And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.
At supper time the host sends his servant with a second call to those already invited, telling them to come because everything is prepared. All things ready means God's full provision is made, with pardon, grace, Christ Himself, righteousness, access to the Father, the Holy Spirit, rest, peace, and eternal life prepared at infinite cost. The feast is a free gift open to all the world without exception, yet it must be personally received in willing obedience, with each guest putting on the wedding garment of Christ's righteousness. Those first bidden with one consent make excuses over lands, business, and home interests, and by putting earthly concerns ahead of eternal things they insult the host and lose their place at the table. That summons sounds now as the last message of mercy to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, to be carried urgently into streets, highways, and byways so the house may be filled.
Parable Setting and Servant
At supper time the host sends his servant with a second call to those already bidden, telling them to come because all is now ready. The renewal of the invitation when the meal is ready makes it a present call to receive what God has provided, and the feast stands for the blessings offered through the gospel with Christ Himself as its provision. It is a gracious privilege and invitation from God that asks for response in this life through taking part in service rather than being treated lightly. The following excuses show how earthly interests and property can absorb the mind and be put ahead of Christ, with a minor matter placed above service for Him. Refusal brings exclusion from the feast, and the call then goes beyond the wealthy and socially favored to the poor and needy in simple words all can understand, including people the first guests despised but whom God values.
The servant sent at supper time represents the Lord's messengers who carry the prepared feast's invitation to highways and hedges. They are humble servants formed in Christ's school, having learned meekness and humility in Christ, who go out telling others that all is prepared and who share what they have received with hungry souls. That work is supported by humble persistent prayer for what hungry souls need. Those sent at supper time include men and women who take up canvassing with earnest consecration, willingly and unselfishly with no time to lose, giving now the call to come because all things are ready as evangelistic warning in a question of life and death. The King calls those bidden to the marriage supper He has made for His Son, the great marriage supper of the Lamb, sent for some thirty years past to His people to come and make ready by putting on the wedding garment of meekness, humility, truth and Christ's righteousness so as to enter the guest chamber and sit with Him, announcing that everything is prepared, mansions are prepared, and He is soon coming to receive the faithful while those bidden make excuse.
The parable belongs to table talk Christ spoke while attending a feast after accepting invitations to dinners and feasts from Pharisees and publicans. Every word was controlled by Him to give a precious lesson adapted to the needs of the hearers, a savor of life unto life showing how the king's invitation was treated. By example it teaches disciples how to conduct themselves and find something purposeful to say when in company with the religious and irreligious at public gatherings.
The first call went to a highly favored people and represents the churches and the Jews, who believed the blessings of eternal life were theirs alone. God's invitation to salvation comes when all is ready through the light and opportunity given in Christ, extended to the Jewish nation and to every nation under heaven. When the first guests rejected it with worldly excuses and unbelief, refusing mercy, they were left without share in the supper and passed over while responding sinners were welcomed into God's kingdom. The invitation was then sent to the Gentiles and to people the Jews despised, to the poor and needy and finally to the degraded and helpless, and to others so that the house might be filled. The supper also points to the marriage supper of the Lamb, and the ready feast signifies the blessing of pardon for which receiving and practicing God's Word is preparation for church relationship. The householder's invitation conferring high honor was met with indifference rather than the insult and murder meeting the king's invitation in the wedding parable, and it was answered with exclusion from the table, that none of those bidden should taste of the supper, rather than with destruction.
The supper represents the promised feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, illustrating the blessings of eternal life, with the servant's message that everything is ready marking the time when the invited guests are called to come. It pictures the coming of the promised Messiah as King of the Jews to conquer their enemies and set up His kingdom. Those bidden were the Jewish priests, elders, and leading men who made great professions of piety and eager expectation, claiming to wait with anxious expectancy to go in immediately when the supper-time call came and proclaiming everywhere the great events of His coming. When He came at His first advent they knew Him not, because they applied to His first advent the prophecies relating to His second coming.
Ready Feast Provision
The supper is the blessings offered through the gospel, the kingdom itself and the opportunity for salvation, and coming to it means receiving Christ Himself who is its provision. The servant's word that all is ready is a second call to those already bidden, renewing the invitation when the meal is prepared, and it marks the promised feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the blessings of eternal life. That feast is not a single moment but a lifetime of accepting God's invitation, extending into eternity, entered by truly receiving Christ, surrendering to God's will, obeying His commandments, following His example, and wearing the wedding garment of Christ's righteousness in holiness and likeness to God. It is a gospel feast open to whoever will accept it, and when many who are invited refuse, the invitation goes out to others so that the house may be filled.
