Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 25:5

"Now while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept." — Matthew 25:5 (ASV)

While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

Both the wise and the foolish fell into a state that seemed alike in both. In the case of the righteous, Christ's delaying His coming often causes disappointment, weariness, and then lethargy, and even the true Church falls into a deep slumber. In the foolish, the mere professors, this condition goes much further. Since they have no true life in them, the very name to live is abandoned, and before long, they give up even the profession of religion when there is no hidden oil of grace to sustain it.

How sadly true it is that, in the history of Christ’s Church, genuine saints and mere professors have often “slumbered and slept” side by side! Those who have the oil of grace are not always wide awake to serve their Master and watch for His appearing. In the case of even true believers, the delay in Christ’s coming causes disappointment, weariness, and lethargy, and His Church falls fast asleep, when she ought to be watching for her Lord. As for the “foolish,” whether self-deceived or hypocrites, there being no true life of God in the soul, after a while their apparent earnestness disappears and Satan drugs them into a fatal slumber.

While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

Oh, how sadly true it is that, sometimes, true saints as well as mere professors slumber and sleep! Even those who have the oil of grace are not always wide awake to serve their Master and to proclaim the gospel as they should. There are, alas! sleeping believers and sleeping hypocrites side by side.