Royalty Needs Royal Apparel For Festive Participation, Do You Have It?
By Abraham Israel
Hear the Parable:
"1 And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, 3 and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. 4 Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.”’ 5 But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. 6 And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. 7 But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ 10 So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. 12 So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 “For many are called, but few are chosen.”" (Matt 22:1-14).
Luke speaks about a parallel parable in Luke 14:16-24,
When Jesus was was telling people that how when they give a feast to the poor, the maimed, the lame and the blind, as they cannot repay you as they have no ability financially, they who give the feast to them will be repaid at the resurrection of the just (Luke 14:12-14; Prov 19:17). A Jewish man sitting in that feast along with Jesus heard these things, he said to Him, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!” (Luke 14:15). In other words, this Jew thought that by the privilege of his natural birth as an Israelite, just like as at that time he was eating with Jesus physically, in the future also he will be blessed enough to be a part of the resurrection from the dead and recline at the table of the Kingdom of God with Jesus being an Israelite who is naturally God's people by birth (Rom 11:19-21, 22; Luke 13:23-24, 25, 26-27). This man's misconception were shattered by Jesus when he said this parallel parable to him which Matthew also explained in a similar way and context. He said all those who are saved by faith will only be able to enter the Kingdom of God. Just because this man was physically sitting and eating with Jesus during his ministry time on earth, does not guarantee that he will be present in the resurrection of the just and be in the Kingdom of God unless he accepts Jesus as his personal savior to repent from sin unto eternal life.
Listen to this fascinating parallel :
"16 Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, 17 and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ 18 But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’ 20 Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’ 22 And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’ 23 Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’”" (Luke 14:16-24).
Why A Parable?
Parable is a simple story illustrating a moral or religious lesson. It is also an earthly story that reflects the truth of heavenly reality. “Parable” is a transliteration of the Greek ‘parabole’. It means “the placing of one thing beside another with a view to comparison”. It puts the known next to the unknown so that we may learn.
Jesus always used parable to teach heavenly truth to earthly men so that those who do not believe and are not serious to learn humbly from Him might not understand the spiritual lessons but just hear the story of it and will be enraged to know that it was spoken against them. At the same time believers in Jesus even though might be unlearned men, the Holy Spirit might help them to understand deep spiritual truth behind the story that Jesus would tell so that they might be spiritual fed with heavenly food to grow and be very fruitful to be blessed to be a blessing to many (Matt 13:10-17).
The Lord has always promised to tell His secrets to only those who fear Him, and He gives them the confidence of the covenant that has been fulfilled for them to live a worry free life of rest in Him (Psa 25:14; Luke 10:21-24).
Kingdom Of Heaven Likened
Jesus said, "2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, 3 and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come." (Matt 22:2-3). When something is likened through a parable, it means the one telling the parable is pointing out the resemblance of someone or something to it. Here we know that the Kingdom of heaven is the rulership of God from heaven over the earth. The certain king is God who arranged a marriage for his son. We know that God arranged a marriage for His only begotten Son Jesus with the bride who is the Church (John 3:16; Eph 5:25). The Israelites were those first people who were invited to the wedding, but they were not willing to come to Jesus to receive life of God within them (John 5:40). They did not have the love of God within them instead they had religious pride which blinded them to the point that they didn't receive Jesus to become a part of His wedding, rather by their own choice have chosen to receive the spirit of Antichrist and thus Anti-christ himself at the end and forfeit Jesus their prince of life because of their blindness (John 5:41-42, 43-44; 1 John 4:3; Acts 3:15). First John the Baptist came crying in the wilderness saying, 'Repent, the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.' The he pointed to the Messiah and told the Israelites to believe in Him and partake of the wedding which was prepared by God (Matt 3:1-12, 13-17). Jesus Himself as the servant of God invited the Israelites to personally believe in Him, so that they might be able to partake in the wedding that God was preparing (Matt 4:12-17; Matt 12:18). They rejected both John the Baptist and Jesus who were the first special servants of God to invite to the wedding (Matt 11:12-24).
In the above parallel parable that Luke writes, he speaks about "...a certain man who gave a great supper and invited many, 17 and he sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’" (Luke 14:16-17). We know that God has invited all the Israelites first through the 12 apostles, and then through 72 who were sent again in to the whole nation of Israel for that great supper that God has prepared for the whole Church. God mercifully through them sent the Good News of the Gospel of forgiveness and power over sin, eternal life and heavenly rewards for earthly service (Luke 9:1-2, 6; 10:1, 8-9, 10-11). This supper time that starts with the Good News of the Gospel will only end with the great supper of the Lamb officially in heaven and will further continue with a Millennium of the Supper of the great God on earth in rulership and victory over all enemies of God (Rev 19:9, 17; 20:7-10; 1 Cor 6:2-3). Gospel of salvation has nothing to do with our own works or striving in the flesh to please God, it is God's invitation which says, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ In other words, the benefits of the Gospel of salvation are ever ready for all those who accept the invitation of God to come and receive Jesus as their Savior (Heb 6:9). We just have to attend the supper and keep eating the spiritual food that Jesus provides freely and keep enjoying the rest and refreshment for eternity (Matt 11:28-30; John 4:14; 6:56-58). Praise the Lord!
