Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Midnight Cry: Watching for the Bridegroom (Matthew 25:1–13)

Transcript

The Midnight Cry: Watching for the Bridegroom (Matthew 25:1–13) · Reformed Thinking

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You know, usually when we talk about a medical diagnosis, there
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is there is an expectation of absolute precision.
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Oh, for sure. It is like looking at the
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blueprints for a bridge. You break your arm, the X-ray
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shows that jagged white line on the screen and the doctor just
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points at it says you know there is the fracture.
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Right, it is binary. The bone is broken or the bone
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is intact. The visual evidence is clean
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and, well, undeniable. But then you step into the realm
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of spiritual reality, particularly when you try to
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examine the state of the human heart, and suddenly that X-ray
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machine kind of just shatters. Yeah, the picture gets super
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blurry. Really blurry.
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We are no longer looking at high definition imagery, we are
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looking at a diagnostic landscape that is incredibly
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murky. Which is terrifying, honestly.
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It is. It is a space where things that
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look perfectly healthy on the surface might actually be
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completely dead on the inside. Oh wow, So welcome to Reform
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thinking. Today we are taking a deep dive
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into the parable of the 10 virgins from Matthew 25,
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covering verses one through 13. And we are looking at some
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intense theological notes and expositions today.
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We really are. The material treats this text
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not as some some light hearted fable, but as a severe
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eschatological warning. Right.
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And to ground this in our current reality, there is a
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striking statistic from the sources we brought today.
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Arizona Christian University. Setting.
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Yeah, from the Cultural Research Center, published in 2023.
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Their research found that while about 68% of American adults
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identify themselves as Christian, a microscopic 4%
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actually hold a biblical worldview.
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Wait. 4%, that is staggering. What stands out to me is the
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sheer scale of that disparity. We are talking about 10s of
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millions of people who claim the title right?
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They check the box on a census form, yeah, but their actual
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belief system is entirely divorced from the reality of
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scripture. And that statistic perfectly
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frames the mission of our discussion today.
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Yeah, the texts we are examining make a compelling case that
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Matthew 25 is a piercing examination of nominal religion.
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We are dissecting the terrifying reality of possessing the
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outward trappings of faith while lacking the inward reality of
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saving grace. Right.
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The goal is to understand the stark dividing line between
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carrying the outward lamp of a verbal profession you know and
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possessing the inward oil of the holy.
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Spirit and hearing all this, you might be looking at your own
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life and feeling a sense of unease.
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Which is a normal reaction. I mean, today's material
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addresses the absolute ceiling of human reality.
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We are talking about the inevitable encounter every
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single person will have with a returning king.
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The insights drawn from this parable strip away the ability
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to sit comfortably in the pews and just assume everything is
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fine because you look the part. So to understand the weight of
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Jesus's words, we have to establish the historical canvas
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we are in the Olivet discourse. Set the scene for us.
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Where is Jesus and who is he talking to?
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So geographically, Jesus is sitting on the Mount of Olives.
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This is the final week of his earthly ministry.
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He is looking directly over the Kidron Valley at the Temple in
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Jerusalem. Right.
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And just prior to this, he walked out of that temple
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complex for the final time, pronouncing judgement upon it.
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His disciples were pointing out the magnificent stones of the
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buildings, and Jesus shocked them by declaring that not one
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stone would be left upon another.
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So chronologically, the cross is just days away, yeah.
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And he is speaking privately to a Jewish remnant, his inner
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circle of disciples who are desperate to understand the
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timeline of the end of the age. The theological setting is a
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moment of massive transition and redemptive history.
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The old order centered around the physical temple and the
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sacrificial system is nearing it's devastating judgment.
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Which would arrive in 8070. Right, and the future witness of
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the Church is about to unfold in the long interval before the
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king returns. And to graph the metaphor he
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uses to explain this interval, we have to immerse ourselves in
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ancient Jewish marriage customs. The original 1st century
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audience would have known these customs intuitively.
