DO NOT BE A FOOLISH BRIDESMAID!

Dearly Beloved, DO NOT BE A FOOLISH BRIDESMAID! “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise…. Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour” (Matthew 25:1-2, 13 NIV). The Parable of the Ten Virgins is one of the most popular parables of Jesus Christ. The story is worth reading over and over again. While five of these ten virgins or bridesmaids were wise, five were foolish. All the virgins were expectantly waiting for the bridegroom who seemed to be delaying in arriving. However, the wise ones prepared well to meet the bridegroom by having enough oil in their lamps while the foolish ones did not prepare well by not having enough oil in their lamps. At the arrival of the bridegroom at midnight, the foolish virgins realized that their lamps were going out because of insufficient oil. They wanted the wise ones to give them out of their oil, but the wise ones could not risk giving out their oil, so, the wise one advised the foolish ones to go and buy more oil. When the foolish ones were out to buy oil, the bridegroom came and the wise virgins went with him to the marriage banquet. It was a pity that the foolish virgins could not be admitted to the banquet when they eventually came back because they were not fully prepared for the wedding banquet. It should be noted that all the bridesmaids were virgins: they had kept themselves pure. However, the unpreparedness of the foolish ones cost them a place in the banquet. Jesus Christ made it clear that the parable was about the kingdom of heaven. He concluded the parable by admonishing His audience to keep watch for the kingdom of heaven because no one knows the time of His second coming. This is in furtherance to His teaching in the preceding chapter (that is, Matthew 24) where He had taught about what would happen before His second coming, especially the teaching of the wise and foolish servants (see Matthew 24:48). The thrust of this parable is that Christians should be prepared at all time for the second coming of Jesus Christ because no one knows when He will come. Jesus Christ does not want Christians to be like the foolish virgins who, in spite of their piousness, missed the marriage banquet. Rather, He wants every Christian to be ready for His second coming and reign with Him in His kingdom. Christians in general (or the universal church) are the bride of the Jesus Christ (compare 2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:22-33). Jesus Christ will come to take His bride and have what is referred to as “the Marriage Feast of the Lamb” with her (see Revelation 19:7-9). Are you ready for His second coming? Are you ready for “the Feast”? Be consciously ready every day for the second coming of Jesus Christ. Only the wise that are constantly prepared will reign with Jesus Christ at His second coming. Do not be like one of those foolish bridesmaids! In His service, Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor). Prayer Point: Pray that you will not miss the second coming of Jesus Christ by your unpreparedness.