The story is told of a woman who frantically called her insurance agent and said, “Sir, I need to increase the insurance coverage on my house.” The agent responded to her request by saying, “Well Madam. . . come down to the office this week and we can sign the appropriate documents and make it happen.” She continued by saying, “Sir, you don’t understand, I need to increase the insurance coverage now, this is urgent.” The agent repeated, “Madam, there are some documents that need to be signed and it cannot be done over the phone? Madam. . . I will come out to your house tomorrow.” “Sir you don’t understand—My house is on fire. I need to increase the coverage right now.”

There are some things you can put off in life until tomorrow, however, there are other things that have to be done today, or there may be catastrophic consequences. There are some things in life that don’t  matter very much if we put them off for awhile. And other things if we put them off we may be eternally lost. Preparation for the second coming of Christ is one of those things we cannot put off. The choices we make today will reveal our future, our destiny either for Christ or against. This is why one of the most important decisions in life is to choose Jesus today.

But making this decision is not enough. Many people in the world made this decision at one moment in their lives, but then the love of this world attracted them more than the love of God shown on the cross through His beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Saviour.  The important point here is not only how to get ready for Jesus’ second coming but especially how to stay ready until He comes.

Today is the time to build a righteous character by the enabling grace of God that will stand the test. This is the time to appropriate to ourselves God’s offers of mercy and pardon, while there is still a door of probation open to us. Isaiah 55:6 “Seek ye the LORD while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near.” Isaiah 55:6. “. . .behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:2, last part

Jesus says in Matthew 24:42, “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.”  Jesus encourages the church to watch. In Matthew chapter 25 there are recorded three parables: The parable of the ten virgins, the parable of the talents and the parable of the sheep and the goats. These parables explain to us what it means to watch and prepare for Christ coming. In Matthew’s gospel there are about 20 parables and most of them are “kingdom of God” parables. They are parables that specifically address the nature of the spiritual condition within the Church. The reason why Matthew chapter 25 is so significant is because it describes the spiritual condition of the Church awaiting the second coming of Christ. Now is the time to make sure that we have on hand an abundant supply of the oil of the grace of Christ.

Reading from the Spirit of Prophecy, “I am often referred to the parable of the ten virgins. Five of whom were wise and five of whom were foolish. This parable has been and will be fulfilled to the very letter.” –The Review and Herald, August 19, 1890. Heaven realizes that the parable of the ten virgins is so important, significant and vital for the Church today that God brought it to the end-time prophet’s mind again and again. Today is no time for an easy-going, empty religion. God is calling you to make earnest preparation.

The kingdom of heaven in this parable refers to the Church. Every time you see a “kingdom of heaven” parable—Christ is addressing the Church. In Matthew 25:1 it says, “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins.” Why ten? Why not seven, the perfect number? Why not 12, the number of completeness? Why not 4—universality? Why not 3? Ten. Ten was a significant number in Judaism. Ten was the smallest number of Jewish men that could compose a Synagogue and establish it. So, the number ten is a Church number. Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins. The  number ten in reference to this parable spoken by Jesus is very important. Why? Because Jesus is addressing  the Church.

The Bible shows us that virgins are represented by the Church in a pure and uncorrupted doctrine, the true Church, God’s remnant people. In Revelation 12 the pure woman represents God’s Church. And in Revelation 17 the harlot represents the fallen Church. So, in this parable in Matthew 25 Jesus addressed  the true Church that teaches sound doctrine.

Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps. Regarding the lamps, we read in Psalm 119:105, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”

So here is depicted God’s Church at the time of the end with the word of God in its hand, going out to light the way for the coming of the Bridegroom. Here is God’s Church, anxiously awaiting something. In the last part Matthew 25:1 we see that they went out to meet the Bridegroom. Here is represented God’s remnant people who anticipate the coming of Christ. They believe Jesus is coming. This parable is relating to God’s Church at the end-time who enlighten the way for the coming of the Bridegroom with pure undefiled doctrine. The Bible tells us in Matthew 25:2 something very significant. “And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.”  Notice that the story does not contrast the righteous and unrighteous virgins, it does not contrast the holy and unholy virgins, it does not contrast the righteous and the unrighteous virgins. The Bible calls them, what? Wise and foolish virgins.

“While the Bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.” Matthew 25:5. The true church is pictured as spiritually sleeping just prior of the coming of Jesus. This is the message of the parable.

