SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/16/2024 1:35 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
Intro to Matthew 25:1-13
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 25:1-13
Message of the verses: “1 "Then the
kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and
went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 "Five
of them were foolish, and five were prudent. 3 “For when the foolish took their
lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the prudent took oil in flasks along
with their lamps. 5 “Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy
and began to sleep. 6 “But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Behold, the
bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 “Then all those virgins rose and
trimmed their lamps. 8 “The foolish said to the prudent, ‘Give us some of your
oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 “But the prudent answered, ‘No, there will
not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some
for yourselves.’ 10 "And while they
were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were
ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut. 11 “Later
the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open up for us.’ 12 “But he
answered, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 “Be on the alert then,
for you do not know the day nor the hour.”
Jesus is giving another one of His parables that
were given during the Olivet Discourse, others were found in Matt. 24:43, and
45:51 that illustrate His repeated and specific declarations that the exact
time of His second coming will not be known in advance. Matthew 24:36 tells us that His return will
be at a time when it is least expected, as this can also be seen in 24:42, 44,
50:25:13. We have been talking about
this since mid November and have stated that there will be many signs which
indicate the general time period, but not the specific time. I have stated that when I first became a
believer that I thought that it would be known, but since I have changed my
mind and the reason is because of all of the turmoil that will be going on
during the last three and a half years of the Tribulation period that people
who are believers will know His return is close, but they will not know the
exact time when He will return.
MacArthur
writes “The parable of the ten virgins is given to accentuate the incalculable
importance of being spiritually prepared to meet Christ when He returns to
earth, because after He appears, unbelievers who are then alive will have no
further chance for salvation.” This
reminds me of when the doors of the ark were shut by the Lord as there had been
120 years of witness to the fact that God was going to send rain to destroy the
earth and kill those outside of the ark, but they did not listen.
I
think in order to best understand this parable one has to understand a Jewish
wedding, a typical Jewish ceremony, and I will do my best to help you
understand it as we go through this section of thirteen verses. Weddings in the Near East were and are much different
than what they are in our country, as
they have great meaning in Biblical terms.
John
MacArthur explains the Jewish wedding and I will quote the first paragraph in
today’s SD, and then will continuing quoting in my next SD. It is necessary to understand this to
understand the parable.
“A
Jewish marriage consisted of three parts, the first of which was the engagement. Most often arranged by the fathers of the
bride and groom, the engagement amounted to a contract of marriage in which the
couple had little, if any, direct involvement.
The second stage was the betrothal, the marriage ceremony at which the
bride and groom exchanged vows in the presence of family and friends. At that point the couple was considered
married, and their relationship could be broken only by formal divorce, just as
if they had been married for many years.
If the husband happened to
die during the betrothal, the bride was considered a widow, although the
marriage had not been physically consummated and the two had never lived
together. The betrothal could last for
many months, sometimes a year, during which time the groom would establish
himself in a business, trade, or farming and would make provision for a place
for the couple to live.”
2/16/2024 1:59 PM
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