Revelation 19:9 "And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, these are the true sayings of God."
It's been a while since I've had the opportunity to post on this blog, been caught up in holidays, work, family, work, holidays; but, God willing, I can continue posting a stream of articles and bible studies.
So today, I felt it necessary to write about the Great Wedding Feast of the Lamb, especially in light of what is going on around the world today with the Ukraine, the Middle East, and all other manner of dark and wicked plans the world leaders and elites are planning to unleash on the world.
So, the title of this sermon/article is exactly what is in the heading, and I want to ask you, will you be attending the wedding feast of the lamb?
Jesus gives us a parable in Matthew 22:2-14 and he talks about a wedding feast, lest use scripture with scripture to interpret what he is talking about.
Matthew 22:2-14 "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, 3 and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. 4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. 5 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: 6 and the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. 7 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 8 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. 9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. 10 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: 12 and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. 13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 14 For many are called, but few are chosen."
What's unique about this parable is that it spans over the Old and New Testaments, the parable speaks of a King who throws a wedding feast for his son, he sends out invitations but the initial guests refuse to go, we'll find out what happens when we begin to dissect this parable.
Verse 2 "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,"
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, this certain king is God the Father; which made a marriage for his son, and the son being the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 3 "and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come."
So this part of the parable is taking place in the Old Testament, and sent for his servants, who are the servants?
They are the Prophets of the Old Testament sent forth to call them that were bidden (means offered) to the wedding: and they would not come. So we see here, God sent forth his Prophets but they would not come, who are the "they"?
Well, Jesus is speaking to the crowd of Jews or more specifically the religious leaders, namely the Pharisees.
But if you are familiar with Old Testament, then you will know that God had been sending his Prophets to the Children of Israel, but the majority of times they kept rejecting the Lord, they kept turning their backs on the Lord and worshipped other gods.
So it is these people that refused to come to the wedding.
Verse 4 "Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.
Again, this word "Again" is denoting that this isn't the first time the king sent forth his servants, but it says he is sending forth other servants, what's happened to the first lot of servants?
We'll find out soon enough, but the new lot of servants have also been sent forth to tell them that were bidden, that the king has prepared his dinner, the king says my oxen and my fatlings are killed, next notice what he says because this is the key phrase, he says, "ALL THINGS ARE READY" come unto the marriage.
It's very important to note that we are still in the Old Testament period, and the key phrase to this parable is "ALL THINGS ARE READY".
Verse 5 "But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:"
"They made light of it", who made light of it?
They did, the children of Israel made light of it.
What does the phrase "They made light of it" mean?
To make light of something is to treat something as unimportant, to make a joke of it, which is what the Nation of Israel did, they thought it was just a joke, treated it as unimportant.
And then what did they do?
Well it says, they went their ways, one to his farm, and another to his merchandise.
Just like today, when you give the gospel to an unbeliever, they make light of it, then go about their daily business, one to his own house, some to their TV's, Movies, Sports, Facebook and son on.
Verse 6 "and the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them."
"Remnant" means a small portion of the majority or the people left, so these people took the servants, they entreated them spitefully, and slew them, these people killed the Prophets. This is what they did to the Prophets in the Old Testament.
Verse 7 "But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city."
But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth (Angry): and he sent his armies, throughout the Old Testament the Nation of Israel kept rejecting the Lord, they killed the Prophets and would not listen, after King Solomon's reign the Nation of Israel split in two, The Northern Kingdom retained the name of Israel, while the Southern Kingdom was known as Judah (Later called Judaea in Pagan Roman times).
Solomon's sons would not rule in the northern kingdom, this kingdom had 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel. The northern Kingdom was ruled by a succession of wicked kings that were not descendants of David and Solomon. This kingdom would eventually have Samaria as its capitol.
This kingdom became so wicked that God had the Empire of Assyria invade and destroy the Northern Kingdom, the Northern Kingdom became no more. What was left of the 10 tribes of Israel had now been intermingled with the heathens, they would later became known as the Samaritans.
The Southern Kingdom of Judah which consisted mainly of the tribe of Judah and Benjamin (A few remnants of others as well) would eventually be taken captive to Babylon as punishment for their sins, most notably serving other gods. There was also a remnant left behind in Judah when the rest got taken captive to Babylon.
