The Coming Kingdom: Are you Ready?

Introduction

Are you ready? That is the question we have to ponder today. Am I ready? Are we ready for the coming of Christ?

The weather is getting cold, Christmas lights are starting to go up for us these are all signs that Christmas is coming. Are we ready?

Today’s parable is about being ready for Christ’s advent take 2. Are you eagerly watching for the coming of Christ?

This parable comes on the heels of Matthew 24 a chapter that some bible headings say Jesus predicts the future. Inspite of all the calamity in Matthew 24 don’t loose hope, instead live with eager expectation that what we have long hoped for is imminent. Today’s parable challenges us to live each and every day like Christmas take 2 is coming any second. Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. We wait in eager expectation.

Hebrews 10:24–25 NRSV

24 And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Tell the Story

Jesus told his disciples this parable concerning the coming Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of heaven is like a bridal party awaiting the coming of the bridegroom. There are 10 bridesmaids in this bridal party 5 who are and 5 who are foolish. The foolish ones took their lamps but didn’t take any extra oil in case the bridegroom tarries. The wise ones brought their lamps full and extra oil in case they had to wait a long time for the bridegroom to arrive.

The bridegroom tarried so long to arrive that the 10 bridesmaids fell asleep. At midnight they were awaken by the loud cry of the Harold announcing the arrival of the bridegroom saying “Here’s the groom! Come out to meet him!”

All the bridesmaids woke up, trimmed their lamps and lit them. The 5 foolish bridesmaids are now realizing that they do not have enough oil to keep their lamps burning to go out and meet the bridegroom. They weren’t ready. They asked the wise bridesmaids who had brought extra for some but they responded, “I’m sorry but there isn’t enough to go around go out to the store and go buy some.” So the 5 foolish bridesmaids went to the store bought oil and returned but the bridegroom had already come, they knocked at the door and asked be let in, but the bridegroom replied “Truly I tell you I do not know you.” Therefore keep watch and be ready because you do not know the day or the hour our groom, Jesus Christ, will return.

Interpretation

Matthew: A Bible Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition 1. The Parable of the Ten Virgins 25:1–13

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS

BRIDAL PROCESSION

In ancient Palestine young, unmarried girls of the village who were of marriageable age waited with the bride at her home until the bridegroom arrived. These virgins would then accompany the couple as the bridegroom took the bride to his home, where the final wedding ceremony and celebration would take place. If the procession took place after dark, they would carry torches to light the way. These torches consisted of oil-soaked rags wrapped at the top end of a stick.

Christ tells his followers, his disciples, this parable because they would have all understood the imagery of a Jewish wedding. On the day before her wedding the bride is surrounded by ten virgins of marriable age, these virgins are her wedding party so to speak, and they bring lamps and oil to light the way for the bridal procession.

In this parable there are echoes of the sermon on the mount from Matthew 5-7. Remember Christ is talking to his disciples here as he was then. In the sermon on the mount there is a section that Christ says to his disciples, not all that say to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of Heaven, only those who do the will of my father. Matthew 7:21-23

The seperation between wise and foolish brides maids also echoes Christ’s closing words in the sermon on the mount. The wise man built his house on the rock while the foolish built it on the sand. The wise man is the one who hears the words of the Lord, and puts them into practice. The one who does the will of the father is the one who is ready with oil in their lamps at his return.

Application

Christmas is coming! Christ is coming again! The Day that we do not know the day or the hour. Are you ready?

How can we put this into practice? By doing the will of God not just on Sunday but everyday of the week. Some of why we gather together is to encourage one another to grow in our faith, in our relationship with Christ. That way when Christ, our bridegroom, returns we are ready.

Conclusion

I do not share this because I am proud of doing things I shouldn’t have been doing while my mom was gone. I share this because we should always be doing the will God our Father. Not watching for the signs of his return in order to then start doing the will of God. The point to this parable is to always be ready in season and out of season. The point is to always be eagerly waiting and looking for his return. To always be watching and looking at ways we can better put the will of God the Father into practice. Therefore lets keep watch together because we do not know the day or the hour that our Lord Jesus Christ will return. We wait eagerly and patiently saying “Come, Lord Jesus Come”.

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 7518 “I Don’t Want Christ to Come”

7518 “I Don’t Want Christ To Come”

I remember one night in Stockton, Calif, … I was preaching about the coming of Jesus. As I was in prayer I was conscious of a woman getting up and going out, for in those days the skirts would swish whenever a lady walked. It seemed to me that this lady must have gone out in a hurry. When I finished my prayer and went to greet the friends at the door, I found a woman pacing back and forth in the lobby. The moment I came, she said to me, “How would you dare to pray like that—“Come Lord Jesus?” I don’t want him to come. It would break in on all my plans. How dare you!” I said, “My dear young woman, Jesus is coming whether you like it or not.” Oh, if you know Him and love Him, surely your heart says, “Come, Lord Jesus!”

—H. A. Ironside