Are There Foolish Virgins in Every Age or Only the Last Age?
Direct answer:
They are manifested at the end. The parable of the ten virgins points to the last church age when the Bridegroom comes and the final separation takes place. While that same kind of believer—clean, church-going, but without the oil of the Holy Ghost—has appeared in every age, the Scripture applies the name “foolish virgins” to those at the time of the Bridegroom’s coming.
Scriptural explanation:
- Matthew 25:1-13 says, “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins… at midnight there was a cry made… they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.” Notice “Then”—it follows the end-time signs of Matthew 24. The midnight cry is a final call. The shutting of the door is a single closing, not a repeating event in every age.
- Revelation 3:14-22 shows the last age (Laodicea): lukewarm, self-sufficient, and the Lord outside knocking. “Buy of me gold tried in the fire… and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve.” You see the language of buying and lacking—just like the foolish virgins who “went to buy,” showing an end-time condition.
- Revelation 19:7-9 shows the Wife has made herself ready and goes to the marriage—those are the wise with oil.
Simple clarifying logic:
- Oil represents the Holy Ghost. The wise had it before the cry; the foolish tried to get it after the cry. The marriage call and the shut door happen once—at the end—so the formal separation of wise and foolish virgins belongs to the last age.
- If it were every age, when did the door shut and the midnight cry sound again and again? The Bible shows one final cry and one closing.
Short reinforcement:
So, the condition existed in all ages, but the parable’s foolish virgins are identified at the end-time. The Bride, with oil, goes in; the foolish, without oil, miss the rapture and are dealt with in the tribulation.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Seals 6: The Fourth Seal
63-0321 §146
Now, we find out that his spirit is to anoint a man, according to the promise of God, in the last days---promised to do the same in spirit Jezebel, as it did in natural Jezebel in the last age. That's why I went to so much of the Bible to prove it, so that it won't be left a question in your mind. If there is, you let me know. Write me a letter or a little note... And it so perfectly blends, even to the beasts destroying their natural bodies in the last days, consuming them as they did then.
Church Ages, part 10: The Laodicean Church Age
60-1211E §66
Seventeenth verse says: Because thou sayest I am rich, ... increased in goods, and have need for nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched [Oh!] knowest not that thou art wretched, ... miserable, ... poor, ... blind and naked: They thought they were rich, this Pentecostal in this last age churches. They thought ... and outwardly they were. Yes, sir, they are rich. Just think of the church. Used to be a few years ago stood out on the corner, cast about from place to place, had a hard time. But now they got som...
Seals 4: The Second Seal
63-0319 §8
Now, he saw it years ago, that he said at the last one... Elected---that's elected. People think that election is something that's just been something hatched up here lately. My, that is one of the oldest teachings that we have---election and calling. So Irenaeus, certainly a real student of the Scripture, always believed in election. And so Irenaeus was one of the angels of the church age, as we've seen as we studied, we believe. Of course, now, they were all mysteries. They were all hid right here in these seals,...
The Messiah
61-0117 §66
Christ was the fullness of God. He was the anointed Jehovah. He was Jehovah-anointed body, Jesus of Nazareth. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, and He died that He might sanctify these fallen human race, and bring them back to sons of God again, to be anointed ones; anointed with the Holy Spirit to go forth to reflect His kingdom until He returned, all the way through the seven church ages. And then at the last age, we find Him on the outside of His own church, trying to get back in. But He promis...
Questions and Answers, Part 4
64-0830E §67
QUESTION: Where are the foolish virgins during the millennium? In the millennium they're in the grave. "The rest of the dead live not for a thousand years.