Torch on fire.

I keep thinking about the story of the 10 virgins in Matthew 25:1-4 NLT which says: “Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like 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 didn’t take enough olive oil for their lamps, but the other five were wise enough to take along extra oil.”

I was thinking about that phrasing, “the foolish didn’t take enough olive oil for their lamps”. In our modern understanding some things get lost in translation. So, I thought I’d take a deep dive and look into this parable. The parable speaks of bridesmaids or in other translations virgins waiting for a bridegroom, so we know this is wedding related.

D.A. Carson in the Expositor’s Bible Commentary describes traditional Jewish weddings this way, “…the bridegroom with some close friends left his home to go to the bride’s home, where there were various ceremonies, followed by a procession through the streets – after nightfall – to his home. The ten virgins may be bridesmaids who have been assisting the bride; and they expect to meet the groom as he comes from the bride’s house…

Everyone in the procession was expected to carry his or her own torch. Those without a torch would be assumed to be party crashers or even brigands. The festivities, which might last several days, would formally get under way at the groom’s house.”

Isn’t that fascinating? This parable was told to people who were familiar with the traditions of Jewish weddings and when they heard it, this is the imagery they had in their minds. The torch referred to was either a stick with an oil soaked rag or a lamp with oil. Now, if we read in Hebrews 12:1 TPT it says, “As for us, we have all of these great witnesses who encircle us like clouds. So we must let go of every wound that has pierced us and the sin we so easily fall into. Then we will be able to run life’s marathon race with passion and determination, for the path has been already marked out before us.”

The marathon race in Hebrews was understood to be a marathon torch race, where each competitor had to run the race marked out for them and cross the finish line with their torch still on fire. If we look at the ten virgins in Matthew 25 and the torch race in Hebrews 12, we see the importance of having not just oil in the lamp or on the rag on the torch but extra oil as well.

As Christians we know that our oil is representative of the Holy Spirit. I also believe that oil is what we take to feed our spiritual fire. What feeds your God fire? If you are not feeding your God fire you are going to end up like the five foolish virgins. Your lamp is going to go out before the bridegroom arrives. Your torch is going to go out before the end of the marathon race. Are you feeding your God fire? Are you taking time to cultivate your relationship with Jesus? Are you hearing the word of God and allowing faith to rise up in you to act on the word that you know? Or are you thinking, someday, I will turn my life around? Time is running out for us to think we will get right with Jesus someday.

We know that Jesus is coming back. He is the groom in Matthew 25. The time to brush up on your walk with Jesus is now not when Jesus appears in the clouds. By the time we see Jesus coming back, it’s too late to try live the Christian lifestyle. It’s too late to try to buy more oil.

What is feeding your God fire and are you investing enough time fanning into flame that fire for God inside of you?

To be able to fan the fire to flame, you need to first ignite the fire. That is salvation. Salvation is that spark that gets us started. But just like with the matchstick that starts a fire, salvation is not the end, it is the beginning. In case you are reading this and wondering, how do I get saved, Romans 10:9 says, “…if you publicly declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will experience salvation.” That is all it takes to be saved and that’s how you get the fire started.

We learnt from our little lesson on Jewish tradition that if you show up to the party without a torch, people know you are an imposter and there is no fooling Jesus. You can fool the people in your world and show up to church and play church, but you cannot fool Jesus. Now is the time to get right with Jesus. Do you have oil in your lamp? Is your torch on fire?

Love and blessings,

Melissa Tsingano.