cry. 4. The Coming of the Bridegroom. We are living in the
days when the midnight cry is heard and are facing the fourth great
event of this parable, the Coming of the Bridegroom, the entrance of
the wise virgins to be with Him and the shutting out of the foolish.
And this it is which makes this parable so very solemn in the days in
which we are living.

1. "Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins,
which took their lamps and went forth to meet the Bridegroom." In 2nd
Corinthians we read that the virgin is used as a type of the church.
"I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste
virgin to Christ." The Lord in the parable uses the figure of ten
virgins, because the parable does not altogether refer to the true
church, His Bride, but because He had in mind the conditions of that
which professes to be the church. The number ten is the number of
testimony and responsibility. Nevertheless we learn from the beginning
of this parable what true Christianity is. The characteristics of the
Christian calling are three-fold: separation, manifestation and
expectation. Separation from the world; going forth with lamps, which
are for giving light, to shine as lights while the Bridegroom is not
here; and then to go forth to meet the Bridegroom. One can read in
these statements the very words and thoughts with which the Holy Spirit
describes the Thessalonian Christians, "How ye turned to God from idols
to serve the true and the living God and to wait for His Son from
heaven." The emphasis in this parable is upon the last of these
characteristics. The whole body of Christians in the beginning went
out to meet the Bridegroom. The blessed Hope of the coming of the Lord
was the Hope and the expectation of the church in the very start. It
was the original attitude of the true church and bears witness to the
heavenly hope and heavenly calling of the church.

In the next two verses the spiritual condition of the ten virgins is
laid bare. It is noteworthy that the condition is stated first, the
demonstration of it comes later; after the midnight cry had been
sounded the foolishness of the five becomes manifested. The division
of these virgins in five wise and five foolish brings out the fact that
in the professing church two classes of people are found, the true and
the false, saved and unsaved, professing and possessing. The wise
represent such who have believed in the Lord Jesu