PREPARING FOR THE BRIDEGROOM

1.  The Pathetic Five

In Matthew 25:1-13, Jesus gave the famous Parable of the Ten Virgins, five of whom were wise, and five of whom were foolish.  In the conclusion to that parable, He warned, “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh” (v.13).  In other words, that parable was a caring Master’s earnest caution against the possibility of tragic carelessness, on His return, by a worrisome percentage of followers otherwise considered to be saints.

In that parable, the distinction between the two categories of virgins was not between sinners and saints, or the holy and the unclean; it was between the wise and the foolish – or between wisdom and foolishness. That takes me to a very worrisome question: Can someone be a virgin, be in the proper company of virgins, yet be shut out of the coming Great Wedding?  The answer is a troubling Yes, according to the Parable.  Why?  We shall find out.

2.  They all Knew the Day

The conclusion to the parable, where Jesus said, “ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh,” is one of the Bible passages often deployed by a section of Christians to insist that it is more or less an abomination for anyone (except themselves, sometimes) to claim that they received a divine pointer to any calendar days of the Master’s return.  In their rageful spirituality, sadly, they would usually hear nothing other than their pet bias, and are often impatient to carefully read the Bible passages that they thus weaponize against other disciples, labelling them as unpardonable “date setters” whereas they are merely watchers of a seen day, according to Hebrews 10:25, rather than the ‘setters’ of it.  It is the difference between watchmen and the rest.

Truly, each one will speak according to the level of their revelation or blindness, according to their conviction or their doubts.  In essence, the ‘careful’ announcers of probabilities are not more mature than the bold proclaimers of seen days.

In the present passage, at least, about the ten virgins, let me ask, If the virgins (who are symbolic of the last days Church) were NOT supposed to know anything about the time and place of ‘appointment’ with the Bridegroom, how did all ten virgins manage to arrive on the same day at the same place?  Unlike the rest of the unrelated masses who were asleep in their homes while they were waiting at the gate of the Groom, the virgins were certainly given some specific details, even if they lacked other details such as the particular time on the clock when the Bridegroom would come (1 Thessalonians 5:4-7).

Jesus said, “But of that day and that hour KNOWETH no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father” (Mark 13:32).  Unfortunately, that is interpreted by many to mean, “no one can know; no one should know.”  It is simple grammar, but they miss the tense – present tense.  That nobody knew at the time of the speech act does not mean that it was forbidden for anyone to know thereafter.  The books of Daniel and Revelation in the Old and New Testaments teach us substantially that some mysteries sealed from one generation could be unsealed to later generations (Daniel 12:4, 9; Revelation 22:10).  If you asked me in the morning when my boss was arriving, and I said, “No one in the office knows” (or knoweth), is it a crime if, by evening, I have been informed enough to say, “He is arriving on the 8 pm flight tomorrow”?  Does not knowing in the morning mean never to know?  Amos 3:7 has not been deleted from the Holy Bible.  It also has an answer.

The passage is also clear that God was exempt from that limitation on “man.”  It said, “no man” (on the earth) knew, neither the angels (in heaven), but the Father only.  At the time of that speech, Jesus was still man, who could be tired and fall asleep in the boat, who could be hungry and would seek food from a fig tree, who could be thirsty and would ask a drink from the Samaritan woman at the well – tempted like all men with the cares of the world (Hebrews 4:15).  That Jesus had the limitations of mortality.  After His resurrection, however, He declared that “ALL power” had been given to Him, both “in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18).

When Apostle John saw that glorified Jesus in Revelation chapter 1, He certainly was not the Jesus with whom he and the other disciples had walked the streets of Galilee and Capernaum.  John couldn’t stand before Him.  Why should anyone impose upon this glorified omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent Jesus the limitations of His earthly time?

When the passage states that only the Father knew, does that also mean, as many interpret it, that the Father would NOT at any future time tell the Son or anyone else?  With which theologian did the Father sign such an agreement?  Alas, the unfortunate veil that the enemy has thrown upon the Church from one Bible passage blindly and badly interpreted, and very fanatically so!  Alas, a tragic blindness that masquerades as profound scriptural knowledge!  Indeed, “Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth” (1 Corinthians 8:1).

3.  The Tragic Cost of Foolishness

The five virgins against whom the door was shut, and to whom it was said, “I know you not” (v.12), suffered for foolishness, not for any iniquity.  So, sin will not be the only reason why some will miss the moment.  Presumption will; tragic, prideful self-confidence that ignores planning and preparation.  Those virgins were not sinners.  They were part of the undefiled company that doubly called the Master “Lord, Lord”; very familiar and specially chosen virgins who were confident enough to demand that the door be opened to them even when it had been shut (v.11).

All ten virgins received the same privileged information, but what some did with that information made the difference between the wise and the foolish, between who went in and who was shut out.  To have been selected to His wedding is a privilege to be proud about, but to therefore neglect the protocols of the house could be eternal tragedy, as when a seated speechless guest had to be bound hand and foot, taken away, and cast “into outer darkness” for the presumption of approaching without a wedding gown: “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:11-14).

While all ten virgins waited for the midnight cry, the foolish five might have mocked or teased the wise five for taking things fanatically ‘too far.’  Even if they had forgotten something until then, seeing the oil vessels of the wise five should have warned them of what they also should have done.  Sadly, when they were ready to do it, it was late; tragically too late, “and the door was shut.”  Presumption?  Probably, they were used to getting by on the merciful backs of the other five.  That day, unfortunately, it turned out differently, “and the door was shut” (v.10).

From The Preacher’s diary,

August 23, 2025.