Matthew 25:1 – 13

The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins

1 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them,

4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.

6 “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’

7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.

8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’

9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’

10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.

11 “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’

12 But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’

13 “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

Jesus is using this parable to relate to His second coming. It is a story about an upcoming wedding which the participants are there and waiting the coming of the groom.

The time of the story is the time we are waiting in now, we have accepted Jesus as our savior and are waiting his return as we live our lives on earth.

This story tells us the virgins represent the kingdom of heaven (the church). We are the virgins, we are either the wise or the foolish.

This fits with the second coming of Christ because we are told the second coming is the marriage of the bride (church) to the groom (Messiah)

Revelation 19:7 (Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.”)

Revelation 21:2 (Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.)

Revelation 21:9 (Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.”)

The virgins were divided into two categories, those who were wise enough to be prepared to handle their responsibilities, and those who were foolish enough to ignore the requirements of the necessary materials needed to handle the responsibilities they were assigned.

In verses 3 and 4 it indicates the virgins had the responsibilities of providing the light for this ceremony, they brought lamps which were similar to the ones used in the Arabian story of the lamp and the fictitious Genie. Only instead of brass these were likely to have been ceramic in nature, but they burned olive oil in order to produce light, the light was produced by a wick which was made of twisted flax which was placed in the spout and extended down into the oil reservoir and then lit to produce the light.

The wise virgins took extra oil to make sure they had enough to last the entire time it was needed.

The wedding normally would have begun in the late evening, but the bridegroom was delayed in his arrival. So the virgins became drowsy and then slept as the time elapsed into the late night.

When the bridegroom arrives at midnight the participants must be wakened so there is a loud shout to wake them. Many are sleeping because of the lateness of the hour.

All of the virgins must make their lamps ready to provide light so they must trim the wick and make sure there is plenty of oil in the lamp.

The attendants who were unprepared discovered they did not have enough oil in their lamps to keep the light burning. So they begged the prepared virgins for extra oil from them to keep their lights lit.

The wise virgins who came prepared, had not brought enough oil to allow the foolish virgins to use from their supply. So the foolish needed to leave and go find a retailer who would sell them the needed oil to participate at the wedding. The waiting was over and the wedding was about to begin.

While they were gone the festivities began and the gate was closed.

After they had bought oil these foolish virgins returned and begged the gatekeeper to open the gate and allow them to enter the wedding.

Because they had left the facility hosting the wedding the gatekeeper refused to allow them entry to the festivities. He did not recognize them as being participants who were entitled to be present at the wedding.

Verse 13 gives us the message we need to keep in our lives. We do not know when Jesus will return to take the faithful with Him to heaven.

We need to live our lives in a manner which keeps us prepared to be gathered with the faithful at Christ's coming.

If we live as though we are not followers of Christ then we are like the foolish virgins coming to gain entry after the gates are closed.

Jesus will say; “Sorry, I never knew you.”