And then there's a tremendous feast and celebration. Now that is what the Jews understood. Now when you read this, and see what Jesus did, you get a much better idea. So let's have a look. He says: then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened to 10 virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Then is referring to at the end of the age, it's talking about the coming of the kingdom. There is a time yet to happen, when this will take place, and this is what will happen. There were 10 virgins, he said, so the kingdom, the day when the kingdom comes in full manifestation of power on the earth will be like this. It'll be like 10 virgins. Now the word virgin refers to someone who's kept themselves pure. In 2 Corinthians Paul writes, and he says: I have espoused you to Christ as a virgin. What he's saying is: when you receive Jesus Christ, your sins were washed away. You were made clean. You now spiritually become a virgin, a person undefiled, and you have entered into a marriage covenant with Jesus Christ. You've entered into a relationship with Christ, we are called to be faithful to Him. We are called to keep our lives pure for Him. We are called to be His bride, to represent Him in the earth, and to prepare ourselves for this coming day.
Notice this - 10 virgins, the number 10 speaks of the full number of whatever's in view, so it's speaking not of unsaved but saved. It's speaking of believers. Let me ask you this: are you wise, or are you foolish? And the only way you know you're wise or foolish, is if you see what's at stake here, and see what they did. So you notice that all of the virgins had a lamp. The lamp was a small container with a wick, and it gave out oil. It used up oil, gave out light; so the lamp, now the lamp speaks of having capacity to shine light somewhere. Every believer has a lamp. Your lamp is your life, and in John 5, Jesus said of John the Baptist: he is a bright shining lamp. In other words, you are a bright shining lamp. Jesus said in Matthew Chapter 5, He said: let your light so shine before men, that they will see your good works. So what does it mean to have your light shining? It means you are doing something that is constructive, advances the kingdom of God, acts of kindness. You are doing something, not just in a prayer room, but you are actually doing something that causes people to know you are the real deal. You have got something in your life that I want. You carry the life of God. So let your light so shine, that men may see what you do, your good works and glorify your Father who's in heaven.
In other words he's saying the church must become a light to the community in every aspect; so every one of the virgins had a lamp. The difference was between those who had oil, and those who had no oil, or didn't have an adequate supply. Let's just follow the story through, and see how that works out for us, so the oil or no oil. So notice the first one is, the five virgins, or the wise virgins, that had oil. Oil always in the Bible is a picture for us of the Holy Spirit. It's a picture, you know, we're anointed with oil; so they put oil on, and the Holy Spirit would come on people, so the five wise had oil. What does it mean, that they had oil?
It means they had taken time to build intimacy with the Holy Spirit. They'd taken time in prayer, and the word of God, to come to know Him, to hear His voice, to yield to his leadership and direction in their lives; just as Esther yielded to Hagar, and Hagar prepared her, we are called to let the Holy Spirit prepare our lives. Listen - you cannot run your life just with a Bible. You need the Holy Spirit, the fire of God, the oil of His presence, alive in great quantities in your life.