<p>5:7- see on Mt. 3:7.</p><p><i>For they that sleep, sleep in the night- </i>There are many links between 1 Thess. 4,5 and Mat. 24,25; see on 4:14. The wise virgins slumbered and were sleeping at the time of the Lord&rsquo;s return. Paul matches this by saying that the <i>unworthy</i> will be slumbering and we ought to be awake and watching at the time of the Lord&rsquo;s return. And yet, the parable teaches that those slumbering wise girls will be accepted. This is a glaring paradox within the Lord&rsquo;s own teaching- for had He not taught that the faithful servants will be awake and watching when their Lord returns? Yet the paradox is there to flag a major message- that even though the last generation of believers may well not be ready and watching as they should be, their humble recognition of the very likelihood of their oil running out would be their saving grace. And within 1 Thess. 5:6-10 this same paradox is brought out: &ldquo;Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us <i>watch </i>and be sober. For they that <i>sleep sleep </i>in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we <i>wake s.w. watch </i>or <i>sleep</i>, we should live together with him&rdquo;. The same Greek words are italicized. The contrast is between those who watch and those who sleep. And yet Christ died to save both those who watch / are awake, and those who sleep, as the &lsquo;wise&rsquo; virgins slept when they ought not to have done. Both those who watch and those who sleep after the humble pattern of the wise virgins will be saved due to the fact that Christ died to save sinners, to save the sleepy as well as the more lively- if they are truly and humbly in Him. Likewise the Lord&rsquo;s parables generally include two types- the self-righteous rejected, and the accepted, who have something spiritually the matter with them. They either enter the Kingdom with splinters in their spiritual vision / perception, or are totally blinded by planks in their vision and will be rejected.</p><p><i>And they that are drunk, are drunk in the night</i>- The allusion is to the parable of the believer who thinks the Lord delays His coming and starts drinking (Mt. 24:49; Lk. 12:45) rather than caring for his brethren. Lk. 21:34 uses the same word to say that believers must beware lest the Lord's coming is a shock for them (cp. &quot;a thief in the night&quot;) due to their being drunk. This scenario could well arise if there is a brief respite in the traumas of the last days, all seems to be resolved politically, and there is an upsurge of global wealth.</p>