THE WEDDING GARMENT

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 2, 1861

THE WEDDING GARMENT.

IN Matt. xxii, 1-14, our Saviour utters a parable of solemn import. It is designed to give us both instruction and warning in reference to a time which concerns us above all else—a time when the final decision shall be passed upon us either for the endless joys of light and life or for the horrors of everlasting death. The parable represents that a certain king made a marriage for his son. The guests were bidden and came. When the king came in to see them, one was found who had not on the wedding garment. He was bound hand and foot and cast into outer darkness. To comprehend the full extent of this man's offence, we must bear in mind the custom relative to such occasions which was prevalent at the time when this parable was spoken. It is this: "Every one that came to the marriage feast was expected to appear in a handsome and elegant dress, which was called the wedding garment. This was frequently a white robe. Where the guest was a stranger, or was not able to provide such a robe, it was usual for the master of the feast to furnish him with one; and if he who gave the entertainment was of high rank, and great opulence, he sometimes provided marriage robes for the whole assembly. It must be remarked also that it was in a very high degree indecorous and offensive to good manners, to intrude into this festivity without this garment."

This guest's not being furnished, therefore, was the result either of gross neglect or of a positive refusal on his part to avail himself of the king's proffered hospitality. He had no excuse for his situation. No wonder he was speechless.

He was "cast into outer darkness." In this sentence we read too clearly to be mistaken, the fate of those who are found unworthy at last to stand before the Son of man. They fall for the lack of something which is to them what the wedding garment was to the man in the parable; and hence the inquiry becomes paramount in importance. What is this? How may we ascertain whether or not we have it? And how may we obtain it if we are without it now? Can we tell what this wedding garment is? We believe we can with the utmost definiteness and certainty. In reaching this point we shall be aided by tracing out the application of the parable in some of its other particulars.

1. "A king made a marriage for his son;" so has God for his Son Jesus Christ. This event is called the "marriage of the Lamb." It is yet future, taking place in close connection with the fall of great Babylon. Rev. xix. And John was commanded to write, "Blessed are they who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb." Verse 9.

2. What is this marriage? Marriage is a special union consummated between a bridegroom and a bride. In the marriage of the Lamb, Christ is of course the bridegroom. He is so called. Matt. ix, 15, &c. Who or what is the bride? The Bible answers this question and tells us plainly that it is the New Jerusalem, the city which is above. In Revelation xxi, 9, 10, we have the following unequivocal testimony: "And there came unto me one of the seven angels that had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me saying, Come hither and I will show thee the bride the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God." The Scriptures elsewhere speak upon this point and maintain a beautiful harmony throughout. Paul speaking of this same city, the Jerusalem above, and contrasting it with the earthly Jerusalem, which is in bondage with her children the Jews, says, "But Jerusalem which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all." Gal. iv, 26. And he makes this declaration on the authority of the prophets, backing up his words with that conclusive sentence, "For it is written." Where is this written? In Isa. liv, which in verse 4, contains this pointed language: "For thy Maker is thy husband." Compare this with the language of Christ when he told his disciples [Jno. xiv, 3], that he was going to prepare mansions for them.

Mark the harmony of these figures: Paul says that Jerusalem which is above, is free, and is the mother of us all; we then of course are the children. Christ is called in reference to his people, the "everlasting Father." Isa. ix, 6. In Christ, the New Jerusalem, and the saints, we thus have the figure complete, of Father, mother and children. The same harmony and consistency is carried out in the figure of the marriage of the Lamb: Christ is the bridegroom, the city is the bride, and we, the church, are the guests. It will not do to call the church the bride as some have done: for the church has another place assigned it, and another part to perform, which must not be confounded with the position of the bride: they are the guests which are bidden to the marriage, and not one of the parties, between which the marriage is consummated.

As we have now before us, all the parties concerned in the marriage of the Lamb, it is easy to conclude in what that marriage consists: it must be some more intimate relationship which Christ assumes toward the holy city. This city, descended to the earth is to be the metropolis of Christ's everlasting kingdom. Rev. xxi. When he receives his kingdom he receives the metropolis; and the receiving of the metropolis is the receiving of the kingdom. Christ is now associated with his Father on his throne. Rev. iii, 21. He there occupies the position of priest-king. Zech. vi, 13. But the time is coming when he will give up his present position, his associated rule, and take his own throne. Luke i, 32, 33; xxii, 29; 1 Cor. xv, 24; Rev. iii, 21. This is the union which is to take place between Christ and his kingdom, on the holy city, the metropolis of his kingdom; hence it is to this that the term marriage is applied. This is the marriage of the Lamb.

3. When does this marriage take place? It takes place previous to his second coming; for we are commanded to be in readiness for our Lord when he shall return from the wedding. "Let your loins be girded about, and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord when he shall return from the wedding." Luke xii, 35, 36. The next verse is likewise so much in point that we must transcribe that also: "Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching; verily I say unto you that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them;" the evangelist might have added, at the marriage supper of the Lamb. We will refer to one more text which shows no less distinctly that the marriage of the Lamb, or his reception of his kingdom takes place previous to his second coming. To correct certain misapprehensions of the Jews, about the setting up of the kingdom of God, Christ, likening himself to a nobleman, said: "A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return." Luke xix, 12. "And it came to pass that when he was returned, having received the kingdom," &c. Verse 15. Who can doubt that by the nobleman's going into a far country, is here meant the ascension of Christ from this earth into heaven, and that the returning, is his second coming? But he does not return till after he has received the kingdom.

