We get a hint in the parable of the wise and foolish virgins.

In 1st century understanding, the virgins were Bridesmaids. No bridesmaid could be married thus they were always virgins as was the bride. If not, they were not virgins, they were corpses.

The bride and her maids had only two jobs before the wedding. 1) prep the bride’s Vail made of all the coins she received from her husband-to-be as the bride's dowry. And 2) wait for the Bridegroom. The bridegroom could come at any time on any day and her job was to wait.  Bridegrooms usually came in the evening or night so she and her bridesmaids had to have their lamps ready at all times. In the parable, 1/2 of the bridesmaids kept refilling their lamps in anticipation and 1/2 let their oil run out. The ones that let their oil run out were excluded from the wedding, they were locked out because they never looked for the coming of the Bridegroom.

So who today are the foolish bridesmaids? Well, for one thing, they are called bridesmaids so they are true believers in Christ the Bridegroom. These are not the so-called liberal Christians who reject the black-and-white teachings of scripture, who believe there are errors in the Bible or who make Jesus in their image so they can keep their pet sins. Those fools are not believers and cannot be called Bridesmaids. So who are the foolish virgins?

There is a group of believers who are not looking for the Bridegroom. They are true believers in Christ because they hold the all of the B/W doctrines of Scripture but because in the gray area of Eschatology i.e. End Time Things, they do not believe in the Rapture-Tribulation-Second Coming-Millennium-Judgment like Pre-Millenniusm do. They believe that one day Jesus will return but we don’t know how or when so why look for it? Why wait with oil in your lamp? This group of believers are called Preterists.

Preterists tend to be from the Reformed and or Calvinist branches of Christianity. They believe that The Book of Revelation is not a prophecy of future events but merely a historical document. That Nero was the Antichrist, the Whore of Babylon was Rome and the Four Horsemen were just the persecution of the church. The main reason I reject Preterism is for the fact that even if you reject the belief that God foretells the future, what do you do with all of the 100s of prophecies that prophesied of Jesus’ first coming? If God Prophesied Jesus’ first coming, why not His second coming?

So you have Preterist Virgins who will miss the Rapture and miss the wedding feast of the Bridegroom and you have the Pre-Millennumists who will be Raptured, not because we are better, but simply because we are expecting the Bridegroom and waiting with our lamps full of oil.

Ironically, it is the Preterists who also reject the Filling of the Holy Spirit as a second work of grace. Again, being filled with the Holy Spirit is not a Salvation issue. One can be saved and not be filled with the Holy Spirit and remain saved. All true believers upon salvation have the Holy Spirit living IN them. But only those that seek and ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit are FILLED with the Holy Spirit or have their lamp FILLED with oil (oil in scripture always refers to the Spirit of God). Paul tells us in the Greek to “Not be drunk with wine...but BE BEING FILLED (i.e. keep being refilled or topped off) WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT” Eph 5:18.

I don't know about you but I'm looking forward to the Rapture and the Wedding Feast of Christ because I want some cake.