What Happens to the Foolish Virgins and Those Like Them from All Ages? Where and When Do They Come Up?
1) Direct answer
The foolish virgins miss the catching away of the Bride and the Marriage Supper. They go into the tribulation, many give their lives rather than take the mark, but they are not the Bride. They do not rise in the first resurrection. They come up after the thousand years in the general resurrection and stand at the Great White Throne. With their names in the Book of Life, they are granted eternal life, but they do not reign as the Bride; they live as the saved among the nations on the New Earth, walking in the light of the Lamb and His Wife.
2) Scriptural explanation
- Matthew 25:1-13: The foolish had no oil. When the cry came, the wise went in, “and the door was shut.” They miss the marriage, so they miss the rapture and the Bride position.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; Revelation 19:7-9: The first resurrection and the Marriage Supper are for the Bride who was ready.
- Revelation 20:4-6: The enthroned, reigning class in the first resurrection is the Bride (seen also in Revelation 7:9-17). “The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” The foolish virgins are in that “rest.”
- Revelation 20:11-15: After the thousand years they stand at the Great White Throne. Those found written in the Book of Life are not cast into the lake of fire.
- Revelation 21:24-27: “The nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light” of the Holy City. Only those written in the Lamb’s Book of Life enter the City—the Bride is inside; the saved nations are outside under her light.
3) Simple clarifying logic
- If they were the Bride, they would have gone in when the Bridegroom came (Matthew 25:10). Since they did not, they are not in the first resurrection that reigns (Revelation 20:4-6).
- Revelation 20:5 places all non-Bride dead after the Millennium; Revelation 20:11-15 shows their judgment. Because they are “virgins” (clean, but without oil), their names remain in the Book of Life, so they receive eternal life—yet not the throne, not the City, not the Wife’s place.
- Therefore, they appear after the thousand years at the White Throne, are granted life, and live as the saved nations, while the Bride (Revelation 7:9-17; 20:4) reigns with Christ.
4) Reinforcing statement
Now notice, they are saved, but not the Wife. The Bride goes in; the door shuts. The rest come later and are given their portion under the Light of the Lamb and His Bride forever.
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.
The Message of Grace
61-0827 §109
There was a fellow standing there by the name of Philip. Philip saw it, and he thought, "Wonderful! I know a man who's a Bible scholar, lives about fifteen miles around the mountain. I'll run around and tell him. His name is Nathanael." He run around there real quick that day. Next morning he got there, maybe at the break of day. Run up and knocked on the door. And Mrs. Nathanael said, "Well, he's out in the orchard out there, Philip [his friend]." He went out there, and he was on his knees, praying. As soon as he...
We would see Jesus
57-0226 §75
Come right here, son. God bless you, my boy. I want God to make you every whit what he should be. God bless you, young man. Will you come, sir? That's right. Come right on. Come right down. Now, give him time to come from the balconies. Come right on down here. All right. You want to bring this man up here? All right, bring him right up. That's good, brother. All right, sir. All right. Come right on down now. That's right. God bless you. ........................ I come! Just as .................. (God bless you, my...
Church Ages, part 9: The ten virgins, and the 144,000
60-1211M §64
There's your hundred and forty... Now if you want to see the bride come up after that, to show that the 144,000 is not the bride, just continue to read now on down, from the 8th chapter on ... or, yes, the 8th chapter---or, the 8th verse, I mean, from the 7th chapter. Let's start at the 9th verse, 'cause the 8th verse is the sealing of Benjamin, twelve thousand. After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number [here comes the bride], of all nations, ... kindreds, ... people, and tongues, s...
Church Ages, part 9: The ten virgins, and the 144,000
60-1211M §50
So then, this ... all of them was marching to war. You well remember in 1914. Now isn't it strange---right in "The Decline of the World War," (I have the volumes of it) in volume two, about page forty-four---that they do not know to this day who stopped that war? Kaiser Wilhelm said he never issued no such a thing. But all of a sudden it stopped, and nobody knows why. They were fighting. Here come ... up front, come... It was ... the war was over, and they had already signed a treaty of peace, knowing not what happ...
Questions and Answers
59-0628E §61
QUESTION: Now, here is another one; let's see what it is. All right. Please explain the parable of the five virgins. Does a Christian sin? Now, the parable of the five virgins ... or, the ten virgins, it is, please excuse me. The ten virgins is found in Matthew 25:1. Ten virgins went out to meet the bridegroom (now notice!), and five of them were wise and had oil in their lamps, five were unwise and did not have oil in their lamps. While they slumbered, the cry come, "Go meet the bridegroom." And the ones that had...