The Wedding Garment
Table of Contents
The Wedding Garment: Part 1
The parable of the marriage supper now claims our attention. In it we have further evidence of God's exceeding goodness, on the one hand; and of man's hopeless opposition and determined enmity, on the other. The truth is here made fully manifest, that, if man is to participate at all in the rich and precious grace of God, he must be compelled to do so.
" 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."
Here we have an entirely new thing. It is not now a question of law, as in the case of the two sons; nor a question of ordinances or religious advantages, as in the case of the husbandmen; God is about to make a marriage for His Son, and He sends forth His messengers to invite men to come to the marriage feast. He docs not ask them for anything. He is not saying, "Go, work," or, "Give fruit," but simply inviting them to a feast, the object of which is to do honor to His Son.
We are not told in this parable anything about the bride, whether it be the earthly Jerusalem, or the church; neither have we the least intimation as to the sphere of the nuptials. The moment had not arrived for the unfolding of aught of this. We have a similitude of the kingdom of heaven, in one special aspect of it. We never find anything premature in the word of God. Hence our blessed Lord could not bring out the truth of the church in the parable now under our consideration. It is simply a comparison of the kingdom of heaven. It is like a certain king who made a marriage for his son. We know who the King is, and we know who the Son is; but, as to the bride, we know nothing from this parable. It does not come within its scope to speak of her. The grand object is to show forth the marvelous grace of God—His loving purpose and determination to have to do with us poor sinners, even in spite of ourselves. If man will not go work when he is told, if he will not give fruit when he is asked, the question is, will he come to the marriage feast if he be invited?
This is the question. We shall soon see the answer. "He sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding; and they would not come." This occurred in our Lord's life here upon earth. He sent forth the twelve and the seventy—sent them exclusively to Israel. They were expressly forbidden to go in the way of the Gentiles, or enter any city of the Samaritans. Their mission was only " to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." The invitation is one of purest grace. There is no demand made. The precious word is, " Come to the wedding."
But, alas, they would not come! There was no heart for the King, no heart for His Son. If they had been asked to contribute anything toward the feast, they might urge the plea of poverty and inability. But, as everybody knows, when people are invited to a feast, the very thought of their bringing anything toward it, would be a positive insult to the host.
Now, let the reader distinctly understand that we are not by any means denying man's responsibility. So far from this, we distinctly maintain it. Man is, most assuredly, responsible. He was responsible to keep the law when he got it. He was responsible to yield some return for all those religious advantages placed within his reach under the Levitical ceremonial. To deny human responsibility, we should consider a very grave error indeed. Man is not a mere machine. He is a responsible being, with whom God has been dealing, in bygone ages, in various ways, to see if haply anything could be made of him.
But man has been proved a hopeless ruin; yea, more, an implacable enemy. He does not want to have anything to do with God or His Son. He has no heart for that nuptial feast, given in honor of the King's Son. This is proved by his conduct—the true index of character—the real proof of the heart's bent. Man, when told to "go work," might plead want of strength. When asked to give fruit, he might plead inability to produce it. Not that the plea is admissible for a moment before the throne of God; for we must never lose sight of the solemn, clearly established, truth of man's responsibility.
But a call to a wedding affords no possible ground for excuse, and hence the refusal to come only proves that the heart has no interest in the King or His Son. u They would not come." It is not said they could not come. They did not want to come. Man never does, until he is compelled. There will not be so much as a single merely invited guest at the marriage supper. Not one would ever be found there, if he had not been compelled to come.
There is not, in the entire compass of the human heart, a single desire after God or heavenly things, not one atom of taste for what is divine or spiritual. Man, if left to himself, would never come to God. He does not want to go to hell; he shrinks from the thought of pain, torment, and misery; and, seeing that heaven is a place of entire freedom from all such, he would rather go there than to an everlasting hell. Beyond this he has no thought or wish as to heaven; and as to the presence of God, it is the very last place in the wide universe he would like to find himself; he could not endure it; it would be absolutely intolerable to him.
In order to enjoy the divine presence, there must not only be a divine title, but the divine nature; and the unrenewed man has neither the one nor the other; he has no right to the place, and no capacity for the enjoyment of it. A beggar in rags would be sadly out of place and uncomfortable in the queen's drawing-room; how much more, unrenewed nature in heaven!
But we must proceed with our parable, and in so doing, we may just remark that the first invitation to the wedding was given in our Lord's own lifetime. But in the second, we observe a very considerable advance in the moral ground of the invitation; the king can put forth much stronger claims upon the hearts of those invited. " Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which were bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready; come unto the marriage."
Here we have vividly illustrated the call to Israel, on the ground of accomplished redemption, as in the preaching of the apostles on the day of Pentecost. During our Lord's ministry, the invitation had gone forth. He had sent forth His messengers to the lost sheep of the house of Israel; but, after his death and resurrection, the Holy Ghost came down, and filled the apostles and others with new power to urge upon the people the blessed invitation, grounded upon the glorious fact that the atoning work was done; that God had glorified His Son Jesus; that all things were ready. "This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.....Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." And again, " Unto you first, God having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, by turning away everyone of you from his iniquities."
