Bernard Pyron

Matthew 25: 1-13 says: "Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh."

This is a parable, a metaphor in the form of a story. It is a warning to whoever the five unwise virgins represent. And as a parable, this story has a time setting. Look at Matthew 24: 29-30: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."

Then read I Corinthians 15: 51- 52: "Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed, In a moment, in the twinking of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."

Christ is to appear in glory for all the world to see at the end of the Tribulation. He will appear at the Seventh Trumpet. But right before he appears, the Tribulation will still be going on. So the time setting of the parable of the ten virgins is during the Tribulation, toward its end.

The oil which the ten virgins had for their lamps represents the annointing of the Holy Spirit. The oil also represents knowledge given by the Holy Spirit. Christ says in John 16: 13 of the Holy Spirit, who he has been calling the Comforter, that "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself: but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come."

The oil in the lamps of the ten virgins represents the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and the knowledge which the Holy Spirit gives to the virgins. But the five unwise virgins do not have the general knowledge the five wise ones have, nor do the unwise virgins have the more specific knowledge of end time events known by the wise virgins. John 16: 13 says "...he shall shew you things to come." The Holy Spirit will open up the Scriptures on end time events to five of the virgins in this parable set toward the end of the Tribulation.

Showing Christians things to come does not mean that we are shown the exact day on the calendar when Christ will appear. Date setting by a celebrity like Hal Lindsey and someone who is a celebrity for his listeners, like Harold Camping, is going off in a false direction. For the most part, date setters don't really know as much about what is going to occur in the end times as some other believers who avoid date setting. They become fixated on exactly when the world is going to end and when Christ is to appear.

There are also those who get too caught up in trying to set up the exact timing of the end time events in Bible prophecy. Some get involved mainly in laying out the sequence of the Seals, Trumpets and Vials of the Book of Revelation and think by doing this they have solved the problem of the meaning of this prophetic book. Rather than focus more on the doctrines taught by end time prophecy, what is to happen, getting the metaphors right, and who the players are in end time Scriptures, they spend more time and energy on timing. It is very important to know who the players are in the events described in end time prophecy, for if you don't know who the players are to be, most likely when that prophecy comes to fulfillment, you will not discern that it has been fulfilled, and you will not know roughly where we are in prophecy unfolding at a given time.

The parable of the ten virgins of Matthew 25: 1-13 teaches that the five wise virgins had enough oil in their possession to light their lamps in the darkness of the Tribulation in part because they had studied end time Bible prophecy and knew approximately what to expect. The knew that Christ is to appear at the last trump (I Corinthians 15: 52), which is the Seventh Trumpet, and knew this comes sometime after the Fifth and Sixth Trumpets. They probably knew enough to discern from events when the Fifth and Sixth Trumpets occur.

The problem with theologies is that they can block this kind of understanding which the Five Wise Virgins had. Dispensationalism with its eye on honoring the unbelieving Jews and its inability to see that the Tribulation is to be judgment upon the Church can easily prevent Christians from being able to discern when the Fifth and Sixth Trumpet Judgments are happening. Its insistence on a consistent literal interpretation of end time Scripture can block any understanding of who the players are in the Fifth and Sixth Trumpet Judgments of Revelation 9.

Amillennialism is another theology which has been in use much longer than dispensationalism. But it is not a system of interpretation of end time Scripture which encourages detailed study of end time prophecy and which leads to the understanding the five wise virgins have. Harold Camping came out of the American Dutch Reformed Church, which is Calvinist. Amillennialism is the interpretation system of end time prophecy Harold Camping has tended to follow. But amillennialism is not the only end time system of interpretation used by Calvinists. Some Calvinists have been preterists, believing that all end time prophecy was fulfilled in the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., some have gone into forms of dominionism, thinking that the Church must first take over the world, and then Christ can appear, and a very few have been historical premillennialists, following the interpretation system of the early Church Fathers.

Calvinist or Catholic Amillennialism is not limited to Revelation 20: 1-7 on the thousand year millennial reign of Christ on earth following the Tribulation. Amillennialists interpret and allegorize away the millennial reign in a broad sweeping way to say that this is the entire Church Age. They have, over the centuries, tended to allegorize away many specific end time Bible prophecies in a similar way. The result has been that usually amillennialists do not deal in much detail with end time prophecy and often avoid it.

Its not too surprising that after neglecting a detailed study of end time prophecy, Harold Camping and his followers would get it very wrong when in the last few years Camping has made use of some of its verses, especially this business about some group of players in the Fifth Trumpet Judgment of Revelation 9: 5 being tormented five months, and fitting this five months into Harold Camping's date setting, time spans and numerology.

Camping says on

http://www.familyra dio.com/graphica l/literature/ waat/waat_ temp.html

"We have learned that there is a five-

month period of time that immediately follows the 8,400-day great

tribulation period. What is happening during that time? This final

five months that begins on May 21, 2011, is intensely focused on

God's salvation plan as well as on His judgment plan. We will

discover that on the first day of that five months, which is May 21,

2011, all of the true believers are to be raptured to be forever with

Christ. We will also discover it is the day when the judgment of hell

begins for all of the unsaved.

In Revelation 9, the Bible speaks of a time when hell will begin on

this earth. It encompasses a time of five months (verses 5 and 10).

The chapter begins with the words that "the bottomless pit" (a

synonym for hell), is opened and the smoke as of a great furnace came

forth. At that time, those who had been convinced they were saved

because they had been teachers and preachers of the Bible, but were

not saved, and they had not been raptured, are still trying to teach

their wrong understanding of the Bible. They are typified by locusts

(verse 3), and are ruled over by Abaddon (destruction) and Apollyon

(destroyer) (verse 11), and are hurting those who are living on the

earth at that time....

The true believers will have been raptured on the first day of this

final five-month period, so they will completely escape the horrors

of that final period of time. Whereas this five-month period will be

an enormous horror story for those who have not been raptured, it

will be a time of great joy and wonder for those who are raptured.

This period of five months encompasses exactly 153 days, May 21 to

October 21. The number 153 spiritually breaks down to 3 x 3 x 17,

just as it does when we examined the 153 fish. Spiritually,

therefore, it identifies with those for whom it was God's purpose (3)

to take them to heaven (17). The number 3 doubled signifies that God will surely bring it to pass."

While the five wise virgins know enough to discern when the Fifth and Sixth Trumpet Judgments happen and know approximately who the players are - and wouldn't fall for Camping's story about the five months in Revelation 9: 5 - they do not know the exact date on the calendar when Christ is to appear. Bernard