Gospel of Matthew Chapter 25 Vs. 4

 The Parable of the Ten Virgins

Matthew 25:4 “But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.”

But the wise... Wise, because they took extra oil in separate vessels besides what they had in their lamps. They were concerned for the true grace of God, being enlightened by the Spirit of God. They saw their need of the grace of God, and being directed by him where it was to be had, went to Christ for it. And having received it from him, through the power of the Holy Ghost, exercised it on him; and herein lay their wisdom: for a stock of this, in the heart.

Daily renewed by Christ, will supply the lamp of a profession well. This they had in their vessels, their oil vessels; by which are meant their hearts.

We see a division. Remember, all ten were believers in Christ. It seems the extra oil that they took was what created a separation of the two. The Holy Spirit is the oil. It seems that the wise Christians had the Holy Spirit, and the foolish did not.

We know in Acts, that the Disciples of Christ were instructed to go to the upper room and tarry until they be endued with power from on high. These same disciples, before they were baptized in the Holy Spirit, could not understand what the parables of Jesus meant. They were so weak, that one of them denied Jesus, and all but one of them ran when He was crucified.

You can easily see that even though they had walked with the Light (Jesus), they had no power until they received power on Pentecost (when they received the power of the Holy Spirit). I believe that this was the secret of the ten virgins. The other five had the Holy Spirit (oil), which gave them power.

This supply of oil then, representing that inward grace which distinguishes the wise, must denote more particularly, that supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, which, as it is the source of the new spiritual life at the first, is the secret of its enduring character. Everything short of this may be possessed by the foolish; while it is the possession of this that makes the wise to be ready when the bridegroom appears and fit to go in with Him to the marriage.

Just so in the parable of the Sower, the stony-ground hearers, having no deepness of earth and no root in themselves (Mat. 13:5; Mark 4:17), though they spring up and get even into ear, never ripen.

But preparation is necessary. In the parable, five of the virgins had made adequate preparation for they possessed the necessary lamps and extra oil in jars.