The Second Coming of Christ
by Dr. Harold L. Fickett, Jr., Pastor First Baptist Church Van Nuys, California
M any reputable educators today are willing to admit that our Lord Jesus Christ is the master teacher of all time. One of His most effective didactic abilities was that of being able to use scenes and ex periences familiar to His listeners as a means of illustrating profound truths for them. Case in point is that of the story of the five wise and the five foolish virgins recorded in Matthew 5:1-13. This important theological parable is based on the
ding party. As they went along the street, anyone who had a burning lamp could get in the wedding pro cession. Instead of going on a honey moon as couples do today, after be ing married in the home in which they were going to live, the bride and groom hosted a seven-day festive party for all the members of the wedding entourage. When Jesus told this story the peo ple readily understood why the five wise virgins were invited to the re ception, why the foolish virgins were excluded. In using this story our Lord Jesus Christ is calling atten tion to at least four great truths concerning His own second coming. Let us examine these together using a pivotal word as the focal point of each. The first pivotal word is cer tainly. This parable teaches us be yond any shadow of a doubt that the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is a certainty. When the mes senger of the parable cried out, “Be hold, the bridegroom cometh,” the bridegroom came. Make no mistake about this. When that moment in his tory arrives which God the Father has designated for the return of Christ, the Saviour is going to come back. Nothing can prevent this cata clysmic event from occuring. More than 500 specific references in the Scriptures attest to this truth. The second pivotal word is folly. As you and I examine this parable, it seems to shout at us, it is folly for anyone not to prepare for the Lord’s coming. The virgins in the parable who did not prepare for the
Jew ish wedding c u s t o m s w e ll known to all the people of Je su s ’ day. According to those customs, the bride would wait w ith h e r a t te n dants in her home for the coming of the groom. No set time was given for
Dr. Fickett
the wedding ceremony. The fact of the matter is/the groom usually liked to slip up on the wedding party to see if he couldn’t catch them un awares. Sometimes he would even come in the middle of the night in an effort to accomplish this purpose. However, he had to meet one require ment, it was necessary for him to send a messenger before him crying, “Behold, the bridegroom cometh!” The bride heard this cry; she and her attendants would go out to meet him. If his coming was at night, each attendant had to have a burning lamp. If she didn’t have it she was not allowed to be a part of the wed
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