All things ready means complete provision is already prepared to meet every spiritual need: pardon and grace, Christ Himself as the Bread of Life, righteousness and justification by faith, the promises of Scripture, access to the Father, the comfort of the Holy Spirit, rest, peace, joy, and assurance of eternal life. God is ready to accept, pardon, and cleanse even the long-away prodigal, and His compassion, pardon, grace, and light are ready for the repentant. To refuse the invitation or to doubt willingness to receive with pardon and grace shows contempt for God and for one's own highest good, while accepting the blessings honors the Giver, allows the Holy Spirit to work through the whole person in Christ's service, and should lead those who accept to draw their families and relatives with them; refusal leaves spiritual needs unmet and can influence others to stay away. The ready feast signifies the blessing of pardon, and receiving and practicing God's Word is the preparation for church relationship. It is salvation through pardon in a crucified and risen Christ, set before those without God and without hope as a banquet spread for them, belonging to today as well as to the disciples, to be carried to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people from door to door by pastors, teachers, and evangelists, not with tame lifeless utterance but with clear decided stirring utterance and power from on high showing the power of Christianity, so that hundreds waiting to escape for their lives and men and women hungering for truth will recognize the provision made for them and respond. The gracious call to come because all is ready must be extended to everyone, even to those who resist or refuse it, as a witness that God has invited them to the provision of redemption through reconciliation with God and justification by faith in Christ.
The feast is the Word of the living God, and possession of the Word is a personal privilege granted to all, creating personal faith and personal responsibility in everyone who hears it. Neither human birth nor descent from Abraham nor membership in any church will save any soul; there must be a visible connection with God through faith that works by love, revealing true preference, firm reliance, entire willing obedience and consecration, securing complete identification with Christ, sharing His feelings, desires, and interests, binding up life with Christ Jesus so that the believer becomes one with Christ. Angels continually give this invitation, but they do not force anyone to accept it; each person must choose Christ, for while God earnestly desires people to accept, His compassion, pardon, grace, and light do not replace repentance, confession, or willing response.
The banquet was provided at great and infinite cost by the love of Christ, at the cost of His precious life and blood, as a banquet of truth prepared for rich and poor. The invitation is given by Christ Himself, plain and simple so it can be impressed on the mind, worldwide to every creature and urgent, to be given not in self and not with difficult controversial theories first but in the armor of Christ with self submerged, calling attention to provisions made accessible to all, lifting up Christ as altogether lovely and chiefest among ten thousand and spreading the unsearchable riches of Christ. It tests those brought to the knowledge of the truth, watching what characters they will develop and whether selfish interests will be counted of greater value than eternal riches and a part in things of eternal value. Ministers of the gospel are therefore to go out into the highways and hedges and by persevering determined effort compel worldly moneyed men to come in, take hold of them and bring them to Christ's table, where Christ Himself promises to seat them and serve them.
The feast is a free gift, and all who will may come to the banquet, yet indifference to the call fails to express love for the fallen race, and messengers constrained by the purest deepest love of God are to reveal deep earnest unquenchable love in life and character, clothed with the mind of Christ, because the free gift presses the question of what is owed to the Lord. The gospel invitation is given in both Old and New Testaments to all people to sit at the gospel feast abundantly supplied for all who will come. It cannot force anyone to eat and feast on spiritual food, but requires willing, grateful, obedient personal partaking to become an all-round Christian, and all who fully yield obedience to the call are highly privileged with precious opportunities for spiritual development and training. The call is to be carried through clear steady rays of truth that draw people to Christ, not through force, applying to outreach among the poor and people of every social level, for barriers raised between people and Christ obstruct the invitation, while those who receive it are offered the Word of God as spiritual food. It is the gracious invitation of the great Teacher to finite fallen men in need of pardon and peace to come to the bountifully spread table and make peace with God, a testing message to be proclaimed everywhere to all nations to the end of the world, yet often met with frivolous excuses, jesting, contempt, and absolute rejection as attractive allurements close ears against hearing; those who ought to give the message and draw souls to the feast but hide their talents in the earth are unfaithful slothful servants who will be called to account, while faithful voices feel their responsibility and work with every means in their power to compel them to come in.
Refusal Excuses and Loss
With one consent those already bidden make frivolous excuses about ground and oxen, farms and cattle, business and merchandise, marriage and home interests, putting earthly interests, blessings, and temporal concerns ahead of eternal things while the mind becomes absorbed by them. The second call comes when supper is ready to those already invited, and the feast is the blessings offered through the gospel with Christ Himself as its provision, a gracious privilege and invitation from God calling for present service and partaking rather than indifference. To give priority to property is to put a minor matter above service for Christ, to slight the privilege and treat the call lightly, and those who close their ears and refuse with such trivial worldly excuses about business, property, and family ties will not taste of the supper, which is loss of heaven. Refusing for farms, business, or other self-interests dishonors God and slights His call, warning against letting worldly concerns take priority over hearing and obeying Him, and when the invitation is slighted it is extended to people the first guests despised, whom God values, leaving refusers outside the influence of truth and righteousness.
