Transcript

ANNOUNCER: The parable of the ten virgins, some had enough oil and some didn’t. What is the meaning of this parable? How should it be applied? Hello, friend. Welcome to Grace in Focus. Glad you are with us today. This is the podcast and radio ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. We live in North Texas, and our website is faithalone.org. We have a really nice magazine that we publish six times per year by monthly. It is also called Grace in Focus, and we want you to have it for free. Get subscribed today, find it on our website, faithalone.org. You only have to pay the postage if you live outside of the 48 contiguous United States. Otherwise, it is free. Get signed up, faithalone.org. 

And now with today’s discussion, here is Bob Wilkin, along with Ken Yates. 

KEN: We’re talking about different tough texts that are often misinterpreted, and that’s why they’re tough texts. I would call this a, I don’t know, this is kind of a strange one in the sense that I think there’s a lot of cultural issues involved when we look at who these women are in it, and we have to maybe delve a little bit into what it was like in a wedding in the first century. 

BOB: Right. And they call them lamps, but they’re actually probably torches. And there was such a thing called a torch dance, but what’s interesting is the common way to interpret the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25:1-13, is that the five wise virgins represent—

KEN: Believers.

BOB: And the five foolish virgins represent—

KEN: Unbelievers. 

BOB: Or the five wise virgins represent believers who persevere and retain their salvation, and the five foolish virgins represent believers who don’t persevere and lose their salvation. And you can even say the five foolish virgins represent professing believers who never were born again in the first place, right? But there’s lots of ways to interpret this, but if you interpret the issue to be who gets into the kingdom and who doesn’t, then you’re ultimately going to get some form of lordship salvation out of this.

KEN: Or Arminian or even lose your salvation, right? And you got all kinds of problems with it. I mean, obviously, the biggest problem is all those views misinterpret that salvation from hell is absolutely free, that you cannot lose. So if you go down that you’re denying, and that’s why, you know, I said at the beginning, they twist the Scriptures and they take clear passages and interpret these passages by denying what the Scriptures clearly teach. And the other thing is, if you say that the five foolish virgins are in hell, well, and the cultural thing, those five foolish virgins were in the kingdom. They’re there. It’s not like they’re outside of the kingdom. 

BOB: Right. Well, normally, here’s the other problem. Normally, you don’t call unbelievers virgins. Normally, you would say, wait a minute, let’s use a term like the drunkards or let’s use a term like the immoral people. 

KEN: Yeah, like let’s say these are five prostitutes who dress up, you know, in dresses or something right. 

BOB: Yeah. I don’t dress up in dresses or something. 

KEN: I mean, in any regard, yeah, these are ten virgins, which doesn’t tend to imply unregenerate people. 

KEN: And they’re also waiting for the Lord. 

BOB: That’s the other problem. Hodges pointed out in our book, Tough Texts by Hodges, which I had a little part in. He points out that all ten are waiting for the Lord. And when they’re sleeping, all ten are sleeping. It’s not just—sleeping doesn’t refer to moral lethargy there. It’s those who are waiting for the Rapture. 

KEN: I can also add they all have oil. 

BOB: They all have oil and they—people say, well, what does the oil represent, the Holy Spirit? Well, if that’s the case, then how did they have oil? You see, the issue isn’t they don’t have oil or the lamps wouldn’t be burning or their torches wouldn’t be burning at all. The problem is five of the wise ones have an extra supply of oil so they can keep the wick with plenty of oil on it. Whereas the other five don’t have enough extra oil. 

And what Hodges suggests is, this is looking at the seven year Tribulation period. And there’s a midnight cry in this parable. And he says, the midnight cry is the abomination of desolation, which occurs in the middle of the Tribulation. When the false prophet is going to set up a statue of the man of sin and worship, and they’re going to sacrifice, I guess, a pig on the altar. So they’re going to do something that is deplorable, abominable in the temple. And that’s going to occur at the very midpoint of the seven years. 

And so in this parable, what Hodges suggests is, the wise virgins during the first half are preparing spiritual strength to see them through the second half. Because there’s going to be a lot of persecution in the second half. Remember they’re going to have to flee to the hills and they’re going to be hiding in caves and things. And they’re going to be fleeing for their lives and some of them are going to be thrown in prison. And they’re going to be, in some cases, killed. And some of the believers are not going to be strong enough in the second half to continue to confess Christ. And as a result, some of them are going to give in during persecution. 

KEN: You know, it’s funny. Sometimes you’ll hear people say that the the oil here represents the Holy Spirit. Now, what you’re seeming to be arguing with Zane was that it’s what works produced by the Holy Spirit, maybe, 

BOB: Or spiritual strength, potential spiritual strength. 

KEN: But it’s always fascinated me that people who say this is the Holy Spirit. The five, the five foolish have a little bit of the Holy Spirit. They got a little bit, but they don’t have a lot. 

BOB: You laugh, but people say things. 

