Key Text
"And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables,
and said,
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage
for his son,
And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding:
and they would not come.
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.
But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another
to his merchandise:
And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and
slew them.
But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies,
and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were
bidden were not worthy.
Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to
the marriage.
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.
And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had
not on a wedding garment:
And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding
garment? And he was speechless.
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.
For many are called, but few are chosen." Matthew 22:1-14 |
The parable of the wedding garment opens before us a lesson of
the highest consequence. By the marriage is represented the union
of humanity with divinity; the wedding garment represents the character
which all must possess who shall be accounted fit guests for the
wedding.
In this parable, as in that of
the great supper, are illustrated the gospel invitation, its rejection
by the Jewish people, and the call of mercy to the Gentiles. But
on the part of those who reject the invitation, this parable brings
to view a deeper insult and a more dreadful punishment. The call
to the feast is a king's invitation. It proceeds from one who is
vested with power to command. It confers high honor. Yet the honor
is unappreciated. The king's authority is despised. While the householder's
invitation was regarded with indifference, the king's is met with
insult and murder. They treated his servants with scorn, despitefully
using them and slaying them.
The
householder, on seeing his invitation slighted, declared that none
of the men who are bidden should taste of his supper. But for those
who had done despite to the king, more than exclusion from his presence
and his table is decreed. "He sent forth his armies, and destroyed
those murderers, and burned up their city."
In both parables
the feast is provided with guests, but the second shows that there
is a preparation to be made by all who attend the feast. Those who
neglect this preparation are cast out. "The king came in to
see the guests," and "saw
there a man which had not on a wedding garment; and he saith unto
him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?
And he was speechless. 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."
The call
to the feast had been given by Christ's disciples. Our Lord had
sent out the twelve and afterward the seventy, proclaiming that
the kingdom of God was at hand, and calling upon men to repent and
believe the gospel. But the call was not heeded. Those who are bidden
to the feast did not come. The servants were sent out later to say, "Behold,
I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and
all things are ready: come unto the marriage." This was the
message borne to the Jewish nation after the crucifixion of Christ;
but the nation that claimed to be God's peculiar people rejected
the gospel brought to them in the power of the Holy Spirit. Many
did this in the most scornful manner. Others were so exasperated
by the offer of salvation, the offer of pardon for rejecting the
Lord of glory, that they turned upon the bearers of the message.
There was "a great persecution." Acts
8:1. Many both of men and women were thrust into prison, and some
of the Lord's messengers, as Stephen and James, were put to death.
Thus
the Jewish people sealed their rejection of God's mercy. The result
was foretold by Christ in the parable. The king "sent
forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their
city." The judgment pronounced came upon the Jews in the destruction
of Jerusalem and the scattering of the nation.
The third call
to the feast represents the giving of the gospel to the Gentiles.
The king said, "The
wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go
ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid
to the marriage."
The king's servants who went out into
the highways "gathered together all as many as they found,
both bad and good." It was a mixed company. Some of them had
no more real regard for the giver of the feast than had the ones
who rejected the call. The class first bidden could not afford,
they thought, to sacrifice any worldly advantage for the sake of
attending the king's banquet. And of those who accepted the invitation,
there were some who thought only of benefiting themselves. They
came to share the provisions of the feast, but had no desire to
honor the king.
When the king came in to view the guests,
the real character of all was revealed. For every guest at the feast
there had been provided a wedding garment. This garment was a gift
from the king. By wearing it the guests showed their respect for
the giver of the feast. But one man was clothed in his common citizen
dress. He had refused to make the preparation required by the king.
The garment provided for him at great cost he disdained to wear.
Thus he insulted his lord. To the king's demand, "How camest
thou in hither not having a wedding garment?" he could answer
nothing. He was self-condemned. Then the king said, "Bind him
hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness."
By the king's examination of the guests
at the feast is represented a work of judgment. The guests at the
gospel feast are those who profess to serve God, those whose names
are written in the book of life. But not all who profess to be Christians
are true disciples. Before the final reward is given, it must be
decided who are fitted to share the inheritance of the righteous.
