The Ten Virgins
A question is asked in Matthew 24:
Matthew 24:45, “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? 46, blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.”
He then goes on to identify an evil servant in verse 48:
Matthew 24:48, But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, “My Lord delayeth His coming.”
And in verse 51 we read:
Matthew 24:51, “And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Jesus addresses two types of servants, one who was wise and the other who thought his lord delayed his coming. The one who was wise knew that Christ is our wisdom,1st Corinthians 1:30, and the other should have believed that Christ comes quickly and has no intention of delaying His coming, Revelation 3:11; 22:7. We, His disciples, who make no room for Christ to return, is the reason why it was thought that Christ delays His coming. (see our article, No Room In The Inn )
Just before Jesus was to be crucified, He gave this parable:
Matthew 25:1, “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. 2, And five of them were wise and five were foolish. 3, They that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them: 4, But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
According to the Bible, Psalms 119:105 tells us that: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
To be a wise servant, we can’t neglect what Jesus said in the Gospel of John.
John 2:23, Now when He was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in His name, when they saw the miracles which He did. 24, But Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, because He knew all men. 25, And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.
Jesus said that He knew what was in man. What did He mean by “what was in man”? Those who are in Christ, and are members of His body posses the wisdom of God to know and understand what had happened in the Garden of Eden. They knew and understood how Adam had made the choice for all his progeny to a death penalty, Romans 5:12.
The message of the ten virgins is for the deeper understanding of the Church Christ is building. All members of the Church, the body of Christ, have had an opportunity to read and understand what God has revealed to us, especially the fall of man and its cause, how, in the Garden of Eden, Adam rejected his creator God, changed the glory of God into a lie, and was now filled with the nature of Satan, not only for himself but to pass the serpentine nature to all born after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, Roman’s 5:14.
Adam’s Rejection of the Uncreated Life
According to the Book of Genesis, chapter 2 says that Adam was given a warning of not eating of the Tree of Good and Evil, Genesis 2:17. Adam could have taken of any tree planted in the Garden, but Eve liked what she saw, how the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was pleasant to the eyes, Genesis 3:6, and changed her desire from the trees in the Garden, including the Tree of Life, which represented God’s uncreated Life. Adam and his wife Eve already had the human life but God’s intention was to raise Adam and his wife Eve from the human life to the Divine Life. Then, they would be legitimate true children of God. They rejected God’s Life and choose instead the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God’s tree was pure but the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was a mixture. Satan was once called Lucifer and had been perfect in all his ways.
Ezekiel 28:15, “Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created till inequity was found in thee.”
If Adam had taken of the Tree of Life, he would have passed God’s uncreated Life to those who were created male and female on the sixth day, according to God’s order. Rested with God on the seventh day, and on the next day, the eight day, they would have undergone resurrection. 8 is the number to indicate resurrection. God’s intention was to fill His children with His righteousness by filling them within with Himself. God expected Adam to do just that but he failed his test. Now, because of Adam’s failure, God had to issue a promised Seed in Genesis 3:15. who would do what Adam failed to do.
The Gospel according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as well as the Apostle Paul.
We have known of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, but have we considered the Apostle Paul’s book of Romans and included it as a continuation to the four gospels as well, Romans 1:1. The four Gospels were written during Jesus ministry before His death and resurrection, but the book of Romans was written after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Keeping the law will Never Save Us. We Need Resurrection
The Gospel to the Romans, the 1st chapter, is describing the pitiful condition man left to himself was in. It discloses how man is in dire need of a Savior. We need to remember that Jesus, according to the book of Romans, was not on the earth any longer, but has ascended to His Father’s Throne and is ministering to His body of believers from heaven.
Romans 1:7, “To all be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints; Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Here in the Book of Romans, we read that the grace of God is extended to His called ones. The Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were written for us to understand that Jesus, as the last Adam, concluded the old covenant and brought in a new covenant, Hebrews 8:13, a covenant paid for with His blood sacrifice which was a gospel of grace and not law.