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They form the skeleton of the parable.
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There are three specific stages to a Jewish marriage in
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antiquity. First stage is called Kedushan
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or the betrothal. This was a legally binding
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covenant initiated by the fathers of the bride and Groom.
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A bride price was paid and the couple was legally considered
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husband and wife, even though they had not consummated the
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marriage or even lived together yet.
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Breaking this patrol, though, required a formal legal writ of
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divorce. Which is wild to think about
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Today we see this exact dynamic with Joseph and Mary in the
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Gospel accounts. Right.
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Joseph discovered Mary was with child during the patrol period
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and his initial thought was to divorce her quietly because the
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covenant was already in effect. The betrothal established the
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unbreakable nature of the covenant.
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Then we have the second stage, which could happen up to a year
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or more later. It is called Niswin.
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This translates to the presentation or the.
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During this waiting period, the groom remains at his father's
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house. He is building in addition to
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the family home, preparing A dwelling place for his bride.
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And when everything is finished at a time known only to the
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groom's father, the groom is released to go claim his bride.
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This unannounced arrival almost always happened at night.
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Always at night, the groom and his friends would March through
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the dark streets of the village in a spectacular, luminous
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procession to the bride's house. The bridal party, which included
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these 10 virgins, had one job. Yeah, to meet the groom along
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the route and light the way back to the groom's home.
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And that leads to the third stage, which is the wedding
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feast itself. This was not a 2 hour reception
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with the buffet line, you know, It was a massive joyous 7 day
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celebration that engulfed the entire community.
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The. Lighting of the procession is
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where we need to correct a massive misconception for modern
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readers. Oh, absolutely.
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When we read this parable, we usually picture small indoor
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clay lamps. You know, little terracotta
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things that look like gravy boats with a tiny flax Wick
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sticking out the spout. Yeah.
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That is the classic Sunday school picture.
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But the Greek text uses the word lampadas.
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These were not little indoor lamps.
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These were blazing torches. We are talking about long wooden
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poles. At the top of the pole was an
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iron wire frame. Right inside that frame, they
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stuffed thick wads of cloth and rags, and those rags were soaked
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heavily in olive oil. That physical distinction
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changes everything about how the scene unfolds.
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A small clay lamp indoors might burn for several hours on just a
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few ounces of oil. But an outdoor torch is a
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completely different mechanism. It requires a massive amount of
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fuel to sustain that level of elimination in the open night
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air, especially if there is wind.
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It makes me think of high performance racing engines.
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That is a great analogy. If you have a massive
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supercharged V8 engine, it produces an incredible amount of
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horsepower. It burns hot and it moves fast,
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but it consumes fuel at an astonishing rate.
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So if you try to run that engine on a lawn mower gas tank, you
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were going to stall out before you even finished the first lap.
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Precisely. You absolutely must carry a
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separate massive fuel cell with these torches.
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You could light the oil soaked rag, but without an extra flask
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of oil to constantly replenish it, that torch is going to burn
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up the dry cloth in minutes. After that isn't completely
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useless, you cannot just light it and forget it.
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And the stakes of running out of fuel in this context were
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catastrophic. Lacking oil for the procession
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was not a minor social faux pas. It was not like forgetting to
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sign the guest book at the reception.
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No, it was a disqualifying public shame.
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The bridesmaids were honored guests, but their inclusion in
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the feast was contingent upon their participation in the
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procession. Failing to light the way for the
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bridegroom meant you were insulting the groom, his family
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and the bride. You were excluded from the most
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significant social event in the village.
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This historical backdrop locks in the authorial intent.
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There is zero room to reduce Matthew 25 to a fable about
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simply being organized or planning your day better.
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Right. It is a severe warning about
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eternal realities. Which brings us to the
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terrifying mirror. This text holds up to the
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visible church. Outwardly, all 10 virgins looked
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absolutely identical. They were all part of the bridal
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party. They all had the right clothes
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for a wedding. They all brought their torches.
