Matthew 25: 1 – 13
In the Parable of the Ten Virgins, the bridegroom came at midnight to get his bride, but only five of the 10 virgins were ready for him and their lamps were full…
Vs 10: “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.”
Who do you think shut the door? Reading this verse immediately reminded me of the fact that God personally shut another door – the door of Noah’s Ark – and we will explore how these two narratives are divinely connected to each other.
Genesis 7:16 “The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.”
Imagine for a moment, how many desperate people tried to get into the Ark once the rain started. People who mocked Noah day and night while he was building the Ark, were now franticly pleading with him to open the door of the Ark, as the flood waters started to rise, sweeping away with it everything in its sight.
Matthew 25:13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”
Let’s take a few steps back in Matthew, to chapter 24 vs 36-37: “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”
I find it utterly amazing that, in our current day and age, in the year 2026, scientists are revealing the possible location of Noah’s Ark – 4300 years after Noah stepped off the boat in the Mountains of Ararat.
All the evidence is pointing to the fact that this find is most likely the remains of Noah’s Ark, even the exact measurements of the formation matches the measurements God gave Noah in Genesis!
How ironic that the mockers are rife again, laughing at every social media post and news article of the discovery.
And so, I can’t help thinking that we are seeing the days of Noah again.
Yet our gracious God is leaving us little breadcrumbs, breadcrumbs that can’t be missed, a trial pointing us to revelations that time is running out.
Daniel 12:4 “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” (NLV)
We are living in a world, where knowledge is exploding. Anything and everything you may want to know, you can find by so many different means available.
Unfortunately, while knowledge is increasing, wisdom is rapidly depleting.
Yet, in spite of this, by His grace, God is showing this world evidence of His mercy and goodness and His very existence everywhere, so that no-one can come to the end of their lives, not knowing Who He is, and no-one can have any excuse.
Romans 1:19-20
“Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”
Noah didn’t know the exact time that he would be going into the Ark, but he knew it would certainly come, by faith.
We as Christians also will not know the exact time and hour that Christ will return, but we can look at all the signs, in nature and events, and the acts of the people around is, and know the time is near.
The Ark saved Noah and his family from the destruction that God sent upon the Earth. Destruction is coming again for this world, not in the form of the flood, but I believe much worse, as John warns us in Revelations.
As His Children, we will be spared, we will be lifted to Heaven, not in an Ark, but by God’s amazing grace alone.
Will we be like the 5 virgins who were ready with their lamps full?
Their light was shining, so the Groom could see them and they Him, and He took them into the wedding banquet, and the door was shut.
The groom came at midnight hour. After they left with Him for the banquet, the darkest part of the night followed.
I believe we are a few minutes or maybe even seconds away from midnight.
If all of time is measured in 12 hours, and every hour is 500 years, and let’s suppose the clock could stop at 6000 years (as many Christians believe), we are perhaps 2 minutes away from His return, figuratively speaking. Of course, this is just a theory since no-one knows the hour except the Father.
The truth is that the Father loves us and wants us all to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4). He does not want a single person to drown or be swept away in the wrath to come. So He stretches out His hand and offers us more time and more opportunities to reach out and find Him and to search for Him (Jeremiah 29:13).
Just before the flood in Genesis 6:3, God states something very interesting:
“Then the Lord said, “My spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”
We are entering a period where some people are outright rejecting the very words God said, by believing they can increase their live span indefinitely with the aid of technology.
The ultimate act of defiance will become the ultimate act of destruction for mankind.
As the 120th jubilee draws to it’s end, I encourage every person reading this, to look at the clock. Time is running out for the human race, but the bride of Christ will be forever united with our bridegroom, our Saviour Jesus Christ, before disaster comes upon the Earth.
Give Him your heart, before the clock strikes midnight.
There is only one door – and His name is Jesus Christ (John 10:9).
