Matthew 25:8

‘And the foolish said to the wise, “Give us of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” '

The foolish suddenly realised that they had failed to provide extra oil for themselves. They thus knew that they had nothing suitable with which to welcome the Bridegroom, for without further oil the drying out torches would not continue to burn. Their torches were already ‘going out'. The oil simply refers to the divine provision that they had failed to obtain, and which therefore resulted in their lives not shining out. They had been content with the old oil which was drying out. They had not responded to the word of God (Matthew 15:3; Matthew 15:6), they had not been open to the work of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11), they had not pure their real trust in the Lord (Matthew 8:10; Matthew 9:28; etc), they had not benefited from the blessing of God (Matthew 5:3; Matthew 11:25; Matthew 13:16). Note these things all go together. Had they responded truly to Him their lives would also have shone out, for they would have enjoyed all of them. It would have been inevitable.