John Piper . .

speaks wonderfully of our King and Lord Jesus!!

. . "He is King, a Betrothed King, an Engaged King . .

In Matthew 21:4-5 . . . The people spread their cloaks on the road, and cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road,

and went before Him and shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

Hosanna means “salvation” or “deliverance.” So they were saying: “Here comes our Deliverer, our Savior! Salvation belongs to the Son of David, the Messiah!

Here He is. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Jesus is not just a king; He is a betrothed King—an engaged King.

And soon He will be a married King. His betrothed bride is the people of God—the people who trust Him, elect from every race and nation, the church.

He came the first time 2,000 years ago to die for his bride—to pay a dowry, as it were, with his own blood.

And He will come a second time to marry her and take us—his church—into the gardens and the chambers of his love and joy forever.

Paul puts it like this in Ephesians 5:

He paid for her with His life. And he is now at work by His Spirit and by His word purifying and beautifying her for Himself and for her joy.

Paul said to the Christians in Corinth, “I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ” . . 2 Corinthians 11:2.

One way to describe the Christian ministry is to say that ministers of the word are agents of God in betrothing the church to Christ.

We seek to awaken faith in Christ, which creates his bride; and we seek to deepen love for Christ, which purifies his bride.

John the Baptist saw this and dared not lay any claim to Jesus’ bride. Someone asked him how he felt about the fact that his ministry was waning and Jesus was making many more disciples than he was.

He answered, “I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom.

The friend of the bridegroom . . . rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete” (John 3:28-29).

And Jesus spoke of Himself in this way when the disciples of John asked him, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”

Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast” Matthew 9:14-15

Revelation 19: “I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, ‘Hallelujah!

For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come,

and His Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure’—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, ‘Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb’” (Revelation 19:6-9).

Jesus came 2,000 years ago as king. He is coming again as King, but on the fact that the King of the universe came into the world to betroth to Himself a bride at the price of his own blood,

and that he will come a second time to marry His bride and take us into the infinitely beautiful chambers and gardens of his love and joy forever.

Everyone who trusts in Jesus belongs to that bride. Not every person will be a part of the marriage supper of the Lamb. Some will be outside wishing they could get in. So I urge you, “Trust Christ. Love Christ. Be a part of his bride.” The joys he will give us are beyond anything experienced or imagined on this present earth.

The Parable of the Ten Virgins: Jesus’ Word to Us as We Await the Wedding Day

What does Jesus want to say to us this morning in our position between the betrothal and the marriage?”

What does He have to say to us who are the blood-bought bride of Christ? One answer is given in today’s text, Matthew 25:1-13. This is Jesus’ word to us about how the time between his coming to betroth us and his coming to marry us. Let’s walk through this passage together verse by verse.

Matthew 25:1, “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lampsand went to meet the bridegroom.”

Notice three things in this verse. It is about a Kingdom, and about a bridegroom. This is where I got the idea that Palm Sunday is really about a betrothed King who is coming to be married. There is a king, and there is a bridegroom. The king is betrothed, he has gone on a journey, and he is going to return to be married.

Second, notice that this is a parable about the time between the first and second coming. We will see that more clearly as we move along through the text.

Third, notice that the virgins represent the visible church, that is, they represent those who profess to be Christians. They are going out to meet the Bridegroom. They are not those people who want nothing to do with the Bridegroom. But whether they represent those who are truly Christian we will see shortly.

Don’t stumble over the fact that in the parable itself these ten are not the bride. The bride makes no appearance.

The details of the parable should not be pressed. Look for the larger point. In some texts the church is pictured as the bride.

Here the church is pictured as the ones who go to meet the Bridegroom and bring Him in. Jesus doesn’t want us to stumble over that difference. The parable is still about how we, the bride of Christ, should prepare to meet him.

Verses 2-4: “Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.”

All ten had a job appointed for them to do. They were to be ready to welcome the Bridegroom with shining lights when he comes. That was their job, their calling—to be ready (v. 10).

The means appointed for that calling were oil and lamps. It was their responsibility to use the means that were necessary for the work they had been given to do. They had been appointed to shine when He comes. Give light when He comes.

But five of them did not take seriously their calling to give light, and they neglected the only means by which they could do what they were called to do.

They took no oil. They only had lamps. Their job was to provide light, and they had lamps without oil. Candles without wicks. Torches without fire. Light bulbs without electricity. The outward form of religion and no internal power.

They liked their position, otherwise they would have left. But they did not have a passion to use the necessary means to fulfill their point of their position. Light!

Their foolishness was to think that the mere form of a religious lamp would be sufficient. Or, perhaps, that the power to light a lamp could simply be borrowed at the last minute. In fact, it can’t be borrowed at all.

Verse 5: “As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept.”

Notice two things. Jesus gave us advance warning that His coming would be delayed. This has been a stumbling block for two thousand years. Jesus said in advance here in Matthew 25:5 that he would be “delayed”.

1 Thessalonians 4:16 says, “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.”

The cry goes out: “He’s here! Go meet him! Let your lamps burn brightly as you go!” This is going to happen some day! And what we are about to see in the rest of this parable is a very sober warning to be ready.

1 Thess. 10-12: “And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.

“Come, O faithful bride, enter into my gardens and into my chambers and learn now for eternity what the dim shadows of earthly pleasures were all about.