By Martin Carey
“And at midnight there was a cry made, ‘Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him’” (Matthew 51:6).
“The king is coming!” Those words should bring excitement and joy to our hearts when we hear them. He is coming soon to take His bride and to bring terrible justice to His enemies. The sooner that day comes, the better. Sadly, this hasn’t been a happy parable for many of us. There is that disturbing ending where the five foolish virgins discover they are not prepared for the bridegroom’s coming, and the door is shut. They hear the terrible words, “I do not know you.”
Clearly, Jesus designed this parable for us to carefully consider His words and examine ourselves. We will ask, “What kind of people do those foolish virgins represent? Could I be one of them without knowing it?”
For us Adventists, our trepidation about this parable goes back to 1844, when William Miller predicted that Jesus would come in October of that year. When Jesus did not arrive, the remaining Adventists applied the Matthew 25 parable exclusively to themselves, a tiny group of New England Millerites. They told themselves that they were the only ones who obeyed the “midnight cry” announcing the Bridegroom’s arrival. On the other hand, they believed the five foolish virgins represented all the millions of Christians who had rejected Miller’s message. The door of salvation was not only shut for them, but for the entire world. To explain their date-setting error, they insisted that Miller’s date-setting wasn’t false, just wrong on the location of Jesus’ coming. In 1844, they said, He actually had left the Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary and entered the Most Holy Place to begin a work of “cleansing” the sins that had accumulated there.
Ellen White later claimed that Christians in other churches who rejected Miller’s error of 1844 had cut themselves off from Christ:
“I saw that the nominal churches (those who had rejected the 1844 sanctuary message), as the Jews crucified Jesus, had crucified these messages, and therefore they have no knowledge of the move made in heaven, or of the way into the Most Holy, and they cannot be benefitted by the intercession of Jesus there”.
E.G. White, Spiritual Gifts, p, 172
That shut door doctrine remains in more subtle forms for today’s Seventh-day Adventists, preventing them from seeing the power and assurance that Jesus intended by His parable. Adventism’s foundational doctrine, the investigative judgment, teaches that a heavenly investigation is under way right now to examine the lives of all professed believers. Your name can come up at any time, and if your sins are not all remembered, confessed, and forgiven, your name “will be blotted out of the book of life” (E.G. White, Great Controversy, p. 483).
But we have a genuine, sure word of prophecy in Jesus’ own words. What is His parable of the ten virgins really teaching us about being ready for His coming? Let’s look at the parable:
“Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps” .
Matthew 25:1-7
As with all Jesus’ parables, He has a main point to the story, and we will fall into error when we try to allegorize every detail. In the parable of the virgins, the purpose is not to make us live in fear of His frown but to remind us that our lights need to shine until He comes. We keep our lights burning by keeping and using His gracious gifts to us.
Firstly, we see that our coming bridegroom is a king, and he is engaged to be married. That’s joyous news, and we are invited to proclaim that joy to the world. In Matthew 5, Jesus told us that no one lights a lamp and hides it under a basket, but puts it on a stand so that everyone is given light.
“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” .
Matthew 5:16
Our shiny lamps are the power of “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6). When we “walk in the Spirit” we will exhibit the fruit of the Spirit, with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and so forth (Galatians 5:22). Our lives shining with those graces will glorify our Father and light the way for Jesus’ return.
In the story, the five wise virgins bring extra oil to keep shining, while the foolish ones bring no extra:
“And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves”.
Matthew 25:8-9
They, like the joyful company of the wise virgins, expect to go with the crowd, but they think they can use borrowed oil. Their light is a weak formality. After only a short time, their lamps go dark. There can be no borrowed oil—no second-hand fruit of the Spirit. This story reminds us of the parable of soils where some seeds in rocky soil sprang up, only to wither away (Mark 4:5).
Secondly, the day and hour of the Bridegroom’s appearance is not known. Jesus has told us ahead of time that His coming will be “delayed.” So, during the 2000 year delay, mockers have been mocking, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation” (2Peter 3:4). Peter reminds us that the world continues on by the grace of God, but He will judge it with fire, just as He judged it with water in the Flood. And keep in mind, Peter continues, that “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.” So, using Peter’s calculation, only a couple days have passed since Jesus was here. He isn’t slow concerning His promise, but is graciously allowing more time for many to repent (vs. 9).
Thirdly, in the parable, both the foolish and wise virgins fall asleep. What does Jesus mean by “sleep” here? Sleeping is what normal people do, when it is late, living normal lives. They may not be intensely vigilant, but they are obedient. They grow where they are planted, serving others, shining while doing good. They also go to sleep and get their rest. That’s what Christians do. They don’t need to sell all their earthly possessions and camp on a lonely hill, looking up at the sky. That’s not letting your light shine; that’s hiding it.
What does Jesus expect us to be doing when He comes? Should we escape the wicked city and flee to some remote wilderness hideaway, staying pure with our home-grown organic vegetables? You won’t find that command in Scripture. What does Jesus tell those on His right hand when He gathers all the nations in judgment?
“I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me” .
Matthew 25:35-36
When they hear the shout, “Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet Him,” they all bring out their lamps, but only the wise have their lights ready with extra oil. They have remained spiritually alive because they are born “of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5). While they abide in His word (John 15:7), they don’t earn their salvation by their good works. The wise are justified by faith alone, without the works of the law (Rom. 3:20-25).
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:27-28). They belong to Jesus and are kept by Him.
The foolish virgins are not prepared because they never received that spiritual rebirth that Jesus promised in John 3.
And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut”.
Matthew 25:10
The foolish virgins are not His sheep; they don’t hear Him or follow Him, and they have not received eternal life. They are not secured by Him.
“Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not”.
Matthew 25:11–12
The foolish are those who will not trust in Jesus and in His sacrifice for them. Their sins are not forgiven, and they are not born of the Spirit. They may appear as good religious people, but their works will eventually be shown for what they are. The wise are those who know they can’t trust their own perfection, but only His blood. He forever lives to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25). Today, and at the end of time, it is only through Christ that we have “access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:2).
That door of access can never be shut. †
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