Matthew 25:“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them.4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps.
A while back, on a Sunday evening, I was enjoying my usual Sunday lazy self and decided that instead of making dinner alone, I would rather prep some meat and salad so that my family would have a little barbecue in the garden.
My hubby and our two older children decided to do the set up. When they poured the charcoal in the grill, they realised we only had a little charcoal fuel left, no matchsticks but a lighter that couldn’t light the charcoal directly because it was also running out of fuel.
They had to go all the way to the kitchen to light the stove, and use cardboard to fetch some fire and run back to the garden to light the charcoal. They tried this a few times only for the fire to die after a few minutes. Then the charcoal fuel began to run out too. Picking up more cardboard, they went to the kitchen to fetch enough fire and galloped back to the garden to flood the charcoal with it- to light it up at all cost.
Playing what happened over and over in my head later in bed last night, which is what I usually do when I retire into bed every night, I learned a valuable lesson. The Lord grabbed me with the mystery behind the parable of the ten virgins and pressed on me to share it.
Five of the virgins had enough oil(fuel) to light their lanterns in preparation for the coming of the bridegroom while the other five did not have enough oil to sustain the fire in wait for the bridegroom.
These were virgins- they were pure, untapped and undefiled. They all carried lamps, which signifies the word of God.
Psalm 109:105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, and a light on my path
in ancient lamps, olive oil was the fuel most people used. In Exodus 27:20-21, Leviticus 14:1-18 and James 5:14 Olive oil was used as a ritual invocation of God’s touch. Olive oil is mentioned more than 200 times in the Bible as a metaphor of the presence of the Holy Spirit and it was also used ritually, to anoint the Prophets, kings and priests. When Samuel anointed David with oil, the Bible says, “From that day forward, the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David”( 1 Samuel 16:13).
David’s accomplishments following his anointing by oil would be interpreted as anointed by the Spirit.
The word of God in itself has oil- it is anointed.
Hebrew 4:12 ” For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul, spirit and the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart“.
Now, every lamp has a wick, and there has to be enough oil to light it up.
Isaiah 48: 16 says, “Come near me and listen to this: ” From the very first announcement, have not spoken in secret; at the time it happens, I am there”.And now the Sovereign Lord has sent me, endowed with His Spirit”.
Even Christ Himself could not operate until the Spirit came upon Him. The Spirit makes you flexible and enables you to manoeuvre different dimensions.
John 3:34 says, “For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit”.
Religion is brought to play when there is no Spirit. Even Jesus didn’t just carry the word- He was backed by the Holy Spirit. In Exodus, God took off the Spirit from Moses, and placed it upon the Seventy elders who began to prophecy. At the time of Moses, the Law was the word but he still operated by the Spirit.
In reference to the parable, some have the lamp( word) but do not have the Spirit. The word gives the Spirit, which is limitless in its operation its parameters to operate so it doesn’t skid out of control. There has to be some control so we do not enter into the extreme. Extremities such us out of control prophecies, so called ‘spiritual directions’ that are not Biblical and what have you. The word of God brings an order which constructs a culture which is in itself a value system for the Holy Spirit to run within this system.
The Spirit of God can not be predicted; The one who has the Spirit is unpredictable, yet has self control because of the word. The word of God does not bend but when it comes into contact with the Spirit, it becomes flexible. The more reason why we cannot have a lamp without oil. A wick without oil will burn out so easily and oil is essential to make the wick stand.
Ezekiel 36:26,27 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
The word of God doesn’t lie but the ability to obey is not in us because most of us lack the Spirit. I believe a person’s ability to obey God’s word depends on the Spirit of God, which is why we have a lot of people knowing the Bible from cover to cover but are unable to obey it. The Spirit of God has also got a lot to do with our faith and the Bible says, ” Without faith, it is impossible to please God”. Hebrew 11:6
2 Corinthians 4:13 It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.”Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak,
The Holy Spirit gives your faith life since the word is just a letter without the Spirit, so when it joins with the word, it becomes alive, which is what we call the Glory of God. We get to experience the Glory of God when the word and the Spirit are mixed together.
The word of God was first preached to the Jews but they did not mix it with faith. How can you have faith without the Spirit? I would say the lamp is the person and the Spirit also is and have always been joined together. I have an inkling that these two companions- word and Spirit – were at only one point separated on the cross when Jesus cried, ” My Father, why have You forsaken me?”.
The disciples also knew the Gospel but they could not preach it without the Holy Spirit, which makes the Gospel not just a message but the Spirit of God.
Romans 8:5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
So much of God’s mission was also launched in the book of Acts as they came into this unusual kind of unity, which is of one soul and one heart. On that day after the Passover, the walls fell down and they did what God commanded them- to go out with boldness.
Acts 4:31-32
1 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.
Note that in the parable, all ten virgins slept, in wait for the coming of the bridegroom. That brings to mind the failings of the great men in the Bible who were anointed by the Spirit of God. Unfortunately, being anointed by the Holy Spirit did not prevent Samson, Solomon, David etc., from failing in many ways.
Let us get beyond our outdated mindsets and go out boldly, in complete oneness with one another that can only happen by the Spirit.
Our lesson from the parable, is to prepare, when we still have time. The wedding gate will be shut against those who do not prepare.
James 2:26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
Amen
Jasmin Zubida writes…