ONE cannot read the first sentence of the instructive but solemn parable contained in Matt. 22:1-14, without being struck with the words, "for his son.” It is a likeness of the kingdom of heaven, setting forth the activity of God's grace, first to the Jew, and then to the Gentile, and their treatment of it. But what was this grace for? Why are the invites sent out? Why is the wedding to be furnished with guests? That the king's son might be honored. “A certain king, which made a marriage [or wedding feast] for his son." The meaning is plain. It illustrates God's preparation of a feast for the honor of His Son, Jesus our Lord, and He must have guests. Three times, therefore, He sends His servants forth. Let us see what reception they met with, and who are the worthy ones.
First, the king sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding. This had its answer in the mission of the twelve apostles, and seventy disciples sent forth to preach to the Jews (Matt. 10:5-7; Luke 11). They were the privileged nation, who had long been the bidden ones of God. Now they hear His distinct call to come to the wedding. But how do they treat it?
Solemnly the Lord adds, "they would not come.”
Following their own will, the Jews as a nation deliberately refused the call. They would not come. How many are like them now!
But " Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my failings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage " (v. 4). Are the seats at the festal board to be unoccupied? Is the king to provide the feast, and none partake? Will the king honor his son, and none join with him? In condescending grace, again he sends other servants forth, not to other people, but to the same, taking no notice of the slight already offered. "Tell them," said he, “which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner, &c... come..." Surely they will respond now. But no What! still refuse? Yes.
“They made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: and the remnant [or the rest] took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them" (vv. 5, 6).
And what did God do, beloved reader, when the Jews slighted His call? Did He revenge the insult, and close His palace doors. Nay, but again He sent forth other servants into their very midst to tell them of the provisions of His grace. After the death and resurrection of His Son, again He sends by His servants to the bidden ones, saying, “Come to the marriage." Servant after servant was sent forth by the Holy Ghost to testify to the Jews of the finished work of the Lord Jesus, and to tell them of the feast of fat things that God had prepared for those who came. “All things are ready, come." Forgiveness of sin, justification, the righteousness of God, eternal life; yea, everything the poor guilty Jew needed, were all ready. Nothing to do, nothing to pay. The day for doing had passed away. “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness" (Rom. 10:4).
Those who had already refused the call of God, are again pressed to accept His proffered grace.
But all in vain. The nation at large spurned the message. Some made light of it, trifled with it; treating it with carelessness and indifference, or scorn and contempt, and went their ways. And what were they? To the farm and the merchandise. Things right enough in themselves, but wrong when followed to the exclusion of the claims of God. Their ways; one to his land, and another to his commerce. Things by which men seek to enrich themselves. Ah! and 'tis the way of the Gentile world, as well as the Jewish. “But my ways are not as your ways, saith the Lord" (Isa. 55:8).
My reader, let me pause here a moment, and ask you, "What are you following?" Your ways? or God's? How are you treating the message of grace, for it comes to you now? Think of the conduct of these foolish men. The king made a wedding feast for his son, and they made light of it. And their sin found them out, as we shall see.
And the remnant did not stop there, but took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. The stoning of Stephen, the slaying of James (Acts 7:59; 12:1, 2), witness to the exact fulfillment of the parable.
But God has said that “He that, being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy" (Prov. 29:1). This searching scripture found a solemn fulfillment in the judgment that soon fell upon that guilty people. "But when," continued Jesus in the parable,” the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city" (v. 7).
And as it came to pass with the bidden guests, so also, when the Jews had twice refused the calls of grace, judgment shortly ensued. The wrath of God overtook them. God sent His armies to execute it. Titus and the Roman armies were the instruments wielded by God to carry out His word.
“Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”
Awful indeed was the judgment that fell upon Jerusalem. Masses of the guilty people were slain, the city destroyed, the temple burnt. He destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
But the certain king made a marriage for his son. Is he to be disappointed? Is his purpose to be frustrated? Are there not any to be found worthy to honor him? The bidden ones refuse; the privileged go their way. Ah but guests the king must have. “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." And "go ye into all the world," saith the Lord, "and preach the gospel to every creature.”
Again, "Seeing ye put it from you," said Paul to the Jews, "and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles" (Acts 13:46). The feast is prepared; all things ready. The Jews as a mass refuse; “but through their fall salvation is come to the Gentiles "(Rom. 11:11).
“Go ye therefore," said the king to his servants.
And go ye therefore, saith the Lord to His. Go into the thoroughfares of the highways, and "as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.”
Blessed news! Joyful news! Sinners, hear it.
It concerns all, and therefore, reader, concerns you. As many as ye shall find. Go, servant of the Lord, go where men congregate, and tell out the news. 'Tis a day of glad tidings. “Unto you, O men, I call," saith Wisdom (Prov. 8:4). Ye who are busied with the farm and the merchandise, here's a message for you. God sends it; His servants bear it. What is it? He has prepared a wedding-feast for His Son. Mark, for His Son. And you are invited. Me invited? Says one. Yes, all, everybody. Everybody everywhere, and anybody anywhere. The king said, as many as ye shall find. So it must mean you. Then will you accept the invitation? Will you come? The doors of the heavenly palace will soon be closed.
Now they are open wide. Will you come to the feast? You will find there all you want, and all you need. The feast is prepared, the robe provided, the invitation world-wide, free to all. God invites you to the marriage; and again I press it upon you, "Will you come?" Yet there is room. Thousands, tens of thousands, have come. Now, will you?
“God's house is filling fast;
Yet there is room.
