The King gives the parable of the ten virgins
25
📚“Then 📖 the kingdom of heaven will resemble ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 📚And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.3 📚The foolish ones took their lamps, but did not take any oil with them. 4 📚But the wise took oil in their containers with their lamps. 5 📚While the bridegroom delayed, they all got drowsy and fell asleep.
25:3-4 It seems from this that those foolish ones never had oil. In the Bible oil can signify the Holy Spirit (note at Ex 27:20). Among those who say they are Christians the wise have the Holy Spirit, the foolish do not. In many ways the ten were very similar – all are called “virgins”, all had lamps, all knew something of the truth, all thought they would be ready to meet the bridegroom, all went out to meet him. But the foolish ones were without the one essential thing – oil. Compare Rom 8:9; Jude 19. There are many who are outwardly Christian, inwardly not. They are like trees without fruit, clouds without rain.⚜
25:5 Observe that they all “fell asleep” – even the wise have not always been as alert as they should have been. In church history there have certainly been some very “drowsy” times.⚜
6 📚“And at midnight there was a cry: ‘Look, the bridegroom is coming! Go out to meet him.’
25:6 At the time of the end there will be warnings and signs of Christ's near coming, and those will alert the church.⚜
7 📚Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps.
8 📚“And the foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
25:8 They tried to light their lamps. Apparently the dry wick caught a flame but could not hold it. Without God's Spirit no one will have the inward grace and the light on his pathway that the genuine believer and true child of God has. Outward profession can never make up for inward lack.⚜
9 📚“But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, or there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil, and buy for yourselves.’
25:9 No person ever has too much of the Spirit of God. And no one can lend God's Spirit to others, or the experience of the light the Spirit gives on the way. It is a personal experience which must come from God. Each person must go to God and “buy” (compare Isa 55:1-3; Prov 23:23; Luke 11:13; Rev 3:18). This is figurative language. The Spirit of God is not for sale. No money can purchase an interest in Him (compare Acts 8:18-21). The purchase of this “oil” does not cost money – it costs ourselves (Matt 10:39; 16:24-26; Luke 9:23; 14:26, 33). This is one reason why comparatively few people do this “buying”.⚜
10 📚“And while they were going away to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage. And the door was shut.
25:10 Christ will arrive just as He said He would. Then there will be a great “feast” for His believers – Rev 19:9. But the door of opportunity will be shut for those who heard the truth but did not act on it. Compare Luke 13:24-25; Gen 7:13, 16; 2 Cor 6:1-2; Heb 3:7-11.⚜
11 📚Afterwards the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, Lord! Open to us.’
25:11 Compare Prov 1:28-32.⚜
12 📚“But he answered and said, ‘Truly I say to you, I don't know you. 📖’
13 📚“Watch therefore, for you do not know either the day or the hour when the Son of man comes.
25:13 See Matt 24:42, 44. This is the one great application Christ makes of this parable – which does not mean there are not other lessons to be learned from it. “Watch” means to be spiritually prepared. In the parable all ten virgins went to sleep and were unconscious for a while, but five of them were still prepared for the announcement of the bridegroom's coming. It is God's Spirit in the heart who makes Christians prepared. Without Him all following of any religion, and all effort to be good, and all trying to meet Christ the Bridegroom will be in vain. It is foolish in the extreme to try to make a Christian life without the one absolute essential for the Christian life – Christ's Spirit. Notes on the Holy Spirit at Matt 3:11, 16; John 14:16-17.⚜
The King gives the parable of the talents
14 📚“For the kingdom of heaven is like a man planning on a journey to a far country who called his own servants, and entrusted his goods to them.
25:14 The “man” signifies Christ. His journey was to heaven. The “property” He entrusts to His servants are the things of His kingdom (Matt 21:43), His work on earth and the resources to accomplish that work.⚜
15 📚And he gave five talents 📖 to one, two to another, and one to another, to each one according to his own ability. And immediately he went on his journey.
16 📚“Then the one who received the five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents. 17 📚And in the same way the one who received two, also gained another two. 18 📚But the one who received one went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money.
25:16-18 There are vast differences in the ways men use what God gives them. Compare Luke 19:13-21. In the case of these servants it was all a question of obedience or disobedience, faithfulness or unfaithfulness.⚜
19 📚“After a long time 📖 the master of those servants came and settled accounts 📖 with them. 20 📚And so the one who received five talents came and brought another five talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. Look, besides those I have gained five more talents.’
25:20 What will we be able to say when we stand before the Lord?⚜
21 📚“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’
25:21 The manner of our service on earth for God will have results that will reach into the ages to come. Notice again the emphasis on faithfulness – Matt 24:45; Luke 16:10; 1 Cor 4:2. The reward for it will be great indeed – positions of trust and responsibility and honor in the future manifestation of God's kingdom, and a share in the joy of the Lord Jesus.⚜
22 📚“Also the one who received two talents came and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. Look, besides those I have gained another two talents.’
23 📚“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’
25:23 Compare v 21. The whole basis of the master's approval was faithfulness in what was given, regardless of the amount given. It is not the business of those with little ability or resources or opportunities to envy those with much. They must serve the Lord heartily with what they have.⚜
24 📚“Then the one who received the one talent came and said, ‘Master, I knew you, that you are a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you did not scatter.
