Word of Salvation – Vol. 22 No. 38 – June 1976

 

Ten Maidens Waiting

 

Sermon by Rev. P. Koster, B.D. on Matthew 25:1-13

Scripture Reading: 2Peter 1

Psalter Hymnal: 264; 295; 371; 354; 488

 

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

In many things of life the timing of an event is quite as important as the event itself, and is often of the greatest relevance in seeing the significance of a particular happening.  We must always try to see things in their context.  This is also true of much of what Jesus said and taught.

Of course, His teachings were timeless truths – they never become irrelevant, but looking at their context in the gospel gives us a deeper understanding of them.  Take, for instance, the parable we have just read……..!

Jesus told this parable of the ten maidens to His disciples on the Tuesday before Good Friday.  This indicates to us something of the importance of the parable, because in these last days Jesus is trying to prepare His disciples in every possible way for His death and subsequent glory.  He is teaching them all that He can in the limited time left to Him, concentrating upon the more important matters.  He had been speaking to them of His return, and all the signs that would accompany that return…..!

He said many difficult and disturbing things which the disciples no doubt had great difficulty in understanding properly.  He speaks of sufferings and wars and famines and earthquakes and false prophets.  The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  Quite awe-inspiring events that Jesus is predicting!  We cannot blame the disciples for feeling rather afraid of all this.  But He also tells them of His glorious return and the triumph of His elect.

We should take note that He is careful to point out that what He has said is not intended to be a timetable by which they can precisely calculate the time of His return, for “of that day and hour no-one knows”.

The purpose He has in mind for telling them all this is to prepare them; to say to them, “Don’t despair when you see all these catastrophies and troubled times”.  Just the thing that we so often need to learn too.  That it is all in God’s hands, and that glory is just around the corner for those who are in Christ.  God will work out all things according to His wise and gracious plan.

He has not revealed to us what that plan contains in its entirety, but we may surely trust Him while we wait for the end.

While we wait…..

That is what we are… a waiting people.

Waiting for God’s final day of judgment and glory.

And Jesus is telling His disciples, in that day and in ours, to wait with trust and patience, without worrying or panicking at the events of the world around us.

But our waiting is not to be passive.

We are not to sit back and do nothing.

We have to prepare for that day.

That is what this parable is all about.

That’s why Jesus tells it at this time, while their thoughts are on the future.

The parable has many ingredients.  It has comfort and assurance for those who trust in Jesus.  How blessed to be able to enter the marriage feast without any obstruction or interference.

And it has a warning and a challenge for those whose love for Christ has grown cold, or whose religion is not really a matter of the heart.  How tragic to be left on the wrong side of the door when it is eternally closed.

These elements will become clearer to us as we examine the parable in greater detail.

The parable begins in a very simple way.

There are ten maidens, says Jesus, who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.  That is the usual custom of that day,

The bridegroom came to the house of the bride with a whole procession, and the bride usually returned with him to his house, where the wedding-feast was held.  People would wait in houses along the way, and join the happy throng as it passed them.  As these processions always took place at night, it was necessary to have a lamp, both to give light and to join in the festivity of the occasion.

That’s what these ten maidens had done.

They were waiting together in a house along the way, expecting the bridegroom to come at any moment.

To all intents and purposes these ten maidens were all the same.

They were engaged in the same business: waiting for the bridegroom.

These ten maidens represent the members of a church, those who profess to follow Jesus.  We are all engaged in the business of waiting for the Bridegroom, Jesus Christ.

To this end we are all meeting together in the same house, to worship God as we wait.

We all sing the songs of salvation together.

We are all involved in the work of the church to some extent.

We all partake of the same sacrament, proclaiming the Lord’s death until He comes.

We all share in the usual customs of Bible-reading and prayer.

To all appearances, we are all the same, even as the ten maidens were the same, for they all had a lamp

So do we all have the lamp that proclaims that we are waiting for the bridegroom.

The lamp is the external side of our religion.

The part everyone can see, and all of us who claim that we are in church today to worship God, have that lamp.

But are we all the same?

The ten maidens, it turns out, were not.

Five of them, said Jesus, were foolish, and five were wise.

Why?

Because the five foolish maidens had brought no oil to burn in their lamps, and the five wise ones had.

In other words, for some of the maidens waiting, their lamps in the end proved useless and prevented them from joining the procession.

They had no oil.

How many people are like that today?

They have all the externals of religion, but they lack the oil of faith to make the lamp burn.  They have the form of religion, but deny the power of it, to use the words of Paul when he wrote to Timothy.

When their lives are examined, the externals are all in order.  They have their lamp.

But when the internals are seen, there is nothing there but emptiness.  This is an oil crisis of immense proportions……!

There is no true sorrow for sin, there is no real repentance.

They lack that deep-flowing love and trust that comes from knowing Jesus.

True devotion and dedication to God is unknown to them.

How we should pray for such people!

Sometimes they seem to be the most difficult of all to reach with the gospel, for they think that they know it all already.

And yet they may be won for Christ, when they see the formality of their religion, and the insincerity of their profession.

Especially is this so when they see that they lack something that others have.

How easily might the tragedy of the five foolish maidens have been avoided!

If they had but noticed that the other five maidens had flasks of oil with them!

How easily might the impending doom of the foolish maidens of this world be averted!

If they could only see by the faith of others that religion is not merely external.  Might not the faith of sincere believers serve as a sort of warning to them?

Is this not a spur to drive us on, to examine ourselves and improve ourselves?

Should it not draw us closer to Jesus, saying, “Lord, help my unbelief”?

