Matt. 25: 1-13

THE MIDNIGHT HOUR

“The Cry at Midnight”

Matt. 25: 1-13

In the last couple of weeks we’ve been looking at the significance of the Midnight Hour, a phrase used often in the Bible. First we looked at:

The Watch at Midnight—which is our expectation of His return

The Knock at Midnight—is about our ministry at His return

And today, I want to look at,

The Cry at Midnight—which deals with our preparedness at His return.

In Matt. 25, we see that Jesus presents 3 parables, all having to do with His return to earth and the end of the world as we know it.

There is the parable of the virgins, followed by the parable of the talents, and third, the parable of the sheep and goats.

Let me lay the groundwork for the parable of the ten virgins, and the midnight cry:

In the days of Jesus, a Jewish marriage took place in three stages over a long period of time.

FIRST, there was the ENGAGEMENT, which was usually arranged by a “matchmaker,” usually the parents or in-laws.

SECOND, there was the BETROTHAL.

The betrothal ceremony was held at the bride’s house. The couple would exchange vows and the groom gave the bride presents.

The betrothal period usually lasted a year or two. During this time the bride continued to live with her parents.

Then finally, the third stage was the MARRIAGE SUPPER, which usually took place at night.

The groom and his friends would come to the bride’s house, where the bride was found wearing a thick veil.

A contract was signed making the marriage official and legal.

The bride and groom would spend time together, after which the bride would remain alone for seven days.

Afterward she would remove the veil so everyone could see her.

All that awaited was the return of the bridegroom for the wedding itself.

In Jesus’ parable of the ten virgins, ten of the bride’s wedding party, are found waiting for the groom to arrive.

It is nighttime and they have all brought lamps with them.

But five of them have brought a flask of oil for their lamps, and five have not.

They wait and wait and as the groom tarries, drowsiness begins to set in and one by one they fall asleep.

At midnight a shout comes, “The bridegroom is coming!”

Startled, all ten of them jump up and begin trimming their lamps.

What does this mean?

You trim an oil lamp by taking the wick and clipping off the old, black, charred part so that it can burn more brightly.

It is the act of clipping or cutting off what is unnecessary, any hindrances, any block to the flow of oil in order to have all the benefits of bright light.

They all wanted to be shining brightly when the bridegroom came, yet only five were able to do so.

So as far as these virgins were concerned (including us today), trimming their lamps meant tending to their spirit man.

The Bible says that “The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, Searching all the inner depths of his heart” (Prov. 20:27).

It was a sign of preparation to meet the bridegroom with lights shining, and then to follow him into the long awaited wedding ceremony.

As the story continues, while trimming their lamps, five of them noticed their lamps going out because they had no oil.

They lit the wicks, but there was no oil, no fuel to sustain it, so it began to go out quickly.

But the other five girls had oil for their lamps. They were ready for the midnight cry.

In the midnight hour with the sound of the bridegroom nearby, the five girls with no oil begged their wiser friends for some of theirs.

“No,” they were told. “Go and find your own, lest we not have enough either.”

While the five foolish virgins went out desperately in search of oil, the five wise virgins were let in to the wedding party and the door was shut.

Many interpretations have been offered as to what this parable means.

But one thing is certain; it is about being prepared for the Lord Jesus’ return.

Now, let me pull three major points from this parable of Jesus and apply it to us today.

First….

The bridegroom delayed His coming—He was gone a long time.

The parable says, “The bridegroom was a long time in coming…”

And just like he said in his parable, Jesus has tarried long while the church has waited expectantly for His return.

He tarried through the first three hundred years of fierce Roman persecution against his church.

He tarried through the long and laborious thousand-year Dark Ages.

He tarried through the Italian Renaissance when Leonardo Da Vinci painted his masterful Last Supper of Christ.

He tarried through the mighty Protestant Reformation as Luther shook the world by his message, “The just shall live by faith.”

He watched and tarried when the bloody French Revolution left its scar on history’s face.

He tarried still through the Age of Enlightenment followed by the explosion of the Industrial Revolution when man transitioned from working on the farm to working in the factory.

He has tarried while nations have risen in power and faded back into oblivion.

He has tarried through the two world wars of the 20th century—the bloodiest century in the history of the world.

He tarried while men wrapped themselves in sheets and stood on mountaintops fully convinced that on a certain date He would return to earth.

For 21 centuries now the Groom has tarried.

Yet one day there will be a cry at midnight, “Behold, the bridegroom is coming! Go out to meet him!”

Peter warned, “3 Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. 4 They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.”

8 But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.”

So to God, Jesus has only tarried a little over two days!

“The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.”

THE GROOM WILL COME!

A second point in this parable is:

The five foolish virgins had clearly never been saved.

They looked good.

They were friends with the five wise virgins.

The fact that they, also, were trimming their lamps reveals a focus on the outer appearances of religious life, not on inward truth.

They had, as Paul put it, “a form of godliness (an outer appearance), but knew nothing of the power thereof.”

They were in the house of God, but they didn’t know the God of the house.

They may have taught Sunday school. Known Bible stories.

But we need not wonder if they were saved or not, because Jesus’ words to them at the end of the parable make that clear:

“Later the five foolish virgins returned to the door that was now shut: ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’ 12 “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’

You see, the “oil” they were lacking for their lamps is representative of the Holy Spirit.

Oil is a symbol for the Spirit of God all through scripture.

David the psalmist said, “I shall be anointed with fresh oil,” signifying the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

We anoint the sick with oil, which represents the touch of the Holy Spirit on sick bodies.

The Bible plainly says that only someone genuinely born again has the Spirit of God—the oil—living within their “lamps”—the body.

“And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ” (Rom. 8:9).

The five foolish virgins thought they were in good stead.

The truth of what they didn’t have was only revealed at the return of the bridegroom.

The final point I want to draw from this parable is:

There’s no such thing as “coat-tail salvation”

When they realized they lacked salvation, the five foolish and startled virgins cried out “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.”

But the wise virgins replied, “No, lest there not be enough for us and you. But go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.”

In other words, you must have your own, personal, born-again, salvation experience with God.

“Buy for yourselves!” the wise virgins said.

You can’t get into heaven holding on to mama’s coattails, the preacher’s coattails, a friend’s coattails…

And so this parable is a warning from Jesus about His imminent return in the midnight hour, and how we must be prepared by a genuine salvation experience.

Have you done that?

Are you certain you have called out on His name?

LET’S PRAY