(Matt. 22:1-141And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, 2The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, 3And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. 4Again, 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. 5But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: 6And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. 7But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 8Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. 9Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. 10So 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. 11And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: 12And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. 13Then 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. 14For many are called, but few are chosen. (Matthew 22:1‑14).)
THE parable which closes Matthew 21 shows that there was a time when God drew near to man to claim from him that which was his duty to give to God. That was the responsibility of the creature to the Creator. But, when God sent His Son, man slew Him, and cast Him out. Terrible picture of what man is as man. In that parable we have undoubtedly the bygone history of Israel.
The parable which opens chapter 22 is a divine sequence of the story of the husbandmen. It unfolds a totally different truth. God comes out to let us know that, spite of man’s sin, He has got something in His heart for man. He has a thought, a purpose, connected with His Son. He has a Son, and His Son is to be married: there is to be a feast worthy of His Son, and He seeks guests.
What God wanted was hearts that would delight in honoring His Son. “He sent forth servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding feast; and they would not come.” Again He sent messengers, but “they made light of it,” and slew the servants who bade them come. What sin! what audacity!
Now mark, God has authority, for God is God, but He also has long patience. Bless the Lord for His long-suffering. But God has authority, and if He make a feast for His Son He is going to have Him honored. Better honor Him now, in the day of grace, than have to acknowledge Him in the day of judgment, when His exercised power will dismiss you from the presence of His glory. You are going to honor Him yet, careless sinner. The day is coming when you must honor Him. God will have it. His mills grind slowly, but surely. His purpose never fails.
God gave the Jew the first chance when Christ was on earth, but they would not own Him. Then―in the second call―you come a stage further. “Again He sent forth servants,” to tell them that the Lord was risen from the dead, that the work of redemption was done. This you get historically in Peter’s preaching in Acts 2, 3. His preaching was based really on the work of atonement, a work by which God had been glorified about sin. The death of Christ was indeed a wonderful moment, marked off by its own peculiarity from every other moment before or since. Then the holy spotless Son of God took up the question of the guilt of the whole world, doing a work which alone could meet the mind and thoughts of God, meet all the claims of His throne, break the power of Satan, and save vile sinners, like you and me, righteously.
Note well the patience of God with the Jew― “Again, he sent forth other servants”... (vs. 4). That took place in the early part of the Acts, undoubtedly in the ministry of Peter and his fellow-apostles. You will remember that when the fig-tree (see Luke 13:6-96He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. 7Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? 8And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: 9And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down. (Luke 13:6‑9)) had no fruit for the owner, though he had sought it three years―the duration of the Lord’s ministry among the Jews―he said, “Cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?” The dresser pleaded: “Let it alone this year also.” Give it another year of grace. This second mission by the lips of the servants of the Lord in Acts 2:5,5And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. (Acts 2:5) was the year of grace to the guilty nation of Israel. They had murdered His Son, but God was not, and never is in a hurry to judge. He lingered in love over a nation that had murdered His Son, and He lingers over you, man, just now.
