16th Meeting - Revelation Chapter 19

Sunday night we looked at both Chapter 18 & 19; since I had already posted chapter 18, I thought we should move on to chapter 19. Now keep in mind that all of these chapters 17 - 20:5 are all on one vision John had had. As you will remember, John introduces the people and places first, then he tells you about them. In chapter 18, the great prostitute Babylon was destroyed, and all of her benefactors looked on, but from a distance. Verses 1-3 explain that Heaven is in agreement with the judgment just unleashed. Verse 4 describes what the view of Heaven will look like. What is happening is God is starting to take back the world from Satan and his corruption. God is more and more visible, Heaven is preparing for the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. This was foretold through many of Jesus' parables during His ministry here on earth. The Parable of the ten virgins is one of these. The 10 virgins are separated into 2 groups, 5 foolish and 5 wise. The foolish did not bring any provisions with them, to account for the possibility of a delay of the Bridegroom (Jesus). These are the people who go to Church, but do not take any responsibility for their walk with Jesus. They only show up for Church, never read their Bible or attend Sunday School, or Bible studies offered by the Church. Their walk during the rest of the week, does not match their walk on Sunday morning. When Jesus' coming is delayed they fall asleep, not worrying about the second coming. The other group is labled the wise. this group also fell asleep, but unlike their counterparts, they made provisions for a late arrival, by securing additional oil prior to arriving at the wedding feast. When the alarm came that the bridegroom was at hand; the foolish ones asked the wise to share their's; the wise said that they would not have enough to share. The wise told the foolish to go to market place and buy their own. By the time they came back, the groom had arrived and the wise virgins escorted the groom into the wedding feast. The foolish were locked out and when they asked to enter; "they were told they were not recognised and told to go away.