What was the result, as regards the nation and its leaders? Deliberate rejection. Many were compelled to come, they were made willing in the day of the Spirit's power. Thousands were bowed in true repentance before God, and thankfully accepted the blessed invitation to come to the wedding. But, as regards the great mass of the people, it was exactly according to the words of our parable, " They made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, and another to his merchandise."
Alas! thus it is to this very day. People "make light" of the precious gospel of Christ. The sweet invitation of divine love is pressed upon them; the grand realities of eternity are presented to them—the joys of heaven, the horrors of an everlasting hell—the unspeakable value of their immortal souls—all these things are solemnly, earnestly, lovingly brought before them, and urged upon their attention; but they make light of them, and go their ways; the farm, the merchandise, the money-making, pleasure, vanity, folly, fashion, and gaiety command their hearts, and engross their energies; they care not for the marriage supper; they have no heart for the King or His Son, or the nuptial feast—no care for the salvation of their immortal souls—no true desire to make their escape from the terrible wrath that must, ere long, overtake all who refuse the blessed message of God's salvation—all who die in their sins.
There is, however, more than heartless indifference; this we see in the great mass of people. There is positive enmity. " The remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them." This is in full and melancholy keeping with the solemn address of Stephen, in Acts 7, a few moments before his martyrdom. " Ye stiff-necked, and uncircumcised, in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost; as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers. Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.....Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him."
The historic record is in perfect unison with the teaching of the parable. Every effort of divine grace, all the painstaking of divine love, is met by the determined hatred of the human heart. The law broken; the prophets stoned; the Son rejected and crucified; the vessel of the Holy Ghost martyred. The case was hopeless—the evil incorrigible; nothing remained but for judgment to take its course. " When the king heard thereof, he was wroth; and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city."
How literally this was fulfilled in the awful history of Jerusalem, we need not say. It is known to all. The horrors of that dreadful siege are enough to make the blood congeal in our veins, even as we read them on the page of history. What must the facts have been! And yet they were as nothing when compared with the sufferings of those who shall find their portion in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. But, be it well remembered, that as surely as Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans—as surely as the apostate Jews endured the appalling sufferings which the pen of the historian has recorded, so surely shall all who reject the gospel of the grace of God have to endure the unutterable agony and anguish of that place where hope can never come. The one is as true as the other, and comes out with equal force and solemnity in our parable.
" Then saith the king 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."
Here we see the rich and precious grace of God flowing out to the Gentiles. All the barriers are swept away, and the shining river of God's salvation sends its refreshing and life-giving stream to the ends of the earth. " The salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it."
We have from the inspired pen of the evangelist Luke, a most exquisite point in connection with this subject. "And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled."
It is not possible to conceive anything more lovely or more glorious than this. It is pure, absolute, sovereign grace. It is not a question of man's responsibility; all that is closed. It is not, " Go work;" it is not " Give fruit;" it is not even " Como." All these methods have been tried, and tried in vain. He would not work; he would not give; he would not even come.
What remains! Just this—God's compelling grace! He says to the sinner, " If you will not have anything to say to me, I am determined to have to say to you. I will save you in spite of yourself. I will compel you to come. I am determined to fill my house with guests. I will fit you and clothe you with a wedding garment. It matters not who you are or what you are; I shall have you in my presence, and at my feast in a manner worthy of myself. 1 have made ample provision; I have made out the title, found the ransom, done all; and not only so, but I shall make you come. I know that, if left to yourself, you would never come at all; I have proved this—proved it beyond all question; and now I shall not leave you to yourself; I shall not allow you to stay away; I shall give you a clean deliverance from yourself, from your sins, from the devil, from the world, from all your liabilities and responsibilities, as a lost, ruined, guilty sinner; and I shall bring you to my table clothed in garments of salvation—yea, clothed in my righteousness, accepted in all the acceptability of my own Son. I will give you a title, give you a capacity, give you a nature, give you all, make you all, do all for you; you shall be my guest forever; and if anyone shall inquire, How can all this be? The answer is, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honor. It is all grace from first to last—all to the praise of the glory of my grace. I do not ask you for an atom; I do not ask you to put forth a single effort: I know it would be of no possible use to do so, for if it were all made to depend on your moving your eyelash, you would not do it. I have taken the whole matter into my own hands, from first to last, and you shall be, to all eternity, a monument of my saving, quickening, compelling grace."
Header, we ask you, is not all this most marvelous? Can aught exceed it? May not angels well desire to look into it? May not principalities and powers gaze with wonder at it? Who but God could speak and act like this? Only think of His dealing thus with the being that had broken His law, stoned His prophets, murdered His Son, resisted His Spirit. What matchless, transcendent, adorable grace! God would fill His house with guests, who, if left to themselves, would have turned their backs forever upon Him, and rushed headlong to an everlasting hell.
