{"id":1066,"date":"2012-07-16T14:27:07","date_gmt":"2012-07-16T18:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/?p=1066"},"modified":"2012-07-16T14:32:16","modified_gmt":"2012-07-16T18:32:16","slug":"the-second-coming-israel-and-the-parable-of-the-ten-virgins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/2012\/07\/the-second-coming-israel-and-the-parable-of-the-ten-virgins\/","title":{"rendered":"The Second Coming, Israel, and the Parable of the Ten Virgins"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 25:1-13, Jesus gives the Parable of the Ten Virgins which highlights the necessity for those people alive during the tribulation to be ready for the Second Coming of Christ.\u00a0 Certainly there would be the same need to be ready before the rapture of the church in a pretrib scheme, although that is not the focus of this chapter in my judgment.\u00a0 One of the interesting questions is whether the Ten Virgins represent Israel.\u00a0 This is argued in the Bible Knowledge Commentary.\u00a0 To be sure, Jesus speaks to the apostles in the Olivet Discourse as representatives of a future generation of Jews (those in the tribulation period) \u2013 note the symmetry provided by the end of Matthew 23 which points back and Matthew 24-25 which points forward.\u00a0 Furthermore, we know that Matthew\u2019s Gospel is the most Jewish of the Gospels and deals with Jewish interests more than other Gospel authors.\u00a0 In addition, the Jewish custom of marriage feasts is highlighted in the parable.\u00a0 The groom picks up his bride and takes her to his house for a wedding feast where there will be many guests.\u00a0 This marriage feast represents God\u2019s coming kingdom when Jesus returns. \u00a0Not all will be ready.\u00a0 Five virgins make it in to the feast (kingdom) but five do not.<\/p>\n

However, in spite of these seemingly good reasons, it is probably best not to see Israel represented in a symbolic way by the Ten Virgins.\u00a0 Instead, what Jesus is saying is probably simpler.\u00a0 He is basically using a cultural illustration that reminds the hearers and readers that not all will be ready for the Second Coming and the kingdom.\u00a0 More than Jews should be in view.\u00a0 We know from elsewhere in Scripture that many Gentiles will come to Christ during the tribulation (see the 5th<\/sup> seal in Rev. 6) and that the time of bitter distress will come upon the whole world and not just Israel (see Isa. 13:11, Rev 3:10, etc.).\u00a0 The judgment of the nations that follows later in Matthew 25 certainly involves Israel but highlights the judgment of Gentiles.\u00a0 In this light it is best to see Jesus warning all people of all ethnic groups to be ready for His coming.<\/p>\n

This approach is similar to how the fig tree should be taken earlier in Matthew 24:32-34.\u00a0 The fig tree does not stand for Israel in a symbolic way.\u00a0 It is a simple and natural illustration.\u00a0 When one sees the fig tree budding, he knows summer is near.\u00a0 In the same way, when the generation in the tribulation sees the things happening there which Jesus has spoken of, they know that His coming is near.\u00a0 The kingdom is just around the corner.<\/p>\n

The Olivet Discourse up to this point does not help the reader to know exactly how an individual is qualified to enter the kingdom \u2013 that is to be ready when Jesus comes.\u00a0 In the section on the sheep and goats, the passage comes closest to telling us but there is no clear expression like there is in Paul\u2019s answer \u2013 \u201cbelieve on the Lord Jesus Christ\u201d — to the jailer\u2019s question, \u201cWhat must I do to be saved?\u201d (Acts 16) \u00a0One enters the kingdom by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone (Eph. 2:8-9).\u00a0 We know from the Parable of the Talents, which occurs right after the Parable of the Virgins, that believers will be rewarded differently in God\u2019s coming kingdom based upon how well they live their lives now.\u00a0 But the fact that they have a place in the coming kingdom is guaranteed by simple faith in Christ\u2019s work to take away sin.\u00a0 There will be no braggers in God\u2019s coming kingdom \u2013 no one who\u00a0thinks he deserves to have a home in God\u2019s kingdom will actually make it.\u00a0 He is not ready because he is depending upon\u00a0his own good deeds\u00a0instead of upon Christ.<\/p>\n

The portrait is\u00a0by William Blake (1822) supplied by Tate Gallery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 25:1-13, Jesus gives the Parable of the Ten Virgins which highlights the necessity for those people alive during the tribulation to be ready for the Second Coming of Christ.\u00a0 Certainly there would be the same need to be ready before the rapture of the church in a pretrib scheme, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1066"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1070,"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066\/revisions\/1070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}