‘While the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered…’ Matthew 25:5 NKJV
Let’s look at these ten virgins and see what else we can learn from them. Observe three things: (1) The midnight crowd. ‘While the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.’ Who slept? The wise as well as the foolish; the world as well as the church. Paul warns, ‘…It is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.’ (Romans 13:11 NKJV) We’re in mortal combat with an enemy who observes no truce, no armistice and no peace treaties. The Titanic disregarded five warnings before it hit the iceberg. The naval yard at Pearl Harbour disregarded six warnings before it was attacked. Christ is not coming back for the religious but the redeemed; not for the refined but the regenerated; not the respectable but the righteous. (2) The midnight cry. ‘At midnight a cry was heard: Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ (Matthew 25:6 NKJV) All around us the voices of fear sound. Where can we look for hope? To government? To bankers? To industry? To academics? No, our hope can be found in these words: ‘Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.’ (Titus 2:13 NKJV) (3) The midnight crisis. The urgent message of this parable is: Some will have enough to get them into the wedding, others will not. So what should you do? ‘Watch therefore, and pray always, that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.’ (Luke 21:36 NKJV)
SoulFood: Acts 13:21-22, 1 Sam 16, 1 Sam 17:32-51, 1 Sam 24:1-17
The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright 2013
