The wise and the foolish

WITH EVERYTHING happening around us both locally and globally, we can all agree that the times we are living in could easily be the end of the age. At any moment now Jesus could return, and it would be in keeping with what the scriptures say the times would be like at his return.

Some of us have been concerned about making it through the end times because of the anticipated tribulations, but the truth is that all Christians will have to go through some form of tribulation in their life. Then there are fears concerning the mark of the beast as well as questions about how we’re going to make it.

Jesus answered this question for His disciples. The key is the presence and the work of the Spirit of God in the lives of the believers. “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty” (Zechariah 4:6, NIV). Jesus didn’t use these words, but He intimated it. After Jesus told his disciples the signs of the times in Matthew 24, He then moved on to give them four scenarios to help them understand what it would mean to be ready. One of those was the parable of the 10 virgins.

This parable matches exactly what Jesus said about the end times. “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come” (Matthew 24:42, NIV). As Jesus paints the picture using this parable, we realise that five of the bridesmaids were ready and considered wise, and five were not and considered foolish. However, what jumps out is the sameness between those who were ready and those who weren’t. To the eye, nothing quickly distinguishes the two. All of them were bridesmaids and described as virgins, all had lamps, all got weary waiting for the bridegroom, and all of them experienced the same length of time waiting for the bridegroom.

You couldn’t look at them and know who were prepared and who weren’t. Jesus communicated without directly saying it; that in the last days, we might not be able to quickly determine who is ready when it comes to preparation and who will stay the course.

Even as we consider the recent pandemic, some persons who we used to see in church who looked like they were gung-ho for the Lord, can no longer be found anywhere or doing anything concerning the Lord. They seemed to be in it for the long haul, but some have outright backslidden, and this is just because we have had a shift in the usual routine. What would have happen if we were being persecuted or we had gone through a tribulation? If we couldn’t survive the COVID ‘tribulation’, we cannot and will not survive a real tribulation.

It is the same with the 10 virgins; five wise virgins had given thought to making it for the long haul and had prepared for it, but the other five had not done so and the time had come upon them – they were caught off guard. They missed the boat and were left behind.

The only difference between the wise and the foolish virgins was the extra oil that they had. Commentators agree that spiritually, the oil in the parable represents the Holy Spirit. It’s not so much that the wise virgins carried more Holy Spirit with them, but they were dependent on oil to take them through. We must understand that we need to be dependent on the Holy Spirit as our source to make it for the long haul.