o Oil…Wine,
what is the significance?
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OIL - ἔλαιον elaion,
olive oil…שמן shemen, fat,
oil
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Matthew 25:1-13 – Then shall
the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and
went forth to meet the bridegroom. And
five of them were wise, and five [were] foolish. They that [were] foolish took their lamps,
and took no oil with them: But the
wise took oil in their vessels with
their lamps. While the bridegroom
tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight
there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet
him. Then all those virgins arose, and
trimmed their lamps. And the foolish
said unto the wise, Give us of your oil;
for our lamps are gone out. 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. 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. 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. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day
nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
1.
Ten virgins – called witnesses of the marriage,
bridesmaids, companions to the bride, Christians. At midnight
the cry was made to go out and meet the Bridegroom. Who would have made the
cry, but the Bride herself?
a. Psalm
45:14 - She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of
needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto
thee.
b. All
of them slept when they were to be watching and awoke when the cry was made at midnight .
(The fact that they are sleeping may be the reason they are bridesmaids
and not the bride, for the Bride is awake, watching, waiting for her
Bridegroom)
2. Lamps
– The chief concern of every Christian is to be salt and light in a corrupt world just as the virgins are to maintain their
light.
a. John
1:9 – That was the true Light, Which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
b. Matthew
5:13 -16
- Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his
savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but
to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill
cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on
a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your
light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your
Father which is in heaven.
c. Philippians
2:15-16 - That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God,
without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the
world; Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of
Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.
3. Oil
– The fuel of the Light, that which is required to meet the Bridegroom. Possibly the realization of Grace
4. Five
wise virgins – Those who are servants of Christ in deed and in truth.
a. 1
John 3:18 -
My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
b. In
humility they declined to give their oil to the foolish virgins, else there
wouldn’t be enough for any.
c. They
did not particularly enjoy the predicament of the foolish virgins, but offered
the best advice they could.
5. Five
foolish virgins – Appear as Christians, but are indeed hypocrites. They are concerned with looking the part,
(they are virgins, they are carrying a lamp) but forget that their chief
concern is to maintain the light in lamp.
They had the lamp for show, but nothing in it that would provide light.
a. Job
21:17 –
How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! And how oft cometh their
destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in His anger.
b. The
day is coming, when carnal hypocrites would gladly be found in the condition of
true Christians. Those who now hate the strictness of religion, will, at death
and judgment, wish for the solid comforts of it. Those who care not to live the
life, yet would die the death, of the righteous. The day is coming when those
who now look with contempt upon humble contrite saints, would gladly get an
interest in them, and would value those as their best friends and
benefactors. Matthew Henry’s Commentary
c. Genesis
7:15 -16
- And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all
flesh, wherein [is] the breath of life.
And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had
commanded him: and the LORD shut him
in. (Thus shutting everyone else out)
6. Bridegroom
– The Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb
a. Revelation
19:7-9 – Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for
the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to
her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for
the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto
the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the
true sayings of God.
7. Watch
– Our instructions are to watch, be ready, with oil in our lamps
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Luke 10:34 – And went to
[him], and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own
beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
1. Used
to treat wounds
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Psalm 45:7 – Thou lovest
righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness
above thy fellows.
1. Here
we can see that the oil is representative of gladness
2. What
could be the source of more gladness than the realization of the Lord’s grace.
3. Think
about how glad we are if we get pulled over for speeding, knowing full well we
are guilty and the police officer, out of grace, only issues a warning? How much more gladness are we going to
experience at the realization of all the other consequences we had wiped out
because of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ!
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Hebrews 1:5-14 – For unto
which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I
begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a
Son? And again, when he bringeth in the
firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship
him. And of the angels he saith, Who
maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son [he saith], Thy throne, O
God, [is] for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness [is] the sceptre of thy
kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness,
and hated iniquity; therefore God, [even] thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy
fellows. And, Thou, Lord, in the
beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works
of thine hands: They shall perish; but
thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; And as a vesture
shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and
thy years shall not fail. But to which
of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine
enemies thy footstool? Are they not all
ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of
salvation?
1. “Oil
of gladness” same as Psalm 45
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James 5:14 – Is any sick among you? let
him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the
Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall
raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
1. Oil
is to be used in concert with invoking the name of The Lord to heal the sick
2. Not
only does oil have natural healing properties as seen in Luke 10:34 , but here we see supernatural healing
properties as well.
3. We
are instructed to use oil when praying for the healing of the sick, how often
is this command followed? Does it impact the results?
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Exodus 27:20-21 – And thou
shalt command the children of Israel Israel
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1 Kings 1:39 – And Zadok the priest took
an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the
trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon.
1. Used
for the anointing of kings
2. Maybe
yet another reason that the oil is to be spared is because it will be required
to anoint the coming King Y’shuah
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1 Kings 17:16 – [And] the barrel of meal
wasted not, neither did the cruse of
oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah.
1. The
oil did not fail according to the Word of the Lord, what was initially ascribed
to this individual circumstance may be related to the corporate as applied to
the text of Revelation.
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Psalm 104:15 – And wine
[that] maketh glad the heart of man, [and] oil
to make [his] face to shine, and bread [which] strengtheneth man's
heart.
1. Two
of these three items are spared
a. Wine
à
makes the heart glad
b. Oil
à
makes face shine
c. Bread
à
strengthens a man’s heart
v
Psalm 73:26 - My flesh and my
heart faileth: [but] God [is] the strength of my heart, and my portion for
ever.
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Proverbs 21:20 – [There is] treasure to be
desired and oil in the dwelling of the
wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up.
1. Just
like we see the wise vigins possessed the oil and the foolish did not
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Ecclesiastes 7:1 – A good name [is] better than precious
ointment (oil); and the day of death than the day of one's birth.
1. Why
would a good name be better than oil?
2. A
good name can be equated to righteousness, if a man is righteous of himself he
has no need of the grace of God, but there is none righteous, not one.
3. There
is only one name that is better than oil and that is the name of Y’shuah
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Song of Solomon 1:3 – Because
of the savour of thy good ointments thy
name [is as] ointment (oil) poured forth, therefore do the virgins love
thee.
1. Here
we see the name of the Bridegroom has a name that is like oil.
2. As
mentioned in the previous verse Christ has the only name that is better than
oil and He bestows His oil (grace) on the rest of us who believe on Him.
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Isaiah 25:6 – And in this
mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines
on the lees, of fat things
full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
1. Feast
- משתה mishteh,
masculine noun, feast, drink, banquet
2. Of
fat things - שמן shemen, fat,
oil
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WINE - οἶνος oinos,
1) wine,2) metaph. fiery wine of God's wrath
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Matthew 9:14 -17 - Then came to him the
disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy
disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto
them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is
with them?i but the days
will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they
fast. No man putteth a piece of new
cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from
the garment, and the rent is made worse.
Neither do men put new wine
into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the
bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.ii, iii
i. In
response to the question regarding fasting and why the disciples of Jesus do
not fast.
ii. How
does this response relate to the question posed regarding appropriate fasting?
iii. New
cloth and new wine are of the same substance as the old garment and old wine,
but they have not matured to their fullest, so they cannot be used in the same
manner. Likewise the disciples of Christ
are of the same essence yet new to the rigors of a disciplined lifestyle. If fasting or other “duties” are foisted upon
them before they fully understand the purpose, the consequences for their
spiritual development could be dire.
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