A few nights ago, in the early hours of the morning, I was awakened from my sleep by three loud knocks on a glass window — urgent knocks! I sat upright in bed and listened for a moment but heard nothing, but I got out of bed quickly and hurried to the front door. No one. No sound of running feet. Nothing.
Wide awake, I realized that the Lord had knocked on my spirit to awaken me for a reason. I went to my study and began praying — first that the Lord would protect our home and those within it, and then for family members, church members and church property.
Suddenly, the Lord began to speak to my spirit, so I stopped praying and listened. The following is what Jesus said and my understanding of its application to my life and to those I love:
“Behold, the bridegroom comes! Go out and meet him.” You’ll no doubt be aware of these words from the Parable of The Ten Virgins in Matthew 25:1-13. Each of the ten young, unmarried women had taken a lamp, and, as the custom was, gone out to escort the bridegroom to his marriage.
The Lord’s first words to me, however, began at verse 12. I those prior to these, five of the virgins are called “wise” for taking with them an extra supply of oil; and five as “foolish” because they did not. None of the ten knew the time the bridegroom would appear.
All ten have lamps, but only five of them are wise enough to take extra oil to refill them. When the bridegroom “tarries” all ten virgins fall asleep. But at midnight the call comes that the bridegroom is on his way, and the ten now awake virgins arise and “trim” their lamps — check the wicks and measure the amount of oil left in the lamps.
It is then that the five “foolish” ones discover the supply of oil remaining in their lamps is not enough to ensure their safe travel between the “midnight cry”, their meeting with the bridegroom, and the night walk to the marriage event — and they panic! They ask the five “wise” to share their amply supply of oil, but they refuse; a brightly-lit escort to the meeting and the marriage would be better than one with flickering lamps or no light at all perhaps.
So, off go the five “foolish” virgins into the dark night in search of oil sellers, who after being woken by their loud pleas, arise and refill their five lamps. Meantime, the bridegroom has appeared and has been escorted to the marriage by the five “wise” virgins, who enter with him. The other five arrive, eventually, but the door is closed and they are refused entry. Five of the ten virgins have missed out on the marriage.
None of us can walk in the light of another person’s lamp! Nor can we rise to meet the coming Lord Jesus while ‘standing on the shoulders’ of a faithful parent or grandparent’s prayers. It is truly said that God has no grandchildren. He has only children: those who have become so through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. Others will be refused entry. If you love your children, your grandchildren, or others dear to you, this parable will touch your heart deeply.
The Parable of The Ten Virgins raises an unsettling issue: namely that not every believer who has gone out to meet the coming Lord Jesus, and having fallen asleep because of his delay (which all ten did), on being awakened by the “midnight cry”, will have sufficient “oil” of the Spirit of God within them to ‘go the distance’ and so meet him when he appears.
Not only that, but also refused entry to “The Marriage Supper of the Lamb” — if the two parables refer to the same event. The question is how could they not?
“Be filled (NT Greek: “Be being filled”: continuously) with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:18-19)
Incidentally, it is the “delayed” coming of the “master” in Matthew 24:42-51 which is revealed in the diligence of the “faithful and wise servant” and the bad behaviour of his “evil servant”. So, delay may manifest wise preparation, as in The Parable of the Ten Virgins, but also abusive acts and degradation, as in the parable of the evil servant.
The stern warnings in Matthew 24:42 and Matthew 24:44 may be unsettling, but as the old saying has it: “An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.”
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!