The Parable Series – Fear and Oil
The Parable Series - Fear and Oil
In a teaching from Founded In Truth Fellowship, Matthew Vander Els explores the Parable of the Ten Virgins in Matthew 25, providing guidance on navigating the end times and living a purposeful life grounded in love and truth. The discourse aims to steer believers away from both fear-based speculation and apathy, encouraging a focused and intentional walk with God.
Understanding Matthew 24 and 25
The teaching begins by addressing common anxieties related to eschatology, or the study of the end times. Vander Els admits a past struggle with both extreme views and apathy regarding the end of the world. Instead of offering a timeline, the emphasis is on pastoral encouragement, urging believers to remain steadfast in a broken world.
A key point is the interpretation of Matthew 24, where Jesus discusses the destruction of the temple and signs of his coming. The speaker divides the chapter into two sections: verses 4-35, which answer the question of when the temple will be destroyed, and verses 36-51, which address the signs of Jesus' return and the end of the age.
Regarding the destruction of the temple, it is asserted that Jesus was speaking of events that would occur within a generation, around 40 years, after his pronouncement. This aligns with the historical destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. The speaker draws on the works of scholars like N.T. Wright, Tim Mackey, and Frederick Murphy to inform his understanding.
However, the speaker cautions against interpreting these prophecies as a precise timeline, and the discussion highlights the use of hyperbole and proto-apocalyptic language common among Hebrew prophets. Examples from Isaiah 13 are used to demonstrate how near and distant events are intertwined with exaggerated, poetic language to emphasize God's vision.
The Parable of the Ten Virgins: Readiness and Intention
The message transitions to the Parable of the Ten Virgins in Matthew 25, where five wise virgins prepare for the bridegroom's arrival with extra oil, while five foolish virgins do not. The oil symbolizes living with intention as ambassadors of Christ, focused on the kingdom of God. The wise virgins represent those who actively live out their faith, while the foolish are distracted by fear, apathy, and worldly concerns.
It's emphasized that Jesus' message isn't about adhering to a prophecy chart, but rather about pastoral encouragement: acting in a broken world by remaining submitted to the scriptures. The ultimate mission is to love God and love one's neighbor, which is described as the spear tip or most important aspect of God's kingdom.
Avoiding Fear and Apathy
The teaching identifies two detrimental responses to the brokenness of the world: succumbing to fear and falling into apathy. Fear manifests in obsession with conspiracies, sensationalist media, and reliance on self-proclaimed prophets. Apathy, on the other hand, leads to disengagement from creation and the mandate to care for it.
Instead, the call is to stand firm, endure, and stay focused on proclaiming the gospel and building the Kingdom of God. The new people of God are dispatched to all nations, to proclaim a new creation. This involves actively loving God and others, resisting the urge to conform to worldly standards, and bearing witness to Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.
Application for Everyday Life
- Focus on Loving God and Your Neighbor: Make these the priority in your daily actions and decisions.
- Resist Fear and Sensationalism: Be aware of media that feeds on fear and conspiracy theories, and instead focus on truth and love.
- Stay Engaged with Creation: Recognize that caring for the earth is a spiritual responsibility.
- Live Intentionally: Emulate the wise virgins by living each day with the expectation of Christ's call, prepared and focused.
- Endure and Persevere: Maintain focus, stay focused, and don't be afraid, because we are part of the birthing of the kingdom into the now.
Key Takeaways
- The destruction of Jerusalem and the temple was a historical event with prophetic significance, but not the end of the world.
- The Parable of the Ten Virgins teaches the importance of readiness, intention, and persistent faith.
- Fear and apathy are detrimental responses to a broken world; instead, believers should focus on love, service, and proclaiming the gospel.
- The kingdom of God is being birthed now, and believers are called to be ambassadors of this new creation.
To find more Bible Teachings, click the link.
References
- Matthew 24:3
- Matthew 24:4-35
- Matthew 24:33
- Matthew 24:34
- Matthew 24:36-51
- Matthew 25:1
- Matthew 28
- Mark 14:62
- Luke 14:26
- Luke 17:24
- Acts 5
- Acts 11
- 1 Peter 3:22
- Exodus 11:6
- 2 Kings 18
- Daniel 7
- Isaiah 13
- Numbers 32:13
Resources
- The Bible
- Books by N.T. Wright
- Books by Samuel Dakiaki
Links to books are provided for convenience. As an Amazon Associate, Founded in Truth earns from qualifying purchases.
Read the transcript (1,381 words)
Automated transcript, lightly edited for readability. Scripture appears as spoken; the video is the authoritative teaching.
Do you ever find yourself searching for something bigger than you? For a community to be a part of? A place founded on truth and love. A place to worship the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and the Son of God. Welcome to Founded in Truth, where we're more than just a fellowship. We're a family, so welcome home. Bat Shalom, everybody.
