A Wise or Foolish Bride

Many of Jesus’ parables were actually very similar to prophecies or parables in the O.T. If you have never heard this before, go through Proverbs and some of the Prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah and you will hear segments that match up. I believe that the Jews who were very knowledgeable of the letter of the Scriptures could  have picked up on this, if their hearts weren’t so far from God.

2 of my favorite parables are in Matthew: “The wise man who built His house on the Rock” and “the 10 Virgins”. I think that the most important thing we take from these is that they are not about “born-again” versus “not born-again”. These parables are about wise versus foolish. The clearest proof of this idea is that all 10 “ladies” in the parable are virgins.

In the Scriptures, virgins are always symbolic of “brides” who are not adulterous. Adultery and prostitution represent spiritual harlotry more than literal adultery in the Bible. These are spiritual truths expressed with spiritual wisdom.

Clearly a person who has not been born-again is a fool but, that’s not my point. My point is that the Scriptures articulate pretty clearly how a wise person (or bride of Christ) lives and how the unwise, foolish bride lives. This concept needs to be applied to us individually but, also collectively as a church body. We want to be wise brides that belong to a church body that is a wise bride.

The entire chapter of Proverbs 9 speaks about a “wise woman” and a “foolish woman”. In fact most of the book of Proverbs is really a contrast between these 2 “women”.

I believe that Jesus was highlighting spiritual truths from this and other O.T. passages that are very valid for us today, especially since, we live in the “last hour”.

Prov.9:15,16 makes it clear that the “foolish woman” calls out to born-again believers in an attempt to distract them: “Calling to those who pass by, Who are making their paths straight: Whoever is naive, let him turn in here…”

Here are some contrasts in Proverbs between a wise Christian and a foolish Christian:

Wise:

1. Fears the Lord – 9:10
2. Knows the Lord – 9:10
3. Loves Correction – 9:8
4. Hates evil – 8:13
5.  Diligently seeks more wisdom – 8:17
6. Sleeps as needed – 6:4-10
7. Treasures God’s words- 4:20-22
8. Walks with the wise -13:20

Foolish:

1. Does not Fear the Lord – 14:2
2. Does not ponder the Lord’s ways – 5:6
3. Trusts in his riches – 11:28
4.  Hates reproof -12:1
5.  Pursues worthless things – 12:11
6. Is right in his own eyes – 12:15
7. Hangs out with like-minded fools – 13:20
8. Indulges in too much sleep – 6:4-10

 

Concerning the Lord’s bride, Proverbs 12:4 says: “An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, But she who shames him is like rottenness in his bones.”

We don’t know the exact time that Jesus will return for us, His bride. However, we do know that we are exhorted many times in the N.T. too “WATCH AND BE READY!”