seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Matthew 25:1 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
11 “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
12 “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag,[a] each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. 18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’
21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
22 “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’
23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28 “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
a. Matthew 25:15 Greek five talents … two talents … one talent; also throughout this parable; a talent was worth about 20 years of a day laborer’s wage.
This is from bible-studys.org.
The parable of the 10 virgins is given to underscore the importance of being ready for Christ’s return in any event – even if He delays longer than expected. For when He does return, there will be no second changes for the unprepared.
The fact that they all slept “while the bridegroom tarried” implies a period of Jewish inactivity during the church age, while the bride is gathered.
The symbolism of the parable is: The groom is symbolic of Jesus. The arrival of the groom is the rapture. The 10 virgins are symbolic of the church. The wise were ready to meet him, the foolish were not. The oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. When a person is born again, they receive the Holy Spirit, thus will have oil in their lamp. This is a believer who understands that they can do nothing on his own but is totally dependent upon God for His righteousness and anointing and on God’s word for truth, comfort and strength.
Jesus told the 5 foolish virgins that He knew them not. Many claim to know Christ but are not obedient and do not live their lives for Christ. They remain in the world living in the flesh, claiming to know Christ, but in reality, their knowledge was head knowledge only and not heart knowledge. Read Matthew 7:21-23 for what Jesus told them.
The parable of the talents further emphasizes the need for personal preparation and faithful service to the Master (see also Luke 19:11-28). The “talents” represent large units of money and are distributed according to “ability”. “Far country” indicates the time during which Jesus is in heaven, between His first coming and His final return.
The three “servants” are typical of three types who are entrusted with various tasks in accordance with their own ability. Not all are expected to produce the same results, but all are to be faithful with what they have had entrusted to them. Thus, the first two double their money, while the last one hides the “one … in the earth.”
The phrase “after a long time” gives a veiled indication of the length of Christ’s session in heaven during the present age. Each of those producing results is commended by the Master. “Well done … good and faithful servant”, and is promised to be a “ruler over many things,” with a view to continued service in the millennial kingdom.
The great mistake of the unfaithful servant is in misjudging the character of his Master: “thou art a hard man.” He could not have known the Master well to assume him to be severe and merciless. He fails to understand the real generosity of his Master, who wanted him to experience the joys of service.
The fact that the latter Man is called “wicked and slothful” and an “unprofitable servant”, who is cast into “outer darkness,” indicates that he is not a true disciple of the Master.
This is from bibletrack.org.I'm confident that these verses are given to explain the actions of faith during the Tribulation period leading up to the Second Coming of Jesus by those who are not Jews. That differentiation is made clear by the Greek usage of the word "ethnos" (translated "nations" in the KJV) in verse 32. That word is used frequently in the New Testament to differentiate between Jews and non-Jews, very often being translated "Gentile(s)." Here, the concept is that before him shall be gathered all nations [non-Jewish people who are alive at the end of the tribulation]. Verse 31 clearly gives us the time frame and setting for this judgment - at the conclusion of the Tribulation to determine who enters into the millennium. Most fundamental Bible teachers do agree that this "judgment of the nations" is a judgment of non-Jews at the end of the tribulation. Here we have the "sheep" as representations of the righteous and "goats" as representations of the "unrighteous" during the period of Tribulation. So...how does a non Jew express his faith in Jesus during the period of Tribulation leading up to the Second Coming of Jesus? The "faithful" Gentiles (non Jews) of the Tribulation will express their faith in Jesus Christ by ministering to the needs of those about the business of evangelizing the world. Those who are deemed at the end of the Tribulation to be "faithful" are rewarded in verse 34, "Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:" Those "goats" on the left who are deemed to have been "unfaithful" (faithless) during this period of Tribulation have their reward in verse 41, "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:" The final reality of this judgment is found in Matthew 25:46, "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."
Jesus came to bring eternal life to everyone who wanted it..... not just the immediate family. The whole Old Testament was a story about the descendants of Jacob [Israel]. Back towards the beginning of the Old Testament.... God sent a flood that wiped out everyone except Noah's family. Noah was a descendant of Abraham. Noah had three sons. They were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Shem was the great great great great whatever grandfather of Jesus the Messiah. The great great great great whatever grandchildren of Ham and Japheth were the fathers of everyone else.
Back in the beginning.... when God was considering how humans should have a set of teeth that would all fall out and be replaced naturally..... God already knew about the flood He would use to clean the earth. I bet He talked to His Son while He was sculpting those baby teeth. I believe Jesus knew that His great great great whatever grandmother Ruth would be a descendant of Japheth. So there were cousins.... family members.... that were not direct descendants of Jacob [Israel].
So now... Jesus has entered Jerusalem.. His days are numbered. This is when Jesus has to rally the troops so that His teachings can endure after He is hung on the Cross and placed in that borrowed tomb. The news of the empty tomb would be extremely exciting... just like the first time a baby uses those sharp little teeth. Jesus is talking about keeping that news going..... making it a permanent part of human life.... just like the permanent teeth that replace the baby teeth.
There are a lot of people who claim to be Christians. Those my age remember reciting a verse from the Bible every morning right before the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of the school day. Those my age were taught how to behave based on the rules set by the church. Like the ten virgins, though, while we were waiting for Jesus to return.... we started working on Sunday instead of going to church. We stopped trying to read the Word. We let our oil burn out.
There are a lot of people who claim to be Christians. They start out knowing that they have to share their good news. Back in the times when Jesus was teaching.... it wasn't safe to go anywhere. There were bandits... and thieves... and even corrupt tax collectors.... that would steal everything that wasn't tied down. So those who had to travel.... would sew coins in their clothes so the thieves wouldn't get them... just so they could buy a dove at an inflated price at the market outside the Temple... so they could do their sacrifice. Anything of value, left at home.... was buried in the ground. There weren't a lot of banks or fire safes around yet.
The news that Jesus the Messiah had conquered death.... and walked out of that tomb... was big news. There were people though, and still are I might add, who were afraid to tell others. They were afraid others would not receive the message. The descendants of Jacob [Israel] were given a Messiah.... their own guy in charge.... they were the top bananas... the chosen ones with the ultimate king... a king who could heal the sick with a thought [thought not just a touch.... He healed people without touching them].... a king who make the wind stop blowing.... a king who could make the sea behave..... but they tried to bury the story.
The story that scares me the most tho is the story of the sheep and the goats. Sheep and goats were said to look the same..... that reminds me of the Christians and the pew warmers..... Christians and hypocrites.... Those pew warmers... the hypocrites.... the better than you.... don't wear that to my church.... you don't belong here.... make it really really really hard to spread the good news because humans can't tell us apart.
Jesus wants us to treat others as we want to be treated. Jesus wants us to hang in there and keep spreading the news. He knows it's hard to stay excited.... He knows people are looking down on Christians these days. He knows. Those baby teeth are sharp.... but if we can stay in the Word and keep our Faith... then we'll get our permanent teeth.