Is it not a prick for our conscience?

Have they seen my flask of oil?

The five foolish maidens ASSUMED that they were prepared.

No doubt they had never given it any real thought, for if they had they would have discovered their folly in a very short time.

Nor should we too readily ASSUME that our preparations are complete.

We should give it some careful thought from time to time.

ASSURANCE of salvation must never be allowed to degenerate into ASSUMPTION of salvation.

Is your devotion to Jesus steadfast?  Do you love Him and trust Him?  Is it your one desire to please Him?  Does it hurt you when you sin because you know you have hurt Him?  Have you given your life over to Him?  In other words, are you living the new life?  Is there a continual dying to sin and living for Christ?  THIS IS OIL FOR OUR LAMP!

A long time passes before the bridegroom comes.

He takes longer than the maidens had expected.

Already it has taken almost two thousand years.  When will He come?

No doubt many of us, perhaps all of us, will slumber and sleep in death before He comes.  How much more urgently does that make us prepare ourselves!

To take the opportunity while we have it.

We are faced with TWO unknowns

How long will it be before the bridegroom comes?

How long will it be before we too, fall asleep?

When either of those things happens, our time is gone and our opportunity lost.

“O that today you would hearken to His voice.  Harden not your hearts” says the Psalmist (95:7,8).

“Now is the acceptable time.  Now is the day of salvation” says Paul (2Cor.6:2).  If only the foolish maidens had procured oil for themselves while they had the opportunity.

But now they are made to realize the folly of their neglect and carelessness, for loud and clear comes the call that the bridegroom is coming.

Here Jesus no doubt refers to the trumpet call of verse 31 of the preceding chapter “He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds.”

What excitement there will be at that time!

Greater even than the excitement in the house of the ten maidens that night.

The trumpet sounds.

It is time

The bridegroom comes,

What happiness, what joy, what bliss divine, as we go forth to meet Him.

Our saviour has come at last.

What tumultuous scenes we will see then.

O Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll
The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend
Even so it is well with my soul.

But not so for the foolish maidens.

For now their folly is found out and plainly to be seen by all.

Their lamps that they had brought for the procession can give no light……. for they have no oil.

How agitated they must have become, how desperate to obtain some oil quickly.  So it will be when these things really happen.

On awakening from their sleep of death, many who have lamps will suddenly discover that they have no oil to make them burn.

Many who have clung their whole lives long to the form of religion, will suddenly perceive that they do not have true faith.

They had never thought it so very important before, but now it becomes THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN ALL ETERNITY FOR THEM.

What panic will seize their hearts.

How they will exclaim to themselves and to each other, perhaps blaming others, perhaps making vain excuses, but all the time knowing in their hearts that they did not take the opportunity while it was theirs.

To reveal the measure of their desperation, Jesus has the foolish maidens asking the wise for some of their oil, but the wise refuse.

This may appear cruel and selfish of the wise maidens, but the point that Jesus is making is that true faith is not negotiable.

YOUR faith cannot save anybody else, nor can you expect ANOTHER’S faith to save you.  In Solomon’s words,

“If you are wise, you are wise for yourself.
 If you scoff, you alone will bear it”  (Prov.9:12).

We cannot expect to borrow oil at the last moment from those of our friends and relations who do have oil and have prepared themselves for the coming of the bridegroom.

So the maidens rush off, frantically trying to buy or borrow oil.  But it is too late.

Whether they obtained oil or not is not told us in the parable, and it doesn’t really matter, for when they return, THE DOOR IS SHUT.

There is no second chance for those who remain outside Christ when they die, or who remain outside Him when He returns.

The door is shut then with overwhelming finality.

The door that so long stood open…
 – which received Aaron after his idolatry with the golden calf;
 – which admitted David after his adultery and murder;
 – which not only gave entrance to Peter after his triple denial of Jesus,
            but even delivered its keys to be guarded by him.

The door which is still standing open today.

Jesus said, “I am the door.”

That door will one day be shut.

Everyone will have had ample opportunity to enter, to prepare themselves with oil.  But woe to those who neglect their opportunity…..!  Who spend their time pursuing their own interests rather than on concentrating on making sure that all is ready.

They will remain outside the door forever,

And the only words they will hear from the lips of our Blessed Saviour Jesus will be,
            “I do not know you”

Well may we shudder at the thought!

But O how blessed for those who took thought for the morrow…….  Those who took their religion seriously and loved Jesus from the heart; Those who trust in Jesus with simple, childlike faith, devoting their lives to Him, will in no way be cast out by Him.

They will never be barred entry.

They will have oil aplenty at the right time, and they will gain free and cheerful entry at the door of eternity.

For the sake of Christ and His shed blood, they will be called ‘Blessed’, and will share in eternal joy with Him.

Unceasing and unclouded joy shall be their lot.

They may truly rejoice at the coming of the bridegroom.

When the trumpet sounds and the herald announces the coming of our Lord, they need have no fear, but may be found in perfect peace and serenity, knowing that their salvation is sure.

PRAYER

O Lord God, we do humbly and sincerely thank You for our salvation in Jesus Christ.  We thank You that in Him we can find this calm assurance and peace that drives out all our fears.  We pray for those that trust not in Him, but treat their religion as a matter of externals only.  Grant that Your Spirit may so move in their hearts that a true repentance resulting in a true faith may be born in them.  We pray for a world sitting in darkness, that we may be a part of the light of the gospel of our Saviour.  Forgive us the coldness of our own hearts, and hear us for Jesus sake,

Amen.