Need we say there are holy responsibilities flowing out of all this marvelous grace—powerful claims upon all those who are the happy, privileged subjects thereof? Surely there are. If our responsibility, as sinners, has issued in the most complete and hopeless, failure and ruin; if it has forever closed in the cross of the Son of God; if grace has compelled us to come within the hallowed circle of God's salvation: if we are saved, blessed, cleansed, clothed, accepted in the beloved, endowed with every privilege that God could bestow upon us, if all this be true, and it is true, true as the truth of God can make it—then, may we not ask, what manner of persons ought we to be? If we are saved, ought we not to live as such? If we have gotten the wedding garment, ought we not to wear it, and to appear in it continually? Are we not called to put on Christ, in our daily life? Should not our habits, our manners, our temper, our style, our spirit, our whole practical life and character declare whose we are and whom we serve? Can it be that any one professing to have the wedding garment, could be found going after the folly, vanity, frivolity, and ridiculous fashions of this wretched world?
Alas! alas! there is a terrible amount of heartless, worthless profession in our midst. The doctrines of grace are talked about, but where is the fruit? There is nothing more terrible, nothing more sad and humiliating than to see persons professing to be saved by the free grace of God, and yet exhibiting gross selfishness and earthly mindedness in their daily private life. It was this that broke the blessed apostle's heart, and made him weep bitter tears, as he tells us in his epistle to his beloved Philippians. And if it was so, in his day, what is it now?
We may, perhaps, be asked, " What has all this to do with the parable of the wedding garment?" We reply, much, every way. Let us read the closing sentences and see if they do not bear down, in awful solemnity upon all who take their place, professedly, among " the guests," but are not really clothed in the wedding garment. "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. For many are called, but few chosen."
How solemn! How soul-subduing! How appalling! How dreadful for anyone to appear among the guests, to take a place among the saved, to profess to be a subject of grace, and yet not have on the wedding garment! " How earnest thou in hither?" It is an open, daring insult to the King, to His Son, and to the nuptial feast—the very highest offense against the grace of God. The idea of appearing amongst the Lord's people, being at His table, professing to belong to Him, and yet not being really clothed upon with Christ—the true wedding garment; presuming to belong to a scene in which one has neither part nor lot—this is a sin only to be found among the ranks of baptized profession. It is characteristic of Christendom; it is sinning against and despising the very richest, highest, grandest display of grace that ever was or could be made in this world.
" How earnest thou in hither, not having on a wedding garment?" There is no excuse. He cannot say, " I could not afford to buy one." All is free. The garment is as free as the feast. There is no hindrance. All is of grace—free, sovereign, compelling grace. Otherwise there would be no force in the "How?" But there is tremendous force in it; such force indeed as leaves the man " speechless." He has nothing to say. His case is desperate.
And be it remembered, this is a sample case—a case, we hesitate not to say, bearing, with terrible emphasis, upon thousands of professors around us. Let us remember the words, " The kingdom of heaven is like." In another place we read, " Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened." But our parable is a similitude of the kingdom now; and it indicates the sure and dreadful destiny and portion of all those who, though appearing amongst the guests, do not really belong to Christ, are not truly converted, are merely self-indulgent, world-loving professors.
How appalling the end of such! There is no hope, no remedy, no plea. It is the utter rejection of Christ, the neglect of the great salvation, the refusal of the wedding garment; and, all the while, professing to be a Christian. In fact it is the very highest order of wickedness, the condemning sin of this day of high and wide-spread evangelical profession. As nothing can exceed the grace that shines in the gospel of God, as now preached, so nothing can exceed the guilt of those who in heart neglect it, while professing to have it. " How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?"
" 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." We cannot attempt to dwell upon this. It needs no comment. Human exposition could but weaken its force. The Holy Ghost alone can apply it to all those whom it may concern. But we earnestly pray that the reader of these lines may never be cast into that outer darkness—that place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. God grant that he may not only appear among the guests, but really have on the wedding garment, to the praise of that compelling grace to which we owe our present peace and everlasting glory.
The Wedding Garment: Part 2
"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 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. For many are called, but few chosen."
It will be needful for the reader, in order to understand the meaning and force of this most solemn parable, to look at it in immediate connection with the two which precede it. In all three we have vividly and forcibly set before us, first, man's incorrigible evil; and, secondly, the marvelous painstaking love and grace of God. All scripture, most surely, illustrates these things; but they are presented with peculiar point and power in this remarkable group of parables.
Let us turn for a moment to Matt. 21, and read at verse 21. " And when he was come into the temple"—the place which had been built for His worship, and where He surely ought to be honored—"the chief priests and elders of the people"—the very men who ought to have been foremost in leading the people to His feet, in adoring homage—" came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?"
