PARABLES OF JESUS CHRIST
PARABLE OF THE TEN MAIDENS
DR. JIM DIXON
MATTHEW 25:1-13
OCTOBER 10, 1982
The Bible tells us that we live on a visited planet. The Son of God has been here. He stepped foot in our world. He left heaven and came to earth, humbled Himself and became a man. He was obedient unto death. But the scriptures tell us that death could not hold Him, and He rose from the dead in power and great glory, and He now lives on the right hand of the Majesty on High. The scriptures assure us that one day He will visit this planet again and that event is called the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
The Parable of the Ten Maidens is a three-fold message to the world. The first message is simply this. Jesus Christ will come again. He will come for judgement and for blessing. He will come to judge the world. He will come to receive His people unto Himself.
More than 300 verses in the Bible prophesy the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Paul said, “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise. Then we who are alive, who are left until His coming, will be gathered together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and we shall always be with the Lord.” John said, “Behold, He is coming with the clouds and every eye will see Him. Everyone who pierced Him, and all the nations of the earth will cry out on account of Him.” Jesus said, “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense to repay everyone for what they have done. I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.”
In the book of Acts, the first chapter, we are told how the disciples stood on the Mount of Olives and they saw Jesus ascend into heaven. Suddenly two angels appeared, and they said, “Why do you stand there gazing up into heaven? This same Lord who was taken up from you will come again in the same manner in which you have seen Him go.” And so, we have this consistent testimony from the scriptures. Jesus Christ will come again. He will come on the clouds of heaven. He will be accompanied by the saints from the generations past. He will be accompanied by the angelic hosts. He will come with a cry of command. He will come with the archangel’s call. He will come with the sounds of the trumpet of God and miraculously every eye shall be able to see Him.
Now there are three Greek words in the Bible that describe the beauty and the reality of this event. First there is the word “Parousia” which literally means “coming” but is sometimes translated “presence.” This word was used by the Greeks to describe royal visitations. It was used by the Greeks to describe the coming of a great king to present himself before his people. No word could be more appropriate for the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ than this word because He is King of Kings, and He is Lord of Lords, and He will one day come to present Himself before His people. As Christians, we are those who await the coming of a King.
The second Greek word that is used in the scriptures to describe the beauty of this event is the word “epiphaneia.” This word means “the appearing.” Paul says, “We await the appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” This word is particularly precious to us as Christians because to us at this point in time Jesus Christ does not yet appear. There’s not one of you in this room who have ever seen Him face to face, but, you see, faith is the assurance of things hoped for. It is the conviction of things not seen. Without having seen Him, you love Him and though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him, and you rejoice with an utterable joy. As the outcome of your faith, you obtain the salvation of your souls. But one day, you see, He will appear, and we will see Him face to face.
John says, “Beloved, we are children of God now. It does not yet appear what we shall be but this much we know. When He appears, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is.”
The third word that is used in the Bible to describe the beauty of this event, and I think this is the most awesome of these three words, is the word “apokalupsis,” a word which literally means “the revealing” or “the unveiling.” One day when Jesus Christ comes again, He will be revealed. He will be unveiled for all the world to see.
You see, the Bible tells us that when Jesus Christ came the first time, there was a sense in which He was veiled. The Bible says He came into the world and the world was made by Him and the world knew Him not. Many had eyes to see but could not truly see Him. They had ears to hear but they could not truly hear Him. They saw only the son of Joseph and Mary. They saw only a carpenter from Nazareth. They saw a suffering servant. They did not see His deity. They did not see His majesty. But when He comes again, He will be revealed for all to see.
In His First Coming, there were moments when He was unveiled, when He worked His great miracles, when He raised Lazarus from the dead by His power and when He calmed the sea and when He rebuked the wind and the disciples said, “Who is this that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” Then there was that moment, you will recall, when He was transfigured on the holy mountain and Peter, James and John saw His heavenly glory. But when He comes again, He’ll be unveiled for all to see. Therefore, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ in the scriptures is called, “the unveiling,” “the revealing.” And so, we have this first message of the Parable of the Ten Maidens. Jesus Christ will come again.
On December 8, 1941, the Japanese attacked the Philippine Islands, and the Islands were defended by Filipinos and Americans under the leadership of General Douglas MacArthur. They made a courageous stand on Battan Peninsula for 3-1/2 months. But in March of 1942, President Roosevelt ordered General MacArthur down to Australia where he was to become the Commander of the Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific. He did not want to leave the Philippines, but he was taken by night from Corregidor, taken with his wife and with his son. But before he left the people, because, you see, he knew that they were under siege, and he knew that they were desperately outnumbered. Before he left the people, he said, “I shall return” and they waited.
In the autumn of 1944, MacArthur returned with great forces and with great power and he set the people free. Jesus Christ left this earth knowing that we were under siege, knowing that we were desperately outnumbered, but He left saying, “I shall return” and He will return to set us free. And so, this is the first promise that is given in the Parable of the Ten Maidens. Jesus Christ will return. He will present Himself before His people. He will appear and we shall see Him face to face. He will be revealed from heaven.