This decision must be made prior to the second coming of Christ
in the clouds of heaven; for when He comes, His reward is with Him, "to
give every man according as his work shall be." Rev. 22:12.
Before His coming, then, the character of every man's work will
have been determined, and to every one of Christ's followers the
reward will have been apportioned according to his deeds.
It
is while men are still dwelling upon the earth that the work of
investigative judgment takes place in the courts of heaven. The
lives of all His professed followers pass in review before God.
All are examined according to the record of the books of heaven,
and according to his deeds the destiny of each is forever fixed.
By
the wedding garment in the parable is represented the pure, spotless
character which Christ's true followers will possess. To the church
it is given "that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white," "not
having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." Rev. 19:8; Eph.
5:27. The fine linen, says the Scripture, "is the righteousness
of saints." Rev. 19:8. It is the righteousness of Christ, His
own unblemished character, that through faith is imparted to all
who receive Him as their personal Saviour.
The white robe
of innocence was worn by our first parents when they were placed
by God in holy Eden. They lived in perfect conformity to the will
of God. All the strength of their affections was given to their
heavenly Father. A beautiful soft light, the light of God, enshrouded
the holy pair. This robe of light was a symbol of their spiritual
garments of heavenly innocence. Had they remained true to God it
would ever have continued to enshroud them. But when sin entered,
they severed their connection with God, and the light that had encircled
them departed. Naked and ashamed, they tried to supply the place
of the heavenly garments by sewing together fig leaves for a covering.
This
is what the transgressors of God's law have done ever since the
day of Adam and Eve's disobedience. They have sewed together fig
leaves to cover the nakedness caused by transgression. They have
worn the garments of their own devising, by works of their own they
have tried to cover their sins, and make themselves acceptable with
God.
But this they can never do. Nothing can
man devise to supply the place of his lost robe of innocence. No
fig-leaf garment, no worldly citizen dress, can be worn by those
who sit down with Christ and angels at the marriage supper of the
Lamb.
Only the covering which Christ Himself
has provided can make us meet to appear in God's presence. This
covering, the robe of His own righteousness, Christ will put upon
every repenting, believing soul. "I counsel thee," He
says, "to buy of Me . . . white raiment, that thou mayest be
clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear." Rev.
3:18.
This robe, woven in the loom of heaven,
has in it not one thread of human devising. Christ in His humanity
wrought out a perfect character, and this character He offers to
impart to us. "All our righteousness are as filthy rags." Isa.
64:6. Everything that we of ourselves can do is defiled by sin.
But the Son of God "was manifested to take away our sins; and
in Him is no sin." Sin is defined to be "the transgression
of the law." 1 John 3:5, 4. But Christ was obedient to every
requirement of the law. He said of Himself, "I delight to do
Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart." Ps. 40:8.
When on earth, He said to His disciples, "I have kept My Father's
commandments." John
15:10. By His perfect obedience He has made it possible for every
human being to obey God's commandments. When we submit ourselves
to Christ, the heart is united with His heart, the will is merged
in His will, the mind becomes one with His mind, the thoughts are
brought into captivity to Him; we live His life. This is what it
means to be clothed with the garment of His righteousness. Then
as the Lord looks upon us He sees, not the fig-leaf garment, not
the nakedness and deformity of sin, but His own robe of righteousness,
which is perfect obedience to the law of Jehovah.
The guests
at the marriage feast were inspected by the king. Only those were
accepted who had obeyed his requirements and put on the wedding
garment. So it is with the guests at the gospel feast. All must
pass the scrutiny of the great King, and only those are received
who have put on the robe of Christ's righteousness.
Righteousness
is right doing, and it is by their deeds that all will be judged.
Our characters are revealed by what we do. The works show whether
the faith is genuine.