Everything was ready, but alas! they would not come. Not only was there a feast, but a garment that fitted the guest for the feast. Remember that. You have not to think, How can I be suitable? The point is this, Would you like to be there? Do you respond to the call that God gives? “They made light of it.” Oh, you say, that was the guilty Jew. But, my dear friend, are you sure that sentence does not fit you? God’s message of invitation came, and “they made light of it.” Mark, unbelieving, unconverted sinner, you are the man. What an awful thing! When ages have rolled by, and you are outside God’s feast forever, my friend, I tell you what you will recollect, that the gospel would have saved you from the eternal judgment of the lake of fire, but that you “made light of it.” It is not the question of your having done some great sin. No, no. This is the point, you have made light of God’s gospel, God’s Christ, God’s invitation. Ah, friend, if you have been of that company till this hour, may God arrest you. You are opposing God, you are slighting His grace; He is bidding you to turn to His Son, and you are making light of Him. Anything and everything, but God’s wedding feast for you. They “went their ways.” That describes you exactly. One man was buried in his farm; another man was engrossed in his merchandise. Where was the harm of that? These things engrossed their hearts, controlled their lives. The Holy Ghost describes their actions by the solemn words, “they made light of it.” Oh, you say, they must have been awful sinners. So saying, thou condemnest thyself. God’s chief thought is Christ, whereas your chief thought is your pleasure, your farm, your earthly occupation, which leads you simply to make light of what God thinks everything of, Now do not shut your eyes to the solemn fact that the man who makes light of Christ must taste the wrath of God. Although they made light of Christ, God had patience with Israel for some forty years after the death of His Son. Then the determined opposition of that people brought condign judgment upon them. Morally their end was come in the death of Christ, and as a nation they were dead before God. God keeps a sexton to bury His dead, and He let the Roman army play the sexton’s part. The nation was swept off the face of the earth, and Jerusalem in ruins is the standing witness of God’s judgment upon the opposers of His grace. The point then is this, Are you among those who make light of God’s offers of mercy and grace now?
Nothing that man can do can chill the warmth of the love of, God. He says, so to speak, If the Jew will not have my grace, I shall turn round to the poor Gentile. “Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find bid to the wedding feast. 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” (verses 5, 6). That is sweet news for you and me. Paul was selected by the Lord as the chosen vessel, to carry out the news to the Gentiles, and he brought the gospel over to Europe (see Acts 16). He got up from Asia in three days. When God is bringing the gospel to Europe, He gives His servant a quick passage. The first man to be converted in Europe was a downright “bad” one. Paul met a “good” one when he met Lydia, and when he met the jailer he met a pretty “bad” one. There is an outward difference in the lives of people. Thank God, His grace meets everybody, no matter what the sinner has been.
The gospel is the most gracious service that mortal man can be employed in. Do you know what I have got for you? Thank God, I have the privilege of telling there is a feast for you, and God bids you come to it. Listen, you are invited. See that you do not “make light” of the invitation.
Christians, I wonder; sometimes, that you do not preach the gospel more. Oh, you say, I have no gift. Had you not better say, I have got no heart for it? Be assured it is not merely a question of gift. It is not a question of preaching to companies.
“Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage,” is our Lord’s command to us all. To every sinner that crosses your path we should say, “I have an invitation for you. Yet there is room.” While there is room we have not done our work yet. “Compel them to come in, that my house may be filled,” is the Lord’s injunction, and the servant’s warrant for earnestness. His heart is so full and tender. He bids you come, He has spread a feast, and it is you He wants. Friend, thou art invited. Oh, hoary-headed reader, it may be the last time that God will give you an invitation.
There is no question of what you have been, or what you are. “As many as ye shall find, bid to the wedding feast,” is the command. Thank God for that word. My beloved friend, God offers you a heavenly home, and heavenly association with His Son, with all the dignity and glory that is connected with His beloved Son. “All things are ready, come.” Have you had a little difficulty as to whether the gospel suits you? Can I find a sinner? I know it means that one, for I am instructed to invite as many as I can find. Have you any difficulty about the good ones? You and I are not of them. The “bad” ones just describes and suits me. Have you ever found out that you are among the bad ones? You had far better get the truth about yourself. Oh, you say, I am intelligent. But then, you are only an intelligent sinner, and “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)). Do you know why it was that Jesus died? Not for His own sins, but for the sins of sinners. He died for sinners. Do not be afraid to come to the Lord on account of your sins, because Jesus “bare the sins of many” when He died. Redemption is accomplished, the veil is rent, and the way into the holiest of all is made manifest.
