1"At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5The 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. 8The 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. 'Sir! Sir!' they said. 'Open the door for us!'
12"But he replied, 'I tell you the truth, I don't know you.'
13"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.(NIV)
Ever Wonder what Jesus was speaking about?
"The five wise are Faith and Love and Grace and Peace and Hope."
The five foolish, "They are Knowledge, Understanding (Perception), Obedience, Patience, and Compassion." (Taken from "epistle of the apostles" translation by M.R. James)
To as one with Christ and to join the Sainthood of the Church, we should to possess all these attributes. In this way Christ will know us.
I believe this is about the second coming of Christ. Being ready, as the 5 wise were, means they had done more than profess their belief. We can say anything.
In the letter to the seven churches in Revelation, you will notice that the one thing they all have in common is, Jesus tells them all, "I know your works".
I know, about now you are screaming in your head, we are saved through faith, not works, lest any man should boast, and he that believeth in Him should not perish, among others. But we learn in James that faith without works is dead.
James was telling us that if we are not DOING, then we don't really believe. We are to put that faith in to action.
Now, just in case you may think I have a works based salvation....no such thing! Salvation is all of God, and none of me. I do not work to be saved, but because I am saved.
It is all about that burning desire to help others. If you don't have that, it is time for you to go buy some oil (Holy Spirit).
Works you speak of are in the same chapter Matthew 25:
31-33"When he finally arrives, blazing in beauty and all his angels with him, the Son of Man will take his place on his glorious throne. Then all the nations will be arranged before him and he will sort the people out, much as a shepherd sorts out sheep and goats, putting sheep to his right and goats to his left.
34-36"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what's coming to you in this kingdom. It's been ready for you since the world's foundation. And here's why:
I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.'
37-40"Then those 'sheep' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?' Then the King will say, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me�you did it to me.'
41-43"Then he will turn to the 'goats,' the ones on his left, and say, 'Get out, worthless goats! You're good for nothing but the fires of hell. And why? Because�
I was hungry and you gave me no meal,
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
I was homeless and you gave me no bed,
I was shivering and you gave me no clothes,
Sick and in prison, and you never visited.'
44"Then those 'goats' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn't help?'
45"He will answer them, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me�you failed to do it to me.'
46"Then those 'goats' will be herded to their eternal doom, but the 'sheep' to their eternal reward." (The Message)
The parable of the Ten Virgins has been a traditionally difficult one to understand. It is about the second coming. It describes the bridegroom procession going to carry off the Bride and take her away with Him. It can be seen as a type of the Rapture of the church. The Jewish culture give an example of the Lord taking His bride to be united together with Him i.e.
physically and more importantly Spiritually. It can mirror the earthly marriage of the flesh in this world which is fading away, Matthew 22:30.
The Ten Virgins can be like sheep and goats, Sounds good. The oil is said to be the Holy Spirit but I think is may also be theIsaiah 61:3
Oil Joy of the Lord as well. Joy and rejoicing come when someone gets saved and certainly when the Lord returns. If that be the case, losing your Joy, or Oil of Joy can make it difficult to see through the darkness. Therefore the church/bride should be prepared and ready for they do not know when the Bridegroom will come.
The literalists (those who believe the bible should be read as it is written and taken literally) of which I am among, hold to a pretribulational rapture of the church and believe in premillenialism. If you don't know what those terms mean a good book is "The Bible & Future Events" by Leon J. Wood. It is a concise survey of eschatology (study of end times).
Allow me to explain:
Based on the premillenial pretribulational views The event described in Matthew 25:31----- aka The separating of the Sheep and the Goats is simply understood as follows:
The Time: at the very end of 7 years of Tribulation, about right after the Battle of Armageddon
The People:
Goats = gentiles who treated Jews poorly
Sheep = gentiles who treated Jews nicely (i.e. fed clothed etc) because the Jews will be greatly persecuted in the last 3 1/2 years of Tribulation aka The Time of Jacobs Trouble, The Great Tribulation etc.
So, in short the literalist view is: The Goats persecuted the Jews along with The AntiChrist and the Sheep treated the Jews well at that time.
Their futures:
The Goats are cast into everlasting fire
The Sheep enter into the Millennial Kingdom of Christ in the New Jerusalem (on this earth in a completely restored condition) where the Saints (raptured and living in their glorified bodies) will rule and reign with Christ for....... a thousand years... and the rest is prophecy!
Note: If you hold to other views of scripture that's fine with me.. I believe the bible means what it says.
As for the account of Ten Virgins, I believe that the bridegroom is Christ and the wise virgins are the saved and the foolish virgins are not saved (procrastinating) and the coming of the bridegroom in verse 10 is the rapture of the Church.
I can't really call the account of the 10 virgins a parable but more of a warning to get saved. Thompson's chain reference bible uses the term "Lamps of Profession" relating to verse 3 and 4.. and I would have to agree with F.C. Thompson D.D. PH. D. (although I don't always agree with him on everything perfectly I find his study bible to be a widely respected work and highly accurate in most points as well as a very effective tool for digging).