No earthly tie excuses refusal, not marriage nor absorption in contemplated marriage that shuts the heart to the gracious Visitor and His counsel, not a spouse's refusal or opposition, not a child's attachment to unbelieving parents, not fear of hatred from scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees, and not self-sufficiency and refusal of light. Husbands, wives, and children each may let a family member's refusal keep them from coming when worldly interests or fear of disruption in family and social relationships are valued more than eternity, but this does not preserve true peace or love, since only Christ can give human love purity and steadfastness. Every hearer has individual responsibility through the conviction of Christ and the wooings of the Holy Spirit that cannot be submerged in husband or wife nor surrendered to relatives or children, for the soul belongs to Christ by creation and redemption as His bought property and the church is married to Him as bride to husband, so no earthly marriage can excuse refusal. To present frivolous excuses, turn away to please family, or neglect the invitation brings spiritual loss and eternal consequences, and faithfulness requires forsaking father, mother, husband, wife, sisters and brethren if needed in order to walk in the light and manifest loyalty to God.
Refusal tests character and proves whether selfish interests will be counted of greater value than eternal riches and a part in things of eternal value, watching what characters develop in those brought to the knowledge of the truth. To refuse the invitation or doubt willingness to receive with pardon and grace shows contempt for God and for one's own highest good, insults the generous host by neglect, disobeys the heavenly command to follow and take part in eternal things, and accepting the blessings honors the Giver while meeting every spiritual need through the Holy Spirit working through the whole person in service. Many professing present truth, even those best able to advance the cause, frame the same excuses, letting farms, cattle, marriage, home interests, worldly possessions, and business cares overpower every divine attraction and making the very blessings given to prove them, to see if they will render to God the things that are God's, the reason for disobedience. In doing so they close the door of the heart to the heavenly messenger until it becomes unimpressible as the beaten highway and overgrown with thorns and cares, so that knocking is in vain, keeping the galling yoke of selfishness and covetousness that enslaves to mammon instead of exchanging it for the easy yoke and light burden of self-denial and sacrifice for others, meekness and lowliness of heart, and rest to the soul. Religious teachers who refuse follow the Jewish rulers in closing their eyes to evidence into continued opposition and hatred of Christ's character, and refusal can influence others to stay away, whereas those who accept should draw families and relatives with them.
Those who disregard the privilege lose their place and will not taste of the supper, for the renewed call when the meal was ready ends in exclusion for guests who refuse. The urgent call to the marriage supper of the Lamb is to be given to all classes, yet many who have heard it for years will not heed it, and those who persistently refuse will not taste of Christ's supper, so messengers are sent to those who have not heard in the highways and hedges to compel people to come in that the house may be filled. Pleading fear of ridicule, desire to please neighbors, care of the farm, need to work on the Sabbath, hiring others to work on the Sabbath, or letting neighbors think Sabbath-keeping foolish and withdraw harmony is slighting the gospel invitation bought by the death of the Son of God, and accepting requires obeying the commandments of God and keeping the Sabbath; those who despise the offer will not taste of the supper. The invitation is still open as the ark door was open in Noah's day before it was closed, warning that time to accept will end and people must prepare and respond without delay before cases are fixed for eternity and probation closes. Those who disregard warning and refuse to obey are not spared in judgment and receive no second invitation after probation closes, remaining bound to Satan's yoke and losing sight of the eternal, with the door shut in eternal loss.
Neglecting the gracious heavenly entertainment prepared for the special benefit of those bidden, turning from it to slight inducements thought to serve self better, is slothfulness toward heaven, doing the work by halves and by odd spells, neglecting it when attention is diverted, and easing conscience with resolves to be diligent at some future time. The prepared feast is the opportunity for salvation calling for diligent, thorough preparation engaging all powers of the mind for everlasting life and the great judgment, to be accepted now while the waters of life are freely offered, including obeying God and preparing for judgment when works will be tested, without flimsy excuses or delay. If the claims and cares of the world are allowed to engross all time and attention, spiritual powers weaken and die in proportion as they are not exercised in active piety, every inlet for light from heaven is closed, transforming grace is not felt, and talents for piety are ignored and neglected. A mind trained to disregard God's plainest requirements, disobedient, unthankful, unholy, disliking religious things and loving earth more than heaven, cannot make the response, for receiving requires a mind prepared to value heavenly things in active piety and obedience; such neglect leaves a person unready, outside the influence of truth and righteousness, and, remaining unready, sustaining eternal loss and keeping others in unreadiness by influence, condemned out of the own mouth when too late seeking admittance to find the door shut.
Wedding Garment and Obedience
Coming to the supper is not complete until each invited guest puts on the wedding garment, which is the righteousness and character of Christ Himself. That garment means being clothed with meekness, humility, truth, holiness, and likeness to God, with humanity combined with divinity, and the call to put it on belongs together with the reckoning of the man who appeared without it. The feast itself is a lifetime of accepting God's invitation reaching into eternity, and a place at it cannot be claimed while withholding full service. Those who truly receive Christ surrender to God's will, obey His commandments, follow His example, and strip off every inherited and cultivated trait that dishonors God, for keeping such traits puts them to shame as surely as laying a foundation without counting the cost. The humble who come are welcomed without payment and receive Christ's white robe, while merely accepting Bible truth in name without practicing it leaves a person unprepared and accountable.
