Be Ready for Things to Come

Be Ready for Things to Come

Matthew 25:1-13 

The key to understanding Matthew 25 is that it comes immediately after chapter 24. In other words, this is part of the answer Jesus gave to the disciples when they said, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

Jesus then gave the “signs of the times” so we might discern and understand the conditions that will take place in the world that will indicate we are in the last days. The condition of things that He lists are conditions we see happening today; many are being fulfilled before our eyes.

Jesus said there will be wars and rumors of war. There will be famines and earthquakes that will grow with greater intensity and be closer together as the events of the last days draws near. In Luke 21, he added plagues and famines in various places. All these are just the beginning of birth pangs, Jesus said. There will also be a great falling away, or apostasy, as unrighteousness and worldliness increase and most people’s love will grow cold.

Jesus also said, “Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when it’s branch has already become tender, and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; even so you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door.”

Jesus then gives several parables to give insight and instruction on the importance of watching for the return of the Son of Man and being ready for the latter days.

He said, “The coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah, before the flood. They were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage and did not understand until the flood came and took them all away.”

He said the Lord would come like a thief in the night. “If the master of the house had known what hour the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert. For this reason, you to be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you did not think He will.”

Although Paul had something very important in 1 Thessalonians 5:4-6, “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do but let us be alert and sober.”

Now, as we come to chapter 25, Jesus gives another parable about the importance of being alert, of watching and being ready. This is a parable about 10 bridesmaids who were waiting for the arrival of the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five of them wise.

This is a parable with great application and if we have a heart to receive it, this parable can radically change your relationship to the Lord.

I. Jesus will Return for His Bride

• Jesus uses the parable of a bridegroom coming for his bride but focuses the parable on the ten bridesmaids.
• A parable is given to teach one main point and should not be overstretched to glean every bit of theology possible out of the parable.
• But it is important to understand that Jesus uses the picture of Him being the bridegroom over and over in scripture.
• Therefore, it’s important to understand what took place in a Jewish wedding in that day in order to understand what Jesus is teaching about His relationship to the church.
• You might also be interested to know that many of our modern wedding traditions come right out of the same wedding traditions that Jesus spoke of here in Matthew 25 and in other places in scripture.

A. Only the father knows the day or the hour

• In Matthew 24:36, Jesus said that only the Father alone knows the day and the hour. That comes right out of Jewish wedding tradition.
• Let’s go through a typical Jewish wedding from beginning to end and see the similarities to the relationship between Christ and His church.
• First, it’s important to understand that a woman was not required to marry against her will. The groom must ask the father’s permission, but he must ask her permission as well.
• If she agreed to the proposal, he would give her a gift as a pledge. It might have been a coin. Later, a ring became the tradition. They would then enter a covenant together, symbolized by drinking a cup together.
• The groom then says, “Behold, you are consecrated (set apart) unto me with this gift according to the laws of Moses and Israel.”
• The two are then considered “betrothed” and though the marriage is not consummated, only a certificate of divorce can separate them.
• Right there we see many similarities; we come by our own free will into a relationship to Christ. We enter the New Covenant with Him. It’s even symbolized by the cup of communion.
• He even gives us a “down payment,” you might say when He gives the Holy Spirit.

2 Corinthians 1:22, God… who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge

• Even a price has been paid for us to the Father, the very blood of Christ is given in our behalf.
• The groom then goes away in order to prepare a home for them. This was usually an extension on his father’s house, or a house nearby on his father’s property.

John 14:1 -3, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

• When the father was satisfied that the home was prepared and in good order, he then made preparations for the wedding feast. Since he was paying for it and preparing it, he got to set the day and the hour.
• When the father told his son to receive his bride, the groom’s attendants would go ahead of him shouting, “Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!”
• Jewish weddings would take place in the evenings, and in this parable, the groom is delayed, but as we know from other scriptures, there is a reason for his delay.

2 Peter 3:8-9, Do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all the come to repentance.

• The whole wedding party, the groom and his attendants, the bride and her attendants and all those invited would make their way to the father’s house where the wedding ceremony would take place. The wedding feast would last for seven days.

Revelation 19:7-9, “Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.”

B. One word says it all – “love”

•  The reason that God uses marriage as a picture of a believer’s relationship to Christ is because marriage, when it is experienced as God intended it, is about love, it’s about nearness, and intimacy and a heart of commitment.

John 3:16, For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

Ephesians 3:19, …and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

• But it’s also God’s desire that you have the same heart towards Him. You don’t come to Christ against your will; you come to Him because you are responding to the greatness of His love toward you.

Matthew 23:37, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem … How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling.”

• The best possible place to be in your life is to be fully and completely in love with Him, the Savior of your soul, the Blessor of your life!

Ephesians 5:31 -32, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.

Matthew 22:37-38, And He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment.”

II. Jesus is Coming; Ready or Not

• Understanding the background of the Jewish wedding; that it is a picture of God’s heart toward us and the heart we should have toward Him, we can now look more carefully at this parable.
• The emphasis is on the 10 bridesmaids, some were wise and some were foolish.
• On a side note, by the way, there is significance in the number 10 here. There were 10 Commandments, 10 plagues, but more importantly, God said he would spare Sodom if there were 10 righteous within it.

A. Those who are wise will be ready

• The difference between the foolish and the wise was all about whether they had oil for their lamps.
• Before we look at those that are wise, it’s important to understand what God calls foolishness.
• The foolish one is the person who says in his heart, “I have lots of time, there’s no hurry, I’ll live my life my way and party on. I’ll get right with God later.”
• The problem with this attitude is this; he knows he needs to get right with God but doesn’t want to get his life right before God.

Illus –Some believe that being ready means to clean the house and rearrange the furniture at the last minute. The problem is that they never invited Christ into the house to begin with.
This was a lesson I myself had to learn when I was a college student at OSU and joined a fraternity…

Psalm 14:1, The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”

Matthew 7:26, “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell and great was its fall.”

B. Be filled with the Spirit of God

• Throughout scripture oil is a picture of the Holy Spirit in your life.
• The Holy Spirit is the very life of God within you. It is He who prepares your life because He works within your heart to transform your life and moves you to love Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
• There is a direct connection between the destination and the preparation.

Illus – If you’re going camping, you prepare a certain way.
If you’re taking a trip to Africa, you prepare a different way.
If you’re preparing for an eternal relationship to God what is it you need? You need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, because He is the very life of God within.

• The life of God is what happens within your own heart. No one can have the life of God for you.

Illus– You can watch YouTube videos of people lifting weights and exercising; while that might be motivating, you won’t gain any strength from it.
You can’t watch someone else’s relationship to God and have them experience God for you.

Zechariah 4:6, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.”