The Parable of The Ten Virgins (Bridesmaids) - Explained - Part 1

Matthew 25:1-13 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. 2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: 4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. 6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. 7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. 9 But 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. 10 And 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. 11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. 12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. 13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

Now what is this parable all about, for I have heard all manner of explanations of it?  None of which, I hasten to add, have ever made much sense to me other than to be used by ‘ministers’ or ‘pastors’ to spiritually abuse and bully their flocks. I am angered to have to say that there are more than several passages of Holy Scripture that are used in this satanic and abusive way in order to bully sons and daughters of God. As another example of this evil misuse of the Holy Scriptures please see my article entitled “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling – Oh really, is that so!?”

We need to understand what the general mainstream ‘Christian’ ministerial consensus of opinion is on this parable. Let’s be clear, the virgins are always (metaphorically) the membership of the congregation or body of believers, not the ministry. The five wise virgins are those members who are always at ‘church’ every Sunday putting on their Sunday best, including their Sunday best behaviour and Sunday smiles and sit there like lemmings without questioning a word the minister/pastor says. They believe everything he says and in reality follow him, not Yashua Anointed (The Lord Jesus Christ). In contrast, the five foolish virgins are those members who do question things, are lax in their attendance (for good reason) and may even be ‘church hoppers’ i.e. going from one ‘church’ to another in search of The Truth or for wholesome Spiritual food. These people are very unfulfilled and find their Christian religious walk all very burdensome and boring.

Here’s why: they find all the daily cleansing, struggling to ‘get right with God’, finding time for their quiet time, always getting ready for the next renewal, revival or awakening; the salvation by works process (slavation) and/or salvation by self-improvement very hard work indeed, even stressful and depressing as they always seem to fail while undertaking this Judaic lifestyle. They don’t understand the apparent contradiction of Our Lord’s words “Take my yoke upon you for it is light;” they find the yoke they are bearing unbelievably heavy. Then, to compound their wretched Spiritual condition, along comes old Bible basher Joe the pastor and gives his sermon on The Ten Virgins and these poor people are now down on their hands and knees under the weight of his man made yoke. Just to make sure, this ‘minister’ tells them that unless they shape up and get with it (salvation by works) they are just like the five foolish virgins or will end up like them.

OK, so having done with all the negative satanic stuff, let’s move on to The Truth so that you can set yourself free from all their religious garbage. So what is the real meaning of this parable? Well, it‘s fairly easy to work out if you use the correct symbolism and study a little into the traditions of first century Judean weddings.  First and foremost The Bridegroom is Yashua Anointed (The Lord Jesus Christ) and His bride is the Church. Now this is where mainstream Christian teachers go wrong and place the Ten Virgins in this parable as the Church when they are not. In actual fact The Bride is not mentioned in this parable at all and The Bride is not mentioned deliberately because Yashua Anointed was making a very different point entirely here and in places a very mockingly sarcastic point too!

Even in the first century, Judean weddings had bridesmaids and that is what these Ten Virgins are – Bridesmaids. Now what is the role of a bridesmaid? Why, to look after and take care of the bride so she’s ready for the wedding – who else? Who is the Bride – The Church that’s who. As an aside to this there are some out there who say the Church is not the Bride of Christ only the New Jerusalem as mentioned in Revelation, but I say otherwise and I will provide the evidence in a new article soon to prove that the Church is the Bride of Christ. So getting back to this thread, who are these Bridesmaids? Ah now we’re getting to it!! The Bridesmaids are Ministers, Vicars, Pastors, Elders and Teachers; those responsible for looking after the after The Bride. Again, who is The Bride? The Church of course and the bridesmaids or virgins as they’re called here are supposed to be taking care of their flocks and protecting them in fresh green pastures. Which means feeding them, but feeding them with what? The Good News; The Gospel, what else; the Good News of true salvation, grace, faith and eternal life in the soon coming Kingdom of God? Please see my two articles on the subject of Grace.

Moving on, we see in Adam Clarke’s commentary where He says that the oil for the lamps, metaphorically, is Grace and he is correct with his analogy for without Grace it is impossible for The Light (Yashua Anointed – The Lord Jesus Christ) to shine. The five wise virgins are ministers or pastors who understand Grace and it The Light flows through them and from them. Their flocks, too, carry a light yoke so they are very strong, confident and secure in The Faith. This, in turn, means that because their congregations are grace (oil) filled The Light (Yashua Anointed) shines from them continually. On the other hand we have the five foolish virgins who represent false pastors and ministers and they are grace killers; they have no oil for their lamps – no grace, so their congregations are in darkness. They are oppressed, down trodden and spiritually abused. To confirm that these congregations are in darkness they are very legalistic in nature or full of rules and regulations – The Ten Commandments and some, and all laid down with a big stick from the bully boy in the pulpit every Sunday. This means the lamps of these ministers and pastors (21st century Pharisees) cannot shine because there is no grace in their teaching – no oil in their lamps. The Light and/or the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ has gone out of their teaching and possibly out of their lives altogether – their lamps have gone out.

Now here is another thing; some people use this parable as a metaphor for the saved and the unsaved i.e. the five wise virgins are saved and the unwise are not saved. This is a gross perversion of the use of this Holy Scripture. How do we know that? Easy, ALL the virgins had been invited to the Wedding and they all slept and this means all the virgins had metaphorically entered The Lord’s Sabbath Rest – all the virgins had been called by the Father to His Son so they were all equal and all without any excuse.

OK, last but not least we have the message of wisdom and foolishness in this parable whereby no symbolism is necessary:

Romans 1:18 (KJV) For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold The Truth in unrighteousness.

Without any oil (grace) these wretches teach a false graceless message and an unrighteous message and in doing so hold Yashua Anointed (The Lord Jesus Christ) in unrighteousness for He is The Truth

Romans 1:19-20 (KJV) Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them.

The Father had called them to His Son and made Him known to them, but they rejected Him, turned away from Him to religion and taught error – salvation by works, and they still do.

Romans 1:20-21 (KJV) For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His Eternal Power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Here we can see that they are without excuse and their hearts have become darkened – No Oil – No Grace – No Light.

Romans 1:22-23 (KJV) Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools

No wisdom, combined with the teaching of a Graceless non-gospel they became fools.

Romans 1:23 (KJV) And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four footed beasts, and creeping things.

Foolish men, who turn the worship of God into a religion with all its outward show; grand buildings (cathedrals) with gargoyles and hideous ugly beasts of all description; rules; regulations (Papal bulls) legalism and salvation by works.

Mark 7:7 (KJV) Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. (Salvation by works) 8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. (Brackets mine)

So there we have it, the wisdom of Grace (lamps filled with oil) versus the foolishness of men with their Graceless legalistic religion (lamps with no oil), vain traditions and rituals and salvation by works. The Pharisaical blasphemous interpretation of the Holy Scriptures which puts True Believers into bondage and makes the lives of many of God’s sons and daughters a living hell! I know, I used to be one of them, so I pray to Yashua Anointed (The Lord Jesus Christ) that they are all set free and soon.

In part two I will be dealing with verses 9 and 12 as they are also crucial to fully understanding this parable.

http://isthefathercallingyoutohisson.wordpress.com/