Final Invitation Again Sent Out Mercifully By King For The Wedding
Jesus said, "4 Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.”’ 5 But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. 6 And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. 7 But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city." (Matt 22:4-7). God mercifully this time also sent again to those who rejected the earlier invitation the message to partake in the wedding, the same message of invitation again God sent out expecting them to change their mind at the last moment, this God did when Jesus sent out the twelve disciples only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel to preach the final offer of the Kingdom of heaven saying that it is at hand if they repented and believed Jesus the Christ as their Savior they would be part of the grand celebration that He has prepared. The disciples demonstrated the power of the Kingdom of Heaven which was the actually the invitation card for them to come to the wedding (Matt 10:5-6, 7-8; John 5:36; 14:10, 11). They rejected this offer blatantly by refusing to believe.
This final invitation was rejected completely and also they were busy making light of the offer of the kingdom of heaven, they were busy making money out of farming, business, marriage and day to day earthly activities more than the heavenly offer these servants of God were offering (Luke 14:18-21). Then they seized many of these servants and treated them spitefully and killed them. We see the twelve disciples warned by Jesus to flee from these persecutors who reject their message and go from city to city to keep changing location to flee persecution and keep themselves safe to continue to give invitation to the kingdom of heaven (Matt 10:16-20, 21-23). Then John the Baptist was killed (Matt 14:1-12). Jesus Himself was killed then being rejected by the political and religious fanatics of the nation of Israel (Matt 26:57-68; 27:11-14, 45-51).
In the parallel parable of Luke we see God saying to his servants, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’ Actually the poor of the streets and lanes of the city, maimed, lame and blind were those who were part of the lower society of Israel and were considered sinners by the religious crowd of Jews who followed the law (Matt 9:11; Luke 5:30; Mark 2:16). To these people 12 apostles, and then through 72 the good news was dispersed and nearly all of them accepted the offer of invitation from Jesus and filled the room at the supper time (Luke 7:29-30; 9:1-2, 6; 10:1, 8-9, 10-11; Matt 21:31).
When God saw that these people who were originally invited for the wedding rejected His offer, made light of it, scorned His servants and even killed them (Acts 12:2; 9:1-2; 7:54-57, 58-59, 60). God commanded and sent the armies of Romans towards Jerusalem the city of the Jews to be surrounded by the soldiers (Rom 13:1-7; Matt 24:1-2; 23:34-36, 37-39), then Rome destroyed the Jewish Temple at Jerusalem and crushed the revolt of the Jews in Palestine that had begun in 66 under Titus the emperor who started this siege and withdrew, his son Vespasian came around the city in 70 A.D. and He brutally killed all the people living in it and burned the whole city. This was a judgment of God.
Israelites Who Were Invited Initially Were Not Worthy, So God Invited All The World For His Wedding
Jesus continues with the parable,"8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ 10 So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests." (Matt 22:8-10). The wedding is ready means that the privilege for all sinners to partake of the feast of the good news of Christ was ready after Jesus' death and resurrection (1 Cor 15:1-2, 3-4, 11).
Luke in the parallel parable clearly says that, when ..the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’ "23 Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’” (Luke 14:23-24). From the above verses we come to understand that because God's room is so big that it was not able to be filled with some poor humble Jews accepting the gospel of Jesus, but it had room enough to call and invite the whole Gentile world for the Glory of God for the last 2000 years. Many have been compelled by various servants of God in all ages to come and partake of this wonderful supper that God has been providing in these last days, worst sinners and the dregs of the society were all saved gloriously because of them humbly accepting themselves as sinners and Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior. O what a glorious Gospel that saves us from sin and gives eternal life! One of these days when Christ comes back to this earth, the room for partaking of the supper will forever be filled and can no more be added to it (Rev 14:6-13). But technically with the rapture of the Church, the partaking for the supper of the lamb will be forever closed (1 Thess 4:16-17; Rev 19:7-9).
God called His servants and told them to preach the gospel and invite all mankind of the world of Gentiles to the wedding, so they went in to highways of the whole world and in to every corners of it to invite people to partake in this great wedding (Mark 16:15; Matt 28:18-20; Luke 24:47-48; Acts 1:8).
