The Kingdom of Heaven is Like.... | Matthew 25

What does it actually mean to be ready for Jesus’ return?

In the final episode of our series “The Kingdom of Heaven is like…”, we unpack one of Jesus’ most sobering parables—the ten virgins in Matthew 25:1–13.

All ten looked prepared.  All ten were waiting.  All ten had lamps.

But only some were truly ready.

In this conversation, we discuss:

•  The context of Matthew 25 and why Jesus told this parable 
•  Why the bridegroom’s delay reflects the waiting for Christ’s return 
•  The significance of the oil and the difference between appearance and preparation 
•  What Jesus meant when He said, “I don’t know you” 
•  Why readiness cannot be borrowed from someone else 
•  And why Jesus warned us not to obsess over predicting dates, but to live prepared 

The question is not “When?” but “Am I ready?”

We'd love to hear from you -- email us at ListenToShoesOff@gmail.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to Shoes Off, a weekly podcast where we pause, take off what weighs us down, and take a step onto holy ground.

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Hey, welcome back to Shoes Off. We're wrapping up the series The Kingdom of Heaven is Like. And last week we discussed wheat and weeds, which ended with a reference to end time and talked about separation. And today we are 12 chapters later in the book of Matthew, where Jesus brings it all together again with a focus on being prepared and ready. If you don't get anything from a podcast this week, remember those two words, ready and prepared.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Everything we're going to talk about today really leads to those questions of are you ready and are you prepared? And not do you understand it? That's not the question, or not do you agree with it, but the question of are you actually prepared?

SPEAKER_01 0:58

So before we get into it, let's understand where Jesus is when he tells us this parable. This is in Matthew chapter 25. He's near the end of his ministry and he's talking about his return. And Isaac, this is about the second coming of Christ.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

That's exactly what he's trying to foretell. And this is we see this in a lot of the gospels, but especially in Matthew, that Jesus is trying to prepare his disciples for two things. One, that he is leaving, that he is about to leave. And that's pretty imminent. And we see things very early on in the gospels of where Jesus is like, one time, like soon I'm gonna leave. And they were like, Yeah, yeah, whatever. Like, yeah, we're all gonna leave. And then he's like, No, like I'm I'm gonna leave soon. And this is close to it. And like you said, this is Matthew 25. If you go one chapter later, that's when Jesus is betrayed and arrested. I mean, this is really right before this is one of the last things, but this is not a parable warning about his death and about him leaving. This is a parable about his return and kind of his last glorious return, not even his return from the resurrection, but his return at the very end of times. So this isn't really just any teaching today, but he's preparing people, his disciples, for something that's going to happen, even if they don't know when.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

Let's read the scripture today because this is a very common parable that Jesus taught. And you've probably heard about this if you grew up in church. But this is the parable of the ten virgins found in Matthew chapter 25, and it's 13 verses. So let's read the 13 verses. Starting in verse 1, it says, At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the groom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they didn't take oil with them, but the wise ones took oil in their flasks with their lamps. And when their groom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. In the middle of the night there was a shout, Here comes the groom, come out to meet him. Then all the virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, Give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out. The wise ones answered, No, there won't be enough for us and for you. Go instead to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves. And when they had gone out to buy some, the groom arrived, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet, and the door was shut. Later the rest of the virgins also came and said, Master, Master, open up for us. And he replied, Truly I tell you, I don't know you. Therefore be alert, because you don't know either the day or the hour. Isaac, this is some very real scripture and a story and a parable that Jesus was telling about his returning and the time we're actually in today.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

Yeah, it's it's very much like that. And the first thing is Jesus uses the word virgins, right? And do you think that that word is an intentional?

SPEAKER_01 3:46

Yeah, I do. I think he was very purposeful in using virgins in this. And so let's be clear, these are bridesmaids, right, that are going out to meet the groom. And it I think the word virgin, it really points to people who are set apart and people who are waiting, right? People who expect the bridegroom to come. And so, right away, this isn't just about anyone. I think this is about people who appear to be ready. And Jesus was very purposeful in using the words virgin. And then with this, Isaac, they you got the number 10. Yeah, and so we don't get a full explanation, but I think culturally 10 was often maybe seen as a complete group at that time. What do you think?