Sermon Illustrations and Eschatology
I've been entertaining doing sermon illustrations for the past few weeks with the weed whacker and the sledgehammer. I've been enjoying it more than you guys, I promise. This is going to be fun. Let me get set up. I'm just going to set this microphone down right here. And for those of you who know me and know the types of things I like to study and certain directions I feel are more edifying than others—there we go, that's going to be perfect—you know that I'm not a huge fan of talking about eschatology a lot. The end of the world is coming, and what do we do, and how do we prepare? And that's just not...
I've been in this walk for 15 years, and I've lived through the end of the world five times. And I don't even get a t-shirt. And so in my journey, I shifted toward a very apathetic view about the end times, to the point where it was unhealthy. "Oh, the world's coming down. I don't care. Whatever. Everyone's going to die. It's fine." I mean, just apathetic. Whereas before, I was very extreme in my views. Guys, listen. I watched this YouTube video, and this guy's legit, and the video had a lot of really good music—thump—epic music in it. And the end of the world is coming next summer or 2013. Daniel's timeline, and then Daniel's timeline revisited, and all this stuff.
I study eschatology. I love reading resources about it. I love diving into the sphere or the scope of Christian academia when it comes to the end-time stuff, but I don't talk about it a lot here.
And today, many of you might think that I'm going to talk about the end times today, but I'm not. I'm not. Why did I give that big intro? Because some of you may think that I'm going to talk about the end times today based on the scriptures that we're reading.
Matthew 25: The Parable of the Ten Virgins
If you would, turn with me to Matthew chapter 25. And we're going to start there. Can we dive into the scriptures today? It's a question because you don't have a choice. So we're going to dive into the scriptures today, and I hope that I've set the workflow out for this message and that I was efficient in how we're going to jump around, because we're going to jump around today, and it's going to be fun to experience the teachings of Yeshua and what he gave to us through the records of the Gospels. So, Matthew 25. Does anyone have any one of those Bibles that has the red letters? Like when all the words of Yeshua are in red letters.
I love that. So when you turn to chapter 25, do you see a lot of red? It's like an ocean, a sea, a tsunami of red, right? And this is one of the chapters in Matthew. There are several, but it's a huge collection of his teachings. It's a very valuable chapter. And we're going to start in verse 1. I'm going to save that. You'll notice it's a very familiar parable. And we're kind of continuing our parable series today, and we'll just start reading. Matthew 25, verse 1. Yeshua is speaking, and he says: *"Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, 'Here is the bridegroom! Come out and meet him!' Then all the virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the wise answered, saying, 'Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.' And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready—everybody say ready —went in with him to the marriage."*
The Context: Jesus in Jerusalem
So, Matthew 23, verse 36. And I have it here if you didn't bring your scriptures today. One thing that we support here at Founded in Truth Fellowship is BYOB—Bring Your Own Bible—each week, and we encourage you to do that. And so he says, *"Truly I say to you..."* So this is a chapter that's filled with Yeshua, and he's in where? What city is he in in this chapter? Jerusalem. He's rubbing up against the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the religious leadership in Jerusalem. He's getting himself in trouble because he's making these proclamations about the kingdom of God that are radical. The way that he's walking out this supposed kingdom of God that's birthing now onto the earth is something that is totally opposed to the way the Pharisees think and how they interpret Torah, and the way the Sadducees think, and how they're trying to work out Torah, and how the Essenes think, and how everybody thinks.
And it's just rubbing everybody the wrong way. And then finally, Yeshua just lets them have it. *"You whitewashed sepulcher! You're just dead inside. You look pretty on the outside, just a bunch of dead bones on the inside. You're no spirit! What are you doing?"* And he just lets them have it. And then he gets to verse 36: *"Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation."* And then he laments over this city. *"Oh, Jerusalem, oh, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"* So what's he kind of saying about Jerusalem? Good things? Bad things? The temple's going to be destroyed. You're going to lose this shrine that you've lifted up, and you say that you're righteous because you go to this shrine every day, and you do these things, and this shrine's turned into a den of robbers. What have you done to the faith of our father Abraham?
Sources and Scholarship
And so I want you to know that going forward with this message, what my influences are. I didn't just make this stuff up. I do a lot of reading. I do not naturally know stuff. There are some people who God may download information into their heads—Johnny Mnemonic, the old 80s movie? Anyway, that would be great if that happened to me, right? "God, I pray for this information." That would be great. I don't have that ability, so I read books, and I depend on Christian men and Christian scholars who I've come to trust. And one of those scholars is named Professor Nicholas Thomas Wright. He is a pretty big name as far as Christian academia goes. He's a New Testament scholar, N.T. Wright. Lots of books. Love his books. Another scholar that I'm very impressed with and I love listening to his teachings—he's a professor, he has a doctorate in ancient languages—is Professor Tim Mackey.
He's the founder of the Bible Project. If you don't know what the Bible Project is, go to YouTube, type in "The Bible Project," and WOW, this free resource online. And also Frederick Murphy and his views on apocalyptic literature, poetry, and apocalypticism—the worldview of apocalyptic thought, if you will. So we're done with chapter 23. Now we can start chapter 25. For more on this and other teachings,