It is not enough for us to believe that
Jesus is not an impostor, and that the religion of the Bible is
no cunningly devised fable. We may believe that the name of Jesus
is the only name under heaven whereby man may be saved, and yet
we may not through faith make Him our personal Saviour. It is not
enough to believe the theory of truth. It is not enough to make
a profession of faith in Christ and have our names registered on
the church roll. "He that keepeth His commandments dwelleth
in Him, and He in him. And hereby we know that He abideth in us,
by the Spirit which He hath given us." "Hereby we do know
that we know Him if we keep His commandments." 1 John 3:24;
2:3. This is the genuine evidence of conversion. Whatever our profession,
it amounts to nothing unless Christ is revealed in works of righteousness.
The truth is to be planted in the heart. It is to control the mind
and regulate the affections. The whole character must be stamped
with the divine utterances. Every jot and tittle of the word of
God is to be brought into the daily practice.
He who becomes
a partaker of the divine nature will be in harmony with God's great
standard of righteousness, His holy law. This is the rule by which
God measures the actions of men. This will be the test of character
in the judgment.
There are many who claim that by the
death of Christ the law was abrogated; but in this they contradict
Christ's own words, "Think not that I am come to destroy the
law, or the prophets. . . . Till heaven and earth pass, one jot
or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law." Matt. 5:17,
18. It was to atone for man's transgression of the law that Christ
laid down His life. Could the law have been changed or set aside,
then Christ need not have died. By His life on earth He honored
the law of God. By His death He established it. He gave His life
as a sacrifice, not to destroy God's law, not to create a lower
standard, but that justice might be maintained, that the law might
be shown to be immutable, that it might stand fast forever.
Satan
had claimed that it was impossible for man to obey God's commandments;
and in our own strength it is true that we cannot obey them. But
Christ came in the form of humanity, and by His perfect obedience
He proved that humanity and divinity combined can obey every one
of God's precepts.
"As many as received Him, to them
gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on His name." John 1:12. This power is not in the human agent.
It is the power of God. When a soul receives Christ, he receives
power to live the life of Christ.
God requires perfection of His
children. His law is a transcript of His own character, and it is
the standard of all character. This infinite standard is presented
to all that there may be no mistake in regard to the kind of people
whom God will have to compose His kingdom. The life of Christ on
earth was a perfect expression of God's law, and when those who
claim to be children of God become Christlike in character, they
will be obedient to God's commandments. Then the Lord can trust
them to be of the number who shall compose the family of heaven.
Clothed in the glorious apparel of Christ's righteousness, they
have a place at the King's feast. They have a right to join the
blood-washed throng.
The man who came to the feast without
a wedding garment represents the condition of many in our world
today. They profess to be Christians, and lay claim to the blessings
and privileges of the gospel; yet they feel no need of a transformation
of character. They have never felt true repentance for sin. They
do not realize their need of Christ or exercise faith in Him. They
have not overcome their hereditary or cultivated tendencies to wrongdoing.
Yet they think that they are good enough in themselves, and they
rest upon their own merits instead of trusting in Christ. Hearers
of the word, they come to the banquet, but they have not put on
the robe of Christ's righteousness.
Many who call themselves
Christians are mere human moralists. They have refused the gift
which alone could enable them to honor Christ by representing Him
to the world. The work of the Holy Spirit is to them a strange work.
They are not doers of the word. The heavenly principles that distinguish
those who are one with Christ from those who are one with the world
have become almost indistinguishable. The professed followers of
Christ are no longer a separate and peculiar people. The line of
demarcation is indistinct. The people are subordinating themselves
to the world, to its practices, its customs, its selfishness. The
church has gone over to the world in transgression of the law, when
the world should have come over to the church in obedience to the
law. Daily the church is being converted to the world.
All
these expect to be saved by Christ's death, while they refuse to
live His self-sacrificing life. They extol the riches of free grace,
and attempt to cover themselves with an appearance of righteousness,
hoping to screen their defects of character; but their efforts will
be of no avail in the day of God.
The righteousness of Christ
will not cover one cherished sin. A man may be a law-breaker in
heart; yet if he commits no outward act of transgression, he may
be regarded by the world as possessing great integrity. But God's
law looks into the secrets of the heart. Every act is judged by
the motives that prompt it. Only that which is in accord with the
principles of God's law will stand in the judgment.
