April 12, 2001 By JERRY FIGUEROA Friends, Let Us Be Watchful Until The End During Christ' last week leading to the Cross on Calvary, 48 events are recorded in Scripture. Of those 48, the 14th event of the week occurred when Jesus spoke of the parable of the 10 virgins as told in Matthew 25. Again, as we see in our articles of earlier this week, Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives as He rested privately with the disciples. They began to question Him as to what would be the signs and events that would precede His coming and the end of the ages. The Lord goes on to give a series of illustrations (or parables), one of the more striking was that of the Parable of the 10 Virgins: "The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. The five who were foolish took no oil for their lamps, but the other five were wise enough to take along extra oil." - Matthew 25:1-4 As was the custom of the time, weddings were usually held at night and attended by the brides and groom's parties. The focus of this illustration however, was not in being prepared for a wedding celebration, but in being watchful for the coming of the Lord. What Is Watchful? Being watchful might suggest that one is ready and alert. I take the train each day to work, as I'm getting my morning cup of coffee, I need to look out for my train as it rolls around at 8:51. If I miss it, I gotta wait till the next one comes at 9:19. The illustration of Matthew 24 was a little more explicit and with more serious and horrifying consequences - the coming of the Lord and the end of time. Being ready would result in meeting the Bridegroom and eternal life with our Savior, Jesus Christ. There are 3 essential principles we can take away from this lesson. 1. The Coming of The Lord The return of the Lord on that beautiful day needs to be look forward to, amongst other things, with a sense of soberness. It's so easy to fall into the activities and desires of this life that we become taken away with preoccupation as we work to get more and more. And I mean that quite literally: how often have we found that we've neglected our personal and quiet time with the Lord, how often have we found that we've not given our time to the worthy causes of our church, how often have we not keep our sight on the daily things of the Lord? Allowing our priorities and activities to be driven by something other than a vigilance for the Lord has horrible and permanent consequences. The Apostle Paul in 1st Thessalonians 5:1-7 reminded us to resist evil so as to not be caught by surprise by the Lord's coming. 2. Being On Guard Against Temptation The Lord provided the best example of fighting temptation in what is known as the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13: "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen." This is very much a daily exercise we have to go through, "Lord, help me to resist temptations." For each of us, or individual temptations may be different; for some it might be to cheat in school, for others it might be to steal, for others it might be to stray into other relationships outside of their marriage. Whatever it be, identify it and keep away! 3. Watching And Praying! The Apostle Paul encouraged - no, let's use the word "exhorted" - the church to pray, and pray, and pray some more. "Unfailing perseverance" is the way he put it in his many epistles. A combination of prayer and watching for the day of the Lord will result in a genuine spiritual life. At the end of the parable of the 10 virgins, 5 of them made it to the party, 5 of them didn't. For us, there is no practice run, either we make heaven, or we don't. There's no second chances. We encourage you to live a watchful and prayerful life EVERY DAY - there's no other way around this friends. The reward to be had today and for eternity is well worth the time and effort! Jerry Figueroa is the co-executive producer of Inspired Christian.org. With his wife Darlene and 4 boys, they attend the Apostolic Church in East Palo Alto, California. He's happy to receive your email at jerryfig@inspiredchristian.org. More articles in our Passion Week special We're here for you! Send us your thoughts, staff@inspiredchristian.org. Home | Site News | Reviews | Churches | CyberReading | Bible College Copyright, Inspired Christian.org