Episode Transcript
[00:00:24] Speaker A: Hello, I'm Josh.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: And I'm Gabriel.
[00:00:26] Speaker A: And today on reading the Gospel, we are studying the event, the ten virgins. This is the parable of the ten virgins found in Matthew, chapter 25, verses 1 through 13. Read along in your Bibles.
[00:00:41] Speaker B: Then the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins who took their lambs and went to meet the bridegroom.
Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
When the foolish took their lambs, they took no oil with them. But the wise took flasks of oil with their lambs.
As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept.
[00:01:08] Speaker A: But at midnight there was a cry, here is the bridegroom. Come out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered, saying, since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourself.
And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came. And those who were ready went with him to the marriage feast. And the door was shut. Afterwards the other virgins came out also, saying, lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered, truly, I say to you, I do not know you. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
This event is following this discussion that Jesus has had with his disciples. When they came and asked that question, what would be the sign of youf coming? And what's the sign of the destruction of Jerusalem? Matthew 24. We just finished those.
And Jesus is now continuing this thought on the Second Coming with these three parables. And we'll get over these parables over the next three episodes. But today we're starting here with the parable of the ten Virgins.
And these three parables have themes for us and guides for us. Now, I want to start by talking about parables parables at the time of Jesus. These are stories given to emphasize a point, a spiritual point. Jesus wanted to share something with the disciples and share something with us today. And many times, I think we read a lot into the parables. We start picking apart all the little details. Well, you know, what.
What divergence mean? What do the lamps mean? What do all the. And we can get meaning out of a lot of this. But. But it's better to step back and get a broad look at the parable. What is the point of the story Jesus is telling? So what is the point of this parable? Or let's get into this parable.
[00:03:27] Speaker B: So it is the first practical answer to the previous teaching of Jesus, who said, watch and pray. And the question is, what does it mean to watch and how to do it in a practical way? And this is why we have this parable. We have 10 virgins who are supposed to be part of the wedding ceremony.
And they get dressed for the occasion, they have the lamps, because the coming or the starting of the ceremony was supposed to be after sunset.
And they had some oil. But the difference between them, some said, well, the wedding is going to be on time. We don't need more oil than this.
And the other said, just in case the ceremony starts later, we are going to have some extra oil, some reserve.
[00:04:23] Speaker A: Yeah. I grew up in a culture where if you said you were going to start at 8:00, you better start at 8:00. You know, there's no waiting and not any less valid. There are cultures where 8 o'clock is the time where you start leaving your house, you know, or start thinking about going, and who knows when the wedding will start. And I had a family member who had a wedding like that. You know, we were all there, very on time, very ready for it to start, and no one else was.
And it was a wonderful, beautiful wedding, but it didn't start on time, at least not for my belief.
And so, you know, we have these groups. We've got one, they're both there, they're waiting for the bridegroom to come. They're both ready.
One group, though, has this extra flask of oil.
So what can we learn about who are these virgins? Are these just like general people or what does the Bible tell us about virgins? Why is Jesus talking about virgins? Why doesn't he just say the wedding guests?
[00:05:36] Speaker B: In the Bible, women are generally represented in a figurative passage of the Bible, represent his church.
And the wedding that is being portrayed here points towards the moment when Jesus Christ, who promised to go to prepare a place, will come back to take his bride home. His church, his wife. Right, wife to be. And these virgins, in this context, I represent those who take seriously the teaching of Christ to watch and pray in waiting for his coming.
Those who are there on time, those who are dressed for the occasion. And in many passages of the Bible, a white robe represents the righteousness of God. It is the righteousness of Christ, his perfect life demonstrated a thousand years ago, which is attributed to us when we believe in him.
And in several places in the Bible, oil represents the Holy Spirit or the presence of God in your life.
Here we have all these virgins, all 10 of them are dressed for the occasion. They are right there in the right moment at the right time.
They have lamps. That means they've done everything necessary to fulfill their mission.
And I like to say that not all Christians are represented by these 10 virgins. Only those who take God seriously. Only those who are really watching and praying. Only those who have received the Holy Spirit and the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
[00:07:32] Speaker A: Well, and I think we can also look to Revelation to get a little more insight on this, because at the end times, there's this group called 144,000, and these are described as virgins without spot and blemish.
Likewise, when we look at the letters to the seven churches, the Laodicean message, the last message goes to a lukewarm. A church that's sleeping and that's not awake.
They're on the fence. And so we have some similarities. But, yeah, I think you're right. This is.
[00:08:05] Speaker B: And Laodiceans were missing that white robe.
[00:08:08] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, they didn't have the white robe. This equates to those people, God's people, as they're coming down to the very end to his coming.