Now the second message of the Parable of the Ten Maidens is this. No one knows the day or the hour. Ever since Jesus Christ left this earth, Christians have wondered when He would return. There has been a lot of speculation regarding the timing of His return and there have been a lot of abuses. In the first century around 50AD, Christians in Thessalonica quit their jobs because they believed that the return of the Lord was imminent. And so, they quit their jobs and began to wait. The Apostle Paul rebuked them, and he told them to go back to work.
In the second century, there arose a Christian named Montanus and he gathered a great fallowing. He was joined in leadership by two women named Priscila and Maximillia. The three of them led their followers into two towns in Pergia which is modern-day Turkey, and they told their followers to wait there, and Jesus Christ would come for them there. They said they knew it because they had received it by prophetic utterance. And so, the people waited, and Jesus did not come. Time passed and Maximillia died. Then Priscila died. Finally, Montanus died, and the peoples’ hopes were in vain.
Around the year 500, Aryan vandals sacked the city of Rome. Roman citizens were left to starve in the street, and they did by the thousands. It’s a matter of historical record that many Roman women actually ate their young. Gothic hordes surrounded the eternal city, and the theologian Pelagius pronounced the end of the world, the consummation of the age and the immediate return of Jesus Christ but it did not happen.
Around the year 1,000, Otto III rose to supremacy over Rome. The Roman Catholic Church pronounced the end of the world, the consummation of the age and the dawning of the millennial kingdom but it did not happen. Just before the year 1500, about the time that Columbus was discovering America and Michelangelo was creating his great works of art, there arose a prophet named Savonarola. He made many prophecies, some of which came true, but he made one great mistake. He prophesied the immediate return of Jesus Christ and he set the day and he set the hour and it did not happen.
In the 19th Century, there arose a man named William Miller, an upstate New York preacher and he gathered a massive following. They were called Millerites. Sometimes they were called Adventists. He told his people that Jesus Christ would return on or before October 22, 1844, and they believed him. As October 22 drew near, 50,000 Millerites quit their jobs. Some of them put on white robes and went to the tops of mountains to await the Savior. Others literally perched in the tops of trees. Some simply went to churches and sanctuaries and waited there. October 22, 1844, came but Jesus Christ did not. On October 23, 50,000 Millerites returned to their homes and communities in embarrassment.
You see, Christian history is filled with abuses such as these regarding the timing of our Lord’s return. Jesus Christ said, “No one knows the day or the hour. Neither the angels of God nor the Son of Man but only My Father who is in heaven.” It may seem to many of you here as though our Lord Jesus has tarried a long, long time but Peter would remind us that God does not view time as we view time, that with God “a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as one day.” God transcends time and space. One generation will see His return, but no generation knows the day or the hour.
Now there are certain signs that are to accompany Christ’s return. Christians who are discerning should recognize the “season” of Christ’s return. We do not know the day or the hour, but we should recognize the season of His return. Jesus said, “When you look at a fig tree and you see it bringing forth leaf, you know that summer is drawing near. Even so,” He said, “when you see certain signs happening on the earth, you will know that My return is near.” Some of these signs are being fulfilled in this generation.
One sign was to be the rebirth of the nation of Israel. They would be gathered among the nations, gathered from among the nations and brought into their homeland and this is happening in our time. In 1948, Israel became a nation again. In 1967 they reoccupied the holy city. At the turn of the century, 20,000 Jews lived in Palestine. Today there are multiple millions living in Palestine.
A second sign has to do with a volatile international climate that is capable of producing global war such as is described in Revelation and Ezekiel and Daniel. We live in such a volatile international climate today. The Union of Soviet Socialists Republic does not want peaceful co existence. They don’t want to live at peace among the nations. They want dominion over the nations and dominion over the earth. The PLO does not want peaceful co-existence with the Jewish state. They want to see the eradication and the removal of the Jewish state. The radical zealous Jewish Zionists do not want peaceful co-existence with Palestinian Arabs. They want to see the removal of Palestinian Arabs. There are hostilities on this earth. There are hostilities in Northern Ireland, in the Middle East, in Eastern Europe, in Argentina. The human heart has not changed. It has not progressed throughout human history. All the glorified technological attainments of the 20th Century cannot begin to redeem us of our moral poverty. There is evil in the heart of man. When we combine this with the proliferation of nuclear weapons, this is a dangerous time in which we live. This is a volatile time in which we live.
The Bible tells us that at the close of the age, before the return of Christ, this reborn nation of Israel will become the focus of the world’s attention and the nations of the earth will polarize themselves with respect to Israel. Miraculously this is happening in our time. We’re told in the Bible that there shall arise a great power to the uttermost north of Israel in the end days and that power, according to Daniel, will be called the “King of the North.” According to Ezekiel it will be called “Gog and Magog.” Biblical scholars recognize this power as Russia today, to the uttermost north of Israel. We’re told int he prophetic passages that the King of the North which who is Russia will move down into the King of the South which is the Arab block, Egypt and her allies, and then the King of the North will sweep into the Persian Gulf and the King of the South and come into the glorious land which is the reborn land of Israel. When the King of the North comes into Israel, suddenly there will be a great war.
