The Hope and the Prophesy
Notes
Transcript
Good morning,
Pray 3+
Our main text today will be in Matthew 25 verses 1-10, but we will be all over the place and we won’t start there.
For the next four weeks we will be celebrating the Advent season and my hope is that we would use this time to reflect on what it is we are actually celebrating Christmas day. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the lights and decoration, I enjoy the time with family and the giving and receiving of gifts. While there is nothing wrong with any of this, it often distracts us from the true reason we are celebrating. We often forget that the Christmas is a time to remember two different things. One of those things is the first coming of our Lord and Savior who came as it was prophesied in the Old Testament. The word “advent” means “arrival” or “coming into place.” In the first advent, the Eternal God, in the person of Jesus Christ, came down and was born and was lain in a manger. In this first advent, the world was forever changed. Men and women who were condemned in sin would find life in Jesus. The Holy Spirit would come to reside not in a temple of stone or made by human hands but in each of us who have placed our faith in God. However even beyond our salvation and the internal affects of this first Advent, the way we judge time is based on this one event in human history. I mean despite the desire to change B.C. to B.C.E. and A.D. to C.E. our years are still based on the birth of Jesus. Just because we change the words from before christ (BC) to before the common era, this does not change what we are calculating it from. Nor does changing Anno Domini (or the year of our Lord) to the common era. We are still just over 2020 years from His birth.
One thing we must do before we look at the second Advent, is look at what men and women were like before the first. Jesus tells a parable in Mark 12, if you could turn with me there.
Were men and women ready for Jesus's first coming?
Were men and women ready for Jesus's first coming?
We won’t spend a lot of time here, but I want us to see something that Jesus recognizes about the religious leaders of the time. In the previous chapter of Mark, Jesus enters Jerusalem as king. He had come into the city with shouts of praise. Crowds gathered and yelled Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! The word Hosanna is a combination of two Hebrew words meaning “I beg you to save!” or “Please deliver us!” Jesus had cleared the temple courts of the money changers and those selling doves and robbing the people. He also had his authority questioned by the religious leaders.
Now here in Mark 12, Jesus tells this parable and I think it does a good job to answer our question.
Mark 12:1–9 “1 And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. 2 When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. 6 He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others.”
We notice something about the religious leaders. These men understood that they were tenants and what they had was not their own. God had built this nation and chose them for His service. Everything they had was His. God had sent the prophets and these men beat some and killed some. Now God had sent the Son. Look at verse 7 and notice what Jesus says about the tenants. They say to one another, ‘This is the heir.’ They recognised that Jesus was the heir and yet they dismiss him and persecute Him. Ultimately they will have Him crucified. We see this knowledge in the Gospel of John as well.
When Jesus is meeting with Nicodemus in John 3 we see Nicodemus admit in verse 2.
2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
They knew that Jesus was from God, they knew that He was who he said he was. Yet, they refused to recognize Him. They sought to keep the power that they had; to keep men and women under their rule and authority. They jealously clung to what was not their own, trying to keep what belonged to God and Jesus. This was so apparent that even Pilate recognized it in these men.
In Matthew 27:17–18 “17 So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” 18 For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up.” These men choose to dismiss what they new to be true in order to keep their position and to live in their own sin and pride. These men are no different than people today. They suppressed the truth, just as men are doing today. Paul wrote in Romans 1:18 “18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”
Yet there were others, these others found hope and life in Christ. Those who humbled themselves before Him and found living water. Those like the woman at the well, one who was by all religious standards were to be cast out of God’s presence. The fishermen who He used to establish His church.
So were men and women ready for Jesus’s first coming? The answer for this is a complicated yes. Those who knew scripture both expected and recognized Him but rejected Jesus because He did not meet their expectations. Others, knew of His future coming but were not watching and were going about their lives. Jesus promised to return again under different circumstances. He will return the second time to defeat evil and establish His kingdom.
Revelation 19:11–16 “11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.”
The second coming will not be like the first. He will be coming to Judge the world and we must ask ourselves a second question.
What must we do to be ready for His future second coming?
What must we do to be ready for His future second coming?
During the Olivet Discourse Jesus speaks of His future return, the second advent. This is where we find our main text. During this discourse He speaks of his second coming and tells how know one knows the day or the hour but God the Father. He tells those listening that His return will be like a thief in the night at an hour not expected. It is with this idea of being prepared in mind He begins Matthew 25.
