Matthew 25:1, commentary and pictures

Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened to an evening wedding procession in which ten young bridesmaids with lamps and small vessels of oil wait by torchlight to join the bridegroom bringing his party home to the feast. The ten picture the church and professed believers in the last days of earth's history, the bridegroom is Christ, the lamps are a profession of faith and the word of God, and the oil is His grace and the renewing power of the Holy Spirit received through vital connection with Him. Going out to meet Him was fulfilled in the Advent movement proclaiming His near coming, the tarrying was the passing of the expected time and disappointment, and His coming to the marriage was His coming in 1844 as High Priest to the most holy place to cleanse the sanctuary and receive His kingdom before He returns to earth. All appear alike for a time, but five are wise with living faith and a reserve supply and five are foolish with mere form and theory, and when the cry sounds readiness cannot be begun at the last moment nor can oil and character be bought, borrowed or transferred from another. Keeping the lamps trimmed and burning means maintaining living union with God through prayer, searching Scripture, repentance and daily consecration, blended with earnest working to warn the world and let light shine in good works, while neglect, worldliness and idle waiting leave lamps going out until the door is shut.

Wedding Picture and Terms

Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins taking lamps to meet the bridegroom, opening a picture of an evening wedding procession in eastern custom. Ten was the customary number of bridesmaids, ten young women who wait with lamps and small vessels of oil to join the procession by torchlight. The bridegroom meets the bride at her father's house and brings the bridal party to his home, where a supper awaits the guests. They go out to meet him with joy because his coming is near and the marriage feast is ready with its gates open, and each is called to be among the wise rather than the foolish.

Christ told this parable to His disciples while sitting on the Mount of Olives in His prophetic discourse about His second coming, looking upon a party waiting for the bridegroom. Its experience illustrates the experience of the church that shall live just before His second coming, watching in the evening of this earth's history. It is an illustration of the kingdom of heaven accompanying the promise of grace's reward to those who serve God in simple faith and love. Jesus' promise to return from the wedding and receive His waiting people connects that expectation with His departure to the Father to receive the kingdom, while He serves as High Priest in the heavenly holy place and His followers keep their garments spotless and wait for Him. The comparison was also held to follow the description of the faithful and unfaithful servants in Matthew 24, with each detail corresponding to an event in history.

The bridegroom represents Christ and His coming, proclaimed in the first angel's message, and going out to meet Him represents the widespread Advent movement stirred by the announcement that His return was near. That going out was the proclamation that the Bridegroom was coming, the midnight cry given in connection with the second angel's message and heard throughout the land, arousing thousands. The marriage supper is the Lamb's invitation, with the white robe as the righteousness of Christ, and outward readiness without inward character leaves a person unprepared to meet Christ when life ends. The lamps represent the Bible and the word of God, and all ten having lamps and vessels means all have a knowledge of the Scriptures and have heard the message of Christ's near approach and confidently expect His appearing. Keeping them supplied with the oil of grace, which is the Holy Spirit, enables a person to discover wondrous things out of God's Word, to see truths in new breadth and harmony, and to become after the similitude of God.

As golden oil flowed from the two olive trees through golden pipes into the bowl and then into the lamps that lit the sanctuary, so the Spirit is imparted from the holy ones in God's presence to consecrated human instrumentalities to make His word a lamp to the feet and a light to the path, for the work is not by might nor by power but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts. Without the Spirit knowledge of His word cannot quicken the soul, sanctify the heart, transform the character, enable men to distinguish truth from error, or stand against temptation, and those with lamps that are their Bibles but without oil must trim them, obtain grace, refresh them, and reflect the light with rejoicing. Marriage itself is a divine institution whose solemn joy is pleasing to Jesus, and He used its covenant and attendants to picture important spiritual truths. Each person is to be as the bride meeting Christ as bridegroom, giving the heart to Him to mold and fashion the character in preparation for the day of God, building for time and eternity, while love of amusement, stubborn self-will, gatherings for pleasure, and association with lustful appetites and sinful practices divorce the soul from God and eclipse the light of heaven. The parable thus presents events connected with Christ's second coming and the Master's coming, teaching the duty of being ready, waiting, watching, and keeping watch so that no one is found with a lamp going out.

Church as Ten Virgins

The ten virgins are the church living in the last days, in the evening of earth's history, watching for the Lord's appearing at Christ's second coming. Their experience is pictured in an Eastern marriage at night, going out with lamps to meet the bridegroom and await His return. Going out represents the proclamation that His coming is near, and the lamps represent the Bible. The parable describes the spiritual condition of professed believers at that coming, distinguishing those who are ready from those who are not, for although all sleep during the delay only the ready enter the marriage before the door is shut. It warns to watch because the time of the Son of man's coming is unknown.

