We instinctively know what it means to prepare for a big occasion. For example, before you move to another country or city, many things need to be in order for you to move. This year we moved to another house in Chiang Rai. Before we could do that, we needed to find a suitable house that would fit our budget. Furthermore, we needed to pack all our belongings and make arrangements for the move. The situation was similar when we moved to Thailand. Before we moved, we needed to raise enough support; we needed to make plans to sell our house and sell our furniture and pack our bags for the final day when we would fly to Thailand. I needed to find replacements for someone to take my job as conference manager at APC. We needed to buy plane tickets, apply for and receive our visas, etc. You cannot come to another country or move to a new house unprepared, and not make necessary preparations for the move. You need to be organised. I was a teacher for five years in private and public schools. And if you want to teach high and middle school children, you need to be well prepared for your lessons, or the children will walk all over you. I also used to be a conference manager of a ministry in Africa, where we would send books all over Africa and make arrangements for speakers to speak at conferences. My job was to verify whether there was enough money for each trip, ensure plane tickets were bought or the vehicle we used was in satisfactory condition, visas were applied for, food arrangements for delegates were made, and many other logistical arrangements were taken care of. On rare occasions some conferences didn’t work out because of various reasons: a lazy local organiser, invitations not being made in advance, etc.
There is one appointment in life you will not miss out on; there is one event that nobody will miss out on, and for which thorough preparations must be made, and that is the second coming of Christ. Even those who are in their graves will not miss out on it. As we read in 1 Corinthians 5:50-56 and 1 Thessalonians 4:1-10, at the last trumpet, when Christ will appear again, the dead will be raised incorruptible. The second coming of Christ is an event surer than the air you breathe from day to day and the sunrise and sunset you see every day. In chapter 24 we learnt of the things that will precede the second coming of Christ, a great tribulation, a man of sin that will appear (2 Thess 2:1-6) and also the fact that the gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed in every nation and that there will be a witness for Christ in every ethnic group (Matt 24:14). But what Christ also mentioned was His unexpected and sudden return. As we read in Matthew 24, it will be like in the days of Noah. People were buying and selling, marrying, and then suddenly, the flood came, and the peoples of the earth were caught off guard. So, it will be with the second coming; Christ will come suddenly and unexpectedly. No one knows the day nor the hour when Christ will come again.
Christ was telling a parable here in Matthew 25 to illustrate how it will be when he comes. And in the parable, he tells us that among those who expect Christ’s return, some will be ready and some will not be ready. Some are wise, and some are foolish. These two groups are named virgins that await the bridegroom. Christ is the bridegroom. Both groups are expecting his return, but only some are ready to meet him. These two groups refer to professing Christians in the church. Some professing Christians have saving faith, and some don’t have saving faith. To put it in other words, some have the Holy Spirit and are born again, and some are not born again. Jesus is contrasting the true and the false Christians.
Both these groups believe in the second coming of Christ and are anticipating his coming, but not both are ready to meet him. There are many people in the world who don’t expect Christ to return; this parable is not addressed to them, but to those in the visible church.
This parable, like in Matthew 22, shows what the kingdom of God is like; it is like a wedding, which points to the joy that exists in the kingdom and the hopeful expectation of believers. (See Revelation 19).
But this parable really points to the urgency and seriousness of being prepared for Christ’s second coming. And the way to be prepared is to examine your life and see whether Christ is present in your life (2 Cor 13:5) and whether you have saving faith and Biblical repentance, which point to having the Spirit of God in us and to enjoying communion with God (Romans 8:9-11). Matthew 7:13-27 and Matthew 13 help us to understand this passage.
Sovereign Grace Fellowship - Chiang Rai 