Likened unto Ten Virgins – Part 1

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Likened unto Ten Virgins – Part 1

September 14, 2020 by Admin

Scripture reading: Matthew 25:1-7

Let us go to Matthew 25 today. Starting in verse 1, Jesus said, “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins.” I want you to keep in mind that the kingdom of heaven is talking about where we live now. It is talking about where we live! And the kingdom of heaven is likened unto ten virgins. But there is a problem we have. Five of the virgins were wise, and five were foolish. Why five? Couldn’t it be three wise and seven foolish, or six and four? Why did Jesus say five wise and five foolish? Because your Bible is written in such a way that you are not supposed to make any mistakes in understanding what God means. Five is the number of grace, five is the number of ministry and God is saying there is a wise ministry and there is a foolish ministry. Now, you have to make up your mind as to where you are going to be. Are you going to be listening to the wise ministry or to the foolish ministry? The foolish ministry are leading people into a certain direction. The wise ministry are leading people in another direction. You have to decide which direction is the one in which God is leading you. Amen.

It says “virgins.” The word “virgins” in scripture means “Christians.” So, although you are born again, although you are saved, you can be foolish. I mean, I am born again, I am saved, I have done so many foolish things in my life that it is a good thing God didn’t make feet that you can kick yourself! I would be kicking myself! So, you can be foolish, and you can be foolish in a spiritual sense. You know, it is all well and good if you are foolish in the natural, waste money and do things wrong in the natural sometimes. But God is saying that these virgins, these Christians, were foolish in a spiritual way. He was telling us the meaning of foolish. He said in Matthew 25:7 that the virgins took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. Now, you cannot meet the bridegroom without your lamp shining bright. Your lamp must be bright and burning in order to meet the bridegroom. Do you know what your lamp means then? It means your spiritual life.

I am going to explain something to you that you probably never heard before. When we sit in a meeting and a spirit comes in, he looks at us and sees each person’s lamp burning bright or burning dull, burning faint. If he wants someone to tempt, he would be able to go to the one whose lamp looked dullest. So when Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like virgins with lamps,” he meant virgins with lamps, naturally. Spiritually the lamps are there, only we don’t see them with our eyes.

Now, the scripture describes what the lamp is. The spirit of man is the lamp of God, working in the soul (Proverbs 20:27). Do you remember that? The spirit of man is the lamp of God, working in the soul. So what God is saying is that some peoples’ lamps are bright and burning and some peoples’ lamps are running out of oil. Remember now, we are coming towards midnight. We are coming towards midnight. I’m saying to you, midnight is just down the road. I cannot tell you an exact time when midnight will be, because things seem to be progressing much faster than I even thought. Therefore it is not for us to even guess when the midnight will be, but it is for us to be prepared!

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, April 28, 2002)

Thought for today: The foolish ministry are leading people into a certain direction. The wise ministry are leading people in another direction. You have to decide which direction is the one in which God is leading you.