The Capitol of Judah, is known as Jerusalem, this is also the Location of Solomon's temple of the Lord.
When the Babylonians took Jerusalem, they razed the first temple to the ground by fire, along with much of Jerusalem.
However, this part of the parable in verse 7 is actually prophesying the complete destruction of Jerusalem which was carried out in 70 AD by the Roman Emperor Titus in which, fulfilled the prophecy given by Jesus (Matthew 24:2, Luke 21:6, Mark 13:2).
We now read the cut-over into the New Testament.
Verse 8 "Then saith he to his servants, the wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy."
Then saith he to his servants, these are New Testament servants, as it will be explained in the next verse. Remember, here is the keywords again, "THE WEDDING IS READY", I will explain the wedding in a moment, but for now let's just understand that we know that "ALL THINGS ARE READY" and "THE WEDDING IS READY", but those that were bidden, those whom were offered a place at the wedding were not worthy, they rejected the Lord, served other gods and killed the Prophets, they are not worthy, the Nation of Israel is no longer the branch on the vine, it has been cut off, and cast aside, and another branch has been grafted in; the Gentiles.
Verse 9 "Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage."
Go ye therefore, that phrase means for that reason, what reason? "They which were bidden were not worthy".
This phrase is linked to what Jesus told his disciples and by extension all Christians in Matthew 28 the great commission:
Matthew 28:19-20 "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."
Notice the same wording, "Go ye therefore", Jesus says for us, the soul winner to go into the highways, and AS MANY AS YE FIND, bid to the marriage, or in other words invite them to come to the marriage.
Verse 10 "So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests."
So those servants, the New Testament Christians, the soul winners went into the highways, and they gathered together as many as they could find, look what the texts says, BOTH BAD and GOOD: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
You see, they gathered anyone that they could find it didn't matter if they were bad or good, they just had to go.
Verse 11-14 "And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: 12 and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. 13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 14 For many are called, but few are chosen."
Now let's just stop for a moment, I want to explain something here and make it perfectly clear. This is a PARABLE, it is an illustration of a heavenly truth. We should not use a parable to form the basis of our doctrine, our doctrine should come only from clear statements in the bible, not from a story, not from what a man has said and certainly not from a parable. We should however use clear statements in the bible, especially if it came from the mouth of the Father or the Lord Jesus Christ himself, those a clear statements.
We should use a clear statement to interpret a parable in this case. I'm saying this because people have taken this part of the parable to prove that you can get into heaven and then be thrown out, this is flat out wrong.
A parable is like a good truck, it'll get you to where you need to go, but it will eventually break down, much like a parable, if we dissect it too much it will break down and can conflict with clear statements from the bible.
Now where were we?
Ah yes, when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there which had not on a wedding garment. OK, so this man had not on a wedding garment, what's the deal here?
What we know so far:
- ALL THINGS ARE READY
- THE WEDDING IS READY
- CALL ANYONE TO COME, BAD OR GOOD
Verse 12 "and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless."
Again, not teaching you can get into heaven and then get thrown out of heaven, Jesus is making a point here. You will only get into heaven for the wedding feast if you have this garment.
So what is this garment? Turn to Isaiah 61:10
Isaiah 61:10 "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels."
God hath clothed me in the garments of Salvation, he hath covered me in the robes of righteousness! This is of course the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, are you covered by the blood of the Lamb? Are you placing all your faith that you have, your trust in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ to enter the wedding feast of the Lamb?
Verse 13 "Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Because if you are not clothed in the righteousness of Christ you will be cast into outer darkness (referring to the location of the lake of fire), there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth which is describing the degree of torment one will go through for eternity.
Verse 14 "For many are called, but few are chosen."
Jesus says, for many are called, he means that God is constantly calling out to all men, because it is his will that all be saved. But Jesus says that only few are chosen, this does not mean that certain people are chosen by God to be saved, that's what the Calvinists say, the heretics!
What he means is that there be few that have made that decision to go to the wedding feast that accepts Christ only as their Saviour.
Are you only trusting in Christ? Are you clothed in his robes of Righteousness or are you clothed in your own righteousness?
This Parable is a picture of Salvation!
Amen.