Some guest will be the last;
Yet there is room.
Yes, soon salvation's day
To you will pass away,
Then grace no more will say,
Yet there is room.”
“So those servants," continues the parable," 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" (v. 10). And what have the Lord's servants done these last nineteen centuries? Like the servants of the king, they have done more than they were told, and done it very badly. What do you mean? someone may say. Why, all that they were told to do here was to bid, or invite. But instead of that they gathered (or rather, brought) together all, bad and good, and let one in without a wedding-garment. And what do we see as we look round upon Christendom? Ah plenty of guests. The wedding furnished. Bad, good, and indifferent, brought together under the name of Christ; professedly in the light, and feasting on the riches of His grace; but how many without the wedding-garment But the reckoning day will come, when the professor will be unmasked, and judgment overtake the Christless soul.
“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 earnest 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” (vv. 11-13).
I have often pictured this scene in my own mind.
Let me bring it before you. And oh! my reader, if you are without Christ, may God in His rich grace use it to your salvation, ere it be too late.
Picture to yourself a magnificent hall, illumed with myriads of lights, furnished from end to end with long rows of tables, laden with the richest provisions. Seated at the tables row after row of guests, assembled to do honor to the king's son.
All taste of the rich viands, when suddenly a door opens, and the king himself enters. With flashing eye he takes in the whole scene at a glance, as every face is instinctively turned towards him.
One of the guests arrests his searching gaze, and quails beneath it. Every eye now turns to this poor trembling one. Is there not a cause? What is it? Why, he has failed to clothe himself in the garment suited and provided for the occasion.
“Friend," says the king,” how earnest thou in hither, not having a wedding-garment?" Graciously the king addresses him, calling him "Friend,” giving him the opportunity to defend his conduct.
But, conscious that he himself is alone to blame for his folly and neglect, he was speechless. No excuse falls from his lips. He has none. "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.”
And now the moral of all this. My reader, a solemn reckoning day is at hand. "Behold, the judge standeth before the door” (James 5:9). Mere profession is utterly worthless. God must have reality.
You may have heard the invitation of grace, and professed to have received and accepted it. You may have taken your place as a nominal Christian, and, as we read in Heb. 6, been once enlightened, and tasted of the heavenly gift, &c. But, with all this, if you are not clothed with the wedding-garment suited for the presence of the King of kings, all is vain. Better, like the Jews, to have spurned the call, and gone your own way, than prove to be a mere professor and hypocrite in the day of the Lord.
The king came in to see the guests. And a guest was cast out! Weigh these solemn words, I beseech you. How will you meet the eye of God in the Day of Judgment? What excuse will you make, if you have failed to put on the wedding-garment?
You are not told to purchase one. It cost the precious blood of Christ. You are not told to make one. God has provided it in grace. It is readymade, and free for all who come. Have you put it on? If you take your place at the feast in your own robes, without one, God will see you, and say, “Friend, how earnest thou in hither, not having a wedding-garment?” Convicted then, when it is too late! guilty, when there is no remedy! clothed in the rags of your own self-righteousness, with a conscience unpurged by the blood of Christ, you must stand Christless and speechless in the presence of the Judge.
Take your place now with your mouth stopped, a lost and guilty sinner before God, and He will justify you freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Rom. 3:19-24).
“For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21). Thus will you be clothed with a wedding-garment, even the righteousness of God in Christ. But stand before Him guilty at that day, without Christ, and eternal judgment must be your doom.
Awful sentence! Again I beseech you, weigh it ere it be too late. The Lord meant what He said.
Skeptical doubts may arise in your deceived heart. But His word is forever settled in heaven (Psa. 119:89). And though it be a parable, yet is it a perfect picture of a solemn and dread reality.
Sinner, professor, beware! lest this be your fate.
“Then said the king to the servants, Bind him... and cast him into outer darkness.”
Such is the fearful portion of a Christless professor. Bound hand and foot, so that he can neither extricate himself nor by any means flee, taken away from that bright scene of glory, and cast out of the presence of Him who is Light, and in whom is no darkness at all, into outer darkness, the blackness of darkness for eternity (Jude 13). There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Dear reader, lovingly and earnestly I plead with you again, How is it between your soul and God?
Are you clothed, saved? Do not shirk the question. Pass it not off with a careless smile upon your face, but your conscience ill at ease. Be honest with yourself now, and with Him. Maybe you are a nominal Christian, one of the many thousands attending the outward ordinances of the profession of Christ. But have you the wedding garment on? Are you in Christ, clothed with the righteousness of God? Is your profession a mere sham, or a living reality? “Be not deceived; God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Gal. 6:7). But, praise be to His name, it is not yet too late. Cast aside your rags, your own righteousness, and submit to God's. Believe God, and righteousness is reckoned to you, without works (Rom. 4:6). Believe on the Son of God, and everlasting life is yours now. For “he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life" (John 3:36).
The king made a marriage for his son. He must have guests. But he will come in to see them.
And woe to the man that comes in there without the garment. “For many are called, but few are chosen” (v. 14). Beloved reader, you are invited.
Yet there is room. Do you accept it? Have you come? Are you a guest? Have you the wedding garment on?
“Louder and sweeter sounds the loving call;
Come, lingerer, come; enter that festal hall.
Room, room, still room,
Oh! enter, enter now,
Ere night that gate may close, and seal thy doom,
Then the last, low, long cry,
‘No room, no room!'
No room, no room!'
Oh! woeful cry, no room!’”
E. H. C.