All ten have lamps and vessels for oil, a name and a call, a knowledge of the Scriptures and the message of Christ's near approach, and all confidently expect His appearing and appear to watch for Him. All start apparently prepared, with lamps trimmed and burning, so that for a time no difference is seen between them and the two groups appear alike. Five are true and five are false, five ready and five wanting, yet the foolish take for granted that God's promises and salvation are theirs while they do not live as commanded, crying peace when there is no peace. A time of waiting intervenes in which faith is tried, and when the cry of the Bridegroom's coming is heard many are unready because they have no oil in their vessels with their lamps, meaning they are destitute of the Holy Spirit. Without the Spirit knowledge of the word is of no avail to quicken the soul, sanctify the heart, transform the character, or enable men to distinguish truth from error and stand against temptation.

They divide into two classes, five wise and five foolish, marking the proportion of those ready and unready. The wise are real Christians who have spiritual life in themselves, worked by the Holy Spirit, with more than theoretical knowledge, doing the Word, walking in light on justification by faith and the imputed righteousness of Christ, searching the Scriptures, bearing living testimony and imparting what they receive. They have oil in their vessels with their lamps, meaning unseen principles, open communion with God, and faith working by love, showing true preference, firm reliance, entire willing obedience and consecration, binding up life as one with Christ. The foolish are spurious professors, unconverted, careless and self-satisfied, moved by impulse and emotion without firm grasp of truth or genuine work of grace, having only the form of truth and theoretical knowledge while making excuses, neglecting the call and losing the light. They are not open sinners but claim to be children of God and church members, yet do not practice the truth, have no burden for souls, do not deny self or lift the cross, seek an enjoyable time with the world, wear a mask, do great harm, refuse authority, and by worldly principles seduce many.

Outward profession, religious works, birth, church membership, descent, or holding truth unrighteously do not make readiness or give entrance to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Possession of the Word brings a personal invitation to the gospel feast, creating personal responsibility to exercise personal faith and maintain living connection with God, for belief must be genuine and lived out in faithful work and sharing of light. People cannot now reliably tell which others are wise, for some look outwardly like the wise while holding truth unrighteously and closely resembling them. Human beings cannot read hearts or separate wheat and tares, but character shown by fruits is known without error by angels, who will distinguish the faithful from those opposed to God's word when the door is shut. The presence of foolish virgins with no oil together with the wise does not mean there is no church.

The parable calls each person to consider spiritual condition, whether among the wise or the foolish and whether oil is in the vessel, as an urgent individual duty. Conduct and conversation manifest the true condition. It calls for readiness as His coming draws near, with the Bridegroom's voice and marriage supper as reasons for rejoicing, but each must be among the wise rather than the foolish. People must remain watchful because they do not know the day or hour, and many may suppose they are prepared to meet Him while in fact they are not.

Lamps and Oil Explained

The oil is God's grace and the renewing, enlightening, sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, received through earnest prayer, earnest study of Scripture, and vital connection with Christ in vessels prepared to receive it, which alone makes the word a lamp to the feet and sustains faith, patience and love through disappointment and delay. It is given to those who ask for the Spirit, who seek purity and personal faith rather than impulse and emotion, whose spiritual life is renewed as Christ's grace and God's love fill the heart, whose lamps then burn steadily and shine in the world's moral darkness in seeking and saving the lost. It nourishes experience day by day, so that readiness grows by daily love for God and truth, learning of Jesus, following where He leads, and keeping the lamp burning to add its light to others while waiting for the marriage supper of the Lamb. Those lacking it have only outward appearance without genuine conversion, and when the bridegroom comes only the ready enter and the door is shut.

The lamps are a profession of faith, the form of truth, and a knowledge or theory of truth, and without inward piety and the Spirit they go out and leave the holder unprepared when the Bridegroom's call comes. Having the theory alone is not enough, for readiness requires humility, living faith, doing the Word, and inward spiritual life that points others toward God, not mere assent to doctrine or high religious office. The offense of the foolish was taking no oil in vessels with lamps, meaning they received not the grace of God; their lamps meant knowledge of the truth but they had no living connection with God, were not vitalized by His Spirit, supposed themselves wise while being wise only in their own sight, without saving faith and without Christ as personal Saviour. They made a show of giving light as the wise, but not growing in grace and knowledge because not doers of Christ's words, they misunderstood the Bible and were left with only speculative belief.

