The JST of Matthew 25:12 (this one didn't make it into the footnote*) changes the last four words of verse 12 from "I know you not" to "Ye know me not." The same thing happened in Matthew 7:23 where the King James reads "I never knew you" and the JST changes it to "Ye never knew me"(didn't make it into the footnote either). Both verses are related to the final judgment. Here in Matthew 25 it is the Lord's answer to the ill prepared five foolish virgins who ask Him to open the door and let them in.
We're reminded of the Savior's prayer in John 17:3, "This is life eternal that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." Apparently it isn't a "nice" thing to come to know the Lord but it is essential. Actually in Mosiah 26:25-27 the Savior uses both phrases--"they never knew me" and "I never knew them" in explaining why some are sent to their painful reward ("everlasting fire") on the judgment day.
Here in Matthew 25 it is part of the punch line of the parable of the ten virgins, followed by the Lord's command to "watch" because we don't know how soon He will come. But of course our need to "know" the Lord has current as well as future value. Here in this parable it teaches us something about the oil in the young women's lamps. Back in verse 8 the foolish virgins ask the wise to share their oil because their lamps "are going out" (see footnote). This reminds us of those verses that predict a day, prior to the Savior's coming, when "men's hearts will fail them" (D&C 45:26; 88:91; Luke 21:26). Likely these verses are talking about something other than cardiac arrest. The D&C 88 verse and Luke 21 tie this problem with fear.
So we have the foolish virgins who have had their eye and heart on other activities (perhaps trying to have one foot on the narrow path and one foot in the Great & Spacious building) than coming unto Christ and coming to know Him. The wise virgins on the other hand have done those things so they can come to know Him. What are those things? I think they include prayer and scripture reading (see D&C 33:16-18). Actually that's probably another post, but 1 John 2:3-6 and Mosiah 5:12-13 mention two other important things.
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* Many JST changes, most of them insignificant, were not included in the LDS version of the King James Bible. Because of space limitations they couldn't include all of them so they had to decide which ones to include and which to leave out. There are books available that have every change. Occasionally you find changes that seem significant that were not included. I have written many of these in my Bible. rm
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Dad last time I was reading abt the great and spacious bldg I realized something I had never realized before and that is that sometimes I reside there, 1ne 8:27 it says the people in the bldg were in the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers. I thought of how often we do that to each other in the church, how sometimes we drag each other down and really we are right there in that bldg with the wicked. Cool blog I like this.
Good point. I think we hang out there more than we realize. I was thinking about the current popular TV shows (many of which have a large LDS audience) and thinking about how many of them glorify or advocate attitudes and feelings that fit right into the G&SB. Last night I caught a few minutes of "deal or no deal" (can't remember its real name) with all of its interesting images, etc. and thought how subtle the Adversary is to suck us into his way of thinking.
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