Reader, ponder this, we pray you. Only think of the fact here set forth. God came into this world of ours, in perfect grace and goodness—came in love, to seek and to save that which was lost—came to meet man's need—came to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to lift the sinner from the depth of his ruin and misery, and bring him into everlasting blessedness and glory—came to do all this; and yet man had the audacity to ask Him for His authority! Only conceive—a wretched worm of the earth challenging God for His authority for coming into the world which His own hands had made, in order that He might remedy man's ruin! God, forsooth, must tell man whence He derived His authority for coming into His own world!
It will, doubtless, be said in reply, that those elders and chief priests did not know that Jesus of Nazareth was the God of Israel. But how will this mend their case? It is, alas! painfully evident that they knew Him not; but why did they not? The very scriptures which were read in their synagogues every sabbath-day clearly set forth the truth that Jesus was the Son of God; yea, was God over all, blessed for evermore. Why did they not know this? Why were they grossly ignorant of a truth which shines, with heavenly luster, from beginning to end of those " lively oracles" in which they made their boast, and of which they ought to have been the faithful expositors to the people? The truth of the Godhead of Jesus is the keystone of the glorious arch of divine revelation. If you take away that, if you deny that, if you are ignorant of that, you have absolutely nothing left that is worth having. Not to see the Godhead of Jesus, is not to see the sun in the solar system. And how could you have a solar system without the sun?
But these elders and chief priests were blind—mentally, morally, spiritually blind. Just so; and how, then, could they teach the people? And is there not something peculiarly awful in the thought of men setting themselves up, or being set up by their fellows, as religious guides, leaders, and teachers of the professed people of God, and, all the while, ignorant of the grand foundation-truth that Jesus of Nazareth is very God as well as very man? How awful the condition of such men! How awful their end! How awful their eternal destiny! They may be very clever, very amiable, very moral, very benevolent, very philanthropic, highly cultivated, very refined; but what is all this without Christ? Nay, more; what is it all when connected with the denial of His essential Godhead?
It will avail nothing to talk of Christ as a good man, an example of lofty virtue, the very fairest sample of humanity ever exhibited in this world, as one who lived a blameless, benevolent life, and died in defense of His principles. All this is but to cast dust in our eyes; it is to deceive us with vain words; it is the veriest sham that could possibly be pawned upon us. And, as to our adorable Lord, it is but to add insult to injury—to betray Him with a kiss—to mock Him with flattery, while robbing Him of His divine rights, and blaspheming His sacred Person.
If Jesus was not God, what was He? Hearken to these words, " For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son; that all should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father which hath sent him." John 5:21-23.
If the man that uttered these words was not God—not equal with the Father—what was He? Mark what He says. " That all should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father." Nothing short of this will do. Nothing less than divine homage will avail. It will not do to place the Son on a level with Moses and Elias. When Peter, in utter ignorance of what he was saying, and in the confusion of the moment, suggested such a thing, a voice from the excellent Majesty instantly corrected him, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear him." Moses and Elias disappeared, and Jesus was left alone.
Again, He says, " I and my Father are one." If the utterer of these words was not God, was not equal with the Father, what was He? Could He possibly be termed a good man? Could a mere pretender to Godhead be esteemed a good man? Could He be viewed as an example of lofty virtue? Impossible. We cannot conceive anything more grossly or impiously absurd than to talk of Jesus as a good man, and yet deny His absolute Godhead, His essential Deity. The fact is as clear as a sunbeam; if Jesus of Nazareth was not God over all, blessed forever, He could only be looked upon as—we dare not pen the word.
Shall we be told that, to contend for the truth of the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, is mere dogma, and that the time for insisting upon dogma is past and gone? Can this be so? Nay, reader, it is not so. Men may talk like this; they may put forth high-sounding words about dogma, about mere opinions, about sectarian creeds, about bigotry and narrow-mindedness. They may talk largely about being liberal, about breadth of mind, about catholicity of spirit, and such like.
It is all vain, worse than vain. If a man does not worship Jesus of Nazareth as the true and living God, what does all his catholicity of spirit, his breadth of mind, his largeness of heart, amount to? Can I sit down at the same table, or stand on the same platform, or link myself in the same work—be that work what it may—with one who denies the Deity of my blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? God forbid! Can I own a man as a Christian at all who blasphemes the Son of God, and robs Him of His divine rights? Am I going to pay compliments to a man at the expense of the One who laid down His precious life to deliver my guilty soul from the flames of an everlasting hell?
We are not now speaking of ignorance. Religious leaders, teachers, and guides are not to be dealt with on any such ground. The chief priests, elders, and scribes were not ignorant men. They boasted in their knowledge; they were the professed depositaries of all the learning and religious lore of the day. And yet they denied the Godhead of Jesus, and, as we have said, had the terrible audacity to challenge Him for His authority for coming into His own world to do good. "By what authority doest thou these things? And who gave thee this authority?"
