Oil for Our Lamps

Eph. {5:14} Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

Matt. {25:1} Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. {25:2} And five of them were wise, and five [were] foolish. {25:3} They that [were] foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: {25:4} But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. {25:5} While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. {25:6} And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the
bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. {25:7} Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. {25:8} And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. {25:9} But the wise answered, saying, [Not so;] lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. {25:10} And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. {25:11} Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. {25:12} But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. {25:13} Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.


While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

We think that Jesus tarries don't we? Every single day that goes by we think that. We want Him to come, we want Him to take us home with Him. We long for this and yet we sleep.

ALL slumber and sleep.

In this parable there isn't one who is waiting for Christ to come that isn't sleeping. Reminescent of the disciples falling asleep when Christ himself asked them to stay awake with him isn't it? They fell asleep not once but twice...three times... does it matter the number of times? They were asked to stay awake and they didn't. Is it because they didn't want to? Is it because they thought so little of their master's request that they felt it was easier to sleep than it was to stay awake? Have you ever wanted desperately to stay awake and been unable to do so? Have you ever pushed through that desperate need to sleep and some how remained awake? You've most likely done both, I know I have. Sometimes we fall asleep when it's the very last thing we want to do. We are made that way our bodies are, we are made to need sleep as well as other things. Being made to need sleep it's a natural thing so fighting it seems pointless. Yet one surety with sleep is the fact we wake from sleep. We wake refreshed and we don't need any sleep, at least not until we're run down and get tired again.

Jesus gives us a parable on those waiting right before He returns. All those waiting fall asleep. Yet some fall asleep with extra oil while others fall asleep without any extra oil.

The question here is do we have extra oil?

What is oil?

How do we get the oil?

Is it as easy as buying oil from somewhere to keep in our lamps, to have extra by oursides?

Eph. {5:14} Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

We want light in our lamps, we want extra oil to keep the light there so we're well supplied and ready for Christ.

Christ will give us this light, we have to wake up and get it. Arise from our dead, sluggish, states that aren't waiting, that aren't ready. We have a role to play and anyone who thinks we don't are sadly mistaken. Those who think we have nothing to do but wait won't have extra oil, they'll think they have enough but they won't. There are going to be many that don't have oil and they're going to want ours. They're going to ask us for ours and we can't give it to them because then we won't have enough, but we tell them where to get their own oil. It'll be too late then, but we can risk not having enough oil an not meeting Christ.

Let us awake, let us find the oil and have it with us, the extra oil. May God bless us and help us to find oil and a lot of it so we have extra. By the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, now and forever.

Amen.