In the parable of the ten virgins in Matter 25, the Bridegroom is delayed in coming and therefore the oil the virgins started with was not enough to last the duration of the night. Jesus uses this parable to teach on the importance of our individual preparation for the Bridegroom’s coming, and in particular that we should have extra oil so that our lamps do not run out before He returns. Now because there is only one Bride, which is the collective body of believers who are ready when Jesus returns, and Jesus is addressing our individual responsibility to be ready, the characters used is that of ten virgins and not of one bride, so that the difference between wisdom and foolishness can be illustrated on a personal level. So individually, none of the virgins were the Bride, but the five wise virgins corporately together were. Because the Bride doesn’t feature specifically in this parable, some argue that the virgins are therefore not the Bride, but remember that Paul uses the term virgin explicitly referring to the Bride in 2 Cor 11:2 where he writes “For I am jealous [for] you with a godly jealousy, because I promised you [in marriage] to one husband, to present [you] [as] a pure virgin to Christ.”
"(16) And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. (17) Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because…
"(9) Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, (10) Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I…
"(9) Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, (10) Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I…
In the last Quick Bite (QB82), the Wedding at Cana, I brought attention to the first time the Lord’s glory was revealed. But what’s really interesting to note is that just before this occasion - Jesus had been in the wilderness. The Bible records immediately after His baptism (Matthew 3:13-17), “Jesus…
The Wedding at Cana And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!” This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His…
Last time we explored the parable of the Wedding Feast (Matthew 22:1-14) and discovered the Wedding of the Lamb arranged for Israel was not cancelled but extended to include the Gentiles also, and therefore a separate wedding for the church before Israel’s salvation or resurrection of her saints is not…