Certainly, the scene is set in our time. We’re told in the Bible that in the last days there will arise spiritual apostasy, a falling away of many churches from the historical and biblical truths of the faith. Paul says, “As for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to meet Him, we beg you, brethren, not to be quickly excited or shaken in mind, thinking that that day has already come. Let no one deceive you in any way. That day will not come unless the rebellion comes first.” The Greek word here is the word “apostasia” from which we get the word apostasy. It was used to describe spiritual treason and there is spiritual treason in mainline Christian churches today.
There are churches that no longer affirm the full deity of Jesus Christ. There are churches that no longer affirm the full authority and inspiration of the holy scriptures. There are churches that have tremendous moral and ethical confusion because they are no longer rooted in the word of God. Paul says to Timothy, “Understand this, that the day will come when men will no longer endure sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own liking and they will wander away from the truth into myth.” He says, “The Spirit expressly says that in the last days, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons through the pretensions of liars whose consciences are seared.” Paul says, “Understand this, that in the last days, there will come times of stress. Men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, inhuman, implacable, profligate, slanderous, fierce, haters of good, swollen with conceit, holding the form of religion but denying the power of it. There shall arise men of corrupt mind and counterfeit faith who will listen to anybody but never arrive at a knowledge of the truth.” Spiritual apostasy and it has arisen in our time.
Daniel said that “In the last days before the coming of Christ, there will be a great out birth of knowledge and travel.” It is incredible but if you look through the millennia of history, if you look through the centuries and the decades past, knowledge has increased very little upon the earth, but suddenly at the turn of the century in the industrial and technological revolution, knowledge has increased exponentially upon this earth. You could take somebody living in the second century, and if you could uproot them and put them down in the 17th century, the culture shock would be minimal because time hadn’t changed that much. Both societies were primarily agricultural. But if you took somebody from the second century and you dropped them down on the 20th century, the culture shock would be awesome because knowledge has increased so incredibly in our time.
The Bible says that in the last days there will come sexual immorality and a growth of permissiveness. In this nation, one out of every five high school students will have to be treated for venereal disease before they graduate from high school. Such is the promiscuity of our time. The Bible says that in the last days there will come a breakdown of the family. “Children will rise up against parents,” Paul says. We’ve seen a breakdown of the family in our time.
The Bible says in the last days there will come famine on the earth. According to the book of Revelation, that famine will include more than one-third of this earth’s population. According to World Vision International, more than one-third of this earth’s population are in famine today. The Bible says in the last days there will arise a preoccupation with materialism and hedonism. That is certainly true, particularly in our western culture.
Now, all of these signs, when taken individually — most of them have been manifested at some point in earth’s history, but when taken collectively they seem particularly appropriate to our time. Therefore, you see, many Christian leaders feel that we are the generation that will see the Lord’s return and particularly when you look at the prophetic signs of Israel, this volatile international climate, and spiritual apostasy.
I am one of those who believe that Jesus Christ will come in our time. We don’t know the day or the hour. He may come in ten years or thirty years, but I do believe He will come in our time. Paul said, “As for the times and the seasons, you have no need to have anything written to you for you yourselves know that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When people say there is peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as travail comes upon a woman with child and there shall be no escape. But you are not in darkness for that day to surprise you like a thief for you are all sons of the day and sons of the light. You are not of the night or of the darkness.” So, you see, we are to recognize the seasons of His coming because we are of the light, but we will not know the day and we will not know the hour.
Now, there’s a third and final message in the Parable of the Ten Maidens. That message is this. Be prepared. Jesus said, “No one knows the day or the hour. Therefore, watch.” The Greek word there is “gregorio” and it does not mean “to look” to “to scan the horizon.” It simply means “be prepared.” Five of the maidens were not prepared for the return of the bridegroom and five of the maidens were prepared for the return of the bridegroom.
In Jewish weddings there were three stages. First of all, there was the engagement. This was established by the parents, by the fathers, of the bride and the groom. The bride and groom had no choice in it. The second stage was the betrothal. In the betrothal, the bride and the groom pledged their lives to each other. They made their vows to each other. They were bound. The groom gave gifts to the bride, but they still did not live together as husband and wife. About a year later there was the marriage consummation. The groom came from his home, and he journeyed to the bride’s house. There he met the bride and the bridal party, the bridesmaids, the loved ones, the family, and he led them all in a procession back to his house. There, there was a great wedding feast, and the door was shut.
Now this is the image that Jesus Christ uses of his Second Coming. You who are Christians are already betrothed to Christ. You’ve pledged your lives to Him, and He’s pledged His life to you, and He’s given you gifts. But He will one day come again. You do not yet live in His house. He will one day come again, and He will receive you to Himself, you and the entire bridal party, and He will take us back to His home where we will live forever. But He says to us, “Be prepared.” That’s the most important thing you could ever do. If you’re not prepared, the most important thing you must do is make sure that you’re in the bridal party. You must make sure that you are betrothed to Jesus Christ, that you’ve given your life to Him and that you’ve accepted His life for you. You must ask Jesus Christ to be the Lord and the Savior of your life. You must invite Him in and receive Him and be reborn.