God is
love. He has shown that love in the gift of Christ. When "He
gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should
not perish, but have everlasting life," He withheld nothing
from His purchased possession. (John 3:16.) He gave all heaven,
from which we may draw strength and efficiency, that we be not repulsed
or overcome by our great adversary. But the love of God does not
lead Him to excuse sin. He did not excuse it in Satan; He did not
excuse it in Adam or in Cain; nor will He excuse it in any other
of the children of men. He will not connive at our sins or overlook
our defects of character. He expects us to overcome in His name.
Those who reject the gift of Christ's
righteousness are rejecting the attributes of character which would
constitute them the sons and daughters of God. They are rejecting
that which alone could give them a fitness for a place at the marriage
feast.
In the parable, when the king inquired, "How
camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?" the man
was speechless. So it will be in the great judgment day. Men may
now excuse their defects of character, but in that day they will
offer no excuse.
The professed churches of Christ in this
generation are exalted to the highest privileges. The Lord has been
revealed to us in ever-increasing light. Our privileges are far
greater than were the privileges of God's ancient people. We have
not only the great light committed to Israel, but we have the increased
evidence of the great salvation brought to us through Christ. That
which was type and symbol to the Jews is reality to us. They had
the Old Testament history; we have that and the New Testament also.
We have the assurance of a Saviour who has come, a Saviour who has
been crucified, who has risen, and over the rent sepulcher of Joseph
has proclaimed, "I am the resurrection and the life." In
our knowledge of Christ and His love the kingdom of God is placed
in the midst of us. Christ is revealed to us in sermons and chanted
to us in songs. The spiritual banquet is set before us in rich abundance.
The wedding garment, provided at infinite cost, is freely offered
to every soul. By the messengers of God are presented to us the
righteousness of Christ, justification by faith, the exceeding great
and precious promises of God's word, free access to the Father by
Christ, the comfort of the Spirit, the well-grounded assurance of
eternal life in the kingdom of God. What could God do for us that
He has not done in providing the great supper, the heavenly banquet?
In heaven it is said by the ministering angels: The ministry which
we have been commissioned to perform we have done. We pressed back
the army of evil angels. We sent brightness and light into the souls
of men, quickening their memory of the love of God expressed in
Jesus. We attracted their eyes to the cross of Christ. Their hearts
were deeply moved by a sense of the sin that crucified the Son of
God. They were convicted. They saw the steps to be taken in conversion;
they felt the power of the gospel; their hearts were made tender
as they saw the sweetness of the love of God. They beheld the beauty
of the character of Christ. But with the many it was all in vain.
They would not surrender their own habits and character. They would
not put off the garments of earth in order to be clothed with the
robe of heaven. Their hearts were given to covetousness. They loved
the associations of the world more than they loved their God.
Solemn will be the day of final decision.
In prophetic vision the apostle John describes it: "I saw a
great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the
earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for
them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and
the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the
book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which
were written in the books, according to their works." Rev.
20:11, 12.
Sad will be the retrospect in that day
when men stand face to face with eternity. The whole life will present
itself just as it has been. The world's pleasures, riches, and honors
will not then seem so important. Men will then see that the righteousness
they despised is alone of value. They will see that they have fashioned
their characters under the deceptive allurements of Satan. The garments
they have chosen are the badge of their allegiance to the first
great apostate. Then they will see the results of their choice.
They will have a knowledge of what it means to transgress the commandments
of God.
There will be no future probation in
which to prepare for eternity. It is in this life that we are to
put on the robe of Christ's righteousness. This is our only opportunity
to form characters for the home which Christ has made ready for
those who obey His commandments.
The days of our probation
are fast closing. The end is near. To us the warning is given, "Take heed to
yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting,
and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon
you unawares." Luke 21:34. Beware lest it find you unready.
Take heed lest you be found at the King's feast without a wedding
garment.
"In such an
hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh." "Blessed is
he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and
they see his shame." Matt. 24:44; Rev. 16:15.
|