What terrible blindness and hardness of heart! What moral insensibility! What total inability to weigh evidence, or judge righteous judgment! Did not His works carry their own credentials with them? Did not His marvelous ministry prove its divine origin? Did not His whole life afford evidence sufficiently powerful to carry conviction to any mind not blinded and perverted by the god of this world? As He said, on another occasion, "The works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me."
But those religious leaders were utterly incapable of judging. Human authority they could understand and appreciate, because it was in virtue of that they held their place—to that they owed their influence and their reputation. Thus it is always. Man will not allow even God Himself to act without human authority. Divine power, without human authority, will not suffice. Human authority, without divine power, gift, or grace, is quite sufficient. It was so in Jerusalem, in the days of our Lord; it is so in Christendom, in the days of the Holy Ghost. If a man possess all the gifts, graces, and powers that the Holy Ghost can bestow, yet, unless he has human authority—unless he is ordained, licensed, or appointed by men—he cannot minister. But, if he possess human authority, although he be utterly destitute of gifts or grace—yea, though he be wholly unconverted—he may minister.
How awful the thought! How terrible the condition of things! How appalling the judgment that overhangs the professing church! Surely the Lord's people ought to rouse themselves to the consideration of this solemn matter. We are filled with horror—and justly so—at the thought of the chief priests and elders daring to challenge our adorable Lord and Savior for His authority in fulfilling His holy and gracious mission. But is it not as bad to reject the ministry of the Holy Ghost, unless it comes to us with the seal and sanction of human authority? If God is pleased to raise up a man in our midst, to endow him with spiritual gift, to fill him with the power of the Holy Ghost, to fit him as an evangelist, a pastor, or a teacher, to use him largely in blessing to souls, whether in gathering them out of the world, or in building them up on their most holy faith—will such an one be received or owned in Christendom, unless he comes with a certificate signed by a human hand?
We leave the christian reader to consider this question, calmly and honestly, in the presence of God, while we return to our immediate theme, and contemplate the marvelous reply given by our blessed Lord to the men who presumed to challenge Him for His authority.
"And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven? or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him? But if we shall say, Of men, we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet. And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things."
What wisdom is here! What power! What masterly dealing with the moral material before Him! Ought not these religious guides and teachers of the people have been able to decide upon such a question as the mission of John the Baptist? Were they competent to teach others, if they could not answer so simple a question as that? And if they could not decide as to John's authority, what business had they to challenge Christ for His?
And, not only so, but if they were really honest men, could they not give an honest, straightforward answer?
Why "reason with themselves"? Why weigh the consequences of their reply? Alas! there was neither moral honesty, nor spiritual competency, in these men. It was not the glory of God, nor yet the simple claims of truth, that ruled their hearts and dictated their answer. It was their own reputation, on the one hand, or their personal interest, on the other.
It is always a bad sign, always suspicious, when men " reason with themselves" as to the answer they shall give to a plain question. The moment a man begins to reason as to how far his answer will affect himself, he is not to be trusted. A thoroughly honest man will answer an honest question straight out, without any shuffling, or any reference to himself.
But these elders and priests were not honest. They did not own the ministry of John the Baptist, and hence they would not say it was from heaven; and yet they had not the courage to say what they would fain have said, that it was of men. They were afraid of the people. It was no question with them of God or His truth. Self was their standpoint, and hence their entire range of vision was false, and all their con-elusions utterly erroneous. They were wholly incompetent to guide others, and therefore they had no sort of right or title to challenge anyone for his authority.
Nothing can exceed the wisdom and moral power of our Lord's reply to those priests and elders. They were left without a single hair's breadth of standing-ground. They were thoroughly exposed. They had presumed to challenge Him for His authority, but He showed them, plainly and pointedly, their utter unfitness for the position which the)' assumed, seeing they could not decide the question as to whether John's baptism was from heaven or of men. If they had understood that baptism, if they had owned it, if they had bowed under its mighty power, they would have had no occasion to ask Christ for His authority. If they had taken their place in true repentance, if they had gone down under the water of Jordan, confessing their sins, they would have been in a moral condition to hail the ministry of that blessed One who came to bind up the broken-hearted, and pour the rich consolation of divine grace into every contrite spirit.
All this comes forcibly out in the parable of the two sons. " But what think ye? A certain man had two sons: and he came to the first, and said, Son, go, work today in my vineyard. He answered, and said, I will not; but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir; and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily, I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the publicans and the harlots believed him; and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him."
