Derek Prince - The Oil In The Lamps Of The Parable Of The Ten Virgins Explained
This is an excerpt from: Pressures, Tests & Challenges
So now we’re going on to the next, we’re going into chapter 25. What’s the first word in chapter 25? Then, it’s the tenth 'then'. Now we have the parable of the ten virgins. What do they represent? Let me see what my outline says. Now, in the Bible, ten is the representative number of a congregation. In Judaism they have to have what is called a 'minyan'. That is, at least ten persons before they can pray publicly. So I think the number ten speaks to us of people in congregations. This is just my thought, that these virgins basically represent churchgoers. I’ll read the story quickly and then comment on it. Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
Now five of them were wise and five were foolish. And you notice there’s nothing in between wise or foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise ‘Give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered saying, ‘No lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell and buy for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy the bridegroom came and those who were ready went in with Him to the wedding and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also saying ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly I say to you I do not know you.’ Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. Don’t be so deep asleep that you can’t wake up.
Now, let me point out some things about those ten virgins. They were common to them all: They all expected the bridegroom. They all knew the bridegroom was coming, they were not unbelievers. They all had lamps and oil. And oil is nearly almost always a type of the Holy Spirit. They’d had the Holy Spirit in their lives. And all of them slumbered both the wise and the foolish. There was only one difference: the amount of oil they had. The wise had oil enough and to spare. The foolish didn’t have a reserve of oil. And Paul says in Ephesians 5:18: Be not drunk with wine in which is dissipation but be filled with the Spirit [the Holy Spirit].
Now, most of us would agree that the negative command applies: Be not drunk with wine. That’s a sin. Why is it that so many religious people focus on the negative and never attend to the positive? The same command says, Be filled with the Holy Spirit. If it’s a sin to be drunk with wine, it’s also a sin not to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And the word there — and I think you’ll find this in other translations - means be continually filled and refilled. It’s not just a one-time infilling. Again, I’ve lived with Pentecostals so long and I know what they say, I was baptized in the Holy Spirit in 1984. I spoke in tongues. That’s wonderful, that’s ten years ago. What’s happened in the meanwhile? Some people who make it a once-for-all experience are the least sensitive of all to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Because they’ve got it all wrapped up in one packet that they got when they spoke in tongues. That’s not sufficient.
Paul said to the Corinthians, I speak in tongues more than all of you. And obviously they did a lot of speaking in tongues. So Paul did more than them. We have to be continually filled and refilled with the Holy Spirit. The ten virgins had had the initial filling, but they didn’t have the continual refilling. So they were not ready. Now, an interesting thing is the wise said to the foolish, Go and buy oil. It had to be bought. It wasn’t a gift. So there are some things, some ways in which you have to pay the price for the Holy Spirit. Initially, He’s a gift. But if you want to remain filled with the Holy Spirit, there’s a price to pay. You see, I think of what Jesus said to the church of Laodicea, which is in so many ways a picture of the church today in America.
Revelation, chapter 3. This is what Jesus said to the church of Laodicea in Revelation 3:17–18. Because you say, ‘I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing,’ Have you ever heard that kind of teaching? Did Jesus approve of it? Not the least bit. And do not know that you are wretched miserable, poor, blind and naked. I marvel that people can be wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked and not ever know it! That’s astonishing. But I meet some people like that. Now Jesus gives us some advice. He says: I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire that you may be rich and white garments that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed. Jesus said, I’m not going to give it to you you have to buy it from me. Gold tried in the fire.
You know gold in the ancient world was valueless unless it had been tested by fire. I believe gold is faith there and Jesus said, I want faith that stood the test of fire. And you’ll have to pay for it by endurance. You’ll have to hold out under the test. And then He said White garments. Not everything in the Christian life is free. These are things you have to pay for. I’d also like to point out to you the difference between the evaluation of Jesus and so much contemporary Christianity. There was one church, the church of Smyrna, was poor and persecuted and didn’t have much. Jesus said, But you are rich. But He said to the church of Laodicea that had it all, You are poor. What would He say to the American church today? What would He say? Would He say you are rich or you are poor?
You must answer that for yourself. I just want to point out to you, man’s evaluation is often the opposite of God’s. Jesus said the things which are highly esteemed amongst men are abomination in the sight of God. So, they had to buy oil and they left it too late. When they had bought the oil and arrived, the door was shut. And Jesus said, I never knew you. How do you understand that? This is my understanding, they were never amongst God’s elect. They’d come in but God knew they wouldn’t pass the test. Now this may not be the right explanation but it’s the way I see it. Let me ask you, have you bought your oil? How do you buy oil? By prayer, by Bible reading, by waiting on God. It takes time, it takes effort. It doesn’t just happen, you have to make a decision.