The lamp is also the soul's inner spiritual life and the churches bought by Christ's blood, which shine only as Christ supplies oil and kindles the flame. Through the Holy Spirit God's word becomes a light as it becomes a transforming power in the receiver, implanting principles of His word in the heart, developing the attributes of God, so that the light of His glory, His character, shines forth in His followers. Thus with undimmed flame through the night of watching their light swells the illumination for the bridegroom's honor, glorifies God, lightens the path to the Bridegroom's home, to the city of God, to the marriage supper of the Lamb, and gives light to those in darkness. This requires carrying oil in vessels with lamps so truth shines in bright clear rays, guarding against weakness and decline, staying alert to the Bridegroom's voice, ready to obey and trim the lamp at any moment, for preparation cannot be postponed and the time for work is short.

The oil is the holy golden oil of Zechariah's vision, emptied from the two olive trees and two olive branches through two golden pipes into vessels prepared for it by practicing the truth, meaning not by might nor power but by God's Spirit in the heart working by love and purifying the soul. It is Christ's righteousness and grace in the heart, enabling light to shine through good works, forming character after the divine likeness, showing unseen principles, open communion with God, faith working by love, true preference, firm reliance, entire willing obedience and consecration, binding life as one with Christ. Those without it keep truth in the outer court and keep Christ out of the heart, hearers but not doers to whom the living oracles are not guide and the Spirit's work is strange, cherishing traits that misrepresent Christ and losing light and bearings unless they cleave to God. They are as the man come to the gospel feast without the wedding garment, not having accepted and worn the robe of Christ's righteousness nor represented Christ in character, lacking the inward character and white robe that fit for the Lamb's invitation, so that outward readiness fails when life ends.

Advent Movement Fulfillment

Going forth with lamps to meet the bridegroom was the widespread Advent movement under the proclamation of the first message, and then of the first and second angels' messages, when thousands announced that Christ's coming was near and believers preaching His appearing went out from the churches to meet Him. The sequence of waiting and slumber followed by the coming of the bridegroom accords with the prophetic and sanctuary arguments that pointed to the time, and the announcement that He was coming was proclaimed as the midnight cry by thousands of believers. The bridegroom stands for Christ, the lamps stand for the Bible, and the coming proclaimed in the first angel's message stirred a broad movement over the announcement of His soon return.

The tarrying of the bridegroom was the passing of the expected time with its disappointment and delay. Both classes slept during that delay, the foolish growing unconcerned and abandoning faith while the wise waited for clearer light, though their zeal and devotion also diminished under trial. The seventh-month movement was regarded as the virgins arising to trim their lamps, for the awakening to a definite time brought searching of heart, repentance, and preparation for Christ's coming. The rekindled lamps meant renewed light from Scripture directing attention to the expected coming, with a renewed call to awake and go out to meet the bridegroom.

The midnight cry, Behold the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet Him, awakened believers and was heard throughout the land in connection with the second angel's message, arousing thousands in the summer and autumn of 1844 to expect Christ's soon coming. That joyful hope called for earnest prayer, unmistakable evidence of acceptance with God, and preparation to meet Christ. Because many refused the midnight cry, a further testing message of the third angel became necessary.

The vision of the midnight cry came in December 1844 when the Advent band had largely given up the message and counted it future, and the vision of the Bridegroom's coming followed in February 1845, later connected with Jesus rising from His mediatorial throne to enter the Holiest to receive His kingdom. Some who went forth to meet the Bridegroom in 1844 were afterward deceived by false shepherds until they did not know where they were or what they believed, before coming out upon the truth again with others who had never heard the Advent doctrine. Each detail of the marriage setting thus corresponds to an event in the history of the great Advent movement after the description of the faithful and unfaithful servants in Matthew 24.

Heavenly Sanctuary Coming

The coming of the bridegroom to the marriage is Christ's coming as High Priest in 1844 to the most holy place to cleanse the sanctuary, which is His coming as the Son of man to the Ancient of Days to receive His kingdom and His coming to His temple. These are the same heavenly event, and they are distinct from His second advent to earth to execute judgment. It is not His coming to earth to deliver His people on the tenth day of the seventh month, but His rising from His mediatorial throne and going into the holiest place as Bridegroom to receive His kingdom, marking a change in His position and work as the great High Priest in relation to the marriage of the Lamb. This application settled believers in the shut-door teaching.