[00:08:19] Speaker B: And is this talking about a specific denomination?
[00:08:23] Speaker A: No, no, this is the people who will be sealed. There are many parables that talk about the separating of the sheep and the goats or the wheat and the tares that they grow together.
Revelation says, come out of her, my people. Talking of Babylon, which is the apostate Christianity or apostate religion. And God is saying, come out of her, my people.
So this is a general God's followers, His invisible church. I guess we could say this all comes down to the one distinct difference between these two groups. One has an extra flask of oil and one doesn't.
We can talk about all the meanings of everything else, but the difference between these two, one has come with an extra flask of oil.
What can we learn from this point?
[00:09:22] Speaker B: Christian life is not a sprint. It is a marathon. You just did a Chicago marathon, and you really have to have reserves. I remember when I prepared for my first half marathon. That was also in Chicago. I read a couple of books, and one book said if that night before the marathon you have butterflies in the stomach and you cannot sleep, it doesn't matter, providing that you did sleep well the previous three nights.
Because the body has reserves. In the same way we have not just physical reserves, but emotional reserve. And in this situation, spiritual reserves. When Satan tempts us one day, do we have enough spiritual reserves for that fight? Because every fight requires Reserves.
[00:10:15] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think you hit the nail on the head.
When I was doing my Ironman, I would carry around a jug of water like two weeks before, a gallon jug, two weeks before. And I make sure I drink that whole gallon. Because you can't prepare the day before. You know, preparing for endurance races takes a long time. You start years in advance if you want to do it well.
And if you want to survive and have fun after and not be in a coma or in the hospital or out of commission for weeks, the more you prepare ahead of time, the better. And as you said, you know, if you eat junk food and stay up late and don't exercise, and in the day of the race, wake up and have your bowl of oatmeal, eat all your carbs, do your stretches and say, okay, now I'm getting ready. It's too late.
[00:11:06] Speaker B: And Jesus Christ emphasized that in previous chapter 24, in verse 12, it says, because lawlessness will increase, the love of many will grow cold in verse 13, but the one who endures to the end will be saved.
Sometimes we go to, let's say, a revival meeting or, you know, a meeting where the gospel is being preached and it's a famous preacher get excited. But that excitement is fading out over time. How do we feed that spiritual transformation that has started? How do we grow this plant of faith? And how do we run this race of endurance?
[00:11:55] Speaker A: Yeah, and I think just like training for race, we as Christians need to form sustainable spiritual habits. I think, like you said, so often, we fall behind and we feel a need to do something extreme. So we'll sign up for a huge convocation or convention or try to do something to get connected with God. But what we need most is just that steady, daily connection with God. It doesn't need to be much, but if God is in our lives constantly, our love for him grows stronger. So that when we have these extreme events, his second coming trials, losing a job, suffering, when we go through these, we've got that reserve to give us the strength. And I think this is what we need most. And this is again why we're doing this podcast. We want you to read your Bible every day and to study it for yourself. To pray at the beginning and ask for the Holy Spirit to give you guidance, to go through the pages to ask questions, to then talk with God.
[00:13:11] Speaker B: And not study for.
For the mind, but for the soul, to feed the soul.
So the word of God becomes food, spiritual food that will nourish the new being that was born again from above and has to grow and become stronger every day, to reach that maturity in Christ, the height of the statue, of the character of Christ.
[00:13:36] Speaker A: So Paul says to the Gentile, to the non Christian, Christianity is foolishness. And we see that. Just go online and ask a question about Christianity in a non Christian group and people look at Christians as foolish. But to the Christian, the Bible, all this is life. It fills us. And we get this as we spend that daily connection that it makes sense that it all comes together. And when I start a study with someone, I can't study just one topic. You have to start at the beginning and go through everything because everything builds and once you've built it, it makes complete sense.
Let's pray. Father God, we want to be ready on that day.
[00:14:24] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:14:25] Speaker A: We want to be filled with your Holy Spirit when Jesus comes.
And in order to be filled with the Holy Spirit when Jesus comes, we need to be filled with your Holy Spirit today.
[00:14:36] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:14:36] Speaker A: We can't wait till that day.
And so we ask that you will send your spirit to dwell within us.
[00:14:43] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:14:44] Speaker A: That you will change our lives, oh Father. That you will help us to be consistent.
Help us to have a training plan that's not overwhelming, that's not overly burdensome, but a training plan that fills our lives with joy, hope and love. A training plan where we want to wake up each day and spend time with you because you're the one who we want to be with.
Father God, I pray that you work in our lives in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:15:15] Speaker B: Amen.