We know that a sinner enjoying the love of God, forgiveness of God, authority of God, righteousness of God, Gospel of the peace of God, the Word of God, the Presence of God, joy of God, etc...is the real wedding celebration of God that all those who have accepted themselves as sinners and believed Jesus to return to the Father God in repentance are entitled to as the sons of God (Luke 15:20-21, 22-24; Gal 3:26). The servants going "out into the highways and gathering together all whom they found, both bad and good" shows that the qualification to attend the wedding was not based on whether they were good or bad, rather it was based on God's grace through faith which helped them come to partake of the royalty and delicacies of the King who is God in heaven (Eph 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-6, 7).
Finally "...the wedding hall was filled with guests...!", Praise the Lord! But when will it actually happen? And we know that this event of the wedding hall getting filled to the full will happen only when the rapture happens for all the Church saints to be taken up to the Father's house and tribulation saints who will be martyred will all be counted together in full at the second coming of Christ (Luke 21:34-35, 36; Rev 3:10; Rev 7:9-12, 13-17). Paul the apostle himself agrees with this by saying, "I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud about yourselves. Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ." (Rom 11:25, NLT). Once we see both the saints of the Church and Tribulation martyrs add up to become a great multitude that no one can number, the full number of Gentiles would be achieved (Rev 7:9). Now God will mercifully turn Himself towards Israel to save them in a day, just a day (Rom 11:26). GLORY TO GOD!
Where Did The Wedding Garment Go?
Finally the crux of this parable continues, "11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. 12 So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 “For many are called, but few are chosen.”" (Matt 22:11-14).
Here in the above verse 11 we see how the King who has given the wedding feast, comes to see the guests. Where are the people who are in the wedding feast gather to eat of the delicacies of God? It is in the local Church where the light of God burns and the feast of heaven is supplied with power, and so is called the house of God (Matt 16:18; 18:20; 1 Tim 3:4-5, 15; Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:6, 13, 22; 19:7; 22:17). The bride has made herself ready and the Spirit and the Bride says, 'Come Lord Jesus...!' What does this mean? It means that when God comes to see the guests in the wedding, this man who stayed without wedding garment was not the part of the Bride who was clothed with the righteousness of Jesus (Eph 5:26-27), but just was sitting as a guest without the wedding garment but having only his own filthy rags of self-righteousness. In other words, all who have come as guests have become one with the Bride (Rom 11:24, 22). But some of them like this man in rags remained as guest within the Church having their own righteousness of filthy rags whom God finds when he comes to see them (Isa 64:6). These were using the Church as some social club, inspirational gatherings to motivate their life to do their own will, a place of gaining rich social status, etc... In other words, they were having a form of godliness but they deny its power to transform their sinful and willful heart that is still uncircumcised (2 Tim 3:5; Isa 30:10; Jer 6:13; Eze 13; 33:33). The unbeliever who is uncircumcised in heart shall not enter my Sanctuary is what the Lord God has told (Eze 44:9; Acts 7:51), but these people without the royal garments of salvation and robe of righteousness have remained in His earthly sanctuary of the Church against the decree of Jehovah God (Isa 61:10; Psa 122:1). So judgment when it starts within the Church before the world (1 Peter 4:17), these people who were unsaved and wanted the Church for their own benefits will then be told by God to be removed from the assembly eternally by the angels when they die physically and will be cast into outer darkness where all the unsaved will be weeping and gnashing their teeth in anger against themselves and God, this will be going on forever and ever in their soul which will be tormented eternally without God and His beautiful Presence (Luke 16:22-23, 24-25, 26, 30-31). It is called as outer because this place is outside of the earth (Eph 4:9). It is called as darkness because the revelation of God's presence and His life will not be available over there (2 Thess 1:9; John 1:4-5). It is also called as "furnace of fire" because of the spiritually tormenting atmosphere that will make them weep and gnash their teeth (Matt 8:12; Luke 16:23-24).
In the same vein, in Luke's parallel parable also God says, "none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper" (Luke 14:24) which means that those who heard the Gospel through God's servants and rejected it in their pride will not taste the supper of eternal life with God, whether it is a Jew or a Gentile who have done it doesn't matter to God (Gal 3:28; John 17:3).
So the crux of the parable is, to those who do not accept themselves as sinners in need of salvation, they remain in danger of being lost for eternity without God, even though they might remain as church members within a local Church body. Jesus is warning to all of them to open their spiritual eyes and see by humbling themselves before God to receive the royal garments of salvation with the robe of righteousness. It is not too late for them until they themselves become late by death. It is time to repent, look to the Jews who were prideful religiously of their heritage but finally were thrown out of friendship with the true God who looks for those humble people who will accept His invitation for wedding by receiving Jesus as their Savior and themselves as a hopeless sinner who cannot look forward to heaven but only hell without the help of God. God calls many in the world to accept His message of salvation through Jesus Christ the only redeemer of all sinners in the whole world, but those who choose God's way by humbly accepting themselves as sinners to receive salvation and be clothed with His beautiful robe of righteousness become chosen by God because He has already chosen them to be glorified (Matt 22:14; Rom 8:29-30).
Much Blessings.....
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