<p>25:11&nbsp;<em>Afterward came also</em>- We may be intended to imagine some details of the story. They would have searched for oil sellers in the middle of the night, and finding none, they came without oil to their Lord. I suggested earlier that the issue is readiness, a love for the Lord, rather than having oil; they could have gone immediately and thrown themselves on His grace. But they didn&rsquo;t do that and chose instead to try to get human help; resulting in their rejection.</p><p><em>The other virgins</em>- If the Lord literally meant &lsquo;the others&rsquo;, He would have used a Greek word like&nbsp;<em>heteros</em>&nbsp;or the Aramaic equivalent. But&nbsp;<em>loipoi</em>&nbsp;definitely has the sense of that or those which remain; it is elsewhere translated &ldquo;the things which remain&rdquo; (Rev. 3:2). The foolish virgins are those who remained, those who didn&rsquo;t go immediately in response to the call. Yet again, attitudes to the Lord&rsquo;s coming will decide our eternal futures.</p><p><em>Saying: Lord, Lord</em>- The Lord had warned that saying &ldquo;Lord, Lord&rdquo; would not guarantee &ldquo;entry&rdquo; into the Kingdom (7:21). And here He is speaking about exactly such &ldquo;entry&rdquo;- the same word is used here in :10 &ldquo;they that were ready&nbsp;<em>went in</em>&nbsp;with Him to the wedding&rdquo;. The category in view are those who considered themselves believers, who thought that externally correct forms of address would impress the Lord Jesus. The &ldquo;Lord, Lord&rdquo; contingent indeed had &ldquo;done many wonderful works&rdquo; (7:22), but they had never known and loved&nbsp;<em>Him</em>. Whilst organized church life is a necessary part of our present experience and the Lord&rsquo;s intention, the danger is that it can exalt such &ldquo;works&rdquo; and public appearances to the point that personal relationship with the Lord is totally eclipsed.</p><p>Lk. 13:25 adds the detail that they &lsquo;knocked&rsquo;. Knocking is sometimes used as a figure for prayer (Mt. 7:7; Lk. 11:7). The basis for these foolish virgins is surely in Prov. 1:28,29: &quot;Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer... they shall not find me: for that hated knowledge&quot;. The foolish virgins realize the need for prayer all too late; they knocked on the door with great zeal, asking for it to be opened; seeking but not finding. They were so convinced they knew the day and hour that prayer for the Lord&rsquo;s return, and prayer to Him generally, somehow was overlooked or felt to be unnecessary.</p><p><em>Open to us-&nbsp;</em>The foolish virgins, for all their initial spiritual confidence shown by not taking oil with them, lacked that true love for Christ's appearing which enabled the wise to immediately go forth to meet him.&nbsp;This accords with the description of the righteous as opening the door&nbsp;<em>immediately</em>&nbsp;in response to the 'knock' of the second coming (Lk 12:36).&nbsp;&quot;Lord, Lord, open to us&quot; is met with the response &quot;I know you not&quot;; and this connects with an earlier picture of the rejected at judgment day:&nbsp;&quot;Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not... in thy name done many wonderful works?&nbsp;And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you&quot; (Mt. 7:22,23).&nbsp;Thus there is the implication that when the foolish virgins delay their going to meet Christ, they amass a list of &quot;many wonderful works&quot; which they hope will impress their Lord.&nbsp;This would explain the indignation of the rejected at Christ's rebuke of their lack of suitable works (Mt. 25:41-45). These people would probably not have appeared reprobates in this life; works are so impressive to ones' fellow believers. Jesus did not tell this parable about five hookers and five virgins;&nbsp;<em>all</em>&nbsp;of them were 'virgins' in the parable, having an appearance of purity from being in Christ. By contrast, &quot;the wise&quot;, whose love for Christ makes them respond immediately to the call, are unconscious of their works of faith (Mt. 25:35-40).&nbsp; &quot;Lord, open to us&quot; is therefore to be read as a confident demand by the unworthy for entry into the Kingdom, based upon trust in their &quot;wonderful works&quot;.&nbsp;&nbsp;&quot;I know you not&quot; is paralleled with a lack of oil.&nbsp;The Lord knows His people through their attitude to the oil; whether they have enough or not, or whether they think they do or think they do not, is all so irrelevant. The essence is in wanting the Lord&rsquo;s return.&nbsp;</p>