Kingdom of Lights: The Parable Read Through

This is a companion to the study Kingdom of Lights. Nothing here is argued; it is argued there. The bracketed notes are not part of the text — each one carries a meaning the Hebrew Scriptures had already given the image beside it.

MATTHEW 25:1–13 — KJV

Then shall the kingdom of heaven [the temple Yahuah is building out of people rather than stone] be likened unto ten virgins, [the priests of that temple, named by the one thing the old priesthood forfeited — they had not gone after idols] which took their lamps, [Proverbs 6:23 — the commandment is the lamp, and the Torah is the light it gives] and went forth to meet the bridegroom. [Yahushua Himself, a title He had already used of Himself in Matthew 9:15]

And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. [not a comment on intelligence — the same word for wise was used one chapter earlier of the servant who kept his master’s household while the master was away]

They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. [all ten held the office; five kept a supply — Yahuah’s instruction alive in them, which is the only light His house has ever given]

While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. [the long stretch of ordinary time is the test, and it takes everyone; weariness is not what separates them]

And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. [the arrival nobody could schedule, and the same summons Israel received at the mountain]

Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. [every one performs the priestly work correctly; the motion was never the measure]

And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. [their light is out — the instruction they were charged to carry is no longer alive in them, and they ask to borrow it off another priest]

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. [not selfishness — no man’s standing before Yahuah has ever covered another man]

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. [in Torah a door is where it is settled who belongs to a house; once it shuts, that is settled]

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. [not one word about the hour; to know, in Scripture, is to acknowledge a covenant relationship]

Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh. [keep the light burning until He comes]

Put together, the parable says one thing. The temple Yahuah dwells in now is made of people, and the priests of it are the ones who never went after another god. What marks them is a light, and the light is His own instruction kept alive in them — not held once, not inherited, not borrowed off somebody standing nearby, but carried and fed through every ordinary day until the Messiah returns.

Five of them let it go out. They kept the title, kept the office, and kept the motions right up to the last hour. But Yahuah does not dwell in a temple with the light put out. There is nothing left in it for Him to dwell in.