Romans 1:25, “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, Who is blessed forever, Amen.”
The word creature in verse 25 is number 2937 in Strong’s Dictionary and it means: building, creation, creature, ordinance. It’s prime is found in 3936: create, Creator, to make.
Men have always worshiped and served the creation rather that God. Men have worshipped the sun, moon, stars, and practiced praying to people who lived in the flesh once and then died. Exodus 32:19 tells us that God’s people worshiped a calf, who they believed had delivered them from the Egyptians. They even worshiped the sabbath created by God on the seventh day. The Jews of today worship time beginning at Friday sunset until Saturday sunset as holy time. They worship a created day, not the Creator of that day. Of course, the Jews never believed that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. One of the purposes of Jesus was to reveal His Father, Matthew 11:27; Luke 10:22.
John 4:23, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. 24, God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”
We Worship the Uncreated God
To worship God, we must look to the Eternal, Life Giving One, Who says of Himself ,”I Am that I Am.”
Psalms 145:13, “Thy Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, And thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.”
This is the life and kingdom we look forward to inheriting, to be joined to the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, not created in the Godhead but as true son’s and daughters of the Eternal God and Father for eternity.
When Jesus made mention in John 2:25, “He knew what was in man,” He was referring to the serpentine nature, Satan’s nature, within all men, inherited by Adam in the Garden of Eden. This is the reason Christ died for all men, to pay the ransom price for all God would call to Himself and those who had a heart for God.
The foolish virgins were those who, although they were virgins, didn’t consider the serpentine nature within themselves and didn’t realize that they had to willingly dislodge the nature that was natural but carnal which was inherited from Adam and an offence to God. This is the messages to the seven churches in the Book of Revelation. “To him who overcomes”. We need to empty our natural life, the life of the flesh, and become a new man, Ephesians 4:24. A new creation, (creature), requires that we willingly become a new man, We can read of the action the Apostle John says of Jesus Christ immediately after being accepted by His Father, John 20:22. This can only be accomplished with the mingling of our spirit with the Spirit of God.
2nd Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
God’s Challenge
The Nation of Israel at Mount Sinai heard God speaking His law written on two tables of stone. However, we read in the Book of Galatians, written to those who believe that God’s intention was for the people to be doers of the law are mistaken. God would never command His people to do anything that would put them back into bondage.
Galatians 4:25, For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
But we, who have the Spirit of Christ, Philippians 1:19, God’s gift, Romans 6:23 are free.
John 8:36, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”
Because we are in Christ, we not only are doers of the law, but keep the spiritual intent also. Little by little, God’s Spirit, Christ, has transformed us, who once had a serpentine nature, back to His pleasure, Revelation 4:11.
Galatians 4:26, But Jerusalem which is above is free which is the mother of us all.
The challenge God faced was how to get the law which was written on two tables of stone outside of man and bring the law within man. That’s the challenge and miracle performed by God’s only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
He was spoken of as a Seed of the woman in Genesis 3:15, that seed would be placed within a virgin and called Emanuel, meaning “God with us”, Isaiah 7:14. Announced where He would be born in Bethlehem Micah 5:2, and the book of Luke tells of His birth and the events surrounding His birth, Luke 1:5-80.
He willingly gave His life for His sheep, men and women. In doing so, He took away the wall of separation between God and man. Now, because we are in Christ, we are a new creature, 2nd Corinthians 5:17, and have had our heart of stone removed, and given a fleshly heart.
Ezekiel 36:26, “A new heart also will I give you,and a new spirit I will put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
This is the work God is doing through Jesus Christ. The law that was once outside of us is now within us. The law has become part of our new nature. God has brought us out of the old man, Ephesians 4:22, a time when we did’t know God, to a new man, Ephesians 4:24,to a time when we are know of God.
The five foolish virgins lacked the wisdom of the Scriptures, and the understanding that Christ is God’s wisdom, 1st Corinthians 1:30.