The repentant son set forth the condition of the poor despised publicans and harlots. They were sinners, and they owned it. They bowed before the ministry of righteousness. They took the ground of true repentance—the only proper ground for a sinner—the ground on which the sovereign grace of God can meet him. The very moment a sinner takes the place of repentance and self-judgment, grace meets him, and conducts him, through the open door, right into the kingdom of God, where he is saved and blessed, according to all the love of the heart of God, and according to all the efficacy of Christ's precious sacrifice, and according to all the divine excellency and acceptability of His Person. The very moment a sinner truly confesses his sins, he is divinely, and therefore perfectly and eternally, forgiven. "I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Psalm 32 John 1
It will be well for the reader to ponder deeply this weighty point. Repentance is the grand epoch in a sinner's history. It is the first step in that pathway of moral reality which not only leads straight to the kingdom of God, but which must ever characterize all who have entered that kingdom. Repentance is not a transient emotion, but an abiding moral condition—the permanent attitude of every soul that is really led and taught by the Spirit of God. The unrepentant, the unbroken, the self-trusting, those who are building upon their own righteousness—whatever that righteousness may consist of—all such, whoever and wherever they may be, are like the second son in the parable, who said, " I go, sir; and went not." There is empty profession, without one atom of reality. It is all a sham, a cheat, a delusion.
How is it possible for such persons to understand or appreciate divine grace? How can they taste the love of a Savior-God? How can they know aught of the value of the blood of Jesus Christ? They live in a region where all is fictitious; they breathe an atmosphere of unreality; they have never taken the very first step in the pathway of truth; they have never repented; never accepted the counsel of God against themselves; never bowed ίο the sentence of His holy word; never really owned themselves to be what God's word tells them they are; they are at issue with God about their own actual condition; their whole religious life is one great, palpable, egregious lie; there can be neither truth nor reality in the religion of an unrepentant soul. The ax of divine righteousness must, sooner or later, level every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit; and the only possible way of escape is to own that we are bad trees, and take refuge, by faith, in Christ, the sinner's Substitute—God's full, free, and everlasting salvation.
It is the very height of religious folly for anyone to go on, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, giving utterance to the false and impious formulary, "I go, sir," while the whole practical life gives the lie to the utterance of the lips.
But, on the other hand, the first step in the pathway of true, heavenly wisdom, is to repent and turn to God, in true contrition, in real brokenness of spirit; and then we are in a condition to know the divine efficacy of the work of Christ, not only in the complete putting away of our sins, but also in introducing us into an entirely new condition, in which we are actually linked with Himself in all His perfectness, in the presence of God, so that we can take up the marvelous language of 1 John 4:17, and say, " As he is, so are we in this world."
Nothing can exceed this. Even the love of God could not go beyond this; and hence it is said to be the very perfection of divine love toward us; and it applies, in all its fullness, to any poor publican or harlot, yea, and to any poor scribe or pharisee who truly repents; but it has no application whatever to those who are content with a hollow and worthless, "I go, sir."
(To be continued, if God permit.)
The Wedding Garment: Part 3
We have now to call the attention of the reader to the second parable in the group, namely, that of the husbandmen. We shall quote it at full length, believing, as we do, most surely, that there is nothing like the veritable language of holy scripture—the actual words that fell from the lips of Him who spake as never man spake.
" Hear another parable. There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first; and they did unto them likewise. But, last of all, he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the lord, therefore, of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner; this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder." Matt. 21:33-44.
Now, while the primary application of this parable is obviously to the Jewish people, yet has it a moral bearing upon all who have been specially favored with religious advantages. For example, who would deny its application to all who have taken upon themselves the profession of Christ—all within the limits of baptized Christendom—all who have within their reach a copy of the holy scriptures? All such are placed under the most solemn responsibility, and will, most assuredly, have to render an account of all those privileges which have been placed within their reach.
But, primarily, as we have said, the parable of the vineyard applies to Israel, as the reader may clearly see by referring to Isa. 5 " Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved, touching his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill. And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein; and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, Ο inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done to it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? And now, go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard; I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down. And I will lay it waste; and it shall not be pruned nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant; and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry." Isa. 5:1-7.
In the divine dealings with the house of Israel, we see man thoroughly tested—so tested, that Jehovah could say, " What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done to it? " It was not merely that they broke the law; but, when brought into the land of Canaan, and put in possession of that fair inheritance, they miserably disappointed the heart of God. They failed to produce a single cluster of acceptable fruit; and not only so, but they stoned and shamefully treated the various messengers which, in patient grace, He sent unto them.
But there was more than this. Man was to be still further tested. "Last of all, he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son/é It was the fond expectation of the heart of God, that His beloved Son would be received with the love and reverence due to Him. We have, in Luke's Gospel, a most exquisite touch. "Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; it may be they will reverence him when they see him"
How deeply affecting is this! How strikingly characteristic of Luke's Gospel—that precious treasury of all that is divinely human! "It may be, they will reverence my beloved Son the moment they see him." The Father's heart cherished the hope that that blessed One, in whom He found all His delight, would instantly command the reverence, love, and homage of the human heart.