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They all went to the exact same place to wait for the
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bridegroom. If you took a snapshot of that
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waiting room, you could not tell who was who.
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They were visually indistinguishable.
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So to understand the dividing line, we have to examine the
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Greek words Matthew uses. In verse 2 he writes that five
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were wise and five were foolish. The word for wise is fronimoy.
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This goes far beyond general intelligence or high IQ.
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It indicates a deep, practical, farsighted wisdom.
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Yeah, it is an eschatological mindset.
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It looks at ultimate, eternal realities and prepares
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accordingly, refusing to be distracted by the immediate
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moment. And the word for foolish is
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morai. Which is where we get the
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English word moron. Yeah.
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This specific word choice denotes A catastrophic base
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level folly. It describes A senselessness
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that ignores ultimate realities for immediate convenience.
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They were spiritual fools because they presumed upon the
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future without making any provision for the present
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reality of their assignment. They assumed the outward
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appearance of holding a wooden pole was sufficient.
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So how do we spot the difference today?
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If they look the same on the outside, what is the actual
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difference between the frodamoy and the morai?
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The central metaphor gives us the answer for in biblical
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theology, specifically referencing passages like
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thirst, Samuel 16 where David is anointed, and Zechariah 4 with
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the vision of the golden lampstand.
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Oil represents the Holy Spirit. The difference between the wise
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and the foolish is entirely internal.
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It is the presence of regenerating grace versus
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external religious routine. Charles Spurgeon spoke
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frequently about the tragedy of the visible church using this
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exact text. He described the terrifying
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reality of people who sit in the Pew every single week.
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They sing the hymns loudly. They bow their heads during the
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pastoral prayers. They take notes during the
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sermon. Yeah, outwardly their torch is
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raised high for the whole congregation to see, but
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internally their vessel is completely dry.
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They possess no actual spiritual life.
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The Holy Spirit has not regenerated their hearts.
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They have a form of godliness, but they deny its power.
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They are going through the motions of a covenant community
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without a saving living relationship with the Lord of
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the Covenant. You can be completely surrounded
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by the things of God, fluent in the vocabulary of theology, and
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still be entirely separated from Him.
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And the element that exposes this terrifying reality is time.
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We move to verse 5 which says while the bridegroom tarried.
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This introduces the Crucible of time.
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God never does things by accident.
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The delay is not a mistake in the schedule.
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The delay is an intentional divine Crucible.
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The waiting period represents the entire Church age, this
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long, unmeasured interval between Christ's ascension into
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heaven and his final return to earth.
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The delay tests the reality of a person's verbal profession.
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Time strips away the adrenaline of initial religious excitement
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and reveals what is actually inside the VESA.
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The wise can endure the delay because their faith is sustained
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by the internal reality of the Holy Spirit.
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But the foolish cannot endure the delay because their
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profession is built on the shallow soil of human effort,
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which eventually runs dry. I have to push back here based
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on a logical question that always comes up when reading
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this passage. Verse 5 says that while the
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bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
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Right, every single one of them. Wise and foolish alike, they all
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fell asleep. If the overarching command of
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this parable is to watch and be ready, why aren't the wise
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virgins condemned for sleeping? Isn't sleeping a failure on
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their part to maintain vigilance?
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That is a very common misunderstanding.
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Sleeping is not the sin in this parable.
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OK, unpack that. The text never condemns the wise
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for resting. Believers are not commanded to
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live in a state of frantic, agitated paranoia, staring at
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the eastern sky 24 hours a day. The wise virgins have to live
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ordinary human lives. Yeah, they work at their jobs,
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they raise their families, they eat their meals, they mourn
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their dead and they sleep. The issue is whether ordinary
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life is lived in a state of underlying readiness.
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Because the wise had the oil already secured in their
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vessels, their sleep was the rest of the prepared.
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They could sleep peacefully, knowing that whenever the shout
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came, they had what was required.
