The Bridegroom is Coming!

The Bridegroom Is Coming!

LSCY T Matthew 25:1-13

INI

Our Lord speaks to you today to give this exhortation: Watch. Be vigilant. Be prepared. For the Lord will come again like a thief in the night. You won’t know the day, nor the hour. To us mere mortals, it will seem like just another day. But when He comes, our lives will be judged, whether our end time comes through something as tragic as sudden or accidental death, or when Jesus comes back to judge the living and the dead. Our Lord tells us this parable to remind us, He will indeed be back. And for those who prepared to meet the bridegroom with plenty of oil – there is great joy and celebration as the marriage feast between Christ and His bride the Church continues for all eternity! But for those without oil? They’ll be shut out. Because they didn’t prepare.

         You’ve all been to weddings before. And you can sort of tell who’s thrilled about the wedding, and who’s there to just be cordial – you know, because they were invited and had nothing better else to do that day. Who could refuse a free meal right? One group of people are together, getting ready – they’re laughing. The girls are doing their hair and makeup, and the men work off their nervous energy by tossing a football outside getting sweaty in their suits. There’s great energy and excitement for the big day. They have everything prepared to look their best – because this is a huge day! It’s a day they’ve been looking forward to for a long time!

Then there’s the other group. They get there 5 minutes before the wedding, donning an un-ironed shirt or dress and aiming to just look ‘presentable.’ They forgot a gift, so they swung by Walmart to get a card and put some cash in it for the bride and groom. They’re not unexcited, but them being there is just sort of thrown together.

         One group met the day with great expectation. The other group met the day with great underestimation. And this is precisely the difference between the 5 wise virgins, and the 5 foolish virgins in the parable. The five wise virgins were vigilant for the day. Their hope was fixed on this joyous wedding, and they made sure they had everything ready for the day. But the five foolish virgins hardly gave a thought to their preparations.

         For the interpretation of this parable, we must note. The ten virgins represent the church as we see it on earth. That is, those who claim salvation under the name of Jesus represent the ten virgins. That means, in the church, there are some ready, and some not. That’s not to say that 50% of folks in church any given Sunday are truly ready for the last day, and 50% aren’t. But altogether, the ten know that Christ, the bridegroom is coming. And we all wait for His second coming, that we may enter into the eternal wedding feast between Him and His bride, the church.

But waiting isn’t one of our strong suits. We live in a culture of instant gratification. We know what we want, and we want it now! Read a book? Takes too long, stream the movie instead. Make dinner? McDonalds is faster. This inability to wait tends to affect our preparations to meet our coming bridegroom. The preparations are met with apathy rather than joy. Thus, we’re at risk of becoming like the five foolish virgins, who miss out on joining the bridegroom.

         And what’s the reason the five foolish virgins missed out on the coming bridegroom? The lack of adequate oil. The oil is an illustration for faith. The five wise virgins had brought plenty of oil to meet the coming bridegroom. While the five foolish virgins neglected to prepare because they gravely underestimated Him.

This is much like the parable of the Sower. God’s Word is like seed, that’s scattered everywhere. But in some hearts it doesn’t take root. In some, the devil snatches it away as quickly as it’s heard. In others, it springs up for a time, but when suffering comes, it withers away. And in some others, the Word is choked out by the cares, distractions, and pleasures of everyday life.

So, it is within the church. Many hear the Word’s and promises of God but receive it apathetically – not as one’s anticipating His coming with great joy. It’s never really taken to heart. Faith isn’t fed, nurtured, or rooted in anything. The only thread they’re hanging onto is the mere outward motion of putting a warm body in a pew – yet their heart is far from the Lord. For them, their oil will run out when the bridegroom appears.

         It’s like this. Think about the way you are with your phone. Everyone knows the feeling when you’re out and about and the red bar appears on your phone. And then you realize you didn’t charge your phone last night. You meant to. You thought about it. But you were tired, or distracted, or maybe just assumed that everything would be fine. So you walk out the door with just a bit of battery left – hoping that it’ll get you through the day. But it doesn’t.

         But then picture someone else – who plugs their phone in every night. They keep a charging cord in their car. And a portable battery in their bag. They’re prepared at all times to charge their phone, because they know that it’s needed to get through their day.

         Now, it’s not that one person owns a better phone – it’s that one is prepared and takes it seriously, while the other one is apathetic to the task and underestimates how quickly battery drains. And when an emergency happens – and you need to make a call – who would you rather be? The prepared one with a fully charged battery, or the unprepared one with a dead phone?

         So, it is with the virgin’s oil. The five wise virgins weren’t morally superior to the five foolish virgins. Their oil wasn’t better. They were simply prepared. They understood the gravity of the moment. They had the forethought to plan for anything that could lead them away when the Bridegroom came. They were always ready with the oil and the trimmed lamps because they trusted in the bridegroom and gladly awaited His coming. They didn’t want to miss it!

         The foolish underestimated Him. Because the day wasn’t really looked forward to that much anyway. They assumed they had enough. Or that the lamp would burn on its own – that faith could be sustained without hearing the Word of God, or prayer, or the means of grace, or trust in God. And like a phone battery that’s never charged, it runs out at the worst moment.

         …

We’ve been waiting for the second coming of Jesus for 2,000 years now. That amount of waiting can cause us to have a great underestimation of Him. Tempting us to be like the foolish virgins. It can cause us to get tired. Grow apathetic. Get sleepy. And lose hope.

However, this parable also reveals something to us. The bridegroom was delayed. Culturally speaking, the reason for this was because the groom was negotiating the price for the bride with the bride’s parents. That’s why the groom was late. It went into the middle of the night before the negotiations were completed. But he was coming. What drove Him was His love for His beloved. He was going the distance for her.

Jesus, your bridegroom, went the distance for you, His bride. He paid the costly bridal price on Good Friday – and for Him, this negotiation was excruciatingly long. Yet, no greater price has been paid for love. This alone tells you – you aren’t cheap. You were bought with a great price. You were bought with the blood of God’s own Son, and His innocent suffering and death.

And if the Bridegroom has paid such a great price for you, you better believe that He will come for you! He didn’t turn back from facing the cross, and He won’t forget His promise to return to you. His delay doesn’t mean He’s disinterested. Rather, it means that He continues to add saints to His bride, the church, each and every day.

So don’t lose hope. The time to prepare your oil is now. Keep watch, for you don’t know the day nor the hour. Fill your lamps with oil He provides You, through His Word, His forgiveness, His Holy Supper. Because the bridegroom who bought you will surely come to bring you into the eternal marriage feast of the Lamb in His Kingdom which has no end.

INI

Pastor Joshua Ralston