The Ten Virgins

THE TEN VIRGINS- HAS THIS BEEN TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT?

The parable of the ten virgins is one of those passages that has been pulled out of its setting for so long that many people read it as though Jesus were talking about Christians thousands of years later waiting for a future “end of the world” event.

Some even see the five wise and five foolish virgins as a 50/50 ratio of saved and lost people.

But that is not the point of the parable.

The key is context. This is a continuation of chapters 23 and 24.

Jesus is still answering the questions raised in Matthew 24 concerning the destruction of the temple, His coming, and the end of that age. The ten virgins are part of that same warning.

This is a covenantal story about readiness for the coming of the Bridegroom and the judgment that would come upon that first century generation.

Let’s take an expository walk through this passage.

Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.

Matthew 25:1

Notice the word “Then.”

Jesus is continuing the same discourse. Matthew 25 is not disconnected from Matthew 24. The Bridegroom is Christ. Jesus had already identified Himself this way:

Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them?

Matthew 9:15

The picture is covenantal from the beginning. Christ is the Bridegroom, and the people are being called to be ready for His coming.

And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

Matthew 25:2

This is where people sometimes create a 50/50 salvation ratio. But Jesus is not giving statistics. The contrast is between those who responded wisely to His warning and those who did not.

Jesus had used the same language before:

Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man.

Matthew 7:24

The wise hear and respond. The foolish hear but fail to act. And that is the emphasis here.

They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

Matthew 25:3-4

The difference between the two groups is preparation. Notice all ten had lamps and all ten expected the Bridegroom. But only five were actually prepared for the delay. We should also be careful not to force every detail into a separate doctrine. This delay was the 40 year transitional period between the cross and the destruction of their city. The focus was being ready.

While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

Matthew 25:5

This verse is important.

The Bridegroom did not arrive immediately. There was a delay. That fits the first-century setting beautifully. Jesus warned His disciples about coming judgment, but years passed before Jerusalem fell. The delay did not mean His words had failed. It meant they needed to remain ready.

There are many scriptures to prove this thought. 2 Peter 3:4 and Revelation 6:10 that tie in perfectly with the thought of “delay.” Here’s two that fit.

Another scripture that is exactly the warning He had already given:

Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

Matthew 24:42

And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.

Matthew 25:6

The midnight cry emphasizes something bad was on the horizon for the ones unprepared with no oil. Not sure everyone will understand this but this was referring to the destruction that was soon approaching for them. Remember the wise escaped to the mountains/Pella.

The point is not the literal hour on a clock. The point is that the Bridegroom arrives when the unprepared are not expecting Him.

Jesus had just said:

Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

Matthew 24:44

This is the same warning, the same discourse and the same coming.

Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.

Matthew 25:7

Now the moment of testing arrives. Preparation is now tested where everyone rises and everyone must respond. And now the difference between wisdom and foolishness becomes visible. This is how judgment works throughout Scripture. It always exposes what was already there.

And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.

Matthew 25:8

The foolish suddenly realize they are not ready but preparation cannot simply be borrowed at the last moment and the point was their personal responsibility. Jesus had been warning His generation openly. They heard His warnings but ignored and showed their hostility. They had repeatedly seen His good works. They repeatedly had been told what was coming.

Sadly, hearing the warning was not the same thing as responding to it by being prepared.

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 25:9

Again, Jesus is not teaching a doctrine about purchasing salvation. This is part of the story illustrating preparedness.

The foolish had waited until the critical moment to become ready. By then, time had run out. This judgment with likened to Noah. Same story different time.

And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came.

Matthew 25:10

Here is the central event. The Bridegroom came. This is the same coming Jesus had been discussing in the surrounding chapter and Jesus had already placed those events within a specific generation: Theirs!

Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

Matthew 24:34

That time statement is absolutely critical to how we should read the parable. Jesus was not warning a generation two thousand years removed from His audience. He was warning the generation standing before Him.

And they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.

Matthew 25:10

Now the wedding imagery becomes especially important. The Bible repeatedly uses marriage as covenant language. God described His relationship with Israel in marital terms.

The prophets spoke of a coming new covenant. The marriage in this parable fits that larger covenantal story. Christ the Bridegroom was bringing His people into the fullness of new covenant relationship while the old order was reaching its end.

The phrase “the door was shut” signals a final end. Theirs! The opportunity to prepare was over.

Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

Matthew 25:11

Notice the words “Lord, Lord.” Jesus had used that expression before:

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 7:21

This was referring to old testament people that refused the new covenant order. The issue was not outward religious profession. It was genuine response to Christ, which they denied.

That was especially relevant to a covenant people who assumed their religious identity automatically guaranteed security but Jesus continually warned that it did not.

But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

Matthew 25:12

This is covenantal exclusion language. These were people who expected acceptance but found themselves outside. That theme runs throughout Jesus’ ministry. They claimed Abraham’s seed but denied the seed which was Christ.

They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.

John 8:39

Covenant privilege without faithfulness would not protect those who rejected the Messiah. The religious system itself would not save them. Their ethnic temple identity would not save them. Ancestry would not save them. The question was whether they had received the Bridegroom.

Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

Matthew 25:13

This is Jesus’ own interpretation of the parable. Watch and that is the point. Not calculate a 50/50 ratio. Not to build an end-times chart. Not move the entire story thousands of years into the future. Please…

Watch because the Son of Man was coming in judgment just as He had warned them and the time frame had already been stated:

This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

Matthew 24:34

That is the context people not only miss but completely ignore. The ten virgins are part of Jesus’ covenantal warning to His first-century audience and the Bridegroom is Christ on this story. The wise are those who took heed to His words and the foolish are those who did not. The delay tested their readiness.

The cry announced His coming and the wedding spoke of covenant fulfillment. The shut door speaks of finality never to be opened again as an ethnic covenant people and the whole parable ends with one command:

WATCH.

When we keep the parable inside the conversation Jesus was actually having, it becomes much clearer. Again this was not a prediction that half the human race would be saved and half would be lost. It was a solemn warning to a covenant generation standing at the end of an age:

The warning belonged to that generation. The Bridegroom came, the Old Covenant age reached its end, and the judgment Jesus foretold was fulfilled.

We are not waiting as a bride for her groom. Jesus is the groom that came back in that generation and married his bride. He’s now married to his new covenant wife. Now children are being born into the kingdom.

Also, this parable was for the destruction of their day. There is no day of destruction for ours.