SPEAKER_00 4:30

Yeah, I think a lot of times you see that in there, and there's recordings of in other parts of scripture where they're like tens of thousands of people or 10,000 people. A lot of times that phrase in itself would be just mean like a great multitude of people, but I think you're I think you're right on it. I think it's a full set, it represents a whole group of people who are waiting. It's not just a partial, it's everybody in that group.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

So this is where the parable in the details we really gives us some insight into what Jesus was really talking to. And just notice that it's the same group, they're all together, but they have prepared differently. They all have lamps, they're all waiting. And this is really interesting if you point out these details. Again, the same group but different preparation.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

And from the outside, they look the exact same. It doesn't really look like there's a difference in that, but the difference is the preparation that they have. Some of them brought extra oil and some of them didn't. Yeah, and that's the difference. It was actually what was inside their lamp was what was different. Yeah. But everything else from the outside, especially from a viewer's perspective, was it's the exact same. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

And it was interesting, half of them had extra oil and half of them didn't. So I don't know why Jesus chose five and five, but it is interesting. There's kind of like a one-for-one. So if they had extra oil, could they share with another one? But that's not what happened in the scripture, is they said, hey, where's the oil? And they told them go buy some because there's not enough for both of us. And this is where the scripture points to the delay. The scripture says they were waiting for the return of the bridegroom.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

I think that's an important thing to realize is that the bridegroom is delayed. And we're looking at this parable, and people are probably already seeing where we're going with it. And in terms of like, there's going to be a people who are prepared for Jesus' coming, and there's going to be a people who's not prepared. It's very clear. This is it lines up, this parable lines up exactly where we are right now. And but what this is too is this is exactly what was lining up for them too, 2,000 years ago. It was in the same thing. Right. So we're still in this right now. We're waiting. Jesus hasn't returned yet. And we're all kind of in that waiting thing right now.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Yeah, and we call this the faith dispensation. We're in a period of time where we're waiting for the return of Jesus. So in this time, obviously they were with Jesus, but very soon Jesus was about to end his ministry and go away to the Father, and we enter a new dispensation of waiting. This parable really points to, as you said, we're in this waiting period. Jesus hasn't returned yet. And it seems over time people start to drift. And that's with anything. Maybe when you start something new, like it's really good in the beginning. It's like reading books for me at the end of the year. And then it's it starts to drift away. Maybe sometimes people get tired or these lose focus. And I think that's exactly where some of them were. They were in this waiting period and the delay waiting for the groom to come. And then there comes a moment of time in scripture, and most translations say this it's midnight, and others maybe say in the middle of the night. But the point here was why they were delayed, they all went to sleep. And at midnight there was a shout, Here comes the groom, come out to meet him. And this is when they all came up. But a lot of people, I think, really hone in on midnight, and we're going to get to this, but none of us know when Christ comes back. And it's really a waiting period. But I don't know if Jesus really was pointing to maybe something's going to happen at midnight. I really think this talks about a moment in time, not a literal time of the day of when Jesus might come back.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Yeah, the idea of it is the noon is when the sun is just in the middle of the sky. Yeah. And the at night, it just but I think you're on it. I think it's more about a moment. But you know, through history, and this maybe is why it's recorded so much throughout it. But like when you say midnight, I think about like fairy tales. But that's not the important thing, is what I would draw is this is not like a fairy tale. This isn't like, oh, if you don't do it by midnight, that's because we don't know when midnight is. Yeah. I think you're you're right on it. It's just this is a sudden point where everything changes. We don't know the time, we don't know the day, we don't know the hour, we don't know when it's gonna be. Yeah, but it's gonna feel like midnight that sudden and that serious of an event.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Yeah, I think there's tons and tons of scripture where Jesus says, like a thief of the night, and it will be a moment, it will just happen. I think it's gonna be quick, and there's even songs, the midnight cry, but that just refers to I think a moment in time where it's gonna happen, and some people will be caught off guard. Yeah, just like some of these. And this is where the Bible says that some of them got up to trim their lamps and the other ones didn't. While the other one's away, the groom actually came. This is where I think it gets really serious for us is that you have to be ready because the ones that weren't ready, they asked for oil and they obviously they didn't get it, the extra oil, and so they were told, Hey, go out and buy some oil. But while they were away to buy the oil, that's when the groom came at midnight.