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While the foolish slept to sleep, a fatal presumption, they
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rested in their own negligence. That makes perfect sense.
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The necessary preparation happens before the sleep, not
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during it. And then the suddenness of
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midnight shatters that sleep. Verse 6 describes the jarring
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interruption. And at midnight there was a cry
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made. Behold, the bridegroom cometh.
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Go ye out to meet him. It arrives at the darkest, most
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unexpected, most inconvenient hour possible.
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And the Greek term used here for meat is a pantesis.
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What is the significance of that specific word?
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A pantiesis is a highly specific technical term in the ancient
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world. It describes a public,
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irreversible meeting with a visiting dignitary, a king or a
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victorious general. So when a royal figure arrived
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at the gates of a city, the prominent citizens were required
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to go out to meet him a panteasis and formally escort
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him back into the city. This isn't a casual run in at
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the marketplace where you can just wave and walk away.
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It is a formal, definitive and public evaluation.
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When that midnight cry goes out, the time for preparation
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instantly vanishes. The reality of the internal
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condition is forced out into the open.
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Light which leads directly into the sheer panic of the foolish
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virgins. This is the crisis of the
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untransferable oil. In verse 8, they wake up, they
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start to prepare their torches along with the wise, and they
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realize they have a catastrophic problem.
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The dry rags on their wooden poles are burning away and they
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have no oil to sustain the flame.
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They turn to the wise and say, give us of your oil, for our
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lamps are gone out. The Greek grammar in that
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frantic request provides a brilliant refutation of false
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doctrine. OK, let's hear it.
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When the foolish say our lamps are gone out, the verb used is
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spen and tie. It is in the present middle
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passive indicative tense. That tense literally translates
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to are going out or are being extinguished.
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So they are currently in the process of dying.
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Yes. Let's look into the mechanics of
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that grammar, because while it sounds highly technical, the
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theological implications for how we view salvation are massive.
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Armenian theology suggests that a true believer can lose their
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salvation. A common argument from that
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perspective assumes the foolish virgins had oil, meaning they
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possess saving grace, but then they lost it or let it run out,
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causing them to miss the Kingdom.
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But the present middle indicative tense of spinentai
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proves the opposite. Because the torches are going
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out the moment they try to light them, it shows they never had
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the extra oil in their vessels to begin with.
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What little flame they produced for those few chaotic seconds
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was just the dry rag of their own fleshly effort burning up.
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It flashes brightly for a brief moment of religious excitement,
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but it has no sustaining fuel. They were never regenerate to
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begin with. They didn't lose their
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salvation. They never possessed it.
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I think about that desperate moment where they turn to the
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wise virgins and beg to borrow some oil.
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It is like trying to use a stranger's passport at an
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international border crossing. Oh, that is good.
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You run up to the customs agent. You pat your pockets and realize
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you left your passport at home. In a panic, you turn to the
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person next to you in line and say, hey, can I just borrow
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yours? We are about the same height.
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We look kind of similar. Just let me use your
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documentation and get across. It's literally impossible.
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The agent requires proof of your citizenship.
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You cannot cross the border on someone else's credentials.
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It perfectly illustrates the structural reality of salvation.
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The refusal of the wise regions in verse 9 isn't rooted in
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selfishness, arrogance, or lack of Christian charity.
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It is a theological absolute. Saving grace is untransferable.
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This specific interaction completely refutes the Roman
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Catholic concept of supererogation.
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Supererogation is the doctrine suggesting there is a treasury
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of merit in heaven filled with the excess righteous deeds of
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the Saints and martyrs. Right.
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The idea is that these Saints were more righteous than they
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needed to be to enter heaven, and their extra merit can be
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transferred to cover the deficiencies of a person who
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lacks sufficient grace. You cannot ride into heaven on
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the coattails of a praying mother.
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No, you can't. You cannot substitute the sound
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doctrine of your faithful pastor for your own personal faith.
