Word of Salvation – Vol. 41 No. 25 – July 1996

 

Five Wise And Five Foolish Bridesmaids

 

Sermon by Rev. C. W. Oppelaar on Matthew 25:1-13

Scripture Reading: Matthew 25:31-46

 

Beloved Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This parable teaches us that we must be ready for the coming of The Bridegroom.  We must always be ready, because we do not know when He shall come.

This parable teaches us that we must have oil in our lamps and that we must have extra oil with us.  Because, if we do not, one day we will find ourselves before a shut door.

A parable is like a painting.  A famous painting shows up many small details in which you can see the artistic genius of the painter’s beautiful contrasts of light and dark, breathtaking combinations of colour.

A specialist will study all those small details.  But when you and I want to enjoy a good painting, we do not look at small details through a magnifying glass.  We take a few steps back, and we try to catch the main thought, the total image of what the artist wanted to express in his work.

And that is the same with a parable.  The main thought, the main point Jesus meant to teach us, that is what a parable is all about.  The main thought of our text you find in verse 13: “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”

Waiting for the Bridegroom

Nobody can say when it will happen.  Maybe not for another one thousand years.  Then again… maybe tomorrow!  Suddenly the cry will be ringing out: “Here is the Bridegroom!  Come out to meet Him!”

Then we have to be ready.  Then no more delays.  No more time for putting things off.  For when the Bridegroom has come and has entered the hall for the wedding banquet, its door will be shut.  And for those who were not ready, it will be too late.  For always – for ever too late!

There is something frightening in this.  For when the Lord has come, there is no longer any time for conversion and change.

There is also something wonderfully joyous in this waiting for the Bridegroom.  For when the Lord comes, His people may enter the hall with Him and together may celebrate the wedding banquet.

A moment ago I said that there is something a bit frightening in our waiting for the Lord’s coming.  The passage we read earlier on Matthew 25:31-46 – may not have made us feel very comfortable.  Jesus pictured a throne, with people on its right, but also with people on its left.  And Jesus speaks about those who will be welcomed into the eternal joy and bliss of the Lord.  But He also mentions those who are directed to the everlasting fire.

Congregation, the ‘Coming Again’ of our Lord is something serious!

Matthew 24 also speaks about the signs of the times: nations fighting each other; famines; earthquakes; epidemics.  And all that is very serious!

And yet… when our text speaks about the ‘Second Coming’ of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is painted as the day of a wonderful Wedding.  Our Lord does not want the lives of His people to be sad and dark and depressing.  On the contrary!  Jesus wants to teach us – on earth to celebrate!

Sometimes we seem to think that the best Christians are those who can very frequently utter deep sighs about everything in life.  For, after all, they take things serious in life, don’t they?  Yes, the Bible is about something very serious.  It is about the choice between eternal life and eternal death.

But the best Christians are those who, in faith, on earth, have learned to celebrate – to celebrate a wedding.  That is what our text wants to make clear.  Matthew 24 deals with the sad things of the last days before the Lord comes.  But blessed are you when, knowing all this, you yet dare to wear the wedding clothes of the Kingdom of God!

We are not only waiting for the persecution in the last days, but also, we are waiting for the glory of the Wedding.

Our parable is all about that wedding.  In the East a wedding was celebrated not in the home of the bride, but in the home of the bridegroom.  On the day of the wedding the bride would make her way to this home of the bridegroom.  And there she would await his coming.  He would not be home yet.  With his bachelor friends he would be celebrating.  And only when that celebration would be over, would he be coming home with his friends.  And then the wedding celebrations would get going.

In the meantime it was a custom that the friends of the bride, the bridesmaids of our text, would be awaiting the bridegroom’s arrival – outside, on the street.

In this parable our position as congregation is compared with that of those bridesmaids.

The time in which we live, congregation, is a very wonderful time.  In the first place, it is a very great time because here on earth – now – we may put on our wedding clothes.  And here and now, on earth, we may light our lamps, our festive lights for our Lord!