SPEAKER_00 9:25

Yeah, so he he comes, and this is when kind of the the scary thing, and we've seen this before actually biblically, but so what happens here is the door closes, right? Is those that went out to go buy more oil, they come back and the door's already closed. Yeah, and uh this is where it gets serious. And we've seen this before, and my head goes to the ark. Yeah, exactly. Where Jesus shut the door, the the door gets shut, and at some point Noah it wasn't Noah, God shut the door, the door on the ark. Yeah, I've seen it in a lot of people and like dramaticisms of Noah's Ark and stuff. I guarantee there were people trying to get in the door. I guarantee people were like, Oh, that guy wasn't crazy. Yeah, we need to get we need to get on the boat, we need to go. Yeah, but the door was already shut. Yeah, when God shuts the door, the door shut.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

The ones that were weren't prepared, unfortunately, it was too late for them. I know that's a very realistic picture, but the bridegroom came, the ones that were prepared and ready went with the bridegroom, and the ones that didn't weren't able to get in the door because God shut the door. And then there comes a point where they come back and they I don't know if they knock on the door or what it is, but the in the parable they're crying out, Master, Master, open up. And Jesus says some very real words here. It says he replied to them, Truly, truly, I say unto you, I never knew you. Yeah, that's real separation.

SPEAKER_00 10:54

Yeah, that's that's really hard. And it's not necessarily about recognition, but it's about relationship. And yeah, here's the thing, and I think people hear this, uh especially non-believers, or when you're trying to share with people, people hear this and they feel like it's so harsh. And I think that's why sometimes Christianity is like they like, well, it seems like you're trying to exclude people and you're trying to keep people out. And well, look at Jesus. Jesus says, I don't know you. Yeah, but it's important for us to know and to realize is that when we're talking to those people, or if you're a non-believer and you're listening right now, this is not that Jesus doesn't want to know you. Yeah, it's that he just doesn't know you. And yeah, when I was in school, I bet you've heard this too in the business world a lot. When I was in school, my my teacher would always say, It's not about who you know, it's about who knows you. And I was like, Oh, that's like kind of smart. Because there's there's people and they're like, Man, this this person's so cool, and like I know about them. And he's like, Yeah, that's great that you you know about them and you know you're listening to them and whatever, but do they know who you are? Right. And I'm like, Oh no, they don't know who I am. Yeah, and that's the scenario in this. It's that the bright group comes back and it's you know who he is, right? And we're all gonna know who he is. Exactly. The real question is, does he know you who you are? Yeah, and he wants to know who you are, and that that's the real thing. But I'm glad that he knows who I am.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

Exactly. Here's the other key insight. They all received the same invitation, right? I mean, all ten of them obviously received the same invitation, and they all came to the same place and they all had the same opportunity. The difference here was five of them were prepared for the return of the groom. When the groom was ready, they were prepared with extra oil. Five of them weren't. And again, that's just a direct picture of I believe before the groom comes back, Isaac, this is just me. I believe everybody will receive the invitation. There's not gonna be anyone that's gonna be able to stand without excuse. Yeah. And we'll all be brought to the same place and we'll all have the same opportunity, but throw in doubt there's gonna be people that aren't prepared and did not accept the invitation and did not prepare for the groom's coming. And so here's the reality is like not everyone who looks ready is ready. I mean, if you just look at these bridemaids and these ten virgins, they probably all look the same. Yeah, maybe they were dressed the same, but not everyone who looks ready is ready.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

And the thing is, the oil is readiness, and I think it's easy for I think someone to go, so why didn't I? I I think people can misunderstand this one because they're like, Well, what is the oil? Like what what's symbolic of the oil? And we look for like material or something, like why didn't why didn't Jesus give the oil? Like, why it's not the the oil is it's the readiness, right? It's it's how prepared are we, how ready, and that's not something you can borrow. Yeah, I I wish I could borrow. There's times like you're ready to go to dinner and you're like, hey honey, you ready? And they're like, No, not ready. I'm not ready yet. I'm like, Do you want to borrow my readiness? That'd be it'd be great if we could lend out our readiness to be able to leave or something. Yeah, but you can't borrow uh a readiness, and you can't rely on someone else's faith. And this is our preparedness and our readiness is something that's personal between us and Christ in itself.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

And I think that's exactly a key point here is everybody has faith. Everyone has faith in something, right? And this is where it's real. I mean, Isaac, if you weren't saved and it came this time where Jesus comes back, I only have enough faith for me. Yeah. As much as I've lived for Christ, as much as I've tried to do as much. There's I I can't share my experience with you. Yeah. The shit the faith that I have in Jesus is personal to me. And if it was enough, I would save the whole world. But this is a personal relationship, and it requires you to go get your own faith. Yeah. And your own personal. And I think this is a direct picture of those that had the extra oil was like, hey, this is per this was me being ready. Yeah, this was my faith. And I just can't share with you. You're gonna have to go get your own. Yeah, absolutely. So, what's this mean for us in practical life? I think there's a couple things we wanted to point out here is that first, readiness is personal. We just talked about it, and you can't rely on your background, you can't rely on your family, you can't rely on your friends' faith. This is really between you and God. So the first one is readiness is personal.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