25:24 He thought he knew the master, but surely he did not. In these words he actually slandered him to his face. People may think they know God, yet have all sorts of false ideas about Him.⚜
25 📚And I was afraid 📖 and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, you have yours.’
26 📚“His master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sowed and gather where I have not scattered?
25:26 The master calls him “wicked” because he did not obey his master (disobedience is wickedness), and “lazy” because he did not work for him. He had a sinful, slothful spirit and did not overcome it. See note on this at Prov 6:6-11; 15:19; 22:13; 24:30-34. Here the master was not saying that he was like this servant thought him to be. He was saying “Was this your estimate of my character? Did you really think I am like that? Then you should have been careful to act accordingly”.⚜
27 📚Therefore you should have put my money with the bankers, and then when I returned I would have received my own with interest.’
25:27 If the man honestly thought he was incapable of doing anything profitable with the money, he should have put it in the hands of those who were capable.⚜
28 📚“Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.
25:28 Faithfulness was further rewarded. The “ten-talent” man had proved he knew how to behave when something was entrusted to him.⚜
29 📚For to every one who has will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from him who does not have will be taken away even what he has.
25:29 Compare Matt 13:12.⚜
30 📚And throw the unprofitable servant into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
25:30 The wicked, lazy servant is here called “unprofitable”. Compare Luke 13:6-7; John 15:1-6; Heb 6:7-8. If we are worthless in the Lord's work, wicked and lazy, we should not vainly imagine that He will accept us and reward us. He will never say “well done” to those who have not done well. See the doom of the “unprofitable”. Compare Matt 3:10, 12; 8:12.⚜
The King speaks of His second coming and the judgment of the nations
31 📚“When the Son of man 📖 comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne 📖 of his glory, 📖 32 📚and all nations 📖 will be gathered in his presence. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates his sheep from the goats. 33 📚And he will put the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left.
34 📚“Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you blessed 📖 of my Father, inherit 📖 the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 📚For I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. 36 📚I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.’
25:35-36 We might expect the Lord to say “Inherit the kingdom because you believed in Me”, for salvation is by grace through faith, and not by works (Eph 2:8-10; Titus 3:3-7). True, but God's judgment of men is always said to be about works (Matt 16:27; Rom 2:6; 2 Cor 5:10; Rev 22:12). He will judge us at last not merely by what we have said, or intended, or taught to others, but by what we have actually done or not done. Works prove the reality of faith, and faith without works is dead (Jam 2:14-19, 26). The good works of God's children are not the cause of their being saved, but they are the evidence that they are saved.
Six works are here listed, but they only represent good works in general and do not exhaust all the possibilities. Compare this list with what some think are wonderful works in Matt 7:22. The works Christ here approves are not striking or glamorous, or much noticed by men. This passage follows directly the parable of the talents and shows something of what Jesus meant by using the talents.⚜
37 📚“Then the righteous 📖 will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and fed you? Or thirsty, and gave you something to drink? 38 When did we see you as a stranger, and took you in? Or naked, and clothed you? 39 Or when did we see you sick, or in prison, and came to you?’
40 📚“And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, anything you did for one of the least of these my brethren, you did for me.’
25:40 Who are these “brethren?” Evidently Jesus was referring to the “sheep” of v 32. See also Rom 8:29; Heb 2:11-12. We are told to do good to all men but especially to believers in Christ (Gal 6:10). What we do to them is what we do to Christ, for He and they are united (John 17:20-23; Acts 9:1-5). If we really believed this, would we be slow to perform acts of kindness and helpfulness to others?⚜
41 📚“And then he will say to those at the left hand, ‘Depart 📖 from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, 📖 prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 📚For I was hungry, and you did not give me food. I was thirsty, and you did not give me anything to drink. 43 I was a stranger, and you did not take me in. I was naked, and you did not clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit me.’
25:42-43 The emphasis in their judgment is not on the evil works they did (though those too will be judged – Rom 2:6, 8, 9), but on the good works they did not do. In other words, they reveal their lack of faith and salvation by what they neglect to do. The things they leave out of their lives show they have no love for Christ or His people. God's work of salvation in the heart of a any person impels him or her to do good works. Sins of omission are just as revealing as sins of commission, and just as worthy of judgment and punishment. Compare Num 32:23; Jud 5:23.⚜
44 📚“Then they too will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not serve you?’
45 📚“Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly I say to you, since you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
25:44-45 In vain men will try to defend themselves. Their professed ignorance will not be acceptable as an excuse. The one relevant fact is this: needy, suffering people of Christ were in their neighborhood and they did not lift a finger to help them. And Christ takes this as neglect of Himself. From this we see again how Christ loved the poor, the weak, the needy. Compare Matt 11:5; 19:21; Luke 4:18; 6:20; 12:33. When His people who are poor suffer, He suffers with them – Acts 9:5; Isa 63:9.⚜
46 📚“And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal”.
25:46 There will be no altering of one's state after the judgment. Compare Luke 16:26; 2 Thess 1:9. Both the punishment of unbelievers and the life of believers with God are eternal. On eternal life see John 3:16, 36; 5:24; 6:47.⚜