My Version

Once there were ten virgins

They were all very chaste,

All were highly moral

But five became a waste.

Five virgins were self-righteous

While five accepted God’s grace,

These five lived at wisdom’s gate

The other five were the other place.

All had oil in their lamps

And walked the Christian way

But not all had oil in store

Just in case there was a delay.

It is most difficult at times

To tell the difference between

Those who are really royalty

And the real king and queen.

And so it was with these virgins

As they walked along the way

But like the wheat and the tears

Were separated on harvest day.

Five to me were professors

And really lived for the show,

Their lamps were shining brightly,

What a luminous glow!

They shone for the world to see

On light they themselves had powered

And only too late they realized

When it ran out before the hour.

The wise virgins on the other hand

Had oil on which they could depend

So that when the bridegroom came

Theirs was the desired end.

I liken the foolish virgins

To many avid churchgoers

Who dot their eyes and cross their “T’s”

But were never really insiders.

  

That’s a peculiar word I’ll admit

But let me explain what I mean

Since a number of denominations

Can’t get past this initial scene.

There must be an initiation

Of the believer into Christ,

There must be an appreciation

For his atoning sacrifice.

But often people come to church

As the answer to their plight

But the idea of being born again

Is never within their sight. 

Take Nicodemus for example

He was a teacher of the Jews

But the born again experience

Was not even within his view.

Yet he walked like a believer

With his lamp trimmed and bright

But no oil for the complete journey;

It wouldn’t last through the night.

The self-righteous oil in our lamps

Is not nearly sufficient,

We need the oil of the Spirit

That is abundant and efficient.

You see at the point of salvation

The oil of the Spirit comes in,

It is really at this juncture

That we are cleansed from our sin.

This is the initiation into Christ

To which I earlier alluded,

Without this oil in the inner man

Such a one will never be included.

This is where the virgins differ

As to they being wise or foolish,

They that had more oil than in their lamps

Were the ones that got their wish.

The ones who felt their oil was enough

Clearly suffered in their cause,

None of us will make it into heaven

If we merely keep God’s laws.

That being the mission impossible

Was what Jesus came and achieved

To make the impossible possible

And now salvation all can receive.

We need not walk as the foolish

We can now walk as the wise

With oil in our lamps and in storage

Lest that day take us by surprise.

I don’t think the virgins were all saved

They were neither saved nor safe,

With oil only in their lamps they were lost

Never an insider in the first place.

Insiders are born again

And are indwelt by the Holy Spirit,

He is the oil that really matters

Not the show that comes from habit.

The Pharisees were very adept

At keeping their light ablaze

But when Jesus stopped then in their tracks

They were utterly amazed.

Their light was only counterfeit

And had simply misled a lot

Who without the genuine light of Christ

Could not their own error spot.

Such are today’s foolish virgins

Only catering to the here and now

Satisfied the oil in their lamps is sufficient

And will get them over somehow.

If this is how you are thinking

From such disabuse your mind,

Not even your religion can save you

If you follow this foolish kind.

Ensure you are Holy Spirit powered

Accept Jesus into your life,

A mere walk without Christ as Saviour

Is the recipe for eternal strife.

Stewart Russell © June, 2017

The Bible in Poetry: The Teachings of Jesus 2

Extracted from the Bible In Poetry

From Genesis to Revelation

The Teachings of Jesus 2

 

 

Jesus spoke of the harvest and the labourers being few,

So that you and I would see that this was nothing new;

Jesus knew about working he was never one to shirk,

So he did remind us the night when comes no man can work.

Jesus spoke this parable of a sheep, a coin and son,

More to give us insight into the working of the kingdom;

Of a man with a hundred sheep who left the ninety-nine,

He never quit his searching until that lonely sheep did find.

Of a woman with ten coins one of which she suffered loss,

She pledged that she must find it no matter what the cost;

Of a man who lost his son to a world of evil and woe,

The pain the loss had caused him only he would know. 

This son took his resources and wasted on silly living,

Soon his money ran out for he was the only one giving;

Without money or resources he recognized his plight,

Returning to father’s home there was a feast that night.

Jesus spoke of heaven’s joy over sinners that repent,

And to witness daily of his love ought to be our intent;

Zaccheus would come to Christ by climbing up a tree,

Salvation was worth more to him than all his dignity.

