Exactly! The (Christian) church is the wife, which is the bride who the bridegroom is marrying. So when five of the 10 virgins stay behind outside of the door, the bride (which is the church) is on the other side of that door, together with the remaining 5 virgins. So there are six ladies, the bride plus 5 virgins that are now with the bridegroom, and only the bride is marrying, the 5 virgins are invited to be the bridemaids. That is the complete picture of the parable, and you will not find this properly explained in almost any of the commentaries.

So then, the 10 virgins do not represent the church (the christian believers are the church).

Therefore, this parable of the 10 virgins cannot be interpreted by saying the bridegroom is Jesus, and the virgins are representing Christians, because where does this leave the bride, which is the "Christian church"? Everything you find in the New Testament, which you have quoted, says very clearly there is one wife, which is the bride of the Lamb in the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation completely goes in line with what Jesus said as recorded in Matthew, and this is not a coincidence.

Also, there is another clue: There is indeed a group of "virgins" (again this word!) mentioned in the book of Revelation. They don't represent the bride of Christ, neither are they Christians. But they are called "virgins". And did you see why they are called virgins?


>The church is the wife (singular). We are being married to Christ in eternity.
>
>http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+11%3A2%2CEphesians+5%3A27%2CRevelation+19%3A7&version=NIV
>
>2 Corinthians 11:2 - "I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him."
>Ephesians 5:27 - "..and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless."
>Revelation 19:7 - "Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready."
>
>It's all there, Christian. It requires study, focus, discipline, prayer, faith, and a willingness to unlearn what this world has taught (because there is a great enemy here leading astray everyone who will not seek diligently the truth).
>
>Best regards,
>Rick C. Hodgin
>
>
>>That would not work, if the 10 virgins would represent the one bride. It is a picture, and the picture has a marriage situation which is set in the cultural context of the Jewish community at that time. You won't find any marriage celebration where you have more than one bride marrying the bridegroom, that would be against the law. However, you do have marriage celebrations where you have multiple ladies appearing: They are the bridesmaids. Everybody who has ever been to a marriage will understand this picture. In Jewish custom the bridesmaids that attended the wedding had to be virgins. (There is that word again!)
>>
>>You see, people are just making things too complicated. If indeed the picture would indicate that the bridegroom intends to marry 10 virgins, the picture will crumble to pieces because no one would understand what that is supposed to mean in the context of their culture.
>>
>>On the other hand, there is a marriage described in Revelation, chapter 19. This one does mention the wife in more detail, and it is one wife (and not multiple):
>>Rev 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.
>>
>>So indeed we can see that the bridegroom is marrying a wife (singular), and besides of that we have those that are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb (plural). The identity of the wife and the ones that were invited is different, they are not the same.
>>
>>Again we have the following actors in Revelation, and it exactly correlates with the parable that Jesus told in Matthew 24:
>>
>>Revelation 19 Matthew 24
>>1) The Lamb The bridegroom
>>2) His wife The bride, not specifically mentioned but derived from context (one actor)
>>3) Those that are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb The 10 virgins (several actors)
>>
>>That is how I see the parable, it is completely logic and no wrestling of the mind or the intellect is necessary. Those that just copy the old Bible commentaries from religious people are often too lazy to read the Bible themselves and rely heavily on the opinion of other people.
>>
>>>The virgins are the bride. The body of Christ here upon this Earth, we are the bride, and Jesus is the Bridegroom.
>>>
>>>You must understand that the concept of marriage here upon this Earth is a shadow, a limited precursor, to that which believers will experience in eternity with Christ.
>>>
>>>We are co-heirs with Him, as His bride.
>>>
>>>Best regards,
>>>Rick C. Hodgin
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>>>For one thing, you've got to identify all of the persons that are in this text, and most people
>>>>>>are suprised that there is something else they were not aware of. For instance we have
>>>>>>those different actors:
>>>>>>1) The Virgin
>>>>>>2) The Bridegroom.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Then we have:
>>>>>>3) A marriage.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>There is one person missing in this list, and although this person is not directly mentioned
>>>>>>in the text, it is as important as the other actors in the context. Who is it?
>>>>>
>>>>>Who is missing? You must remember the nature of the Bridegroom here.
>>>>
>>>>it's easy: the bride. So we have a new set of characters we have to identify, and for each character we have to identify the role they are playing. That is why I say you have to analyze the plot before drawing any conclusions.
>>>>So the complete set of actors is the following:
>>>>1) The Virgins
>>>>2) The Bridegroom.
>>>>3) The Bride
>>>>
>>>>Subject: A marriage.
>>>>
>>>>So the task would be now to properly assign the roles those actors are playing. Who are the 10 virgins, who is the bridegroom and who is the bride who the bridegroom is marrying.