“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went to wait for the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise.” Matthew 25:1-2
In Matthew 25 the Lord tells a parable. This parable follows His discussion of the last days. He starts His parable by saying “at that time” meaning the parable refers to the last days. Then He tells us this parable is about the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven will be like this in the last days. The Lord uses the setting of a Jewish wedding. The bridegroom and some close
friends left his home to go to the bride’s home. Various ceremonies were to be conducted there.
After that at nightfall a procession made its way to the bridegroom’s home. The ten virgins were bridesmaids who have been assisting the bride. They wait to meet the groom as he comes from the bride’s house and join the group. Everyone in the procession carried his or her own torch. Those without a torch (light) would be assumed not to be a part of the wedding ceremony.
In the parable the Lord tells us half of the bridesmaids were foolish. They took their lamps but the had no oil for the lamp. Because of the delay of the bridegroom all the bridesmaids fell asleep. Suddenly, the Lord says at midnight, the bridegroom appears. The foolish bridesmaids are caught unprepared. They have no oil for their lamp and there is no time so they beg the wise bridesmaids for their oil but it is non-transferrable. The wedding party goes into the wedding ceremony and the door is chut. The foolish bridesmaids are left on the outside with no hope of entering. The Lord ends His parable with these words. “Afterward the other bridesmaids 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.” (Matthew 25:11-13) Did you notice that the words at the end of the parable are similar to what the Lord says to the dead church at Sardis?
What can we learn? The foolish bridesmaids have no oil – symbolic of the Holy Spirit – no oil and no light – no true salvation. The five foolish bridesmaids represent false believers. They have enjoyed the closeness, the fellowship, even some of the benefits of the Christian community but without faith in Christ. When the bridegroom comes they are more concerned about being able to enter the party than about seeing the bridegroom. They hoped their association with true believers (“give us some of your oil” – they knew they were genuine) would permit them into the kingdom at the end. They are denied because one person’s faith in the Lord Jesus Christ cannot save another. Their cry “Lord, Lord” and His response “I do not know you” remind us of the false believer in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:21-23),
The church at Sardis is a stark reminder to us that the “church” today is filled with believers and unbelievers. It is not church membership that God is interested in, instead He looks “at the heart”. Thus Sardis stands as a stark reminder that each of us must “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” Reprobates? Those who come to the wedding unprepared (without oil in their lamps) are unknown to the Lord – they are not His!
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