Jesus loved the children and took them on his knee,

Once rebuking the disciples, “Let them come to me.”

Any one who misleads them will face great misery,

Better to weight him down then drown him in the sea.

Not everyone who says Lord will make it home and dry,

Many will make their claims how the devil they defied;

But they will hear from Christ depart I never knew you,

They practised good religion but Jesus they never knew.

Then there were the virgins, five wise and five were not,

Five had adequate oil, five didn’t, a “shut out” was their lot;

When they raised the noise the bridegroom had arrived,

They had gone for oil and hadn’t returned from that drive.

 

Liken the kingdom to a man that went on a long journey,

Sometime before he left, talents to his servants gave he;

Five he gave to one of them to another he gave just two,

To the final one he did imply just one is enough for you.

Returning from his journey he called them to account,

One to whom he’d given five had doubled his amount;

The one to whom he’d given two had doubled his also,

The final servant said "You reaped where you did not sow.

I took the talent that you gave and buried it in the earth."

If this was a massive joke his master showed no mirth;

"Take the unprofitable servant, throw him out and then

Give that remaining talent to the one that now has ten.

He who has will be given; from him shall be taken away

Even that which he has, so shall it be on judgment day."

Before this Jesus had warned, "Let no man deceive you,

For when that day is come, every man will get his due."

  

Not very long before all this Jesus had left the temple,

"Tell us about the end in a way that’s pure and simple."

With all that he had said the disciples were confused,

But knew that it would happen just as he would choose.

Up on the Mount of Olives surveying the temple sight,

"When shall these things be? Do Master, shed some light."

"Let no man deceive you, many shall come in my name,

Nation against nation there will be war again and again.

Earthquakes in divers places famines and pestilence,

Such, the beginning of sorrows coming in an instance;

Many will be offended and one another they will betray,

And because iniquity shall abound love will fade away.

Woe to them that be with child that give suck in that day,

That their flight be not in winter they had better pray;

There shall be tribulation never known before or past,

Except those days be shortened no flesh would even last.

False Christs will be and prophets not that easy to detect,

And if only it were possible would deceive the very elect;

Then will the sun be darkened, the moon will give no light,

Then the returning Son of man will be a glorious sight.

Watch for you really know not the hour the Lord will come,

For back in the days of Noah they were having lots of fun;

Faithful and wise is a servant who for his lord does wait,

Not waiting till the lord arrives to set all his matters straight.

The lord of that servant will come the day he does not think,

And find him indulged in gluttony and intoxicated with drink;

The lord will appoint him his portion having him cut asunder,

Like all the other hypocrites his would be a tragic blunder."

Now Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon a leper,

There came a woman with ointment in a box of alabaster;

On Jesus’ head she poured it as the Master sat at meat,

Some felt it should be sold to buy food for the poor to eat.

"Leave her alone," he said, "a good work she has wrought,

Wherever the Gospel is taught all will recall this thought."

Judas consulted with the priests; Jesus he would betray,

For an agreed sum of money for that was the Judas way.

The next day he came into Jerusalem riding on a colt,

Loud hosannas rang out but later they would revolt,

Master rebuke your disciples some Pharisees cried out,

"If they hush," said Jesus, "then the stones would shout."

Not long after Jesus instructed, "Go in the city to a man,

Note he will be carrying a pitcher of water in his hand;

Tell him the Master requires the use of his guestroom

There to eat the Passover with my disciples very soon."

Was there in that very room that Jesus told of the plan

That someone had devised to betray the Son of man;

Is it I each in turn did ask wondering about such a wish,

Jesus said, “It’s one of you that dips with me in the dish.”

“The Son of Man must die but let that man be warned,

He who betrays the Son; will wish he’d never been born."

As they eat he took the bread; that signified his body,

"As oft as you eat," he said, "do so in remembrance of me."

Next he blessed the cup and commanded them to drink,

His blood that was shed for many; a very important link;

When they had sung a hymn they went into the Mount,

There, Peter would learn of his pending denial account.

 

Jesus told them that night of him they shall be offended,

Peter would deny him thrice even before it was ended;

Peter with bravado spoke, “I would die with you first.”

But all they would remember how that night he cursed.

Stewart Russell © 2013