Rapture

Parable of the Ten Virgins continued

In verse 5 the Bridegroom tarried, in otherwords He did not arrive when the foolish Virgins expected Him to, they had to scramble our to get more oil.  In otherwords through their complacent living because they expected Him early, they did not read up on their scripture, they took interpretation of others and placed their faith solely in that event taking place.  But the bridegroom tarries, and I believe verse six again makes reference to the timing.

Verse six, it is midnight when the cry is made that the Bridegroom has arrived. I personally believe that Midnight in this parable is prophetic to the actual time of Christs' return. I won't go into that in this writing because when I read it to my wife, she became confused but it has to do with prophetic descriptives of time tables, and hopefully in the near future I can get into that study at which time I will again present this parable for that purpose. The very fact that 5 of the virgins did not bring oil for their lamps can be implied that Jesus knew that at the time of the end, there would be a lot of people expecting the bridegroom to come before it gets dark. We are to be prepared because his coming is at a time when we do not expect it, and those expecting an early arrival were not prepared. Those prepared for it will be ready, but those who are not fueling their lamps may find themselves in need of timely searching in a world gone awry and may not be back in time.

When He comes, in the twinkling of an eye, will be as short of a time as it takes to end one day, and begin the next, just that trickle of time between a split second before midnight, and Midnight.

Verses 11 & 12 now show the result of those not prepared.  I have a friend who on several occassions will be sitting on the porch and when I speak to him I ask how he is doing, he replies I'm just sittin' here waiting for the rapture. I have to wonder if he wouldn't be better spending his time preparing for it instead of waiting for it, lest his lamp be low on fuel and the bridegroom tarries.

Now, read verse 13 and see if it doesn't have a little deeper impact than it had before.

Dan Dunkin