Read Matthew 25:1–13
Questions from the Scripture text: What is likened to how many of whom (v1)? What did they take? What did they go to do? How many of them were of what character (v2a)? How many of them were of what other character (v2b)? What did the foolish ones take (v3a)? What did they not take (v3b)? What did the wise take (v4)? How many of them did what (v5)? At what time did what happen (v6)? What did they need to do at this time? How many of them arose (v7)? What did they do? But who said what to whom in v8? What did the wise answer was the problem (v9)? What did they tell the foolish to do? What happened when the foolish were gone to buy (v10)? What did those who were ready do? What happened at that point? Who came afterward (v11)? Whom did they address? What did they say? How did the bridegroom answer (v12)? What does Jesus say to do, in application of the parable (v13)? Why must they watch?
How do we watch for the Lord Jesus? Matthew 25:1–13 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these thirteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that we watch for the Lord Jesus by depending upon the Holy Spirit to use the means of His grace to make us ready for heaven.
The Lord Jesus continues to make application of His great statement about His coming and the end of the age: “of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only (cf. 24:36). And “ watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming” (cf. 24:42). And so the proper response to the timing of Jesus's return is always to be ready, to live as always ready.
We saw the first part of that response—faithful participation in the life of the church, in the place that the Lord has appointed to you—in v45–51. Now, in 25:1–13, we see a second part of this living as always ready: steady attendance upon the means of grace, or dependence upon the Holy Spirit, which two are the same thing.
Dependence on the Holy Spirit is both a disposition and an action. It is a disposition, an attitude of depending, a lifting up your heart to the Holy Spirit to be working in you. But it is also an action, since He has given us the means of His grace by which He has ordained to work in us. So, you can't say that you're depending upon the Holy Spirit, but not read your Bible, and pray, and participate conscientiously in family worship, and attend public worship, and participate conscientiously in the Word and sacraments and prayer and the public worship. There are people who say that they don't do all those other things, because they claim to just depend upon the Holy Spirit. But this is not a dependence. Disobedience is not dependence. You cannot say, “I'm depending on You, but I refuse to do all the things that You say, and all the things by which You help me.”
In the Bible, wisdom and folly are functions of either fearing the Lord, or being driven by our own impulses. Fundamentally, these are moral categories. wisdom and folly in the Bible. Five of them were wise and five were foolish (v2). This is reminding us that even within the church there are those who are wheat, even sometimes baby wheat that is for a time indistinguishable from tares, and those who are tares. Even within the church, there are the good fish, who will be kept, and the bad fish that will be destroyed. The church, here, is described as being made up of virgins—those who have been set apart to wait for the bridegroom. And among these, who profess to be waiting for the Lord Jesus Christ, there are those who are wise and those who are foolish. That means that there are some who think that they're waiting for Christ's return and that that will be a happy day for them, but because they wait in the wrong way, it will not be a happy day for them (cf. Am 5:18–20). They will be shut out (v10). They will end up in weeping and gnashing of teeth (v12, cf. 24:51).
So participation in the life of the church (24:45–51) is not enough. It is required, but it is not enough. Attending upon the means of grace, depending upon the Holy Spirit—this is also necessary. Within the church, there are wise or foolish. So you cannot tell yourself that you're okay simply because you're a church member, simply because you participate in the life of the church.
Those who are foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them (v3). We know from 5:14 what Jesus's illustration of the lamp indicates: “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” So there are those who have apparently good works that are supposed to be a demonstration of their life in Christ; they have a “Christian” testimony. These are people who are in the church, and even portray themselves to the world as Christians, who even “care about their Christian testimony and being lamps unto the world.” But some of them are foolish. Some of them are not depending upon the Holy Spirit in the means of His grace.
The most important person to see your light is not the world! Although we are to shine where we are, and therefore let our lamps shine before men, our shining is not primarily unto those men. Our shining is primarily unto the Lord—that He would take delight in what He has produced in us, when He returns.
Shining unto Jesus is very different than shining unto the world (cf. Mt 6:1–18), because you can put on appearances and impress men, but can you put on appearances and impress the living God? No, He is only impressed with that genuine spiritual work that He does in the heart. He's impressed with His Son. He's impressed with the work of His Spirit, Who applies His Son to us.
