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| Chapter 25 |
| Bible Text | Notes and Thoughts |
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1 ¶ "Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened unto ten virgins, who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. 2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 They that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. 6 And at midnight there was a cry made: ‘Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said unto the wise, ‘Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘Not so, lest there be not enough for us and you; but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. 11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ 12 But he answered and said, ‘Verily I say unto you, I know you not.’ 13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh. 14 ¶ "For the Kingdom of Heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods. 15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to every man according to his several ability, and straightway took his journey. 16 Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them another five talents. 17 And likewise he that had received two, he also gained another two. 18 But he that had received one went and dug in the earth and hid his Lord’s money. 19 After a long time the Lord of those servants came and reckoned with them. 20 And so he that had received five talents came and brought the other five talents, saying, ‘Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents. Behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.’ 21 His Lord said unto him, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.’ 22 "He also that had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents; behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.’ 23 His Lord said unto him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.’ 24 "Then he that had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew thee, that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strewed. 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth. Lo, there thou hast what is thine.’ 26 His Lord answered and said unto him, ‘Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strewed. 27 Thou ought therefore to have placed my money with the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with interest. 28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him that hath ten talents. 29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but from him that hath not, shall be taken away even that which he hath. 30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 31 ¶ "When the Son of Man shall come in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory. 32 And before Him shall be gathered all nations, and He shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. 33 And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, ‘Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I hungered, and ye gave Me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took Me in; 36 naked, and ye clothed Me; I was sick, and ye visited Me; I was in prison, and ye came unto Me.’ 37 Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when saw we Thee hungering and fed Thee, or thirsty and gave Thee drink? 38 When saw we Thee a stranger and took Thee in, or naked and clothed Thee? 39 Or when saw we Thee sick, or in prison, and came unto Thee?’ 40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, ‘Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.’ 41 "Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I hungered, and ye gave Me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink; 43 I was a stranger, and ye took Me not in; naked, and ye clothed Me not; sick and in prison, and ye visited Me not.’ 44 Then shall they also answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when saw we Thee hungering or athirst or a stranger, or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister unto Thee?’ 45 Then shall He answer them, saying, ‘Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to Me.’ 46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." |
Jesus now moves away from the original question, "when will it be" to showing that the return of Jesus will be a time of testing for being a true follower, v1-13. Testing attitude to service, v14-30. Testing the Gentile nations, v31-46. v1-13 The Ten Virgins. This story is based upon the marriage custom of the time. Unfortunately there have been numerous interpretations of the story. To get the true meaning we must consider the teaching and subjects on either side of the story told by Jesus. Jewish marriages took place in two stages, The bridegroom goes first to the home of the bride to take part in some religious ceremonies and collect his bride. He then takes the bride to his home for the general festivities. In the parable there is no indication that the virgins were to marry the bridegroom, they were just guests invited to the marriage. The parable seems to indicate that the bridegroom, Christ, has collected his bride, the Church, and is now returning to his future home. Christ is returning to the earth with His bride at the end of the Tribulation. The virgins are the professing (have faith in their belief) Jewish remnant, (small number left over). v3 "Foolish," meaning ‘stupid.’ The lamps would be an oil filled container with a wick to light. These would have been lit as the virgins waited for the bridegroom, but because of the delay the oil would have been used up. "Oil" is often used in the Bible to represent or are symbolic of the Holy Spirit. Zechariah 4; Isaiah 61:1. The ten virgins appear to be outwardly the same, virgins with same lamps and have same activity, but five do not have some additional, other source, the presence of the Holy Spirit. v5 They were all asleep, the parable does not mention there was any blame for this activity. They were waiting for the coming Messiah (the bridegroom), but the ‘foolish’ virgins were not ready, something was missing. v6,7 The virgins hear of the coming bridegroom and prepare and adjust their lamps, in preparation for joining in the procession with the bridegroom. v8 ‘Our lamps are gone out,’ the foolish virgins realize their foolishness in not being prepared. v9 The Holy Spirit is a free gift, but it is a personal desire and acceptance, ‘buy for yourselves.’ is the response to ‘Give us of your oil.’ v10-12 While they are searching for the source of the oil the bridegroom arrives, the doors shut and the feast is begun. Later the foolish return and it appears they were unable to get the oil as the bridegroom responds with ‘I know you not.’ Christ will reject anyone who is not prepared for the day of return. v13 "Watch and be prepared for the return of Christ.’ v14-30 The Talents. This is similar to the parable given by Jesus at Jericho, Luke 19:11-27. The man is very obviously Jesus, "the Son of Man cometh," v13. A talent was a very high value coin, in this parable the coins are made of silver as v18 uses the word argurion, meaning silver money. The talents represent different responsibilities given to the servants, reflecting what the man thought was the abilities of the servants. v16,17 The first two servants, though having different amounts were able to double the values and both received the same praise and reward, keeping their talents, v20-23,28. v18 The servant who received only one talent just buried the money, he failed to use the gift for any purpose. v19 "After a long time," This showed that the return of Jesus was not to happen soon, even though in the parable the Masters return was within the life of the servants. Jesus is revealing that each believer has not been given the same abilities by God or lives in the same situation, many people may not be able to use their abilities to serve the Lord due to the world they live in. However, we have all been given the abilities we need to serve God in our locality, do not bury them in the ground as the servant did. This talent may not be preaching, it could be prayer, finance as well as witnessing. v24,25 The third servant has a very different in attitude, he has a very sad view of his master, "a hard man," cruel and lacking in mercy, "reaping where he did not sown," gaining from the hard work of others, harvesting the fields he did not sow then separating the good seed and removing rubbish, the ‘chaff.’ The servant could not see that the master was a man of care and love for his servants, who wanted them to have a happy life. All the servant could see in his master made him fear the master, unable to see the love the master had for his servants. The servant had not even placed the money in a bank that at least would have earned some interest for his master. Though the Jews were not allowed to get interest from each other they could do it from a Gentile banker, Deuteronomy 23:20. v28,29 The single talent is now taken from the lazy servant and given to the one with ten talents who knew what to do with it in a good way. v30 Shows that the punishment for failing the master will be eternal punishment. Compare Matt 8:12; Matt 13:42,50; Matt 22:13; Matt 24:51. This final verse shows that this parable cannot be referring to Believers and use of their abilities for the Lord, because a true believer cannot lose their salvation because they do not work for the Lord, this conflicts with John 5:24 where salvation only needs believing and faith. Therefore this parable must be talking about those who were passing through the Tribulation period and were saved in this period, Jew or Gentile. This agrees with other scripture where a believing group will be saved to live through the Millennium period. v31-46 Judgement of the Nations. The Son of Man comes at the end of the Tribulation to start the Millennium. The judgement scene is not referring to the time in Rev 20, the Great White Throne as this involves the resurrection of the wicked, to be judged as individuals, not as a group. This judgement must be applied to those who are alive on the earth at the return of Christ. This judgement creates two groups of people, Jesus calls the groups, the "sheep" and the "goats." The sheep are called to the right side of Jesus. He then explains why the separation, these are the people who have looked after "His brethren." The ‘sheep’ and ‘goats’ are not referring to "my brethren," so they must be the Gentile or non Jew nations, the brethren must be the faithful Jew’s who took the Gospel message to the world during the Tribulation, Matt 24:14; Rev 7:1-14. verses 35,36 shows the problems which will face ‘the brethren,’ but the work of these will bring an untold number of Gentiles to salvation. It is these who will do the ‘caring of the brethren.’ v41-46 ‘Depart from Me, ye cursed,’ the original Greek text suggests ‘Depart from me under a curse.’ The wicked are sent into the everlasting fire, prepared for Satan and his angels, not for Man. These people do not inherit this punishment, they go there by rejecting the grace of God. In the parable these people want to know how they rejected God. "The way you treated my servants" was the answer. Their hearts shown by their attitude and actions. v46 "Everlasting, eternal punishment." Some feel that God is a God of love and He would not make it eternal, but the text used makes no indication of an end to this period. Consider Matt 18:8; 2 Thess 1:7-9. Let’s examine this thought a little more. We forget the purity and holiness of God so if He is a God of love, then He also has to be a God of anger, of wrath against the wrong of Man, our sin. The sin of Man is the center of all the world’s problems, righteousness is the answer to sin, the opposite to sin must come to correct the problems. Let us also remember that God sent His Son to die on the cross, in great love He was willing to pay the price for Man’s sin, but if Man rejects this love what can you expect but punishment. |
Easy English Translation
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