Accepting the ready invitation means obeying God, denying self, taking up the cross, keeping all His commandments including the Sabbath even when neighbors call it foolish, ridicule, and withdraw fellowship, devoting talents to His work, and welcoming Jesus to abide. Pleading fear of ridicule, desire to please neighbors, care of the farm, need to work on the Sabbath, hiring others to work on the Sabbath, serving both God and mammon, or living in disobedience as a cumberer of the ground is slighting the invitation. Those who receive light are to obey it, and when they become enlightened a vast reformation is wrought as they pass from blindness to sight and take their stand fully on the Lord's side. Self-righteousness and self-justification in a wrong course can never form the wedding garment, which is Christ's righteousness alone.
The invitation creates personal faith and personal responsibility that cannot be submerged in husband or wife nor surrendered to relatives or children. Neither human birth nor descent from Abraham nor membership in any church will save any soul. There must be a visible connection with God through faith working by love, showing true preference, firm reliance, entire willing obedience and consecration. That faith secures complete identification with Christ, sharing His feelings, desires and interests, binding up life with Him so the believer becomes one with Him, belonging to Him by creation and redemption as His bought property and as bride to husband. Therefore no earthly marriage can excuse refusal, and faithfulness requires forsaking father, mother, husband, wife, sisters and brethren if needed in order to walk in the light and manifest loyalty to God.
Merely accepting the privileges of the gospel supper, seeking its benefits while refusing the garment, or accepting Bible truth in name while refusing to practice it is not enough. Only thorough preparation and fruit-bearing will avail, leaving the former life of ignorance, stripping off dishonoring traits, and showing a clean changed character in speech and conversation. Turning to slight inducements thought to serve self better is slothfulness toward heaven, doing the work by halves, working only by odd spells, neglecting it when attention is diverted, and easing conscience with resolves to be diligent at some future time. Those who live for themselves and do not seek God, even if neither openly immoral nor infidel, place themselves with unbelievers by self-righteousness and disregard of God's commandments, are unfit to live in His presence, would prefer any place to heaven, sustain eternal loss, keep others in unreadiness by influence, and are condemned out of their own mouth when the door is shut.
Those who have received from God are to share with others, draw their families and relatives with them, invite hungry souls to receive, and help carry the message to others. Christ rejoices whenever people accept, whether of high rank or humble circumstances, and accepting allows the Holy Spirit to work through the whole person in Christ's service, while refusal leaves needs unmet and can influence others to stay away. Since the Minneapolis meeting the call has been given through messengers including A. T. Jones, Prescott, E. J. Waggoner, O. A. Olsen and many others at camp meetings and institutes, with heaven's light on justification by faith and the imputed righteousness of Christ, and making excuses then meant losing much. Those wrought upon by the Spirit answer by bearing living testimony rather than holding only a theory, searching the Scriptures, walking in the light received, communicating precious truth to others, and receiving more light as they impart what they have received in cooperation with heavenly agencies sent to impart the power of the truth. Every opportunity should be used to urge people to come because everything is ready, and those who have received gospel light have the duty to invite others perishing in ignorance and sin.
Universal Call to All
The call to come because all things are now ready is free and universal, going out to all the world without exception, limitation, or restriction. It is addressed to every nation, kindred, tongue, people, and creature, to every one who will come, and it is given in both Old and New Testaments. The way is open and the gospel feast is abundantly supplied for all who will partake, for the costly banquet was provided by the love of Christ and the invitation is given by Christ Himself. It cannot force anyone to eat but requires willing, grateful, obedient personal partaking to become an all-round Christian, and all who fully yield obedience to it are highly privileged with precious opportunities for spiritual development and training. Those who accept receive Christ's grace, which gives earnestness and a compelling, persevering spirit to urge others to accept salvation even when rejected or abused. It is to be carried not in self and not with difficult controversial theories first but in the armor of Christ with self submerged, lifting up Christ as altogether lovely and chiefest among ten thousand and spreading the unsearchable riches of Christ, calling attention to provisions made accessible to all. It is as definite as the preaching that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, declaring that the Lord of glory is soon coming in the clouds of heaven, offering salvation through pardon in a crucified and risen Christ as a banquet spread for those without God and without hope. It belongs to today as well as to the disciples, to be carried from door to door by pastors, teachers, and evangelists, not with tame, lifeless utterance but with clear, decided, stirring utterance and power from on high showing the power of Christianity, and hundreds waiting to escape for their lives and men and women hungering for truth as it is in Jesus will recognize the provision made for them and respond. It is to be extended not confined to churches that already know the truth or to specially favored localities, but by well-organized, earnest, painful effort into cities and into the highways and byways of life and into dark places enshrouded in spiritual gloom, by workers who need not be ordained ministers but have an earnest desire for the salvation of perishing souls. Indifference to the call fails to express love for the fallen race, while messengers constrained by the purest deepest love of God reveal deep earnest unquenchable love in life and character, clothed with the mind of Christ, because the feast is a free gift that presses the question of what is owed to the Lord.
