Foolish Waiting and Wise Waiting (Breaking the Deception We Want to Believe)
The End Times Made Simple
You must be ready.
It’s all about Jesus. Deception is everywhere.
And we must be ready.
When Jesus taught about the End Times, He told several parables to drive this point home. Jesus never wanted His church to sit back passively and wait for Him to come back. Jesus commanded us to watch actively, to be ready — to prepare.
Jesus said this:
“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take along any extra oil. But the wise ones took oil in flasks along with their lamps. When the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
‘No,’ said the wise ones, ‘or there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
But while they were on their way to buy it, the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet, and the door was shut.
Later the other virgins arrived and said, ‘Lord, lord, open the door for us!’
But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’
Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. (Matthew 25:1-13 BSB).
In this parable, Jesus returns to wedding language.
When the groom had finished preparing a place for his bride, and his father told him to go fetch his bride, he would assemble his family and friends to go and get his bride. It could take a while for the groom to arrive, as he would be richly celebrated by all who know and love him.
In this parable, ten virgins await the wedding feast. When the groom arrives, everyone will go inside to the feast chamber and the party will commence.
But the groom is delayed, being richly celebrated.
Five of these virgins did not prepare. They brought their lamps, as evening was approaching, but they brought no extra oil — the substance that their lamps burned to create light. Once the oil in their lamps burned up, their light would go out.
The wise ones brought extra oil. They prepared. They didn’t know how long it would be until the groom would arrive, so they prepared well for a longer wait.
When the groom took longer to arrive than they expected, the foolish ran out of oil. Their light went out. They demanded oil from the wise, but the wise refused, knowing that giving away their extra oil would diminish their own ability to be ready for the groom.
They weren’t willing to sacrifice their readiness for the groom for the sake of pleasing people.
The foolish left to buy more oil, and while they were gone, the groom arrived. The party began. The doors were locked.
When the foolish returned, they couldn’t come in. Why? They weren’t ready. When the groom arrived, they weren’t prepared. They were off taking care of other business.
Jesus concludes with these words: “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”
What is our perennial challenge when studying the End Times?
We always think Jesus is coming back quickly, within our lifetimes.
Rare is the person who studies the End Times and concludes the Rapture will occur ten thousand years from now. Most of those who calculate a date for Jesus’ return place it within their own lifetimes.
Like the five foolish virgins, we don’t expect the groom to delay long.
Why were the wise virgins wise? They were prepared for a long wait. They didn’t know when the groom would appear. They were eager to see the groom, hoping he would appear soon, but they prepared themselves to be ready even if it took a long time.
To see how prone we are to this, let’s return to the fig tree. When discussing His return, Jesus stated:
Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its branches become tender and sprout leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you will know that He is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away. (Matthew 24:32-35 BSB).
Jesus uses the fig tree as an object lesson: you know how trees work. When the branches become tender and leaves pop out, you know the summer season is near. In the same way, when you see these signs take place, you know the season of Jesus’ return is near.
Yet, in our desire to see Jesus appear imminently, we push this into something it isn’t.
Edgar C. Whisenant wrote a book called 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988. He concluded that the fig tree wasn’t a mere object lesson — that instead, it meant Israel. He cited Jeremiah 24:
Then the word of the LORD came to me: “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up, and not tear them down; I will plant them, and not pluck them up. I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.” (Jeremiah 24:4–7 ESV)
Again, this passage uses figs as a metaphor, yet Whisenant concluded that Jesus must have meant “Israel” when He said “fig tree.” When Jesus described the fig tree sprouting for spring, Whisenant concluded that this referred to Israel becoming a nation again after a long period of exile.
Whisenant mixes this all into his interpretation, saying this:
“Now learn this lesson from the fig three; as soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. (33) Even so, when you see all these things, (wars and rumors of wars, nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom, famines and earthquakes in various places, all these are the beginning of birth pains.) I (Jesus) tell you the truth, this wicked generation (1948 – 1988) will certainly not pass until all these things have happened. (35) Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” This last generation spoken of above started on 14 May 1948, the day Israel become a nation. Israel is the time clock of God throughout history. Israel is the blooming fig tree, (Jer. 24:4-8) and the last generation will end 40 wicked Gentile years later on 14 May 1988. (Edgar C. Whisenant, 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be In 1988 and On Borrowed Time. World Bible Society, 1988).
Given that we are discussing this long after 1988, we can tell his calculation was flawed. But let’s dig into why, so that we, too, can avoid such errors.
Remember: deception is everywhere. Not all deception is malicious. Some deception is self-deception. Some deception comes from not thinking ahead, from not being prepared.
Like the five foolish virgins.
The five foolish virgins deceived themselves. They told themselves it wouldn’t be a long wait. They didn’t think they needed to prepare. And so they missed the groom.
When we force the fig tree to mean Israel, we likewise risk deception, as Whisenant did. Jesus didn’t say:
As soon as the fig tree’s branches become tender and sprout leaves, you will know that He is near, right at the door.
If Jesus had said it this way, then Whisenant may have had a point. This would be much more direct — Jesus directly claiming that when you see the fig tree sprout, then He is at hand.
But that’s not what Jesus said.
Jesus said:
As soon as its branches become tender and sprout leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you will know that He is near, right at the door. (Matthew 24:33 BSB).
The fig tree is an object lesson, teaching you how to understand the signs.
Jesus didn’t give the fig tree as a sign in itself.
This wouldn’t be so dangerous, were it not for Jesus tying the passage to a specific timeframe — one generation:
Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away. (Matthew 24:34-35 BSB).
This is Jesus’ clearest indication of when He will return. He is vague in most aspects, but this verse gives us a clear boundary: within one generation of the signs starting, all the rest will complete.
What, then, are the signs Jesus was talking about?
Earlier in the chapter, Jesus gave a sign, followed by “and then the end will come.”
What was it?
Simply this: “this Gospel of the Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
This is the only clear sign in that paragraph. Jesus also speaks of wars and rumors of wars, Christians being hated, betrayal, false prophets, lawlessness increasing, and many falling away. Surely, these will happen right before the end, they aren’t as precise as the Gospel reaching all the world. These prior events happen throughout history. There won’t be one specific point that indicates it’s done.
But there is with the Gospel.
When the Gospel of the Kingdom of God is proclaimed to all the world, then the end will come.
When we all of these signs (wars and false prophets and fallings away) as well as the sign of the Gospel of the Kingdom reaching everyone in the world — then the end will come.
The generation that sees all of these signs will also see the completion.
But deception is everywhere. We all want Jesus to return soon. Yet any estimate that Jesus will return before the Gospel reaches the ends of the earth cannot be accurate.
Because of all of this, we must be ready.
Like the wise virgins, we must be ready for the wait to be longer than we anticipate. Don’t sell your house, expecting Jesus to return imminently. Don’t give up paying your credit card because you expect Jesus to return next week. Keep living your life. Keep preparing for the wait to be long. Be prepared.
Jesus could return at any moment.
But be wise. Be ready for the wait to be longer than we think.
Let’s be about our Master’s business — sharing the Gospel of the Kingdom — so that all the world may hear. As we wait, may we proclaim the Good News that everyone must hear.
And then the end will come.