of the Groom. We need more people that can stand on the walls of our cities and towns, warning all the sleepy people to wake up and get ready.
Midnight is the time He comes. Midnight was historically seen as the time that God judges. The same thing happened when God delivered Israel from Egypt. It is the night of the Passover Lamb.
Ex 12:29 And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn of the land of Egypt……
The symbolism of the midnight points towards the time of the night when it is darkest. It is the time when the day progresses towards the new day and new beginnings. It is the turning point of things and change is about to happen.
Five of the virgins left to go and find some oil. There were no shops open to buy oil from. While they are gone, absent, and occupied with their lack, the rest that prepared joined the Groom for the feast.
This is a sobering story and a warning for all of us. Are we keeping ourselves busy with the things that are filling our jars with oil or are preoccupied with the things of the world? What has your priority today?
We do not know the hour He is returning. I pray our lamps are filled with oil. Enough oil to last us till midnight.
