SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/22/2024 11:44 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: PT-2 “The Bridesmaids”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt. 25:1-5
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.”
A
couple of things before I get started in this SD, and the first is that I have
been sick since late last week, but sicker beginning with Monday and that is
the reason that I have not be able to keep up with my Spiritual Diaries. It is very important for me to keep up with
these Spiritual Diaries, but sometimes I just can’t do it because it is very
hard to think when you are sick. Next I
want to remind you that what we are looking at in these verses is a parable of
Jesus and as will all of His parables the message of this one is simple. It is meant to illustrate truths He has just
been teaching, and I am talking about the truths He was just teaching in
chapter 24. Jesus is coming again, is
part of what He was teaching, and when He does He will then judge sinners and
reward the righteous, that people must be ready, and that His coming will be
unexpected, something that we went over many different times when looking at
chapter 24. The central truth is that
once Jesus arrives back to planet earth that there will be no second chance and
the opportunity for salvation will be gone forever, and that certainly
something that every person should take time to think about. Now I realize that we are still living in the
church age, and that the end of the Church age will be the rapture of the
church, which will take all true believers up in the clouds to meet the Lord,
and so we will ever be with the Lord.
Soon after that the Antichrist will be revealed as he signs a 7 year
peace treaty with Israel ticking of the last seven years of Daniel’s prophecy
given in Daniel chapter nine, and this is the time that Jesus has been speaking
of in chapters 24 and 25.
John
MacArthur writes “The parable is not an allegory, as many interpreters have
claimed. Every small facet of the story
does not carry a mystical meaning that is subject to speculation and
imagination. Nor does every part of the
parable have application to Christian living, ad devotionalists frequently
maintain. Still less is the parable a
confused and clumsy teaching effort on Jesus’ part, as some liberal
interpreters suggest. The fact that
details such as the bride’s identity and the place where the virgins slept are
not mentioned has no bearing on the point Jesus was making. For His purpose the story was clear and
complete.”
“Allegory:” “As a literary device or artistic form,
an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character,
place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or
political significance. Wikipedia”
I will conclude this SD by once again quoting from
John MacArthur’s commentary: “There may
be significance in the fact that there were ten virgins because Jews considered
ten to be a number representing completion.
According to Josephus, a minimum of ten men was required to celebrate
the Passover. The same number was
required to establish a synagogue and to give an official wedding
blessing. The attendants were virgins because
it was the custom of that day that bridesmaids be chaste young women who had
never been married.
“Although the English lamps is
derived from lampas,in the New
Testament times that Greek term was used primarily of torches, as it is
translated in John 18:3, where it denotes the torches carried by soldiers who
arrested Jesus. Another word, luchnos, was generally used for a
lamp. The torches used by wedding
attendants consisted of tightly wrapped sloths attached to long poles. In addition to lighting the way for the
procession, the lamps, or torches, served to identify members of the wedding
party, marking them off as special participants. It was therefore important that each of the
bridesmaids have a torch.” Some
interesting facts that help us to better understand the parable that Jesus is
telling.
2/22/2024 12:17 PM
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