The bride is the New Jerusalem as the capital of the kingdom, while the virgins are the church going out to meet Christ, and the people of God are guests at the marriage supper. The ready virgins entering in with Him to the marriage is believers following Christ by faith as He ministers in the heavenly sanctuary and receives His kingdom. While He serves as High Priest in the heavenly holy place after departing to the Father to receive the kingdom, His waiting followers are to keep their garments spotless and wait for His return from the wedding to receive them.

The shut door at first led those who held fast to their Advent expectation to conclude that probation for sinners had ended when the 2300 days closed. They later understood that Christ had closed His ministration in the holy place and opened His work in the most holy place, where He continued to present His blood for sinners, so mercy was not closed. Those who are ready have both a knowledge of Scripture and the Spirit and grace of God, in contrast to those who have only a theory of truth without God's grace and who act from fear or impulse. They gladly expect Him, prepare to meet Him, patiently seek clearer light, and are sanctified through the truth.

Readiness Cannot Be Delayed

All ten start together with lamps trimmed and burning to go out to meet the bridegroom, but only five look ahead to delay and fill their flagons with a reserve supply so their lamps can be fed and kept from going out through any emergency of waiting. The wise carry faith, love and patience, and their oil is the Holy Spirit's grace nourishing experience day by day, so their lamps show a living faith that shines brightly while a flickering faith leaves a person unprepared. The foolish make no provision for disappointment or delay and lack a continuing supply of grace to endure the trial, thinking themselves wise while spiritually asleep and failing to see that their lamps are going out. Readiness cannot begin only when the announcement is heard, cannot be acquired at the last moment when the bridegroom comes, and empty lamps cannot be made ready then; it requires daily love for God and truth, learning of Jesus, following where He leads, receiving the Spirit's grace, patient waiting and watching with active work, and keeping light burning to add to the light of others on the way to the marriage supper of the Lamb, for those who keep Christ apart from their lives now are not fitted for companionship with Him in heaven.

The oil of grace in the heart, which makes light shine through good works and makes faith, patience and love grow with strength of character to endure the test, must be secured by each person for himself during probationary time and cannot be bought, borrowed or transferred from another in the day of test and trial when the emergency comes. It is received through vital connection with the Light of the world, through personal faith, union with Christ and doing the word, sought through earnest prayer and nourished by faith in Christ Jesus until personal experience grows into knowledge, and God gives it to those who ask for His Spirit. A merely nominal religion is worthless for this need, and without that readiness no one can discern and accept heaven's light nor join the procession into the marriage supper of the Lamb. Those who neglect the day of salvation and fail to form characters after the divine likeness will seek entrance too late, when probation is past, the final call has come and opportunity ends with judgment, and will find the door shut.

Many of the virgins are foolish because although they have knowledge of the truth they are not sanctified through the truth, and the distinction between wise and foolish turns not on theoretical knowledge alone but on doing the Word. The foolish know the perfect standard of righteousness and take a real interest in the gospel, yet life-giving truth seems unessential to them, their lamps lack the oil of grace, and self-love, blindness, ignorance and weak faith leave them with an unstable experience built on uncertain principles and open to deception. They are careless, self-satisfied professors, cold and backslidden, expecting to enter heaven without purifying their lives through obedience to truth, knowing the theory without vital connection with God, trusting feeling, neglecting Scripture and accountability, and forgetting that there is a day of trust and a day of reckoning with talents committed to bless others by opening precious truth to those in error. Even activity in God's work becomes false religion when vessels are not filled with the oil of grace and Christ's lessons are not practiced in daily life in meekness, humility, lowliness, gentleness, tenderness, sympathy and love; such keep truth in the outer court, cherish unchristlike traits, suit the world, and face ruin.

When the call to go out to meet the bridegroom comes, the foolish are found with no oil, and while they go to buy oil the bridegroom comes in to the marriage with the wise and the door is shut. Those who receive oil by depending on God every hour and drawing sap and nourishment every day as a branch grafted into the living Vine bear fruit daily in words to God's glory, speaking of Jesus and heaven and heavenly things and eternal realities, and enter the supper; those whose lamps are going out for lack of oil come too late and are left outside in darkness, gloom, despair and hopelessness of midnight, standing in the empty street in the blackness of night before the banqueting hall. When they knock they are denied by the master of the feast declaring He does not know them, for all had a name, a call, a lamp and a profession of serving God and all started apparently prepared and watching, but five were true and ready and five were false and wanting, presuming on promises and crying peace when there is no peace without living as Christ enjoined, while the wise do not presume because sanctification is the work of a lifetime of obedience. Their lamps meant a knowledge of the truth with an appearance of giving light like the wise, but they had no living connection with God, were not vitalized by His Holy Spirit, had no saving faith, did not have Christ as a personal Saviour, supposed themselves wise while wise only in their own sight, and did not grow in grace and knowledge because they were not doers of Christ's words; their condemnation is not for revolting crimes and outbreaking sins but for neglecting to do what they might and ought to have done through the moral power Christ placed within reach of every sinner by clothing divinity with humanity, that fallen man might combine human effort with divine power, labor together with God, look to Jesus, study His life, behold Him and be changed into His likeness, under principles of eternal justice revealed when judgment sits and the books are opened with the righteous and disobedient forever separated.