I have met a lot of people too good for Jesus. There are some souls far too good for Him. They would not like to take the place of being lost sinners. Would you like to come to the feast? Oh, of course I would, say you. Well, somebody got into the feast, and then got turned out. And you say to me, What does that mean, was he so bad? I am perfectly certain he was not a bad one that was put out, because the bad one said, If I come in, I must have a garment to suit the feast. If you find a man full of himself, and full of self-righteousness, he is too good for Jesus, and slights the garment, though he would go to the feast. Such will not take the ground of being lost and undone. They will not have it that they are lost.
Oh, you say, God is very good, and He is very gracious. True, and therefore you hope to be in heaven, because you think you are not so very bad after all. I hope God will help me to smash your hopes. My friend, you will be detected as a person who has been a mere false professor if you have not on God’s wedding garment.
Let me repeat. There are none too bad for Jesus. There may be many too good for Jesus. Take the thief on the cross, a person who had lived a scandalous life, he was the first trophy of grace. The Lord brought that redeemed soul back to glory with Him. He was such a bad man the earth could not keep him. That was the first soul saved after Christ’s death. He was being cast out from earth when the blessed Saviour put His arms beneath him, and said, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” And see the first man that goes into glory after the Saviour died. A man who was too bad to live on earth. Oh, you say, I am such a sinner. Thank God if you know it. It is the bad that are called. Come and confide in His name, and honor Him. There will not be an empty seat in heaven, remember that. If you decline to answer to the gracious call of the Lord, He will find someone who will respond, for God will have no empty seats in His house. A guest of God thou hast not been. A guest of God thou wilt not be, and yet for eternity, thou wilt be the guest of somebody. Whose? The world’s! and “her guests are in the depths of hell” (Prov. 9:1818But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell. (Proverbs 9:18).) I am going to be the guest of God on the ground that, though I am a poor hell-deserving sinner, I have been invited.
What about this man without the garment? There is another day of judgment coming. It is a day by-and-by, when all profession will pass beneath the eye of God. It does not say what he had on, it might have been a beautiful suit. It is well known that it is the custom of the East for the provider of the wedding feast to also provide garments suited for the feast. When God invites you thus, and in your heart there is found by grace a desire to belong to Christ, the Lord will provide you with everything. The servants brought out the best robe in the fifteenth chapter of Luke. The father kissed the son, and he learned that he was loved. What is the best robe? Christ. And what is the wedding garment here? Christ. You and I cannot stand before God save in Christ. When this man came to the door, I have no doubt that some servant was standing ready to put on him a garment. I think I see him. He says, “Thank you, I will do as I am, I do not think I need it.” He had neither part nor lot in the matter.
He had no sense what suited the honor and glory of the King’s Son. You have very likely got on a robe of religiousness, that is not Christ. I was struck only last night in thinking of Rebekah (Gen. 24). She hears from the servant the rapturous story of Abraham’s son, and presently she says, “I will go.” But she would think, I have no raiment fit for a house like Isaac’s, and while she thus thought, ‘the servant brought out jewels of silver (redemption), jewels of gold (righteousness), and raiment, and Rebecca took them. Do likewise now.
Yes, my friend, the gospel comes down, and saves you where you are, and remember, the garment that fits you for His feast God also presents to you. You trust in Christ, and you will find you have the wedding garment. “Friend, how earnest thou in thither, not having a wedding garment?” was an awful question. The man was speechless. Unconverted professor, there is a day of the most speechless torture before your soul, with all your so-called Christian profession, just because it was Christless. “Then said the king to his servants, Bind him, hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Oh, is this going to be your ease? With all affection let me ask you to possess Christ now. You are a stranger to Christ, you are a stranger in heart to God, and you must be a stranger to the wedding feast. Profession will not do; you must possess Christ. You can read your own history in this solemn parable. May God in His grace lead you to Christ. He wants you to be in His presence, clothed with Christ. Christ for your life, Christ for your all. If you believe in Him now, by-and-by you will have the everlasting company of that blessed Lord. Will you come in now, and have the garment put on? God calls you to, and fits you for, the scene where His Son is to be eternally honored. Do not “make light” of such grace.
W. T. P. W.