Shall we be told that God knew how it would turn out—that He had no such expectation—that He knew the end from the beginning? No doubt God knew all that man would do; but that in nowise touches the fact set forth in our Lord's own words, " It may be." God had a right to expect that men would reverence His beloved and only-begotten Son. It may, with equal force, be said that God knew from the beginning that man would break the law; but how does this touch the question of man's responsibility? Had not God a right to expect obedience to His law? And was not man responsible to render that obedience? Assuredly. How, then, could God's knowledge affect the question? In nowise, unless, indeed, we are to listen to the arguments of a repulsive fatalism, which robs the divine dealings of all their mighty moral force, and reduces man to the level of a mere machine, without a single atom of moral responsibility.
So also as regards the vineyard. Had not God a right to expect fruit, after all the pains and labor expended upon it? And was not man responsible to render Him the fruit? Who would question it, save a fatalist, whose system completely falsifies the divine character, and man's position under the government of God.
If, then, it be thus as regards the vineyard and the law—if God was justified in demanding and expecting fruit and obedience, and if man was responsible to render both the one and the other, how much more might God expect that man would reverence His Son, and how much more was man responsible to yield that reverence! But he did not; he disappointed God in this as in all beside—in this more than all, inasmuch as the mission of the Son was the very highest act of grace on God's part, and the claims which were founded upon this mission were the most powerful that could possibly be put forth. It was bad enough to break the law, to stone the messengers sent to obtain the fruits of the vineyard; but the worst of all was to cast the Heir out of the vineyard, and crucify Him.
What an answer to the fond expectation of the Father's heart! " It may be they will reverence my Son when they see him" What a just expectation! How worthy was that Son of reverence, homage, and worship! But the human heart had none of these for Him. It preferred a robber and a murderer to the blessed Son of God—a robber and a murderer to God manifest in the flesh—God over all, blessed forever.
And, be it remembered, this was not the act of poor blind, ignorant heathen. No, reader, it was the act of those who had the scriptures in their hands, and who heard those scriptures read in their synagogues every sabbath-day. It was the act of those who were in the enjoyment of the very highest religious advantages—of those who were the responsible guides, leaders, and teachers of the professed people of God,—the chief priests, elders, and guides of the only people on the face of the earth with whom Jehovah had ever connected His Name.
How solemn is this fact! How it makes manifest the deep-seated enmity of the human heart to God! Never before had this enmity been so fully declared. The mission of the Son put man's heart to the test most thoroughly. This we learn from our Lord's own words, in John 15: "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin. He that hateth me, hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin; but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father." Verses 22-24.
Now, it is of the very utmost importance to understand this aspect of the mission of the Son of God. We are apt to lose sight of it. We lose sight of the solemn truth set forth in the words just quoted. " If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin." Had they not broken the law? Had they not slain the prophets? Had they not trampled under foot the sacred institutions of the Mosaic economy? Alas! alas! they had done all this. And yet He says, " If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin." His coming and speaking to them made their sin fully manifest. The light that shone in Him left them wholly without excuse. By refusing Him, they proved their utter hatred of God. " They have both seen and hated both me and my Father."
Terrible fact! It was all over with man. There was not a single ray of hope, so far as he was concerned. Perfect goodness was lovingly displayed before man's eyes, in the Person and life of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was the image of the invisible God, the brightness of His glory, and the exact impression of His substance. He was the only perfect Man that ever trod this earth, the living impersonation of all that was pure, true, and good. In Him were perfectly combined, and blessedly displayed, every divine and human perfection. u He went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him." He was the ever-ready Servant of every form of human need. It was His delight to minister to all the varied wants of fallen and needy humanity. He touched the poor loathsome leper, and cleansed him. He opened the eyes of the blind, and unstopped the ears of the deaf. He fed the hungry, and dried the widow's tears; He made the lame to leap for joy. He healed the broken-hearted, and relieved the oppressed. In a word He was the perfect display of divine goodness in an absolutely perfect human life.
Such was the Man Christ Jesus—the eternal Son of the Father—the perfect embodiment of grace and truth, holiness and love, majesty and mercy, power and patience. And yet man hated Him. The human heart absolutely hated that morally glorious and perfect Being.
Now, we all know that facts are powerful arguments; and here is a tremendous fact recorded in the pages of inspiration, established, not merely by two or three, but by many, witnesses, used by the Holy Ghost to set it before us in all its moral turpitude. Man hated, rejected, and crucified the Son of God—that blessed One, who spent His life in doing good; " who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth"—the holy, harmless, gracious, loving Friend of man, who came from heaven, in perfect love, to serve and to give, to seek and to save that which was lost. Man deliberately preferred a robber and a murderer to this perfect Being. God came down into the world which His hands had made—came, in richest, purest, freest grace—came in the Person of Jesus, to bless men by His presence; and, not only did they challenge Him for His authority, but actually cast Him out, and nailed him to a cross between two thieves.
Terrible fact! What tongue, what pen, can adequately set forth the guilt and just deserts of such an act? How solemn will be the reckoning by-and-by! When the Almighty God shall make inquisition for the blood of His Son: when He shall unsheath the sword of judgment, to avenge the murder of His well-beloved and only-begotten One—as He most surely will—who shall be able to stand?