To be still more definite on this point, he not only receives the kingdom previous to his coming, but almost immediately preceding it. He does not of course leave his present position on the throne of his Father, till the time comes for him to take his own throne; but so long as he occupies his present position, he performs the office of priest, and mediator for the human race. When therefore he takes his own throne probation ends. But between the ending of probation, and the second coming of Christ, but a short space of time can elapse, not more than a year, according to Isa. lxiii, 4. Furthermore, the saints are to be guests at the marriage supper; but they are not gathered till the Son of man shall appear and send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, to gather them from the four winds; from one end of heaven to the other.

We have now found an application of the parable of Matt. xxii, in three particulars: We have learned, first, to what personage it applies; second, what is meant by the marriage; and third, when it takes place. We now inquire,

4. What is meant by the King's coming in to see the guests? The marriage of the Lamb takes place as we have seen, at the close of probation; and the last work of Christ before this event, his last service as mediator is the finishing up of the ministration of the heavenly Sanctuary, in which he now ministers at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens. Heb. viii. Looking back to the type we find that the last service of the sanctuary, called its cleansing, was the putting away, in figure, of the sins of the people. Lev. xvi. Rev. xiv, 18. The law of types bids us look for such a work, in fact, as the closing act of the ministration of the sanctuary in heaven. But this work involves an examination of character. In the book of God's remembrance, is found a record of all lives; and men are to be judged at last, by those things which are written in the books. Rev. xx, 12. The Scriptures many times speak of sins' being blotted out. They speak of it, too, not as figurative, but literal. Peter was not dealing in figures, when he said, "Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord," &c. Acts iii, 19. These sins must therefore have been recorded in the book of God's remembrance, or in that book out of which men are to be judged according to their deeds. Repentance on our part will cause them to be blotted out at a certain time, namely, the time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. But the putting away or blotting out of sins, is the very work that constitutes the cleansing of the sanctuary. And this is the last work that is accomplished before Christ lays off his priestly robe for his kingly vesture. It will be further seen, on a moment's consideration, that a certain decision must be passed upon mankind, before the coming of Christ; for when he appears, of all the living multitudes, those only who are his are to be changed and translated; and of all the dead, those only who have died in him are to have part in the resurrection. How is it to be determined who these are? Omniscience, to be sure, would have no difficulty in knowing; but he has seen fit to reveal to us the fact that a book of records is kept, and that it is by that record that men are to be judged, and by that record their characters determined. An investigation of these records must therefore take place previous to the coming of Christ. The sins of those who have repented will be blotted out, and their names retained in the Lamb's book of life; while the sins of those who have not sought forgiveness and pardon, will stand against them, and their names will be blotted out of the book of life. This investigation of character, this blotting out of sins, is, as we have seen, the last work performed in the heavenly sanctuary previous to the close of probation, and the marriage of the Lamb. This is the coming in of the King to see the guests—to determine, as characters pass in review before the great tribunal of heaven, who they are, who are worthy of translation, and a part in the first resurrection when the angels are sent forth to bring those who are prepared, to the marriage supper of the Lamb. We will here add, though it is a portion of the subject upon which we have not space in the present article to give the evidence, that this work of investigation and examination is now going forward, having commenced at the termination of the 2300 days in 1844. Those who are not familiar with the evidence on this point we refer to the tract on the subject of the sanctuary. In this examination, whoever is not found having on the wedding garment is to be cast into outer darkness. We now inquire,

5. What is this wedding garment? It is that which the faithful and true Witness now counsels us to buy of him. Speaking to the last, which is the present, stage of the church, he says, I counsel thee to buy of me white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed. Rev. iii, 18. Why this special counsel at the present time? Because the King is coming in to see the guests, and none will be accepted but those who are found clothed in this white raiment, or having on the wedding garment. And what is this white raiment? It is defined in Rev. xix, 8. The fine linen, clean and white [white raiment, the wedding garment], is the righteousness of saints. Righteousness, then, or right doing, is the wedding garment in which we must be clothed to find acceptance, as our characters pass in review before the King of kings. In this righteousness we behold obedience to the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. We behold it in those graces of the Spirit, which the apostle Peter commands us to add, one after another, to our faith. 2 Pet. i, 5-7. We behold in it

that fruit of the Spirit which we are commanded to bring forth abundantly. Gal. v, 22, 23. In Rev. ii, 6, there is a promise to the overcomer which reads, "The same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life." The same shall be clothed in white raiment; he shall be furnished with the wedding garment, and shall be an acceptable guest at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Behold in the counsel of the true Witness the goodness of God, and the tender concern of Christ for his people. He does not let us pass on in ignorance, and consequently in carelessness, till the King suddenly comes in to see the guests, and finds us unprepared. But he sheds forth the light of divine truth, revealing to us, at once, both his position and our own, showing the age of the world in which we live, and the part of his ministration in which he is now engaged. Nor does he leave us here; but when the time draws near for the King to come in and see the guests, the time when we must be found with the wedding garment on to be able to stand, he sends us special counsel to robe ourselves immediately in the white raiment, and be ready for the final test. Those who either neglect or reject his counsel, he will spew out of his mouth, and blot their names out of the book of life; or, in other words, he will bind them hand and foot, and cast them into outer darkness, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Second to no other is this subject in importance and solemnity. The lights and shades of approaching eternity already envelop it. The crisis is right upon us. Decision must now be made for eternal life or everlasting death. But none need despair. The wedding garment is at our command. It is offered freely without price. Righteousness is the only purchase-money required in exchange. We have yet time to procure it; and He who does not trifle with his people by counseling an impossibility, counsels us to obtain it now. If we neglect, the startling demand will soon be made of us, "Friend, how camest thou in hither without a wedding garment?" And, like the man in the parable, we shall be without excuse and speechless. The Lord help us to escape this sad condition. In the impressive language of the hymn we would say,

"Souls for the marriage feast,

Robe and prepare.

Holy must be such guests—

Jesus is there."