In the past, our literature at times assigned specific symbolic meanings even to small details of Jesus’ parable of the ten virgins, including the lamps, the oil, the flasks, and so forth. Is it possible, though, that we were allowing the spotlight to shift from the parable’s simple, urgent message?

In the parable, Jesus says that the virgins have the responsibility to be ready with their lamps lit when the bridegroom arrives. Note the similar directions that Jesus gave to his “little flock” of anointed followers: “Be dressed and ready and have your lamps burning, and you should be like men waiting for their master to return from the marriage.” (Luke 12:32, 35, 36)

The virgins, assigned to this nighttime vigil to wait for the arrival of the bridegroom, needed to keep their lamps burning and to remain alert throughout the long hours until the exciting event. Unlike the foolish ones, though, five virgins truly prepared themselves, bringing extra oil in their flasks along with their lamps. Have faithful anointed ones likewise proved to be prepared?

⁸ They have indeed! Throughout the last days, anointed Christians have acted like those discreet virgins, prepared to carry out their assignment faithfully until the end. They count the cost of faithful service, realizing from the outset that their assignment will mean giving up many of the material advantages available in Satan’s world. They devote themselves exclusively to Jehovah and serve him, not with some date or deadline in mind, but out of love and loyalty to him and to his Son. They maintain their integrity, refusing to adopt the spirit of this wicked world and its materialistic, immoral, and selfish attitudes. They thus remain ready, steadily shining as illuminators, undaunted by any apparent delay in the arrival of the Bridegroom.​—Phil. 2:15.