When supper is ready the servant renews the invitation to those already invited, and when they treat it lightly and make excuses the invitation is extended to people they despise, whom God values. It is not restricted to the wealthy or socially favored, but when the invited guests make excuses the poor and people in need are brought in. It goes into the streets, lanes, highways, hedges, and byways to the poor, maimed, halt, blind, needy, degraded, helpless, and outcast, including sinners fallen through sin to the lowest depths and those sunk in sin. No one is to be excluded as unfit or unworthy to come as they are, and no territorial, social, or other human distinction limits who may be treated as a neighbor, for the invitation reaches every soul in need of sympathy and help. Christ's message is presented in simple words that ordinary people can understand, though spiritual blindness may make the call hard to understand. The gospel call has a special application near the close of earth's history: the first call goes to a people highly favored, but they reject it; the invitation then goes to the poor and those in need, and finally to the degraded and helpless, so that the house may be filled. The supper also points to the marriage supper of the Lamb. The call to go into the highways and hedges includes people nearby, such as families the church has neglected, and represents work the churches are to do in every locality to call people to come to God so His house may be full. Every church member has an individual responsibility to invite others and work to save souls, rather than relying on ministers to sustain the work.
The compassionate Redeemer sends His servants to give the call to His supper to rich and poor, high and low, old and young, white and colored, and the call to come is for people of every class. It reaches even the great and worldly-wise, for whom He paid the ransom of His precious blood, and all may come to Him for eternal life. The wealthy men to whom the Lord has entrusted His goods and the moneyed men of the world must not be passed by, but must be worked for earnestly in the highways as well as those in the byways, until many souls come to the knowledge of the truth. Ministers of the gospel are to go out into the highways and hedges and by persevering, determined effort compel worldly moneyed men to come in, take hold of them without passing them by and bring them to Christ's table. Christ has prepared His supper for them at the cost of His precious life as a banquet of truth, and has made every preparation to seat them at His bountiful repast and to serve them Himself. There He promises to seat them and serve them with heaven's rest from the din and confusion of earth and the peace and happiness and joy He longs to bestow, including the robe of Christ's righteousness, spotless as a pure white lily, the richest gift that can be bestowed on mortal man, and life measuring with the life of God. Accepting means entering the marriage bond with Christ and accepting the obligations of allegiance to God, while those who make the present world their god refuse with excuses and turn away from the one who could give lasting value to their characters and restore them to obedience to God and His commandments. The call is to be carried urgently to people who are ready to perish, including those in high social positions, who deserve earnest efforts to reach them, and securing the wedding garment calls for whole attention.
The prepared supper shows the riches of grace God longed to give His favored people, including priests and rulers, with the privilege of living in His presence and receiving spiritual nourishment. The message of mercy and gracious invitation to the gospel feast is given to those blessed with the privilege of hearing it, so it applies directly to them. When all is ready those invited may refuse it with excuses and make light of it through foolish excuses, and their neglect makes them lose the opportunity God intended for them and excludes them from the supper. The invitation is then extended to people of every class, and because the first invitees refuse servants are sent into the highways and hedges to find others, so others may come and the house be filled. Those appointed to serve are to invite people to come when the feast is ready, and the work of inviting must continue wherever there is an opening. Those who refuse to go out with this invitation may be replaced by others who respond to the light and carry the invitation to people in the highways and hedges.
Final Message of Mercy
The servant's supper-time summons sounds now to every soul as the last message of mercy and the last invitation to mankind, the final and closing call given before the vengeance of an offended God. The invitation is still open, as the call to enter the ark was open in Noah's day before its door was closed, but the time to accept will end when cases are fixed for eternity. Human messengers speak it in cooperation with heavenly angels while the Holy Spirit presents every inducement to compel acceptance, and Christ watches for the bolts to be removed and the door of the heart opened for His entrance. When accepted it brings another lost sinner to the gospel feast and moves the hosts of heaven to rejoicing, and its worldwide giving is the final fulfilment of the command to go into the highways and hedges.
It is Christ's present last call and command that must be met by active work, for all things are now ready so those bidden must be urged to come, and workers must go out to save those who will believe and to unite in reaching sinners and the despised classes. Indifference to this call, standing afar off, criticizing the workers, and drawing away from their saving efforts disobeys Jesus, and the call draws both good and bad and does not wait until the church is pure.
