Purim, Pesach and the Parable of the Ten Virgins

PURIM, PESACH (PASSOVER) and the parable of the TEN VIRGINS

The TRUE vs. the FALSE BRIDE

The Parable of the 10 virgins in Matt 25:1-13

We should first of all note a few things:

1. YESHUA starts talking about the Kingdom of Heaven in Matt 3 and dedicates 55 verses in Matt talking about this Kingdom, telling us that it has come, what it is like and gives us many word pictures of what to expect. We should study each of them, because they are crucial for how we should live our lives in expectancy of HIS KINGDOM, but also how to behave as HIS Body, in order to show how that Kingdom operates even on this earth. In Matt 22:1-14 YESHUA likens the Kingdom of Heaven with a WEDDING FEAST and how those invited, refused to come, although they initially replied "Yes" to the invitation.

2. In Matt 24 YESHUA is explaining in plain language, without parables, to HIS disciples what the end times will be like before HIS coming.

3. THEN the parable of the 10 virgins in which HE compares the Kingdom of Heaven to the wedding feast of the BRIDEGROOM.

Some points to ponder after reading this parable

1. The parable of the 10 virgins is a very important warning from our MESSIAH YESHUA that the true bride will be revealed when it is too late for the false bride to make restitution for SALVATION. This parable can also be better understood when we bear in mind the parable YESHUA told, about knowing the time of HIS coming being compared to looking at the fig tree and knowing that it is time for the fruit to appear and ripen. HE also likens it to the time of Noach: year after year the fig tree ripens at the same time as a reminder and for almost 100 years (Gen 5:32, Gen 6:10, 13&14), year after year Noach built the ark amidst the laughter and ridicule of the onlookers! (Matt 24:32-44)

2. The other shocking thing about this parable is the fact that YESHUA is actually telling us that the false bride are those who thought they knew HIM, but HE did not know them and we can only understand why HE did not know them, by studying the very Scriptures HE knew off by heart - the Old Covenant!!

3. The parable describes the 10 virgins and they look exactly the same bar one thing.

4. They are all correctly dressed - very important, because in another parable, the one with the wrong clothing was thrown out. (Matt 22:11-14)

5. They all knew the bridegroom. (Matt 25:1)

6. They all were in expectancy of his coming. (Matt 25:1)

7. They all knew that he will come, they just did not know how soon, but they all knew when to start waiting. (Matt 25:1)

HOWEVER only 5 read the season correctly and knew when the time would be ripe for HIS coming and thus had extra oil in flasks to last the entire waiting period, without having to do last minute shopping!! Matt 25:4 reads as follows: "whereas the others took flasks of oil with their lamps."

So what does this have to do with us in this modern day and age? EVERYTHING!

WHOEVER I am, I either belong to the group of 5 with flasks of oil, or I belong to the group without flasks of oil, who will have to go and do last minute shopping and miss the most important feast of all: SUKKOT, or the feast when YESHUA will return to fulfill the NAME given to HIM by HIS FATHER using the mouth of the prophet Yeshayahu, in Isa 7:14 "... and you shall call HIS NAME IMMANUEL......." The Hebrew has 3 words: "IM", which means "with" "ANU" which is short for "ANACHNU" which means "we" or "us" and "EL" which is short for "ELOHIM" which means "God". So HIS NAME means "EL with us".

What are the flasks of oil that YESHUA is referring to?

In order to understand this, we need to understand the significance of the MENORAH (Ex 37:17-24) that burnt in the Holy Place in the tabernacle. It was the ONLY source of light there, because of the many cloths and skins and curtains that wrapped it in darkness. The oil for the Menorah had to be special pure olive oil, dedicated for this purpose. (Ex 27:20 "You are to order the people of Isra'el to bring you pure oil of pounded olives for the light ..."). YESHUA is the LIGHT (or the Menorah) in the New Covenant as HIS "love" disciple Yochanan says in John 1:1-5 & 9 (CJB) "In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was with ELOHIM, and the WORD was ELOHIM. HE was with ELOHIM in the beginning. All things came to be through HIM, and without HIM nothing made had being. In HIM was life, and the life was the LIGHT of mankind. The LIGHT shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not suppressed it........... This was the true LIGHT, which gives light to everyone entering the world."

In Isa 11:1&2 (CJB) we see the confirmation of the Menorah being the MESSIAH, where we see the sevenfold RUACH (Spirit) of YHVH resting on YESHUA "But a branch [Hebrew: Netzer, which is why HE is called YESHUA HaNOTZRI, meaning YESHUA the BRANCH - not YESHUA of Nazareth!!!] will emerge from the trunk of Yishai, a shoot will grow from his roots. The SPIRIT of YHVH will rest on HIM, the SPIRIT of wisdom and understanding, the SPIRIT of counsel and power, the SPIRIT of knowledge and fearing YHVH - ". These are the seven branches of the Menorah, which was filled with the oil, so that the Menorah could burn all the time. In the New Covenant YESHUA tells us that the Messianic believers are the light in Matt 5:14 "You are the light for the world" and in verse 16 "........let your light shine before people, so that they may see the good things you do and praise you FATHER in heaven". HE told HIS disciples that although HE, the LIGHT of the world is going away, HE will leave HIS RUACH behind as our guarantee that HE will come and get HIS Bride and through this understanding, the RUACH is the oil that enables us to shine as lights in this dark world, if, as Sha'ul says, we live our lives according to the RUACH (SPIRIT) and not according to the flesh! (Rom 8:1-18)

In order to further understand this, we need to go to the feast of Hanukkah (Dedication), which commemorates the rededication of the temple by the Maccabees, when they only had enough oil for the Menorah for one day, but the miracle of YHVH was that HE multiplied the oil and it kept burning for the entire dedication