A reckless lie:
...and another
faux pas:
Rather, the ten virgins are
not the bride;
they are witnesses, companions.
Matthew Henry said it best:
The professors of Christianity shall then be likened to these ten virgins, and shall be thus distinguished.
That by which it is illustrated, is, a marriage solemnity.
It was a custom sometimes used among the Jews on that occasion, that
the bridegroom came, attended with his friends, late in the night, to the house of the bride, where she expected him, attended with her bride-maids; who, upon notice given of the bridegrooms' approach, were to go out with lamps in their hands, to light [the bridegroom] into the house with ceremony and formality, in order to the celebrating of the nuptials with great mirth. And some think that on these occasions they had usually ten virgins; for the Jews never held a synagogue, circumcised, kept the passover, or contracted marriage, but ten persons at least were present. Boaz, when he married Ruth, had ten witnesses, Ruth 4:2. Now in this parable,
1. The Bridegroom is our Lord Jesus Christ; he is so represented in the 45th Psalm, Solomon's Song, and often in the New Testament. It bespeaks his singular and superlative love to, and his faithful and inviolable covenant with, his spouse the church. Believers are now betrothed to Christ (Hos. 2:19); but the solemnizing of the marriage is reserved for the great day, when the bride, the Lamb's wife, will have made herself completely ready, Rev. 19:7, 9.
2.
The virgins are the professors of religion, members of the church; but here represented as [the bride's] companions (Ps. 45:14), as elsewhere her children (Isa. 54:1), her ornaments, Isa. 49:18. They that follow the Lamb, are said to be virgins (Rev. 14:4); this denotes their beauty and purity; they are to be presented as chaste virgins to Christ, 2 Co. 11:2. The bridegroom is a king; so these virgins are maids of honour, virgins without number (Cant. 6:8), yet here said to be ten.
3. The office of these virgins is to meet the bridegroom, which is as much their happiness as their duty. They come to wait upon the bridegroom when he appears, and in the mean time to wait for him. See here the nature of Christianity. As Christians, we profess ourselves to be, (1.) Attendants upon Christ, to do him honour, as the glorious Bridegroom, to be to him for a name and a praise, especially then when he shall come to be glorified in his saints. We must follow him as honorary servants do their masters, Jn. 12:26. Hold up the name, and hold forth the praise of the exalted Jesus; this is our business. (2.) Expectants of Christ, and of his second coming. As Christians, we profess, not only to believe and look for, but to love and long for, the appearing of Christ, and to act in our whole conversation with a regard to it. The second coming of Christ is the centre in which all the lines of our religion meet, and to which the whole of the divine life hath a constant reference and tendency.
4.
Their chief concern is to have lights in their hands, when they attend the bridegroom, thus to do him honour and do him service. Note, Christians are children of light. The gospel is light, and they who receive it must not only be enlightened by it themselves, but must shine as lights, must hold it forth, Phil. 2:15, 16. This in general.
- source
Again, comparing scripture with scripture, the truth of the "
meet and greet and return to base" aspect (post #
198) of 1 Thessalonians 4:17 remains:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to
meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
...and perhaps the most grievous lie of all: adding the word
half to scripture:
I suggest you lay down your convoluted pre-trib diatribe before God; then ask him for wisdom and discernment. And
read your Bible, because...
