Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, 'Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out’. But the wise answered, saying, 'Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves’. And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, lord, open to us’. But he answered, 'Truly, I say to you, I do not know you’. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
Matthew
25:1-13
Fulfilment of some of the prophetic insights mentioned
in this series may seem to be long overdue but any delay should be no grounds
for complacency. While I cannot say when God will act, or just what will
happen, there is good cause to be prepared.
The parable of the wise and foolish virgins is
about the return of Jesus. When I was a member at Westminster Chapel in London, my
pastor, Dr R T Kendall, explained that when we are asleep we do not realise it
and in our dreams we do things we would not do in real life. I relate to that
easily because I usually dream from the moment I fall asleep, even if I dose
for a couple of minutes only, and while I rarely remember dreams, I often
realise with unexpected abruptness that I have been living in an unreal world.
Dr Kendall also said that we do not like the sound
of an alarm waking us up. I know what he means, although I usually wake up
naturally before the alarm sounds. Moreover, sometimes in a dream I realise it
is not real and that seems to abort the dream and I wake up. I have no idea why
this happens but I understand that people troubled by nightmares can learn how
to do it.
When some Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign to
authenticate his ministry, he criticised them for not being able to interpret
‘the signs of the times’ (see Matthew 6). In 1 Thessalonians 5, St Paul explains
that although ‘the day of the Lord [the return of Jesus] will come like a thief
in the night’, but Christians should not be taken by surprise. ‘You are not in
darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all
children of light…’ Although we cannot predict the time of Jesus’ return, not
the day nor the hour, we should nevertheless be able to interpret what is going
on around us.
The way that people support and indulge capitalism
and the consumer society is the sort of behaviour suited to living in a dream
world. Sooner or later, enough people will wake up to the reality that our
economic system is not ultimately sustainable. As I said at the start of this
series, it is easier now that ever in recent history to believe in a coming
financial devastation: we ought to be able to recognise the signs of the times
and wake ourselves up, even if we do not know what will happen or when.
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