It is the urgent call to the marriage supper of the Lamb, to be given to all classes, announcing that everything is prepared, mansions are prepared, and He is at the door and soon coming to receive the faithful. Many who have heard that call for years will not heed it, and those who persistently refuse to heed it with flimsy excuses will not taste of the supper. The prepared feast is the opportunity for salvation, and the invitation calls people to accept without delay and to make ready without excuse, lest they be left unready when probation closes. Christ now sends His servants to those who have not heard, to go into the highways and hedges and compel people to come in so that His house may be filled, and this last call must still reach places that have not yet heard it with many more, including young men, to proclaim it.
The call means to make ready and put on the wedding garment, to be clothed with meekness, humility, truth and righteousness so as to appear before Him and enter to sit with Him, and it is proclaimed through lives of self-denial and self-sacrifice that reveal Christ who gave His life to take away sin. Since the Minneapolis meeting the call has been given through God's messengers including A. T. Jones, Prescott, E. J. Waggoner, O. A. Olsen and many others, at camp meetings and ministerial institutes, with heaven's light shining and the trumpet giving a certain sound upon justification by faith and the imputed righteousness of Christ. Making excuses and neglecting to respond to that light means losing much. Those worked by the Holy Spirit answer by bearing living testimony and not holding only a theory of truth, by searching the Scriptures, walking in the light received, communicating precious truth to others, and receiving more light as they impart what they have received while cooperating with heavenly agencies.
The parable is a lesson that reaches to the close of probation, when all is ready, and it does not support the theories to which it was applied, its meaning having been perverted and misapplied. The supper is the gospel feast furnished with guests, and the call to the feast is a householder's invitation conferring high honor upon those bidden. That invitation was regarded with indifference and slighted, and the householder answered the slight with exclusion, that none of the men who were bidden should taste of his supper. Compared with the king's invitation in the wedding parable, the householder's invitation meets indifference rather than insult and murder, and brings exclusion from the table rather than destruction.
Carrying the Invitation Worldwide
The call to come because all things are now ready is pledged to every believer, church member and minister to give together in united, whole-hearted, mutual encouragement as a living church leading thirsty souls to the water of life. Each member bears individual responsibility to invite souls in the highways and hedges, including the poor and outcast, rather than depending on ministers to sustain the work. The invitation is not to be confined to churches that already know the truth or to specially favored localities, but is to be extended to every nation, tongue, people and every creature by well-organized, earnest, painful effort, by workers who need not be ordained ministers but have earnest desire for perishing souls. Every minister is to join fellow workers in giving it earnestly, and even those outside regular employment and consecrated youth can invite scores or hundreds. It is as definite as the preaching that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, declaring that the Lord of glory is soon coming in the clouds of heaven.
It is carried by humble servants formed in the school of Christ, humble, Christlike, meek and lowly, teachable and relying on the Holy Spirit rather than on learning, eloquence or high education. Those who have learned meekness and humility go out to tell others that all things are ready, upheld by humble persistent prayer for what hungry souls need, calling the weary to receive truth and the promises of God. The work is done especially through personal house-to-house labor to save souls among their own people, and as colporteur-evangelists and canvassers carrying books in many languages. Those who have received from God share with others and invite hungry souls to receive.
It is to be carried into cities and towns and into the highways, byways, lanes, hedges, dark places enshrouded in spiritual gloom and remote places not yet reached, including thousands of places, New York, London and the Southern field. Missionaries are to go among people in cities, towns and along the highways and hedges because all things are ready, and home missionaries are to urge people in cities and towns to accept the gospel invitation. City camp-meetings invite people to hear the gospel, but their interest must be followed by continued earnest work rather than ending just as many begin to respond. The warning is to be sounded now with firmness, assurance and faith even when circumstances look forbidding and means and workers are lacking, not waiting for favorable conditions, standing against skepticism, infidelity, speculation, Phariseeism, false reports, misrepresentation, calumny and every reproach to discredit the Word and its advocates, and never quitting the field because it costs much time, great outlay of means, and seems hard and unprofitable. Given in this way through public meetings, personal work, sanitariums and well-organized effort, guests can be gathered rapidly.
Genuine medical missionary work and gospel ministry give the call together in inseparable union, medical missionary work as the gospel in practice serving the cause as the right arm serves the body. All lines of church work are to be harmoniously blended together in unity in a complete whole, with the gospel as the sanctifying influence bringing harmony. The atonement of Christ is to be presented as the grand central theme, and the third angel's message proclaiming the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus is to go forth. Hearts softened through care for the sick, suffering and afflicted listen to the gospel and recognize its claims, and this is the last message of mercy to the world brought before the suffering and before persons of the higher classes who might otherwise never see the light, uplifting Jesus as the Prince of life. This was the long-neglected work given to the church in Battle Creek and carried forward by Dr. Kellogg.