The question then is, what makes a wise virgin wise? And what makes a foolish virgin foolish? As I reflect on the parable and read it again and again I ask myself, “God, could I ever unknowingly, unwittingly be a foolish virgin myself?”

Let us look at the characteristics of the foolish virgins and then at the characteristics of the wise virgins and at the contrasts between them.

What makes the foolish virgins foolish and the wise virgins wise? “They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them.” Matthew 25:3. When you look at the ancient world, often in ancient weddings the bride and her bridesmaids would be in a home. Jesus was sitting  on the Mount of Olives and He saw a wedding like this taking place; He used it as an illustration for the preparation for His return. The Bridegroom would come to the bride’s home unexpectedly, at night, and the word would go out—the cry that the bridegroom is coming—and the bridesmaids would light the way before the bride to go the bridegroom’s home. The wedding feast may last a week and if you did not enter in when the feast started the door would be shut and you could not enter in.

In Matthew chapter 25:3 it says that those who were foolish took their lamps but took no extra oil with them. It does not say that they did not have oil in their lamps. In the ancient world oil was placed in the lamp. But a flask of oil was taken along with the lamp so that when the oil in the lamp ran out, the flask of oil would be used to replenish the oil that had been used up in the lamp. The fact that the foolish virgins had some oil is significant. Reading further in Matthew 25:5–8 it records that the foolish virgins had some oil but they did not have a sufficient supply of oil and because of the delay the small amount of oil that they had was not sufficient to take them on the journey from the bride’s home to the bridegroom’s home, and their lamps had gone out. Now, they lack this indispensable oil. In the Scripture, oil is used as a symbol of the Holy Spirit. The wise virgins are those who have faith and love and patience, whose experience day by day is nourished by the Holy Spirit.

But there are many symbols of the Holy Spirit in the Bible. For example, fire is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Why didn’t they have a candle of fire? Wind is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Why does God take the symbolism of the oil and use this as an illustration of what the foolish virgins did not have? If you look throughout the Old Testament oil is associated with three things. First: consecration; second: healing; and, third: illumination. When the Sanctuary was inaugurated, the priests and the sacred vessels were anointed with oil. So oil represents consecration. The setting apart, oil represents total commitment to the kingdom of God. Oil in the Bible represents healing also. You recall that in the New Testament when the Good Samaritan found the bruised broken bloody traveler, he anointed the body of this man with oil. Oil symbolises healing. It represents consecration, healing and illumination. Oil provides the basis for the lamps. God will have an end-time people consecrated to Him whose inner attitudes are healed. They will be healed from attitudes that would keep them from being the power for witnessing that God wants to the world. They will hold the torch of truth high to light the way to the coming of the Bridegroom. God longs to have a group of people filled with the Spirit who are consecrated to Him; healed from bitterness, envy, jealousy, competition, pride, arrogance, a people who are not interested in what they do but in what Jesus does.

The foolish virgins had some oil but not enough. They thought the limited supply of oil they had was sufficient for them. Their supply of oil was not sufficient for the anticipated delay. Here are some questions we should consider: are you depending on an experience with God that you had in the past and not the present? How is your devotional life? Do you know Jesus? Is Jesus living in your soul and moving in your life today? The foolish virgins trusted that the past experience that they once had would be sufficient to take them to the wedding feast. The foolish virgins were superficial and conservative. But the foolish virgins lacked something deep inside. We read:

“The class represented by the foolish virgins are not hypocrites. They have a regard for the truth, they have advocated the truth, they are attracted to those who believe the truth; but they have not yielded themselves to the Holy Spirit’s working. They have not fallen upon the Rock, Christ Jesus, and permitted their old nature to be broken up. . . . The Spirit works upon man’s heart, according to his desire and consent implanting in him a new nature; but the class represented the foolish virgins have been content with a superficial work.” –Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 411 (emphasis mine)

In outward appearance everything was fine. They have lamps in their hands—what more do they need? They thought that they were ready for the coming of the Bridegroom—but there is a difference, brothers and sisters, between having the word of God in our hand to defend the truth and having the word of God in our heart to live by the truth. The foolish virgins were informed but not transformed. They were instructed by the word but not changed through the word. They were convicted of the truth but not changed by the truth. Here is the essential question; has the truth which you believe—the truth which you share with others—radically impacted and transformed your life so that you are a different man or woman today?

May God help us deep within our hearts to search for the truth and live by it is my wish and prayer. Amen.

Nicholas Anca