Christ Teaches About the Rapture.

Applying The Unexpected Return (24:45-25:13)    
 
Two slightly different parables about Christ’s unexpected return: the servants and the young women.
 
Servants (45-51): 

Most of the master’s servants are faithful. One of the servants is evil. The master comes back unexpectedly, scourges him, exposes him as a hypocrite, and assigns him to a place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

This evil servant is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Luke 12:46 says he has no saving faith.   The master gathers his faithful servants for blessing and rewards (24:45-46), and leaves this hypocrite behind, to suffer the horrors of the tribulation.

Christ here is evangelizing His own disciples (e.g. Judas). Not all His disciples had saving faith (see for example John 6:64-65).

Application: Be sure we are real servants of Christ.  


Young women (25:1-13): 

Ten young women gather, to meet a bridegroom on his way to his wedding celebration. Five are ready when he arrives, so the other five are left behind.

The virgins in this setting probably symbolize Israelites. Jeremiah 2:32. The bridegroom is Christ.

Oil (Isaiah 61:1) and fire (Acts 2:3) are both symbols of the Holy Spirit. The five young women showed their foolishness because they didn’t each individually have the Spirit of God. The bridegroom takes the wise virgins away for the feast, just as Christ said He would return to take His people up to the Father’s house (John 14:2-3).

Notice that the five other young women do obtain oil and fire. I.e., unlike the wicked servant, the symbolism implies they become saved people.

These five virgins are different from the evil servant in the previous parable. Even though the virgins are foolish, they still want to go with the bridegroom. The Lord doesn't call them “evil”, they don’t appear to sin against anyone, and they aren’t called hypocrites.

But they miss the departure, and so they also miss the heavenly feast. They have to endure the night, and wait until the sun rises in the morning.

I think the bridegroom's “I don't know you” differs from the damning “I don't know you” in Matthew 7:23. The bridegroom won’t recognize them as having a right to come into the celebration. In my understanding, the heavenly wedding feast is not the same thing as being eternally saved. There will be righteous mortal people present on the earth when Christ comes back (they are the sheep at His right hand), and he welcomes them into His kingdom, but they didn't attend the heavenly wedding feast either.

People will be saved after the rapture (I think this because there will be martyrs, Revelation 6:9-11). But Christ isn’t going to rapture them up one-by-one. 

Application: Be ready for the rapture by making sure you are a genuine child of God. In other words, make sure you have the Holy Spirit in your heart, through faith in Jesus Christ.