If you recall, my previous post was very literal when talking about that while we wait for Christ to come, we must not assume that He will delay His return. Our job is to be ready for Him to return at ANY time. Directly following then, is the parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids, which simply reverses the previous point. (Matthew 25:1-13)
Being ready for Him to come back at “any time” means NOT being caught off guard even IF He does delay. A mature Christian understands that there is a balance in those expectations.
In my lifetime, I have seen several groups over the years that thought they had figured out the right timeline from the Bible for Christ’s return. They came up with an arrival date and then planned to be there to welcome Him. In some instances, these people sold everything they had; homes, cars etc. only to be disappointed. These people were absolutely certain about their date and some even went to the mountaintop for the arrival. But, as it turned out, and always has turned out, these people were wrong and left discredited for their blunder.
Guys, there is no doubt that the return of Christ is fast approaching because the Bible tells us:
The time is short…for this world in its present form is passing away. (1 Corinthians 7:31 NIV)
Understand that there is absolutely nothing that stands in the way of His return…nothing. Knowing that, it is our job to be ready if He comes back today.
The problem is that we live in this “instant” world where we think we need some gratification immediately rather than waiting for something to take its normal course…over time. Our society struggles with waiting for anything. Think about it, Amazon is creating a delivery service to bring you what your ordered in 2 hours so you DON’T have to wait. Why do they do that? You know why.
But remember this important point guys, “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day”. We cannot be ignorant about when Christ will return. “God is patient towards us not willing that anyone should perish but that all would come to repentance”. But when He comes, “it will be like a thief in the night”(2 Peter 3:8-10).
So in the interim, we must be ready and faithful to what we are supposed to be doing while here on this earth and not getting distracted with everything else we see. That is why He told us this parable about the ten bridesmaids.
The story is simply one about being prepared. In the parable, we hare told about 10 bridesmaids whose only responsibility was to light their lamps when the bridegroom arrived for the wedding. As we see right away, 5 of them were wise and 5 were foolish. The wise bridesmaids remembered to bring extra oil with them and the foolish ones forgot. As it turned out, the bridegroom was extremely late in getting to the wedding. We are not told why he was late but when he did arrive, he still wanted to go through with the ceremony. When the cry came that he was here, the foolish ones asked the wise ones to share their oil but the wise ones told them their wouldn’t be enough for all of them so the 5 wise bridesmaids entered the ceremony and the 5 foolish were left outside. When they begged the bridegroom to let them in, He game them this chilling response, “Assuredly I say to you, I do not know you”.
Even though the bridegroom was late in arriving, everyone there was ready for Him except the 5 foolish bridesmaids…they were out trying to find more oil for their lamps. Think about this; their only job was to keep their lamp burning and they couldn’t because they didn’t think to bring extra oil. They weren’t prepared for His return.
I know this story is simple, but it illustrates a huge point for everyone of us; Christ is the bridegroom and He is coming back. He may be late or He may be on time…no one knows. Our job is simply to be ready for Him no matter what the hour may be of His return.
Every day and every hour that passes is one more closer to His coming back and the need for us to pay attention and be watchful is even more important. Guys, my prayer for you is that you are watching and waiting for His return and that you are NOT shut our permanently.
Keep your eyes pointed upward.
Until next time guys…