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You cannot rely on the fact that your grandfather built the
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church building. God demands that every single
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individual possess the indwelling of the Holy Spirit
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for themselves. The wise virgins tell them to go
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to those who sell and buy for themselves.
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It's the only logical advice they can give, even though
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tragically, it is already too late.
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And that devastating realization brings us to the terrifying
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finality of verse 10. And while they went to buy, the
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bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with him to
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the marriage, and the door was shut.
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The absolute finality of that phrase cannot be overstated.
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We see massive Christological connections here regarding the
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authority of Jesus. Jesus is deliberately taking the
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Old Testament title of Yahweh for himself.
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Throughout the Old Testament God is described as the bridegroom
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or the husband of His people. You see that language heavily in
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the book of Hosea and in Isaiah 54 verse 5 where it says for
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your maker is your husband. The Lord of Hosts is his name.
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Jesus is stepping directly into that divine role.
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He is the Lord of the feast. Furthermore, the image of the
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shut door echoes throughout redemptive history.
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It directly parallels Genesis 7 verse 16 when Noah and his
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family enter the ark. It wasn't Noah who pulled the
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heavy wooden door shut. The text explicitly states that
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the Lord shut him in. It was a divine action that
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marked the definitive end of the day of grace and the sudden
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beginning of judgement. For those inside the Ark, the
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shut door meant perfect security.
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For those outside, it meant inescapable doom.
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We also see this in Revelation 3 verse 7, describing the ascended
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Christ as the one who has the key of David, who shuts and no
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one opens. Once the bridegroom shuts the
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door to the banquet hall, the boundary is set permanently by
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divine decree. Then we arrive at what might be
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the most chilling response in all of Scripture.
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The foolish virgins finally returned from their futile
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attempt to find oil. They stand outside the heavy
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door, pounding on the wood, crying out.
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Lord, Lord, open to us. But the bridegroom answers from
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the other side. Verily, I say unto you, I know
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you not. We have to clarify the nature of
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that knowing. This is not a lack of cognitive
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awareness. Jesus is omniscient.
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He knows exactly who they are, what your names are, and
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everything they have ever. Done.
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But I know you not is a declaration of a lack of
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covenantal intimacy. It is the absolute rejection of
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any saving relationship. They had the correct theological
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language. They called him Lord.
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Lord, which deliberately echoes the terrifying judgment scene in
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Matthew 7 where people list off their religious accomplishments.
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But they did not have the relationship.
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The bridegroom does not recognize them as his own
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because they lack the mark of the Spirit.
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This passage deals a definitive, lethal blow to the concept of
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universalism. Universalism is the theological
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framework that suggests everyone will eventually be saved, that a
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loving God would never permanently exclude anyone from
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heaven. Modern liberal theology
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constantly attempts to soften divine judgement.
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It turns hell into a metaphor, or suggests that even after
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death, the door of grace will eventually crack open again.
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But the text here is completely rigid.
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The door is shut, the separation is permanent.
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There is no second chance after the midnight cry.
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The entire narrative of the parable forces the listener down
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to a singular point of application.
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In verse 13, Jesus concludes with an imperative command.
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Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour
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wherein the Son of Man cometh. This is the entire thesis of the
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text. Let's look at the original
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language there. What does true watchfulness
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actually look like in practice? The Greek phrase used is
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grogorite noon. It is a present active
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imperative. It is a command for a
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continuous, unbroken state of spiritual alertness.
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It does not mean occasionally checking your theological pulse
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after a good sermon. Right.
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It means living every single moment in the conscious,
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sobering realization that the Judge of all the earth could
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arrive at any second. It is a posture of persevering
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readiness produced by the grace of God.
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It is fascinating how the authors of these theological
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notes apply this ancient text to modern culture.
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Oh yeah, they argue that specific movements and
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ideologies today act as modern day distractions for the visible
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church. Now I want to be very clear to
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you, the listener. We are maintaining strict
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neutrality here. We are just reporting what the
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sources say, without endorsing any particular political
20:53
viewpoint. Right.
