2And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
3They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
4But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
5While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
6And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
7Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
8And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
9But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
10And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
11Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
12But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
13Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
Recently I found this parable in a new light and had to read it again. I know well all have heard how we are to be prepared and not be like the five that ran out of oil, but let look at the other five in the context of some things going around today and verse 13.
I recently was told that the time for Christ return is drawing near. I agree with that one hundred percent, but not for the reasons others may. Now what he meant by this was that there are things that people have seen, said or pointed to that does have indications that the time is near. Now I say this with out being disrespectful or even funny, that day has been getting closer the day he came out of the tomb. I have seen and heard so many look this happened and this is going to happen to say phooey on it all. Now Jesus did say there would be certain signs and wonders. That we will see and know, but I honestly don't think we should be so looking for them that we miss the important stuff. These signs was never meant to be a bashing tool to get someone to turn their life over to God. It was to give those Christians hope. That we can rest assure that he is coming.
Let us take Verse 13, Jesus stated that we should watch for we no not the day or hour. How does this fit the whole story? Was the five brides maids looking out the windows? Well if they were Jesus does not mention it. He did mention that they were ready for the bridegroom. They did not know when he was coming until the call came out. I am assuming we will not know it until the sound of the horns announcing his coming. The key I see here was that they all were asleep and awaken when the bridegroom came. Jesus says the five that had oil was ready and wise. Look at it this way, before they took their rest from there work, they prepared what was needed. They did what God would have them do. They attended to his work. This would be likened to us reading, teaching, giving and living for him while we are awake. Doing this ensures that when the time comes we are ready. If we stand around and talk about his coming all day and do nothing else how are we ready?
Let me use this as an example of what I am talking about. According to SFGate.com over 50 MILLION of the "Left Behind" series has been sold. Now for the record I too was guilty of buying and reading them. That is a lot of money and for what? To enrich two men and the companies that published and sold them. Did they save anyone? Some may say that God used them, well I have no doubt of Gods ability to use anything after all he did use a donkey to speak. LOL. Now I checked Amazon and one book was selling for around 10 dollars. That is 500 million dollars that the Christian community spent. Now let me show some perspective. What that means in terms of our lives.
According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics the average gallon of milk cost was $3.14 as of June 2007. That is 159,235,668 gallons of milk that could be given to the worlds hungry children.1
Here is a breakdown of some more stats on food according to BLS
Fuel oil $2.57 a gallon = 194,552,529 gallons
White Bread $1.19 a loaf= 420,168,067 loafs
Ground Chuck $2.77 a pound= 180,505,415
Grade A large eggs $1.50 a dozen = 333,333,333
Now how many people could we have helped? Now don't get me wrong we all give and that is great. The point is that we spent money on something that could have been used to get this world ready for his coming. Instead of reading about some make believe world we could have helped the one we live in. We could be getting ready. See when we feed, cloth and lift up the needy we are doing two things. Jesus states in Verse 40 of this same chapter, "And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." The other is we are showing the love of Christ. We are being true Christians for we are doing his work we are preparing the world and giving them the hope that we have. We are the 5 wise maidens trimming or lamps and pouring in the oil. Till the day comes that we can rest and Jesus comes.
(I would like that no one talk about people out there that take advantage of us. This I assure you will be a issue I will visit soon.)
Here are the references to the stats. One thing I want to do is be opened and give you the data that I get so you know I am not making it up.
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