Are You Living in Anticipation? As a bride prepares to meet her groom on her wedding day, we must prepare to meet Christ when He comes for us. From a sermon by Marjorie Reid

A wedding is an exciting occasion, especially for the bride and the groom. In Matthew 25, Jesus used a wedding to illustrate a point. The parable was about ten virgins, and the people included in it represent all genders, all generations, all cultures, and all churches. The critical moment in the parable was when the cry at last went out, “Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him” (Matthew 25:6).

The verses in this account give much information in a few words. Of the ten people in the parable, five were called wise and five were called foolish. Since the story was given to have a spiritual application, the Word of God will help us identify whether we are among the wise or the foolish.

Wise or foolish?

Jesus is coming back for the wise, so we want to be among them. Therefore, we need to know what qualifications the wise possessed. First, they heard the instructions of the bridegroom. However, they not only heard, but they also took heed. The wise made personal applications to their own lives. They did not neglect their responsibilities. They took their lamps and made sure they were trimmed and filled with oil. They confirmed that they were prepared to go at any moment. When the cry went out at midnight, these five were ready to respond in a positive way.

This is symbolic of us spiritually. If we are going to be wise, we need to do whatever the Lord has told us to do. We are accountable for the truth that we have been given, and we must take heed to the Word of God by obeying it. We want to be certain that everything is ready the moment the Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, comes back for His Bride.

The foolish virgins in the parable were those who had neglected something; they lacked oil. In the spiritual application, that could mean a number of problems. Maybe they had a lack of consecration or devotion. Perhaps brotherly love was missing or there was a forgiveness deficiency. It could have been a lack of obedience in some area. The list of possibilities is long, but the five foolish did not have something that they needed, and they were held accountable.

The vessel in the parable represents our hearts, and the oil represents the Spirit of God. Through His Word and His Spirit, God teaches us how we can be wise in our walk with Him and how we can take counsel from Him. God’s Word is heart-searching and heart-penetrating. The Spirit of God can cause us to see ourselves in the light of eternity. If we take the Word of God and apply it to our lives, it will be like oil for our vessels.

A beautiful bride

In order to be part of Christ’s Bride, God must change our hearts. It takes the redeeming Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to wash over each soul and make that person a part of His Bride. I was just a child when I gave my heart to the Lord, but it took the same Blood of Jesus to wash away my sins as it did for a person who had many ugly things in his life.

We can be challenged by looking at a bride and groom of today. Each couple does not do everything exactly the same way, but there are always similarities. Any bride will go to great lengths to make herself beautiful. She wants to present herself in the most lovely way she can. Is that being vain? Absolutely not! She is preparing for the love of her life, and it is good for her to do her best.

A few years ago, our son married a girl with long, curly hair. I know what it is like to try to deal with hair like that, and she wanted to look her best. So I gave her a present and sent her to someone who could fix her hair absolutely beautifully. When she came out and looked in the mirror, she said to me, “Oh, I can’t wait for Michael to see me! I just can’t wait!” What an object lesson. The Bride of Christ should feel that way. We should anticipate having the Son of God look at the beauty He has put into our lives.

Looking our best

Typically, the bride makes most of the wedding arrangements. She has never entered into marriage before, so she gets a wedding coordinator to help her organize. Every detail, even the smallest, is very important to her. Spiritually, we want to learn how to be our best for God. We want to be certain that even the smallest matters are handled properly for Him.

Then the moment comes when the bride is ready. She is standing in the entry, waiting for the wedding march. She is going to walk down the aisle toward the bridegroom. When the doors open and she begins to walk, there is an awe that comes over the place. She is the center of attention, and most of all, the bridegroom is looking at her.

When that call comes forth from the portals of glory, “Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him,” I want Jesus to be looking at me. Do you want Him to be looking at you? When a bride walks down the aisle, she has already decided to pledge her love and loyalty. Her heart is ignited with excitement and delight. But when she stands before her groom at the altar and commits her love forever to him, it is incredibly awesome! Just so, there is a commitment necessary to be part of Christ’s Bride, and making that commitment is an awesome moment.

Commitment, not just emotion

As the story of the wise bride continues, it is not just about emotions. A bride has lots of emotions, but commitments are kept by duty and devotion. The married couple finds this is no fifty-fifty arrangement; each must give one hundred percent, one hundred percent of the time. And the Gospel is not just about emotion or a fifty-fifty arrangement either. It is a full commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to give the Bridegroom of our souls one hundred percent of ourselves all the time. If we are doing any less, we are opening ourselves to the possibility of becoming among the five foolish.

A new bride wants to do things every day to please her husband. I was married a long time ago, but I remember what it was like. When my husband came home from work, I met him at the door—though after we had sons, everyone would be running to get the first hug. Now, after over thirty-six years as a married couple, I still go to meet my husband when he comes home. When we celebrated our twenty-fifth anniversary, we renewed our vows. I told him, “I cannot wait to walk down the aisle and look you in the face twenty-five years later, and tell you that I am more in love with you now than I was back then.”

In order to keep love in our marriage, we need to work at it. We can keep our first love for our companion alive, and we can keep our first love for God alive. To do so, we make decisions day by day to give and do our best, and to serve with everything that is in us. We renew our consecrations and commitments. The longer we walk with the Lord and do that, the deeper our love for Him becomes. The more we serve Jesus, the more we want to give to Him.

Jesus Christ has done His part. It is up to us to make certain that we are ready to be among His Bride. We can know without a shadow of a doubt that we are among the wise virgins. If the Trumpet sounds today, we can be ready to meet Him! 

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