The work must go beyond those safely sheltered and already knowing the truth to those still in darkness, dead in trespasses and sins, neglected families nearby, those ready to perish, the neglected and outcast, and those in high social positions. No territorial, social or other human distinction limits who may be treated as neighbor, for the purpose is to bring people in so the house may be full and every soul in need of sympathy and help is to be reached. God and Christ and the angels have united with human instrumentalities in the last days when judgments are in the land, divinity and humanity combining, angels commanded to join human beings, the Spirit preparing hearts, and every church, every institution and every member invested with all power to give the invitation to the marriage supper of the Lamb, with all things prepared for recovery of sinners through redemption and the time to come being now. Everyone who comes to the water of life is laid under obligation to invite others, and those who refuse to go out may be replaced by others who respond to the light. Restricting the work or criticizing it because it reaches both good and bad opposes God, yet even if only a few respond it is not in vain, for every soul is precious.
Manner of Giving Invitation
The call is to be given earnestly, urgently, decidedly and perseveringly, urging people to come by every inducement and by the compelling power of the Holy Spirit working with the human agent, not by force upon the intellect. Those who accept it receive grace that makes them earnest and persevering in urging others even under rejection and abuse, reaching people where they are to win them to salvation. It requires a clear, decided, stirring utterance with power from on high rather than tame lifeless speech, making a deep impression that works reformation of character into close connection with God. The Spirit Himself extends the invitation to children, and ministers are to repeat the urgent call to unsaved souls.
It is to be carried in clear steady rays of truth that draw people to Christ, removing barriers raised between people and Him and reaching the poor and every social level. The offer is the Word of God as food for spiritual hunger, the seed of truth, the Bread of Life and words of comfort that meet need and draw to Christ, with Christ the Bread from heaven spread before thousands thirsting for truth as it is in Jesus. He is to be lifted up as altogether lovely and chiefest among ten thousand, with the unsearchable riches of Christ and provisions made accessible to all set forth in simplicity and love, in plain simple words ordinary people can understand. That proclamation comes through self-denying, self-sacrificing lives that reveal Christ who gave His life to take away sin, by workers sanctified through the truth and laboring together with God in a manner wholly distinct from pride-bound churches and the world. It is not to be given in self nor begun with difficult controversial theories, but in the armor of Christ with self submerged, by messengers constrained by the purest deepest love of God and clothed with the mind of Christ, since the costly banquet provided by Christ's love is a free gift pressing what is owed to the Lord.
It is to be offered with humility, longing desire and loving entreaty, as a father yearns for his children, by meek and humble, teachable people who rely on the Holy Spirit rather than learning or eloquence. Humble persistent prayer for what hungry souls need upholds the work of telling weary people that all things are ready and calling them to receive truth and the promises of God. Angels continually give the same invitation yet force no one, for each must choose Christ willingly. Compassion, pardon, grace and light stand ready for the repentant, but they do not replace repentance, confession and willing response.
The invitation calls for decision now to obey the Word, come to Christ, make peace with God and follow Him in self-denial and cross-bearing without hesitating over what must be given up. It works in the heart unto reformation of character and close connection with God. The blessing is available from the beginning and not only at the meeting's close, for Jesus is present at the feast to be found by seekers who receive virtue from Him. The call remains open as the ark door stood open in Noah's day, yet warns that the time to prepare and respond ends when cases are fixed for eternity.
Christ rejoices over every one who comes, whether of high rank or humble circumstance, and those who come help carry the message to others. Faithful voices feel their responsibility and work with every means in their power to compel people to come in. Hiding talents in the earth is unfaithful slothful service that will be called to account, and standing afar off criticizing workers and drawing away from saving efforts disobeys Jesus. Indifference or the fact that both good and bad are gathered is no reason to criticize or abandon efforts among the neglected and outcast. Even if only a few respond the work is not in vain, for every soul is precious to God and those rescued and restored prove the labor worthwhile.
At supper time the host sends his servant with a second call to those already invited, telling them to come because everything is prepared. All things ready means God's full provision is made, with pardon, grace, Christ Himself, righteousness, access to the Father, the Holy Spirit, rest, peace, and eternal life prepared at infinite cost. The feast is a free gift open to all the world without exception, yet it must be personally received in willing obedience, with each guest putting on the wedding garment of Christ's righteousness. Those first bidden with one consent make excuses over lands, business, and home interests, and by putting earthly concerns ahead of eternal things they insult the host and lose their place at the table. That summons sounds now as the last message of mercy to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, to be carried urgently into streets, highways, and byways so the house may be filled.
Parable Setting and Servant
At supper time the host sends his servant with a second call to those already bidden, telling them to come because all is now ready. The renewal of the invitation when the meal is ready makes it a present call to receive what God has provided, and the feast stands for the blessings offered through the gospel with Christ Himself as its provision. It is a gracious privilege and invitation from God that asks for response in this life through taking part in service rather than being treated lightly. The following excuses show how earthly interests and property can absorb the mind and be put ahead of Christ, with a minor matter placed above service for Him. Refusal brings exclusion from the feast, and the call then goes beyond the wealthy and socially favored to the poor and needy in simple words all can understand, including people the first guests despised but whom God values.