KEN: Oh, I know they do. And that’s why it’s so stupid. You know, you’re like, well, wait a second. So you’re saying these are unbelievers. And they got a little bit of the Holy Spirit. I guess they would say something like, well, you know, the Holy Spirit convicts everybody. And so maybe that’s a little bit of oil that that’s what the little bit of oil. But obviously 

BOB: Or they’re around born again people 

KEN: So that it rubs off. The oil, a little bit will rub off on me. Or if you’re a believer and you’re burning your lamp, you know, how oil gets in the air and it gets on your clothes or something. Yeah. Obviously it’s ridiculous. They have, however we define this, this is describing either the actions or the strength of a believer or, you know, reserves or whatever. The good works. 

ANNOUNCER: We will rejoin in just a moment. But years ago, Zane Hodges wrote The Gospel Under Siege. Sadly, this is still true. And GES president Bob Wilkin has recently written its sequel. Bob’s new book, The Gospel is Still Under Siege, is a book about theological clarity on the biblical teaching about eternal salvation. It is available now. Secure yours today at the Grace Evangelical Society’s bookstore. Find it at faithalone.org/store. That’s faithalone.org/store. Now back to today’s content. 

BOB: So you have ten virgins, all ten are awaiting the Lord’s return. The midnight cry appears and five of them go out and their lamps continue to burn until the bridegroom is there. And the other five do not have enough oil and they ask the first five give us some of your oil. 

KEN: Give us some more, right. 

BOB: And they say no go buy some. But there’s no time to buy some. So what happens is the first five, the wise ones, they have enough oil to persevere to the end. The others don’t. And what happens is the five foolish ones are told, “I don’t know you”. And they are not permitted to participate in the wedding festivities. 

And you mentioned the Jewish culture. They had something in Jewish weddings called the torch dance. And they would have young virgin women who would have torches, you know, like those tiki torches. And they would dance around with these torches. Well, five of them are permitted to do it. Five aren’t. Well, the five who are permitted to do it illustrate believers who are going to rule and reign with Christ. 

KEN: We would say the ones there and in that culture, these five women are close to the bridegroom there, in the wedding. 

BOB: And if you tie this in with the previous account, which is the parable of the just and the unjust servant, the issue is rulership. The Lord was going to make him ruler over all his goods. But then he fell away. And so he wasn’t made ruler. Well, the issue is rulership. The five wise virgins become rulers in the life to come. The five foolish virgins get into the kingdom, but they’re not made rulers in the life to come. 

KEN: Right. And so, you know, as we apply this or as we look at this, a little more detail what we see is these are not church age believers. 

BOB: No, these are believers during the Tribulation. However, it is applied at the very end to church age believers because notice verse 13, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” This “watch therefore” goes back to Matthew 24 verses 40 through 42. And he talks about watching. And this same expression is found in 1 Thessalonians 5 and in 2 Peter 3. Well, 2 Peter 3 talks about the Lord coming as a thief in the night, which is part of the watchful imagery. 

And in fact, the word watch is the verb gregoreo. We get the name Gregory from it. So we should all be watchful believers. 

KEN: Okay. So let’s dive into that just a little bit there. When he says here in verse 13, after this particular parable of the wise and foolish virgins, and he says watch, is he saying to if these are believers during the Tribulation period, is he saying to believers during the Tribulation period as you read this, be looking, because he’s coming or is he saying to believers, you and me? You know, be on the lookout. If he is, then—

BOB: That’s a BOLO. 

KEN: Yeah, be on the lookout. Okay. Is he saying for us today, how does it apply for us today then this parable? And then when he says now, be looking.

BOB: Okay, that’s a great question. Notice he says for you know, neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. That’s true now. It won’t be true in the Tribulation. When the midnight cry appears, when the abomination of desolation appears, if these believers know their Bible, they will know it’s exactly three and a half years. It’s 360 times three and a half. 

KEN: Right. Well, 12, what is it? 1260?

BOB: It’s 1260. Yeah. So they can count off the days. They can have a calendar and go 1259, 1258. So the final verse, verse 13 is directed to the church age believer. 

KEN: So we would say something like, the beginning of the Lord’s coming is going to begin with the Rapture. And this is part of it. You know, this what’s going to happen, the Tribulation is part of it. And you don’t know when that’s going to begin. So you need to be looking even though he’s talking about believers during the Tribulation. 

BOB: Right. Because the day of the Lord ultimately goes all the way from the Rapture to the end of the Millennium and the destruction of the heavens and the earth and that expression. But yeah, 25:1-12 is looking at the Tribulation believers, but verse 13 is now talking to church age believer. 

KEN: Yeah. As Jesus is givng this Olivet Discourse, you know, this is for His whole return, right. The whole time he goes be on the lookout. This is part of it. Right. This is part of what’s going to happen. 

BOB: But the issue here is rewards and rulership, the issue is not who gets into the kingdom. And that’s where people go off the tracks. 

KEN: You can be a foolish believer, either in the church age or in the Tribulation. That’s the point. And if you’re not looking for him, you’re a foolish believer. Bingo. That’s how simple it is folks. Remember, keep grace in focus. 

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On our next episode, please join us: The parable of the talents. And in the meantime, let’s keep grace in focus.