Are we not examples to the flock that we feed? Should we not be at the front of the queue in visiting persecuted believers, tending the sick, clothing the naked, welcoming immigrants, supplying hungry Christians, or helping those who struggle while engaged in Kingdom business?
In my personal devotions this morning I was forcibly struck by the text—it was the section towards the close of Matthew that deals with the Judgment of Christ, namely 24:1-25:46.
Confused but Comforted
As I struggled to get my head around the destruction of Jerusalem and desecration of the Temple (23:37-24:2, 24:15-26), together with false Christs (24:23-26), global convulsions (24:29), and mundane conditions (24:37-39), I was comforted that our Lord (in his humiliated state) was kept in the sinless dark regarding the precise day or hour. What is even more striking is that, despite Christ’s predictive imprecision, he had concrete certainty:
Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away—Matthew 24:34-35.
I resolved, in my heart, as I think we must, to be content with heeding this passage’s practical thrust. That seems to be the point of the three parables that follow, which I suggest are best taken (or given) in one fairly potent sermon, in 25:1-46. What then do they teach?
Alerted and Activated
This is the section that really hit me like a ton of bricks! Let me outline the punchy lessons that these single-point parables teach!
Ready…
We could call the Parable of the Ten Virgins, in 25:1-12, the “Boy-Scout” Parable: it seems clearly designed by the Judge, if we don’t know day or hour, to make us well-prepared. The message of twenty virgins is undoubtedly READINESS!
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