In the second place this is such a beaut time, because we have such a tremendous future awaiting us.  The future does not just bring all kinds of misery and world destruction.  No, we are waiting for the wedding celebrations to really begin.

The Lord is at hand!  On earth, with joy to wait for the future, and now already to be able to wear the wedding clothes, the clothes of righteousness – isn’t that wonderful?

Our parable makes it clear that the Lord will tarry a long time.  A much longer time than first expected.  Only “in the middle of the night” the cry rang out, “Here is the Bridegroom!”

It is almost two thousand years ago that our Lord Jesus ascended into heaven.  And still He has not returned!  Why does it take so long before Jesus comes again?  According to 2Peter 3:8-9, it is because first the number of God’s chosen people – the elect – must be complete.  God does not will for some of His precious children to perish.

Our text gives another reason: in this long time of waiting the faith of the congregation is tested.

In this time of waiting there are ten bridesmaids.  They all look alike.  They all wear bridesmaids’ dresses.  They all carry lanterns with them.  And they have all fallen asleep.

And yet… there is a tremendous difference between them.  A difference which decides about eternal life and eternal death.  Five bridesmaids are wise: and five are foolish.  In the time of waiting for the coming of our Lord, the testing of the faith of the congregation has to do with this difference.  Whether we are wise, or foolish.

How can you know, whether you are wise or foolish?  Maybe you say, “Well, that has to do with predestination.  That has to do with the question, whether we belong to God’s elect or not.”  Maybe you say, “I would love to know whether I belong to God’s elect.  But that is my problem.  I do not know.  Only God knows!”  Of course the Lord knows!  The Lord knows who His children are.  The Lord knows every one of His people!

But there is still someone else who can know!  Apart from God there is still someone else who knows whether you belong with the wise bridesmaids, or with the foolish ones.  And that one person is you, yourself!  Yes, you can know!

For our text shows up a very clear mark, a decisive hallmark, which shows up the difference between the wise and foolish bridesmaids.  However, that hallmark is not whether we will be awake at the coming of the Lord.

We often say to each other, “It is about time for the church to wake up.  It is such a sleepy business, in the church.  So boring!”  In our parable the Bible says, “The Bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.”

Yes, the question is not whether we will be awake at the Lord’s coming, but whether we will have oil for our lamps.  That is the hallmark!  The oil!

This oil represents a living faith in the Lord Jesus as your Saviour.  A true, living, Spirit-illuminated faith that produces the fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  All through the Lord, and for the Lord’s sake.  This oil depicts a spontaneous, living faith working the works of Christian love.

So, that is the decisive question.  Whether we have oil in our lamps.

When, suddenly in the middle of the night – the Bridegroom arrived, the lanterns of the five foolish bridesmaids could not light up; there was no oil in their lanterns.  They carried lamps with them, but they could not go out to meet and welcome the Bridegroom, for there was no light in their lamps.  What a foolish sight: lamps without oil and light.

What about our oil at the end of the twentieth century, congregation?  What about our faith, working the works of love as we await the coming of our Bridegroom, Jesus?

When the Lord Jesus Christ comes again, He will ask us whether we have been busy for Him in the little things of life.  Busy with the works of Christian love.  Busy with feeding the hungry in His Name.  Busy with visiting the sick and lonely, and with taking in the needy in His Name.

Will we be expecting Him when He comes suddenly?  And will we be able to welcome Him with lanterns full of light?  Then, if we, through faith, are ready for Him, He will say to us, as He must have said to the five wise bridesmaids, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father; take your inheritance, the Kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.”  And the wedding banquet will begin!

But, in the meantime, lamps filled with oil, as you await His coming – practical, spontaneous, Spirit-illuminated Christianity.  For Jesus’ sake.  That is what it is all about in the Kingdom of God.

Amen.