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NT Doctrine -- Matthew 25 - Ed Hurst - 07-30-2022
Finally there on the Mount of Olives, Jesus addresses His disciples' third question regarding the end of this fallen age of human existence. What comes next? As usual, something of this nature cannot be answered directly, as the event itself stands outside of human experience. Rather, Jesus uses parables to give the flavor of the Day of Judgment. Even then, His emphasis is on getting ready.
Unique to Matthew's Gospel is the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids. First, we need a little historical background. For a man to marry, he must first go to the young lady's home and propose marriage to her father. He pays whatever dowry the father might ask. Once everything is set, the man goes away to prepare a home for his new family. The bride is left to wait and is not supposed to see him again until the day of the wedding itself.
This would typically take as much as a year. She has time to prepare a wedding dress and do all the social stuff with her friends. She'll choose some of them to be her bridesmaids. On the day he's ready, he will arrive at her parents' home to take her away. Given the necessity of all the arrangements, the day itself usually comes with some private notice, but the hour is supposed to be a surprise. Whatever ceremony there is takes place there at her parents' home and some token brief celebration. Then, he takes her in tow and leads a procession that merges both his and her entourage.
This is typically at night, so people have to carry lamps or torches to mark themselves as chosen members of the wedding celebration. They would go into the new home with the couple, and then the groom hosts them for up to seven days of feasting and entertainment. Anyone without a light is assumed to be crashing the party uninvited. The parable is shortened a bit, but the bridesmaids would be waiting outside the bride's home until the groom comes for the short ceremony. If they have oil lamps already lit, they welcome him and then join the procession when the couple leaves.
The symbolism is ancient. However, you miss the point by trying to identify elements in the parable aside from the one that matters most: being ready for Christ's return. This is a parable with one main point, not an allegory with a hundred detailed references. If your life shines with the light of revelation, and you have been consistent enough to have your lamp full, then you won't be disappointed at the Day of Judgment. The emphasis is on doing what it takes to be ready for something with a timing wholly unpredictable.
The Parable of Talents is repeated in verses 13-30. Jesus probably used this parable on a regular basis, and we have covered it in Luke 13, when Jesus and His entourage make His final approach to Jerusalem. The details are different here, but the meaning is the same. The whole point of Covenant blessings is that they become a testimony that bears fruit.
But the rest of the chapter is about as critical as anything else Jesus has to say at this time. He talks about the practice of running a few goats in the sheep herd, then separating them at shearing time. Sheep are preoccupied with eating and making more sheep. They seldom notice when danger is at hand. Goats are more attentive to the surroundings. They might fight an attacker, but at the least will run from something really threatening. When they do, the sheep will tend to follow, sometimes without a clue to any threat.
The reason we are left in this world under the government of non-believers is that, when we are truly occupied with the Covenant duties, we aren't likely to pay much attention to certain kinds of problems. The goats don't love us; they are in it for themselves. But the Lord allows them to become ruling authorities in this fallen world so we can have a clue about things that don't register on our radar. They see and react to things we aren't supposed to notice, because our commitment to Christ makes us less worldly.
On the Day of Judgment, we will be separated from the goats. We may not have been in a position to grasp some parts of the bigger picture, but our conduct in reaching out to the morally blind to feed them the Word, bear with them in sorrow and help to cover their sins, we have done the work of the Kingdom. Those who were in it for themselves will never understand how they failed. Their self-interest serves as a clue to the ways of this world, but it's not how we are called to act.
We need the goats of self-interest to get through this mortal life, but we dare not emulate their choices. Ours is the mission of sacrificing this life and what belongs to it, so that we can win some to faith in the Covenant.
RE: NT Doctrine -- Matthew 25 - jaybreak - 07-30-2022
I have a small booklet on the symbolism of the Hebrew wedding. I'll have to dig it out and take a read of it again. Thanks, Ed.