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The study of this most solemn parable spoken by our Lord is very
opportune. It is also necessary because certain wrong interpretations
are being made of this parable, which have been accepted by not a few
of God's people.

We find the parable of the ten virgins exclusively in the Gospel of
Matthew, and here it is a part of the great discourse of our Lord,
generally known as the Olivet discourse. The Gospel of Matthew is the
Gospel of the King and His Kingdom. Three great discourses of the Lord
are recorded by the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of Matthew. The first is
the so-called "sermon on the mount." This contains the proclamation of
the King concerning His Kingdom. The second discourse is found in the
13th chapter; this is composed of seven parables in which the Lord
makes known the mysteries of the Kingdom. In the last great discourse
He reveals the future of His Kingdom. First He reveals the future of
the Jews, how the Jewish age will close, what great events are yet to
take place in the land of Israel. He speaks of the great tribulation,
which is yet in store for the Jews and immediately after the days of
that great tribulation He will come in power and great glory. At the
close of His discourse He reveals the future of the Gentile nations,
who are on earth when He comes again. He will take His place upon His
own glorious throne and all nations will be gathered before Him. They
will be separated by the King, as a shepherd separates the sheep and
the goats. Between these two predictions concerning the future, the
beginning and the end of this discourse He gives three parables. These
parables do not relate to the Jews, nor to the Gentile nations nor do
they refer to the period of time, the end of the age, of which He
speaks in the first part of Matthew xxiv. In these three parables the
Lord shows the conditions which will prevail during the time of His
absence from this earth. _This period of time is the present Christian
age_. The three parables of the prudent and evil servant, the wise and
the foolish virgins and the faithful and the slothful servants, give us
a picture of the state of the entire Christian profession. This is
seen in the very beginning of this parable. The parable of the ten
virgins is one, which relates to the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of
heaven has here the same meaning as in Matthew xiii, that is, it means
the entire sphere of Christian profession.

And now before