Matthew 25:1-13
“‘Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
“‘And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.
“‘Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” NKJV
We just celebrated the Feast of Pentecost on May 23rd, 2021. For those who are not familiar with this Feast, it is the celebration of the 50 days after the Feast of Passover when the Holy Spirit came to a group of 120 that were praying and waiting on His coming because Jesus had promised that He would come. During the Feast of Passover we remembered the Sacrifice of our Lord Jesus, His death on the Cross for the forgiveness of our sins, and His resurrection on the third day. What followed His Resurrección some days later was His ascension back to the Father and the coming of the Holy Spirit to dwell among us.
The Spirit of the Lord came with His Holy fire that brought great manifestations of signs and wonders which helped birth the first church with thousands being added daily. The marvelous and transforming work of the consuming fire of the Holy Spirit and the preaching of the Apostles of the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven touched the lives of a great multitude in Jerusalem and the surrounding cities.
But something that can be noted about the coming of the Holy Spirit with the fire of His glory, is that nothing impure could stand against it. Those things went up in smoke, and the people were left with the realization that they had been going in the wrong direction, and had followed the wrong pursuits that were also consumed by this Holy fire.
Now, the Scripture above talks about two kinds of virgins: the wise ones and the foolish ones. Being a virgin in the spirit means to be pure, not contaminated with the influence of another spirit. Someone that discriminates and doesn’t give in to the impurities of the world and its system because their focus is on Jesus and the ways of His Kingdom. They live righteous lives (in right standing with God). This matters to God and He busies Himself with helping us fulfill His destiny for us as His chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation (See 1 Peter 2:9).
We can see how important it is for God to have a people that are pure and righteous on the earth. So much so, that He was willing to start over with a small group of people. After building the arc at the direction of the Lord, the only people who survived the flood and were preserved were Noah and his family because God called Noah the only righteous person before Him in his generation.
Genesis 7:1
“...It’s time! Go into the ark now. Take your entire household with you, because I see that you are the only one in this generation who lives right before Me.” VOICE
In the parable of the ten virgins, they all seemed to have the same original focus. The Scripture says that they all took their lamps and set out to go and meet the bridegroom. However, something happened along the way that caused five of them to lose their focus—the cares of the world and its lure to achieve things that may seem or sound great, but that didn’t originate in the mind of God.
Their distraction infused by the spirit of the world caused them to pursue not a vision but an ambition. A vision is the revealed intention of God for us that He planned from the foundations of the world and chose us to carry out on the earth. But an ambition leads people to want to achieve success with determination, skill, and hard work, but aside from the will of God for them. In other words, they waste the oil of the grace of God on things that God did not call them to do.
Habakkuk 2:2
“The Lord answered me, “Write down what I show you. Write it clearly on a sign so that the message will be easy to read.” ERV
Ephesians 2:10
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” NKJV
Ecclesiastes 2:21-23
“For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet he must leave his heritage to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun?” NKJV
Matthew 25 also tells us that the virgins who were called foolish took their lamps and no oil with them, but the wise ones took extra oil with their lamps. This means that the wise virgins maintained their purity by focusing on their pursuit of God’s vision for them. They understood that to carry out this vision successfully, a relationship with Him was their greatest necessity.
From this relationship, the virgins drew all the oil necessary to advance towards the fulfillment of the vision of God for them through the revelations and strategies they received. In addition, this relationship helped them know and understand the heart of the bridegroom with so much certainty, that they could easily reject anything else that did not look like Him. This also happened to the Samaritan woman.
John 4:25-26, 28-29
“The woman said, ‘I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.’ Then Jesus told her, ‘I am the Messiah!’
“The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?’” NLT
On the other hand, the distraction of the foolish virgins sidetracked them, weakened them in their faith, and delayed them from the fulfillment of their original vision. It is also obvious that they forsook their relationship with the groom because when they realized that they had focused their attention on the wrong things and needed more oil of the grace of God to course correct and go on the right path, they were told that they had to pay the price for more oil.
The oil of God’s grace was also designed to help them focus their gaze on the bridegroom as they prepared for His coming. Unfortunately, they missed the hour of His visitation and received an answer to their pleas that they did not bargain for. The groom Himself told them that they could not come in with Him and the wise virgins because He didn’t know them.
There are two kinds of sudden visitations of the Lord concerning His visions for us: one is when He visits us without our prior knowledge to let us know that He has a vision for us. Two examples are Moses and the Virgin Mary. The Lord visited Moses through the burning bush to let him know that He had a plan for him to carry out on behalf of His people the Israelites who were oppressed through slavery in Egypt. Exodus 3:10 shows us God’s vision for Moses concerning this situation.
“Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.’” NLT
The Virgin Mary was also visited by the Angel Gabriel who announced to her God’s vision to carry in her virgin womb Jesus, the Son of God. Mary’s pure womb represents a life that is right in the sight of God because it is not tainted with any plan or agenda conceived by man, but is filled with the fruit of the vision of God for us. For this, we don’t seek the vision but the God who gives the vision.
Luke 1:26-28, 30-31
“Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, ‘Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!’...Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.” NKJV
The other suddenly comes after God has given us His vision and He expects us to have prepared for His visitation that brings fulfillment. This is what happened to the ten virgins. And as seen, only half of them stayed true to the vision of God for them and prepared properly. They were the ones who entered in with the bridegroom to take part in the manifestation of the vision. The other half experienced rejection because, in the holy fire of the Spirit of God, everything that did not originate with Him is consumed.
To God alone be all the glory. *
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