Mat 25:10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
Mat 25:11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
Mat 25:12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

Alternative: But as they left to buy [the oil], the bridegroom came and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage party and the door was closed. But later the remaining virgins came and called, "Lord, Lord, open for us." But he answered and said, "Truly I tell you, I cannot see you."

While the main lesson here is that we must be prepared at all times, Christ is also saying something important about knowledge, our entry into the kingdom of heaven, and our access to each. This is important because the light of the torches that are central to this story is symbolic of knowledge, specifically knowledge of what is hidden.

(NOTE: More and more in my study of Christ's use of words and symbols, I am making connections through other places Christ is translated as using a specific word. This is an increasingly interesting aspect of studying Christ's words in the Greek because so many of the distinct words use in Greek are lost in English. In the last verse here, for example, our English translation uses the word "know" for two very different words used in Greek.)

The word used for "shut" here is used twice previously. In Mat 6:6, Christ tells us to pray to God secretly with the door shut behind us. In this sense, Christ uses the term "shut" to suggest the hidden nature of God and of our thoughts, which are only available to God. However, in Mat 23:13, Christ uses the same term to describe the sin of the scribes and Pharisees: shutting up the kingdom of heaven by requiring too much of regular people.

So though in this analogy, though Christ as the bridegroom is closing the door on those who are unprepared, he is not doing it because he wants to make it difficult to enter into the party. As in the parable of the wedding feast earlier, when a man who is unprepared because he is without a wedding garment (Mat 22:12), there is a sense that those who are unprepared cannot be "seen." They are "hidden" to the universal kingdom in the same way that God is hidden from us. The term that the bridegroom uses here when he says, "I do not know you," means literally, "I cannot see you."

If we extend the analogy of the night and torches, spirits that are unprepared cannot see or be seen in the universal kingdom in the same sense that the spiritual cannot be seen in our world. In Mat 7:7, Christ tells us to ask and it will be given, seek and we will find, knock, it will be opened, using the same term the virgins use for "open." In that verse, he is telling us that we can learn about the what is hidden, what is spiritual in this world by asking, seeking, and knocking. However, here, the foolish virgins knock and the door is NOT opened. Is Christ going back on his word?

The specific problem here is one of timing. The foolish virgins had the light and were properly prepared, but they lost their light over time. When the critical time came, they were unprepared. We can see this critical time as our deaths or we can see it as any time in which we are tested. We cannot know the time of our deaths and we cannot know when we will be tested. In that time, when Christ comes to meet us, either to help us through a trial or to guide us in the next life, we have to be prepared to meet him. We have to have enough light in us so he can see us and we can see him.

Why is this important? Because we live in a world of time, unlike God, who is outside of time. If we ask in this world, we can begin to see what is hidden, but if we are unprepared when we need help, we cannot be seen.

"Buy" is from agorazô (agorazo), which means "to occupy a marketplace," "to buy in the market," and "to buy for oneself."

"Ready" is from hetoimos, which means "at hand," "ready," "prepared," "sure to come," "certain," "active," "zealous," and "bold."

"Door" is from thura, which means "door," "barrier," "gates," and "entrance."

"Shut" is from kleio, which means "to shut," and "to shut up." It is a metaphor for causing the heavens to withhold rain.

"Other" is from loipos (loipoy), which means "the remaining," "remaining over," and "the remaining."

"Open" is from anoigô (anoigo), which means "to open," "to throw open," and "to disclose."

"Know" is from eido, which means "to see," "to examine," and "to know." It is not from gignôskô (ginosko) which means "to learn to know," "to know by reflection or observation," and "to perceive." Christ uses both words, sometimes in the same phrase, but he uses them to distinguish between what we can know from our senses--eido--and what we can know from reason (ginosko).