And I think that's an important one. It's you're you're not going to, and we've talked about this before on the podcast, but you know, we're not going to, I'm not going to heaven because I preach. I'm not going to heaven because we do this podcast. I'm not going to heaven because I go to because I'm a Baptist. I'm not going to heaven because I go to this style of church. I'm not going that none of that does anything. Right. And you know, that that's one of it. That's our background. I'm not going to heaven because I go to church on Sundays.

unknown 15:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

And I I think that's almost one of the most realistic ones to this parable. Is I know you've probably met them too. I've met people that have been going to church for years. And they go every I mean, there's probably people out there that have read the Bible 15 times more than me.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Yeah. That may not go.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

But that's not that that's not the readiness.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

Yeah, I mean, you could again, people can look ready, but are they truly ready?

SPEAKER_00 16:17

Right. And that's that's where we're going on. And it's I've heard people say, Well, my my grandma was so strong and she was, it doesn't matter. And and I hate that. It's great for your grandma, and I can't wait. I'll meet her up there. Yeah. But I I want I want to see you up there to say.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

Absolutely. And that leads to the second one is time doesn't equal readiness. Just because I've been in church for 40 years may not mean I'm ready. Now, you know, again, this podcast and this teaching isn't about us questioning that we talked about that last week. It's not for us to judge. Yeah. Right. We're not the ones out to pull the weeds. But time doesn't equal readiness. Just because you've been around it doesn't mean you're prepared. They were probably with the the five that weren't prepared, was with them the whole time. Doesn't mean they were prepared as the other one. So that's the second point is time doesn't really equal readiness. And the third one is don't be misled by false claims.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

Yeah, and I think this is an important one because I feel like we see this, we've seen this recently. I feel like we see this often a lot. People claiming I know the exact date that Christ is coming back, and I've I've figured it all out. Yeah. Or even claiming to be Jesus. And I know that sounds crazy, but have you been did you watch any of these like Netflix documentaries? There's some out there.

SPEAKER_01 17:37

Yeah, I watch a few, and I actually live. I mean, there was a guy in Waco, Texas when growing up that claimed to be Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

Yeah. It's like I see them, and sometimes I'm like, that's not a thing that happens. And then you see some in like TikTok or something, you're like, oh my gosh, no, this is real.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

The Bible warned us about false prophets.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

Oh, all the time. We just think that that was, but it's still happening. And but we see people claim it all the time. And the most important thing that you can go to is Jesus said himself, only the Father knows. Yeah, only the Father knows, and Jesus is ready to come get us. Jesus has probably been ready to come get us for the last 2,000 years.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

Well, and I think the signs are all here, and I think that's something we'll talk about is if you look at the Bible and you talk to a lot of Bible scholars, what are the things we should look for when Jesus returned? It's all here.

unknown 18:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

Wars. And if that's quicks, if that's worrisome, I think to anyone listening, it it's I think it's been here. Yeah. I think it's been here. I like I feel like we always debate it, but like the disciples, they went out and the the ministry, the early ministry of the early church was so impactful because they believed Jesus was coming back before they were going to be dead. Yeah. I mean they thought that they were like, we're in the end times right now.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

Yeah. I mean, some of the scripture even say we who are alive and remain. Right. We we like it was talking to present. Yeah, they thought Jesus would come back. It was just even when they were ready.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

And and I can understand where they're coming from. I mean, Jesus had died, and two days later, or three days later, he's back. Yeah. But that's they they saw that, and when he ascended, they thought that he was coming back in their lifetime.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:09

So it should it, it's just I think it just furthers the point that we we really don't know. I don't think the disciples could have told you that I don't think they would have ever guessed that it would be at even as long as it is now. And who knows? But what's time to us? It could be another million years. That could be nothing. Right. Time scheme of eternity.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

So, what's this mean for us? Readiness is personal, time doesn't equal readiness, and don't be misled by false claims. If someone's out saying that, that's that's immediately a red flag because some people will claim they know the time. Jesus himself even said the Father is the only one that knows the time. So let's get into our weekly challenges for this week to our listeners.