Well, these wise and foolish have their lamps. The wise take oil in their vessels with their lamps (v4). The foolish take no oil with them (v3). This we know especially to be the Holy Spirit and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. For, oil in scripture has many purposes, but with respect to the people of God, it is especially two things. First, it is the oil of anointing with which prophets and priests and kings were anointed. But the Lord Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit, to Whom Ps 45:7 refers as the oil of gladness (cf. Heb 1:8–9). Secondly, oil represents the continual supply of oil in the lamp in the tabernacle, which shines before the Lord, that produces the continual light in the presence of the Lord, between the Lord and His people. Whether in reference to the anointing, or the supply of light in the presence of God, the oil refers to the presence and ministry of the Holy Spirit.
And so the wise take oil in their vessels with their lamps (v4). They attend upon the means of grace, which is the method by which you depend upon the Holy Spirit. And this is something that you cannot suddenly decide to start doing when Jesus returns. We are all imperfect and have need of the continual supply of the Spirit’s grace. They all slumbered and slept. Even those who are the wise among the virgins do not successfully keep watch the entire time that the bridegroom is gone. They have lapses. Just as the Lord Jesus told his disciples to watch and pray, lest they enter into temptation, and then what happened? The disciples fell asleep. We are not able to watch and pray with the consistency that we ought, but God has made provision for us in dependence upon his Holy Spirit, in attendance upon the means of his grace. Through the ups and downs of his or her life, by the establishing of the pattern of life and the disciplines and habits of a Christian, the Christian has a continual supply of the oil of the Holy Spirit.
A wise Christian will not just be attending church. A wise Christian will be attending upon the means of grace in the public worship. A wise Christian will not just be having family worship and checking off a box of reading and praying. A wise Christian will be attending upon the means of grace, depending on the Holy Spirit and those things. This does not mean that he is always going to be doing spiritually well. Note that the five fall asleep. And yet they have the oil with them. When the bridegroom appears, it’s too late at that point (v6–10). The door is shut. The time for attending upon the means of grace has concluded. That which Christ sees cannot be imitated without the actual work of the Holy Spirit in us.
The wise say to go buy for yourself (v9). You cannot ride the coattails of other converted people into heaven. The work that the Holy Spirit does in them fits them for heaven. But you must have the Holy Spirit's work in you, yourself. You must depend upon the Holy Spirit in the reading and prayer for yourself. You must attend upon the teaching and the praying and the singing and the family worship, with a heart submitted to and looking to the Holy Spirit for help by these means that He uses, for yourself. You, individually, for yourself, in the public worship, must receive the admonishing of the Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, must join your own heart in lifting up prayer to God with those who lead in prayer. You must submit your own thoughts and feelings and choices to the Word of God as it is read and preached. You must engage with Christ, yourself, individually, at the Lord's table, in the Lord's supper.
You cannot ride the coattails of others. You must get your own oil, as it were. And if you are not, then when the Son of Man appears, you will not have new opportunity to do so then. This life, every day, whenever you are reading, whenever you are in family worship, whenever you are in the public worship, these are your opportunities. You cannot put off depending upon God the Holy Spirit to produce the life of Christ in you. Because when the time comes, it will be too late. And so Jesus repeats again what he had said in 24:42. “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.”
How do you watch? Two ways so far. In 24:45–51, by fulfilling your Christ-appointed place in His church. And now in 25:1–13, by depending upon the Holy Spirit in attending conscientiously upon the means of grace. By seeking that the Holy Spirit would produce the light of the life of Jesus Christ in you, not just so the world can see (5:14), but especially so that when the Bridegroom returns, He finds your lamp shining with that which the Holy Spirit, alone, can produce from Him.
By what habits are you depending upon the Holy Spirit to prepare you for heaven? What is your attitude toward Him as you carry out those habits? For Whom are you especially seeking to let your light shine?
Sample prayer: Lord Jesus, we thank You again for such clear teaching about Your return, and our not knowing when, and about how to live as those who are ready for it. Help us, we pray. We do pray for the whole church, as this is an area of so much confusion and distraction, whereas You have taught so clearly and plainly. But we ask that You would not only give us an intellectual understanding of what to do, but that by Your Holy Spirit, You would give us to actually do it—so that we might be ready, and Your appearance would be a moment of unimaginable joy for us. Grant it we ask in Your own Name, Lord Jesus. AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP1 “How Blessed the Man” or TPH389 “Great God, What Do I See and Hear”
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