So, to further break down Matthew 25: I see multiple events being exposed and related to in story and literal form by Christ including but not limited to:
Admonition to Salvation
Salvation universally available
Coming of Christ
Readiness (i.e. today is the day of salvation...)
Rapture of the church v10 "the bridegroom came"
Marriage supper of the Lamb foretold
Admonition to exercise gifts and faith (v14-30) etc. etc...
and then in verses 31-46 the Second Coming of Christ...
Now the Second Coming of Christ is thought by literal theologians largely to be separate from the rapture... and the Second Coming of Christ is thought to take place right about at the end of the 7 year Tribulation (Daniels 70th week ref. Daniel 9:24-27). The reason the Rapture isn't a coming of Christ is because in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 the apostle writes "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." So this is why Christ's Second Coming is different than the Rapture. In the Rapture (1 Thess 4:17) Christ comes in the clouds and in the Second Coming (Separating of Sheep and Goats) Christ actually descends a second time to the earth. The first time Christ descended to the earth was by the Holy Spirit as a baby (conception). Of course Christ was present on the earth prior to his coming in the flesh but His First coming is so called because He wore the flesh, and his second coming he will also come in his glorified resurrected body and this time He will be Judge and Earthly King as well as Savior.
So to simply timeline the literalist view of events..
1. Rapture of Church
2. Marriage supper of Lamb
3. 7 years of tribulation
4. Second Coming of Christ-beginning of Millennial Reign
5. Separating of Sheep and Goats
There are of course a lot more events but these are some very defining milestones pertaining to Matthew chapter 25, as one can see it deals with a wide array of events of the future period of several years while these events take place.
Hopefully I haven't opened too many cans of worms.. and you can always buy the book or we can chat further about it!.
" We that are alive and remain" could just as easily mean the saints who have survives the tribulation period.
The Kingdom parables of Matt. 13 speak directly against rapture theory, especially the wheat and the tares, and this was Jesus speaking.
Why is it that every time someone wants to argue a controversial point of view they claim to take the Bible literally? The bible never talks about a rapture, that is us putting things together and then saying this is what it all means. It takes great imagination to believe in the rapture.
If this holds true, then there will be 3 comings, not 2, as the Bible says. There will be two more resurrections, not one, and you are claiming that that God cares more about us than His people, Israel. He didn't save them during the Babylonian siege, when mothers were eating their babies, and everyone gad been eating their own feces for months. Don't you think He would have saved His faithful then, if He were ever going to?
I don't care what you believe about the rapture, it has nothing to do with me, but stop claiming that it is a literal translation of the Bible, because it isn't even close. It is your understanding based on a modern teaching.
I apologize for my passion, and the truth is...none of this makes any difference anyway. We are called to preach the Gospel, not teach doctrine. I get carried away sometimes and forget that.
Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 2:2, For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That is what we need to be remembering, not rapture theory, or other divisive debates.
For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
Anyways I Corinthians 15 also speaks of a reunion of the body and a putting on of incorruptible and in the twinkling of an eye and so on.
But, Beside the point.... Just putting things out there. If you want to attempt to refute or cast dispersion then so be it! It isn't a soul saving doctrine however I believe the gospel is the only soul saving doctrine.. Christ alone. However if one gets saved and stays at the cross (never grows in grace) then I reckon that individuals perfecting (walk with God) would have to take place at some point later on.
And Regarding Matthew 13 the parable of the wheat and tares... the wheat and tares are most widely viewed by non-critical theologians as the world... i.e. Everyone!~ So, in short children of God and children of the devil growing up together, the harvesters being angels, etc etc etc.
I mean Jesus wasn't wasting his breath....
I don't have to respond to every post on here and try to make my views known to everyone... but seriously... Don't get all twisted just because someone has a different stance!!
Nice point with the Hebrews scripture. I was thinking along the lines of the division this discussion always brings, and how everyone claims their view is a literal translation of the Bible.
The truth is, if everyone that claimed their view was the literal translation was right, there would be no more arguing. We all, or almost all, think our view is the literal translation.
In Matt. 13, Jesus says the angels will first remove the tares, or children of the wicked one, then the children of God. Now, what would be the use of having a tribulation period on earth if there is no one here? And according to Jesus, the unrighteous will get taken out of the world first. Sets a whole new set of possibilities for your Corinthian 15 verse, doesn't it?
I am not trying to change your views, I could just as easily be wrong as you could. I am trying to say that we have to quit trying to say our opinion is the literal translation of the Bible.
My point was that none of this is important in the bigger picture of salvation. First, we are supposed to make sure they are going to heaven, before we start arguing about the trip.
Now, as for your personal remarks, I forgive you brother, we all say things we shouldn't when we are angry.
Haha, Leon you are funny man. I wasn't addressing you personally. So, please... it's not personal.. Just throwing stuff out there. Thanks for the laugh
