Are We Missing the Meaning of the Wedding Parables, Expecting a Rapture? Matthew 24 & 25 Revisited

This is the first of a series of columns that looks at conditions prior to the wedding parable of Matthew 25. We will see that some of the events in Matthew 24 preceding the wedding parable support the start of trouble and tribulation before the wedding parable, though most Christians looking for a rapture expect it before tribulation. Could they be wrong?

In Matthew 13, the Great Teacher likens Bible truth to a treasure buried in a field, but as Christians, we can be like little kids scurrying to find Easter eggs (or a text that says what we want), oblivious to the surroundings or Biblical context.

So it is with the wedding parable of Matthew 25. We all would like to be among the five wise who get into the marriage, but we overlook its context suggested by the first word, “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be like 10 virgins…”

When is then? In the previous chapter, Matthew 24, Christ paints a broad picture of those events that bring us to His second coming. Many of them, like wars, famines, pestilence and earthquakes  have existed in every age. But after His coming in verses 30, 31, He gives five examples that, like the leaves on the fig tree, suggest that “summer is nigh” and His return “is near, even at the door.”

He said, “Now learn a parable of the fig tree.” What did He mean?

Christ cursed a barren fig tree in an acted parable. Flaunting its pretentious foliage, it was a symbol of the Jewish nation. The Savior wanted to show His disciples the cause and the certainty of Israel’s doom.

The Jewish nation had been specially favored by God and they claimed righteousness above other nations, but were corrupted by the love of the world, greed for gain, and they were full of hypocrisy. Like the fig tree, they were full of showy leaves but they had no fruit.

Christ’s act in cursing the barren fig tree is a warning to us today as suggested by His telling us to learn a parable of the fig tree.

“Some who think themselves excellent Christians do not understand what constitutes service for God. They plan and study to please themselves. They act only in reference to self. Time is of value to them only as they can gather for themselves. In all the affairs of life this is their object.” The Desire of Ages, p 584.

So it is that this once Christian nation is no longer Christian. Yes, we profess to be Christians. We believe the story of the gospels and want our children to understand what we were brought up to believe, but if we are honest with ourselves, from the days of Roe v Wade when a so-called Supreme Court yielded to popular demand for murdering the unborn because it wasn’t convenient, this nation has been going downhill at an ever-increasing speed, and like the Jewish nation, profession means nothing.

For an excellent commentary on the “signs of the times,” the reader may appreciate an online chapter from The Desire of Ages, a best-selling biography on the life of Christ that is cited above. 

EDITORS NOTE: The featured graphic is courtesy of the West Main Baptist Church.