SPEAKER_00 19:48

Yeah, and the first one is don't assume that you're ready, but examine it. And I've heard my pastor says it all the time. If there's if you're examining it, if you're if you're worried about it, there's no there's no better thing to do than go and and talk to God about it.

SPEAKER_02 20:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

Like why why hesitate on anything that if you're not sure, go make sure. And you may be. I think I think sometimes we all have even people that are saved, I think sometimes we have moments that we're like, I don't know. But like every time I go back, it's always you're good. You know, there's sometimes it we we are humans and sometimes reassurance is nice for us. But you may examine it and go, you know what? I don't I don't think I do. I don't think I am ready. And the readiness is available for you to go get.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

Yeah. And again, it's not it's not based on what you say, it's really based on the relationship you have with them. I mean, then there has to be that faith in Jesus Christ. It at the end of the time, it's only gonna come down to one thing, Isaac. And we've talked about this, it's not about titles, it's not about how much work you've done, it's not about whatever. The one thing that will matter is have you put your faith in Jesus Christ as your personal savior. And as we were studying this, there's four things that Pastor JD Greer pulled pulled out, and I want to give all credit to him, but this is on his on his podcast and on his website, but there's a there's there's four things that he pointed out. I thought it would be really good for us just to kind of end with as well. Was as Christians, we need to be spiritually alert. And the question was, how would you live differently today if you knew Jesus was coming back tonight? Wow. I know, right? I mean, we record this in the mornings, we try to do this in the mornings, but how would we live today differently if we if we knew Jesus was coming back tonight? How would we live differently? And I think it's a rhetorical question, but our listeners can think about that. If you knew Jesus was coming back today, would it would make you ask the question like, Am I ready? Am I living today in a way that I'd be happy to see him tonight? Yeah. Or would I be caught in a place that I shouldn't be in? I mean, those are just some real questions. Absolutely. The second one it was the urgency of the mission. I mean, if you knew the world was gonna end and it was soon, doesn't that like rearrange your priorities?

SPEAKER_00 22:09

Yeah. And this this is dark in a sense. But you know, people have like what is that called? Like if you I I there there are stories out there where people are like, hey, you have six months to live, and they're like, I'm going to like here's my bucket list. Like that I'm doing it. Like, here's the things that I am doing, and I'm gonna set all this in order. And some people get that chance to be like, I know I got the doctor says I got six months to a year left, let me get everything in order and stuff like that. But if you had the urgency to that, that's a great question.

SPEAKER_01 22:41

Well, I think it kind of ends in this question is are you are you investing the resources of your life with the expectation of his return? Are we investing in the kingdom of heaven? Yeah. We uh we need to think about that.

SPEAKER_00 22:56

Yeah, and investing in when you hear that word, we live in a generation, we we don't mean financial. Are you investing your time? Are you investing energy into your family? Are you investing the the work of Christ into the world as you go through that?

SPEAKER_01 23:11

Yeah, and a few more things he points out is there's hope and suffering. So again, we're in this delayed time. Jesus' return promises us that pain and suffering won't last forever. All this pain is temporary. So there is hope. Even if you're suffering today or you're going through something, there is hope in Jesus' return. And then the last one is the power to forgive. And Tim Keller wrote a book called Forgive, and he points out that Jesus gives you the power to forgive. And maybe that's something that you're dealing with today. If that maybe you need to go forgive somebody, or you need the power of forgiveness. Again, it's all about the readiness. How can we live life in a readiness state for Jesus' return? One thing I think we have to agree on, Isaac, is that we ought to be expecting the return of Jesus anytime. He may come before this podcast is even right, even published, but we we should live like it's today.

SPEAKER_00 24:08

Yeah. Yeah, and we need to have that urgency with everyone around us too, and showing people the light at all times because you never know. We're planting seeds, but you never know when the harvester is coming. We talked about that right a couple of weeks ago. Exactly. We don't know when they're coming to gather the harvest. So it's definitely something that we need to be prepared for.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

Yeah. So again, as we started, two words if you don't get anything out of this, be ready, live ready, and be prepared. Let's close in prayer. God, we thank you for today. We thank you for giving your life for us that we can live and be ready for your coming. Lord, we look for it. We're excited for it. And God, until then, help us not live on assumptions. Give us clarity to see where we stand with you and give us a humility to be honest about it. God, draw us closer to you, not in just words, but in relationship. Help us live with awareness, knowing that we don't know the time, but we need to live in a readiness state. In Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 25:09

Thanks for joining us on Shoes Off. Until next time, keep walking in faith. And remember, growth begins on holy ground.