When our Lord, at the close of His weighty parable, put this pointed question to His hearers, " When the lord, therefore, of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?" they actually pronounced sentence on themselves; " They say unto him, he will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard to other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons." How little they knew what they were saying! It is one thing to pass sentence in some abstract case, and quite another to see the application of that sentence to ourselves. " He will miserably destroy those wicked men." Yes; but where does the guilt lie? What about myself? How do I stand in relation to the awful transaction of Calvary? It will not do to say, " Those wicked men;" I must see my own part in the matter. If the crucifixion of the blessed Son of God was the act of the human heart—the act of man—the act of the world; then, if I am part and parcel of the world, if I am an unconverted man, if I have an unbroken, unrepentant human heart, if I have not bowed before God in true repentance, if I have not broken with the world, and taken God's side against myself—I am verily guilty of the rejection of the Son of God. There is no middle ground. " He that is not for me is against me."
This is most solemn. There are just the two classes, and the reader belongs to either the one or the other; there are those who own and worship the Son of God; and there are those who reject Him, those who, by their works and ways—the true index—say, a Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways." It is easy to see how we stand in reference to Christ—easy to see the bent of our affections—the object of our hearts. If we really love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth, that love will express itself in a thousand ways, negatively and positively. It would be impossible to conceal it; in what we do, and what we do not do; in what we say, and in what we do not say; in where we go, and where we do not go; in everything, in short, the real bent of our hearts will come out.
It is a common saying amongst us, that a feather will tell the direction of the wind; so in the life of a person, the merest trifle may make manifest the real current of the soul. Take, for example, the simple matter of reading. Let the reader put this plain question to himself, " What do I really like to read?" Is it something about Christ, or something about the world? Whether does the Bible, or a novel, or a newspaper most command my heart? Whether would I rather read a chapter in the New Testament, or the report of a trial in a criminal court?
Let us be honest with ourselves. It really resolves itself, after all, into the question, " This man, or Barabbas?" "What think ye of Christ?" Momentous question! "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha." Christ is God's standard, His test for everyone and everything. The state of the heart toward Christ gives character to all we think, and say, and do, from morning till night, and from the beginning to the end of the year. How important it is, therefore, for each one of us to look well to the real attitude of the heart in reference to the Christ of God. We are either lovers or haters of the blessed Lord Jesus Christ. There is, positively, not the breadth of a hair of neutral ground.
Header, do, we entreat of you, weigh, in the very deepest depths of your soul, this weighty question, How am I treating the Heir? Am I reverencing or rejecting the Son of God? Consider, we beseech you, our Lord's solemn words at the close of His address to the chief priests and elders. Mark what He says about the rejected stone—that marvelous stone, the history of which runs all through the inspired volume, from Genesis to Revelation—from Jacob's prophetic address, to the foundation of the new Jerusalem.
Christ is that stone. He was presented to the builders of Israel; but, instead of building on Him, they stumbled over Him, and rejected Him. Where is He now? Exalted to the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens, and proclaimed in the gospel of the grace of God, in order that every poor burdened, heavy laden, sin-sick, broken-hearted sinner may build on Him, in simple faith, and be saved with an everlasting salvation.
Hear those precious words of the prophet Isaiah—hear and believe: " Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion"—the seat and center of royal and triumphant grace—" for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation; he that believeth shall not be confounded." Isa. 8
Say, dear friend, are you satisfied with God's foundation? Is His precious Stone enough for your soul? Or do you want to add something of your own, be it what it may? God says,"! lay:" and what then? " He that believeth" God is satisfied with Christ without anything of yours. Are you satisfied? Can you trust God's foundation? He assures you that if you simply believe in His tried, chief Corner Stone, you shall never be confounded, world without end. If you build on aught else, you will be covered with everlasting confusion. The moment is rapidly approaching when the rejected Stone, now hidden in the heavens, shall fall, in crushing judgment, upon this wicked world, grinding to powder all that in which the human heart finds its delight and satisfaction.
What a moment will that be! How terrible for all who reject God's precious Stone! Oh, that the reader may not be among the number! No human language can set forth the awful condition of those who reject Christ, as all do who refuse to build upon Him now. A person may say, " I do not mean to reject Christ, I quite, I fully intend, some day, to give attention to these things; but it is time enough yet. I want a little more of the world, a little more pleasure, a little more gain."
Alas, what folly! This night thy soul may be required of thee; then what of thy pleasures and gains? How will they profit thee in the awful day of judgment? Be not deceived. Come now, we earnestly entreat thee, and find rest, peace, safety, and everlasting blessedness in God's precious Stone. Come to Jesus, just now, just as thou art! Give Him the full confidence of thy heart, and then, when the hour of judgment comes, thou shalt be as exempt from judgment as the Judge Himself. Amazing fact!—a fact only to be accounted for by the death of the Son of God.
(To be concluded in our next, If God permit.)