Matthew 25:1-12 (ESV):
“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 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.’ 10 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. 11 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ 12 But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’
How should Christians apply the Parable of the Ten Virgins to their lives? How can a Christian make sure that he/she is part of the wise virgins and not part of the foolish? Are there any denominations that teach in a concrete and practical way
"how to keep one's lamp full of oil" (verses 3-4) and
"how to be known by the Lord" (verse 12)?
God's law is His instructions for how to experientially know Him through expressing His nature, which is why there are many verses that associate growing in grace and knowledge of God and of Christ with our obedience to them. In
Jeremiah 9:3 and 9:6, they did not know God and refuse to know Him because in 9:13, they had forsaken God's law, while in 9:24, those who know God know that He delights in practicing steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in all the earth, so delight in expressing those and other aspects of God's nature through our obedience to His law is the way to know God and Jesus, who is the exact expression of God's nature (Hebrews 1:3). In
Genesis 18:19, God knew Abraham that so he will teach his children and those of His household to keep His ways by doing righteousness and justice so that the Lord may bring to him all that He has promised him, namely that through his offspring all of the nations of the earth would be blessed. In
Exodus 33:13, Moses wanted God to be gracious to him by making known to him His ways that he might know Him and Israel too, and there are many verses that describe God's law as being instructions for how to walk in God's ways, such as
Deuteronomy 10:12-13,
Isaiah 2:2-3,
Joshua 22:5, and
Psalms 103:7, and God's ways are aspects of His nature. In
1 John 2:4, those who say that they know Christ, but don't obey his commands a liars and the truth is not in them, and in
1 John 3:4-6, sin is the transgression of God's law and those who continue to practice sin have neither seen or known him.
God's will has been made known through His law (Psalms 40:8), and in Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus said that only those who do the will of the Father will enter the Kingdom of Heaven and that he would tell those who are workers of lawless to depart from him because he never knew them, so God's law is God's instructions for how to know Christ, which means that we can infer in regard to what the Kingdom of Heaven is like in the Parable of the Ten Virgins that the reason why he would say that he didn't know them was also because they were workers of lawlessness, and indeed, the lamp is representative of God's law and the oil is representative of good deeds in obedience to it.
In
Psalms 119:105-106, David said that God's word is a lamp unto his feet and a light unto his path and that he has sworn and oath and confirmed that that he would keep God's righteous laws. In
Proverbs 6:23, the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life. God's law is nothing but head knowledge unless we keep it in the same way that a lamp is nothing without oil. In Jewish tradition, oil symbolizes good deeds:
"Now oil symbolizes good deeds, as it is written: “A good name is better than good oil” (Kohelet 7:1). We also read in Tanna D’vei Eliyahu Rabba: “Oil always represents good deeds. In fact, ‘Your oils are better than fragrance’ means: ‘Your deeds are better than fragrance.’ ” "
"
Mixed with oil – that is Torah, which is required to be mixed with good deeds; like that which we learned (
Avot 2:2)" (Bamidbar Rabbah 13).
Likewise:
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven (
Matthew 5:15-16).
In
Matthew 25:1, Jesus said that the Kingdom of Heaven is like 10 virgins, so all 10 are in the Kingdom, but only 5 made it to the supper. Jesus went on to say in
Matthew 5:19 that those who breaks the least of these commandments or teaches others to do the same would be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven, while whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. In
James 2:18, faith without deeds is useless just as a lamp without oil is useless. The five foolish virgins had the lamp, so they had God's law and the words of Jesus, but they had no good deeds, which served to judge them as not being worthy of the supper because they knew to do good, but did not do it. In
Matthew 5:20, Jesus said unless our righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven, so our deed don't earn our entrance into the Kingdom because our entrance only comes through faith, but they do determine whether we are invited to the supper:
"Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; 8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. 9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God” (
Revelation 19:6-9).