Matthew 25:1–12 “1 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. 11 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ 12 But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’”
Matthew 25:13 “13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
The first thing we have to notice about this passage is it’s context. This is a different parable covering the same topic that the parable at the end of Matthew 24 covered. Jesus is telling those listening again that His return will be at an unexpected time. In Matthew 24:36, we have the guiding principle for both of these parables .
36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
We have to remember that the guiding principle is very important. Jesus stated it flatly, but then he also told two parables about it.
Not, the first character in this parable is the bridegroom and this represents Jesus. In this story, it says that the bridegroom was delayed. What is described in this passage is what many believe to be a wedding tradition of the time. From what we know about the culture in which Jesus is telling this, the bridegroom would travel to the home of the bride and they would then have the marriage ceremony at there. Then the bridegroom and the bride would return to his home to have the wedding feast. We just in the way the celebration works in itself we see a picture of what the end will be like, but we notice that the women helping with the wedding get tired and fall asleep. The bridegrooms delay seemed to be unexpected and very long. This is a cultural inference and to some degree speculation, but I have not met many women who are not super excited when they are helping with wedding preparations. The preparation is usually a time of excitement and anticipation and the closer everyone gets to it the more excited everyone is. So the fact that these 10 ladies got drowsy and slept tells us something about the length of this delay. This was a long time so much so that it seems as though they no longer expected Him to come that evening.
The return of Jesus seems to be unexpectedly delayed. Not that it was delayed in God’s eyes, but in man’s it seems as though He has taken an unusually long amount of time to come back.
We then have to look at the difference in the two sets of women, there were 5 that had prepared and 5 that had not. At midnight there was a cry and the bridegroom arrives. Then in verse 7 it says.
Matthew 25:7–9 “7 Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’”
The response of the wise women is not one out of greed or selfishness but it is a rather a statement of fact. If they were to share, no one would be able to make it to the wedding feast. They only had enough oil for their own lamps and all of it was needed for the journey. So they send the foolish ones to go find a dealer and buy some for themselves. I have to ask you this question, but did they have enough time to buy the needed provision? There are two answers for this question, but the first answer was yes. They could have been like the wise ones and come prepared, even more than that before they went to sleep they had ample opportunity to go and find a dealer and buy some. Now however the bridegroom is there and it would be difficult to find an open shop and the answer is now no they did not have enough time. The bridegroom was there now and the wedding procession was to leave and they would go into the wedding feast. Only those who were prepared got to go with the bridegroom and enter the wedding feast and the door was shut, barring out anyone else.
These foolish virgins came pleading to be let in but the bridegrooms response was I do not know you.
This to us seems overly harsh, but we again have to look at the culture of the time to understand this. When the bridegroom arrived, he would not have known these women. Upon his arrival, introductions would have been made and the wedding party would have been introduced to him. Someone late would have been considered an imposter or potential threat. The bridegroom’s response was accurate and true, he did not know them nor would he have let them enter.
It is only those who know Christ who have placed their faith in Him and found salvation who enter the wedding feast.
Jesus tells the listeners to:
13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
We see a couple of different things in this passage. The first is that we do not know when Jesus will return, it is only God the Father who does, but His return is promised.
Do we find Hope in that future promise?
Do we find Hope in that future promise?
Do we find hope in that future promise or is it something we don’t even think about? Are we looking to that day and do we know Jesus. We see in this passage that His return could be at any time, even when we least expect it. Are we looking for that day and are we looking forward to it? Or are we like the foolish virgins, who even while they are looking for the bridegroom are not prepared?
There are many in the world today, living a so called christian life who have never met Jesus, in many ways they are like the pharisees who had and knew the Word of God but did not know God. I pray that is not anyone here, we come to know the bridegroom by placing our faith in Christ, our salvation comes through Faith alone in Christ alone. But we have a limited time window to come to faith in. The main point of this parable is that Jesus can come at anytime and once he does it is too late, but even if He is still delayed another 2000 years, we do not know how many days we are given. If we pass away, in many ways this parable will still apply to us, it will be to late to come to know Him. You don’t have to do anything, your works cannot save you. It is only faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God that can.
Just as it was before his first advent so it will be in his second. Many will be unprepared, many will reject Him, but unlike his first coming, it will be too late to get prepared when he comes again.
Let us close with prayer.