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Our goal is just to unpack the source material.
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So with that said, the sources specifically named things like
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trusting in the ritual of infant baptism without personal faith.
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They also point to church pragmatism, the charismatic
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movement, critical race theory and woke ideology.
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And again, whether you agree with their specific cultural
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critiques or not, their underlying theological point is
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that these are worldly diversions.
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They argue these movements pull the focus of professing
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believers away from the primary mission of holding forth the
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light of the gospel in a Dark World.
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The authors use those contemporary examples to drive
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home a timeless principle. The Church must prioritize
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eternal readiness over present day earthly systems.
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The danger is not just outright rebellion.
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The danger is distraction. Anything that causes a
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professing believer to take their eyes off the imminent
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return of the Bridegroom, anything that substitutes social
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action or ritualistic routine for the inward reality of the
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Holy Spirit, is a fatal diversion.
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The focus must remain aggressively on the condition of
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the heart before God. But hearing all this, you might
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be looking at your own life and feeling a rising sense of panic.
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Sure, the standard of readiness feels overwhelmingly high if I
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look at my own heart and see daily weakness.
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If I see my own frequent failures to watch, how do I know
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if I'm a wise virgin or a foolish 1?
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How does a struggling listener find assurance in such a severe
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text? The authors anticipate that
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exact fear from tender consciences.
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They provide the text comfort for the truly ready.
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Readiness is not defined as flawless, sinless perfection.
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If that were the standard, heaven would be empty.
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The comfort comes in understanding how you respond to
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your own weakness. If you grieve over your sin, if
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your failure drives you to your knees, and if you flee to the
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cross of Christ for mercy, do not confuse that weakness with
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the folly of the unregenerate. The foolish virgins presume they
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are fine and feel no need for grace.
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The wise virgins are acutely aware they need the bridegroom's
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mercy. The altars quote the beautiful
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promise from Isaiah regarding the Messiah of bruised Reed he
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will not break, and the smoking flax he will not quench.
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If you have even a tiny flicker of true spirit wrought faith
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that drives you to trust in Christ's righteousness rather
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than your own works, that is the oil.
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The grace that unites A Sinner to Christ, no matter how weak
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that faith feels, is entirely sufficient to keep the flame
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burning. So let's summarize the absolute
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dichotomy presented in Matthew 25.
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The difference between possessing the outward trappings
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of religion and the inward reality of the Holy Spirit is
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the literal difference between eternal joy at the wedding feast
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and eternal exclusion in the outer darkness.
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You can have the wooden torch, you can wear the right clothes,
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you can know the theological vocabulary.
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You can spend your entire life in close proximity to the true
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church, but when the midnight cry sounds and the sky splits
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open, only the internal oil of saving grace will sustain the
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flame. This passage forces every
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individual to abandon any reliance on borrowed faith,
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cultural Christianity, or past religious rituals.
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The bridegroom is coming. The exact hour is completely
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unknown to us, and the heavy door of grace will eventually
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swing shut, locking in the eternal state of every soul.
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The time to procure the oil, the time to cry out to God for a
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regenerate heart, is right now, while the delay continues.
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And I want to leave you with a final, provocative thought to
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Mull over on your own. Think about the delay of the
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bridegroom. What if the waiting period
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you're experiencing right now, the very delay that frustrates
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you, the unanswered prayers, the feeling that history is just
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dragging on without resolution? But what if that is not God
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forgetting his promise to return?
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What if that delay is God mercifully giving you the exact
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amount of time you need to secure the oil you currently
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lack? We started by talking about that
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broken X-ray machine and the murky landscape of the human
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heart. You cannot see the oil of the
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Holy Spirit on a medical scan, but when the midnight cry hits,
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the flame it produces will be the only thing visible in the
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dark. Thank you for joining this deep
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dive on reformed thinking.