Matthew 25:6

6. At midnight In the very depth of the shades of time. This slumber by no means implies the unconsciousness of the souls of the dead. It implies that the day of probationary life has completely closed. Those who sleep with the oil in their lamps are happy. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, for they rest from their labours; and their works of faith and repentance follow them into the future, to render them blessed.

Revelation 14:13. To them the judgment day will not seem distant; for it will not be tedious waiting, though that day is to be the full consummation of their bliss. Ages will be but as moments. As in some clear and beautiful atmospheres distant objects seem near at hand, so in the blessed air of the paradise of pure spirits the coming of the Judge, though it should be ages on ages distant, is, in full accordance with the phrases of Scripture, close at hand. To the restless spirits of the wicked it will be distant when their mind’s eye looks over the vast length of unrest to be endured before that day; but it will even to them seem terribly near when they contemplate the terrors of the day itself and the woes that shall follow. There was a cry made By the narrative which we have given from Mr. Ward, it may be supposed that this cry was an ordinary fact at weddings; and so may be considered no significant part of the parable. It may have been the cry of self-announcement from the bridegroom’s party, or of waiting spectators, or of the virgins rousing each other. It does not contradict the fact that the coming of the Son of man is unwarned. It is more properly to be considered as identical with the blast of the last trumpet, announcing that the day of grace is past, and that the judgment day is come. More properly still, it is the cry of conscious confession and despair echoing through the world, that THE JUDGE COMETH and we must meet our doom.