OCTOBER 31 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#31 “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?” (Matthew 24:45)

 

OCTOBER 31  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#31 

“Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master 

made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?” 

 (Matthew 24:45)

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer   

JESUS, this day is another blessed day that my thoughts turn to You. 

Only by putting my every HOPE on You can I begin my days,

 Lord take my Praise as an offering, grant it be acceptable to Your ears

 and may my soul forever wake each morning with the Name of Jesus

 ever before me.  Lord, hedge me from the evil one that I may grow strong

 and learn to use Your Armor to protect me until the Glorious Day

 of the LORD when we will be caught up to Your Side! 

Lord forgive me when I fail to be a good witness to Your Glory in my life

 and I pray that my life will be lived as a True and Good Witness 

to my Redeemer. May all my words be from Your Holy Spirit and that

 when people see me they will see only Your Grace and Your Love!   

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus again tells us what “heaven shall be likened to” as He Teaches

 this Parable of the Ten Virgins — maybe some of you asked the same 

question I did about the connection between “heaven” and “ten virgins”??? 

Jesus always introduces each Lesson with a statement that really 

focuses our attention on a particular gem and that statement is always

 a clue to point us into the direction of God’s Truth and in this case it 

also points us in the direction of God’s Truth about getting into

 God’s Kingdom of Heaven!  Let us look at the phrases Jesus uses to 

introduce this parable:

 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins

 who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.”

 (Matthew 25:1) 

It is significant that Jesus started the parable with the word “Then” 

which many translations use the phrase “At that time” because

 Jesus has been Teaching His disciples what to look for at the 

“end of the age” and the sign of His “coming”  (see Matthew 24:3) 

therefore to establish a proper time frame for the Parable

 of the Ten Virgins we could paraphrase Matthew 25:1 as 

“At the time of the Return of Jesus at the end of the age 

the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to…” 

which will add more meaning to the parable.  When we consider also

 the “ACTION” words/phrases we understand that Jesus is Teaching 

us to be “doers” of the word and not just “hearers” because of 

“ACTION PHRASES” like “who took” and “went out to meet”. 

At the time that Jesus gave these instructions there was “significance”

 to what “actions” were being done especially when we consider

 that it was “ten virgins” and they “took their lamps” 

and they were going “out to meet the bridegroom”. 

A quick study of the marriage traditions in Israel at the time Jesus 

gave this parable is both very interesting and very informative! 

On the web site: GotQuestions.org a search for the “Parable of

 the Ten Virgins Matthew 25:1-13” produced a most informative 

commentary on “The historical setting…describing a first-century

 Jewish wedding” … the article quoted D. A. Carson from 

the Expositor’s Bible Commentary as he describes the setting this way:

“Normally the bridegroom with some close friends left his home 

to go to the bride’s home, where there were various ceremonies,

 followed by a procession through the streets — after nightfall —

 to his home. The ten virgins may be bridesmaids who have 

been assisting the bride; and they expect to meet the groom 

as he comes from the bride’s house…Everyone in the 

procession was expected to carry his or her own torch. 

Those without a torch would be assumed to be party crashers

 or even brigands. The festivities, which might last several days,

 would formally get under way at the groom’s house.” 

and the article adds: “The torch was either a lamp with a small 

oil tank and wick or a stick with a rag soaked in oil on the end 

of it which would require occasional re-soaking to maintain the flame.” 

When one reads a description of a “first-century Jewish wedding” 

and then considers Jesus is Teaching this Parable of the Ten Virgins

 to His disciples who were Jewish and compares the 

“wedding” to “heaven” 

then there are many things that come to light as is always the case when 

the MASTER Teaches us anything. Jesus has used action words

 to describe what I feel is a “required” response to His “coming” 

and the obvious response is that if we do not “expect him” and are

 not prepared with our “lamps” then we will be left in the “darkness”

 and will not enter into the “festivities” of the “wedding” that is about

 to take place!  Any time you see a wedding in our modern culture 

that has “ten” bridesmaids attending the bride then you know that there

 is going to be a big celebration and none of the wedding “festivities” 

will occur without a lot of “ACTION” and “PREPARATION” and all those

 that are not “prepared” to be part of the wedding “action” will have

 to suffer the “Consequence” of not “expectantly watching” 

for the “bridegroom”. 

This is not the first “wedding” Jesus has used to reveal God 

to us as earlier Jesus taught: 

“The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged

 a marriage for his son.” (Matthew 22:2) 

and Jesus concluded that Lesson with: 

“So [the king] said to [the unprepared guest at the wedding feast],

 ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ 

And [the unprepared guest] was speechless. Then the king

 said to [His] servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away,

 and cast [the unprepared guest] into outer darkness; 

there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’” 

(Matthew 22:12-13)  

If Jesus says it once that should be enough, but if Jesus says it 

more than once we should really pay attention and “be ready” — 

He certainly has given us plenty of warnings!!