Watchful Working Readiness

Keeping lamps trimmed and burning means keeping a living connection with God, the source of spiritual growth, so that added grace can be received in times of special need and readiness for the reaping is maintained. The lamp must be trimmed and the vessel filled with the oil of grace, and the soul kept spiritually awake against decline, because the day of the Lord can come unexpectedly. Prayerful study of God's Word with willing obedience keeps the oil in the vessel, while carelessness and neglect leave a person unprepared to enter the wedding. Those who receive the oil keep their lamps filled and burning and are ready to respond to the midnight cry, unlike those who are not watchful in words nor careful in behavior. Baptism alone does not make ready; readiness requires learning Christ's ways, being conformed to His image, leaving old habits, turning from worldly ideas and customs, and letting light shine through good works with holy grace sent from heaven as inward adornment that enables standing when Christ appears.

Watching must include watchfulness and active service, not devotion alone, with the soul's lamp trimmed and supplied with the oil of grace and life kept ready for the Lord's near return. Belonging to the church does not itself secure entrance to the kingdom of heaven; faithful service includes self-denying work to save souls and right use of God-given opportunities and abilities. Spiritual life is renewed as Christ's grace and the Holy Spirit are received, God's love fills the heart, lamps burn steadily in the world's moral darkness, and God is glorified by doing Christ's work of seeking and saving the lost. The oil nourishes experience day by day, producing faith, love and patience and a living faith that shines brightly, while flickering faith like a going-out lamp leaves a person unprepared, since readiness cannot be acquired at the last moment but requires daily love for God and truth, learning of Jesus, following where He leads, and adding light to that of others while waiting for the marriage supper of the Lamb. God's servants laboring in the harvest are those who supply the lamps of His remnant people, who need a constant supply of truth and heavenly love. Personal consecration and sanctification, vigilance, and being clothed with the wedding garment belong to this preparation, discerning danger in expecting to join the feast yet being unprepared for the King's coming.

Having a lamp is not enough, for lamps without oil cannot burn and give light. Many who have received great light and knowledge are like the five sleeping virgins, spiritually cold and senseless with waning and fading piety and no oil in their vessels. Readiness requires faith and love, character purified by faith, and Christ's righteousness, not outward profession, with Bible truth practiced making wise unto salvation. Receiving the Holy Spirit is a positive necessity, bringing new life and power from above to receive and proclaim Him as the final conflict approaches.

Readiness is formed by resisting temptation, denying self and overcoming sin, for having a lamp without oil is being unprepared for the day of God, and the oil is divine grace and moral power. Living only for self-pleasing, display and self-pleasure, with indifference and yielding to inclination, leaves a person without inward spiritual readiness and unfit to meet sickness, death and the close of life. Professing to follow Christ is not enough without the oil of grace for inward renewal; genuine faith brings love and obedience, subdues sin and self, and leads to willing service and renewal by Christ's Spirit. Keeping the lamp of truth burning requires the oil of grace, and when love of the world or cherished sin draws the heart away from Jesus, prayer and meditation on sacred things, spiritual life grows cold and the lamp may go out.

The parable presents events connected with Christ's second coming and teaches the duty of being ready, waiting and watching for it. Two classes wait for the bridegroom, and the foolish are not ready when the day comes upon them as a thief; not to be like them means to wait and watch and pray, to refuse to be surfeited and drunken with the cares of this life, and to have grace today in a living connection with God complete every day. The lamp must keep burning only as supplied with holy oil, effective as its light shines on the path of others. Lamps represent spiritual condition, staying alight only with the oil of grace; those with little light who lived faithfully by what they knew may accept full truth at the last hour, while those with great light and privileges who failed to live by them will lose light and fall away. The foolish take lamps but bring no oil, fail to live the truth and to receive from God the wisdom and grace needed to be complete in Jesus Christ, so their lamps go out and when they seek to enter the door is shut and they miss the marriage supper of the Lamb.