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jane aubryJane Aubry - I remember one day in the 1970's playing my guitar, looking up to heaven, and saying, “If there is a God, I want to know Him.” When I met Roger, my husband to be, he told me he was “saved”.  I had never heard the word before.  I had thought we could only “hope” to go to heaven. He told me how he was saved and that was the end of talking about it for a time. more...

 


Does the Parable of the Ten Virgins refer to the Rapture? Print E-mail
Does the Parable of the Ten Virgins refer to the Rapture? (Matthew 25:1-13)

Matthew 24 and 25 are a unit, being a continued narrative. The discourse of the Lord flows from questions about the temple, His coming, and the end of the age. The focus on "signs of His coming" indicates the Jewish setting of the passage, for "the Jews require a sign" (1 Corinthians 1:22) and "the times and seasons" that the Lord gives here are related to the Day of the Lord and the time when sudden destruction (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3) will come on those who trust a covenant with hell (Isaiah 28:15; Daniel 9:27) to guarantee them "peace and safety." This is at the beginning of Daniel’s 70th Week, the the 7-year period that follows the Rapture.

The initial signs (Mat 24:4-10) the Lord gives correspond to the first five seal judgments (Revelation 6:1-11), which follow the catching up (4:1) and rewarding (v 10) of the saints of this age. The abomination of desolation (Mat 24:15) refers to the mid-point of the 7-year period (Dan 9:27b). The"great tribulation" (Matthew 24:21) points to the last half of that period and the visible coming of the Son of Man (v 27) to the Lord’s return to earth. The teaching comparing the days of Noah (vv 37-42) relates to the coming of the Son of Man, referring back to verse 27, as does the warning in verse 44. The Parable of the Faithful and Evil Servants (vv 45-51) deals likewise with "His coming" which must be the coming of the Son of Man in the context.

The Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30), which follows the Parable of the Ten Virgins, cannot refer to believers of this age. The wicked servant had responsibility entrusted to him by his master, yet is cast by the master into outer darkness. This, similar to the parable at the end of chapter 24 must have a Jewish setting. The prophecy of the sheep and the goats likewise refers to the Son of Man’s coming in glory.

The context of the Ten Virgins is the Lord’s return to earth and not the Rapture.

D. Oliver
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