February 10
Exodus 25-26
Psalm 20
Proverbs 4:23-24
Matthew 25:1-13
Oil in Their Lamps
“Then the kingdom of heaven may be compared to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the prudent took oil in flasks with their lamps.” Matthew 25:1-4 LSB
Following His teaching about the signs of the end of the age, Jesus taught them further using parables. The parable of the ten virgins emphasizes the importance of being prepared for His return. Those with saving faith and a relationship with Jesus will be ready for His return. The virgins represent all of humanity. The bridegroom is Jesus and the oil represents saving faith and the presence of the Holy Spirit. The wise virgins have the oil and are prepared for the return of Jesus and the foolish virgins do not have the oil and therefore, are not prepared for His return. Jesus often taught using parables to explain difficult concepts with things they were familiar with that would help them understand the spiritual truths.
The Jewish wedding was an elaborate affair. The bridegroom would come to the bride and her family and ask her to marry him. If she said yes, he would return to his father’s house for approximately a year to prepare a room for his bride in or connected to his father’s house. His father would watch his progress and decide when it was ready for the bride. One night he would tell the bridegroom to go get his bride. During that year, the bride would prepare herself for her coming wedding. She would get all of her belongings together, do beauty treatments, make her wedding dress, etc. She didn’t know when he was coming, but she knew when the year was almost over and the time should be getting close. As the time approached, she was ready for the night when she would hear the bridegroom and his groomsmen coming to take her to her new home. This ritual is a picture of the second coming of Christ. Jesus has gone to His Father’s house where He is preparing a place for His bride, the church. One day, His Father will tell Him it is time to go get His bride and He will come to take us to the place He has prepared for us.
Jesus used the Jewish wedding ceremony to explain the urgency of being prepared when the Bridegroom comes to get His bride at the rapture of the church. In this parable, the virgins took their lamps to meet the bridegroom. The virgins all had lamps so they looked like they were prepared, but having the lamp was not enough. With no oil in the lamp, it was virtually useless. The oil represents faith in Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit. If the Spirit of God does not dwell in you then you do not belong to God. When we believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes upon us and resides in us. This is the defining marker of a believer. Just as the oil in the lamp burns out continually and must be refilled, so we must be filled with more and more of the Holy Spirit. As we yield more of our lives to the Holy Spirit, He is able to fill us continually so that our light shines brightly in the world. This requires consistent times of prayer and worship so God can strengthen and renew us. I am not suggesting that the Holy Spirit leaves us and we lose our salvation when we are not yielding to Him and allowing Him to work in us. If He is present in our lives, He will not leave. However, the extent to which we are experiencing His peace, strength and guidance is directly related to the effort we put into our relationship with Him. If we are not experiencing the benefits of His presence it is because we are not doing the things we need to do to maintain the close connection to Him.
The 5 foolish virgins did not have any oil. They did not have a relationship with the bridegroom so when he came they were left behind. The 5 wise virgins had a relationship with the bridegroom and they were taken to the wedding feast. It is wise to evaluate our lives periodically to determine if we have the Holy Spirit living within us. Have you accepted Jesus into your heart? Is there evidence in your life of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? And it is also a good idea to periodically examine our hearts to see if we are being filled daily with the Holy Spirit. Are we allowing Him to dwell in us and cleanse us? Are we spending time in prayer and Bible study growing closer to Him so that our lights shine brightly in the dark world? If we have the Holy Spirit living in us, then when the rapture happens we will be taken to the place He has prepared for us in His Father’s house, but do we want to be found with just a little oil in our lamps or do we want Him to find us with our lamps spilling over with the Holy Spirit bursting out?
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