The servant sent at supper time represents the Lord's messengers who carry the prepared feast's invitation to highways and hedges. They are humble servants formed in Christ's school, having learned meekness and humility in Christ, who go out telling others that all is prepared and who share what they have received with hungry souls. That work is supported by humble persistent prayer for what hungry souls need. Those sent at supper time include men and women who take up canvassing with earnest consecration, willingly and unselfishly with no time to lose, giving now the call to come because all things are ready as evangelistic warning in a question of life and death. The King calls those bidden to the marriage supper He has made for His Son, the great marriage supper of the Lamb, sent for some thirty years past to His people to come and make ready by putting on the wedding garment of meekness, humility, truth and Christ's righteousness so as to enter the guest chamber and sit with Him, announcing that everything is prepared, mansions are prepared, and He is soon coming to receive the faithful while those bidden make excuse.
The parable belongs to table talk Christ spoke while attending a feast after accepting invitations to dinners and feasts from Pharisees and publicans. Every word was controlled by Him to give a precious lesson adapted to the needs of the hearers, a savor of life unto life showing how the king's invitation was treated. By example it teaches disciples how to conduct themselves and find something purposeful to say when in company with the religious and irreligious at public gatherings.
The first call went to a highly favored people and represents the churches and the Jews, who believed the blessings of eternal life were theirs alone. God's invitation to salvation comes when all is ready through the light and opportunity given in Christ, extended to the Jewish nation and to every nation under heaven. When the first guests rejected it with worldly excuses and unbelief, refusing mercy, they were left without share in the supper and passed over while responding sinners were welcomed into God's kingdom. The invitation was then sent to the Gentiles and to people the Jews despised, to the poor and needy and finally to the degraded and helpless, and to others so that the house might be filled. The supper also points to the marriage supper of the Lamb, and the ready feast signifies the blessing of pardon for which receiving and practicing God's Word is preparation for church relationship. The householder's invitation conferring high honor was met with indifference rather than the insult and murder meeting the king's invitation in the wedding parable, and it was answered with exclusion from the table, that none of those bidden should taste of the supper, rather than with destruction.
The supper represents the promised feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, illustrating the blessings of eternal life, with the servant's message that everything is ready marking the time when the invited guests are called to come. It pictures the coming of the promised Messiah as King of the Jews to conquer their enemies and set up His kingdom. Those bidden were the Jewish priests, elders, and leading men who made great professions of piety and eager expectation, claiming to wait with anxious expectancy to go in immediately when the supper-time call came and proclaiming everywhere the great events of His coming. When He came at His first advent they knew Him not, because they applied to His first advent the prophecies relating to His second coming.
Ready Feast Provision
The supper is the blessings offered through the gospel, the kingdom itself and the opportunity for salvation, and coming to it means receiving Christ Himself who is its provision. The servant's word that all is ready is a second call to those already bidden, renewing the invitation when the meal is prepared, and it marks the promised feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the blessings of eternal life. That feast is not a single moment but a lifetime of accepting God's invitation, extending into eternity, entered by truly receiving Christ, surrendering to God's will, obeying His commandments, following His example, and wearing the wedding garment of Christ's righteousness in holiness and likeness to God. It is a gospel feast open to whoever will accept it, and when many who are invited refuse, the invitation goes out to others so that the house may be filled.
All things ready means complete provision is already prepared to meet every spiritual need: pardon and grace, Christ Himself as the Bread of Life, righteousness and justification by faith, the promises of Scripture, access to the Father, the comfort of the Holy Spirit, rest, peace, joy, and assurance of eternal life. God is ready to accept, pardon, and cleanse even the long-away prodigal, and His compassion, pardon, grace, and light are ready for the repentant. To refuse the invitation or to doubt willingness to receive with pardon and grace shows contempt for God and for one's own highest good, while accepting the blessings honors the Giver, allows the Holy Spirit to work through the whole person in Christ's service, and should lead those who accept to draw their families and relatives with them; refusal leaves spiritual needs unmet and can influence others to stay away. The ready feast signifies the blessing of pardon, and receiving and practicing God's Word is the preparation for church relationship. It is salvation through pardon in a crucified and risen Christ, set before those without God and without hope as a banquet spread for them, belonging to today as well as to the disciples, to be carried to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people from door to door by pastors, teachers, and evangelists, not with tame lifeless utterance but with clear decided stirring utterance and power from on high showing the power of Christianity, so that hundreds waiting to escape for their lives and men and women hungering for truth will recognize the provision made for them and respond. The gracious call to come because all is ready must be extended to everyone, even to those who resist or refuse it, as a witness that God has invited them to the provision of redemption through reconciliation with God and justification by faith in Christ.
The feast is the Word of the living God, and possession of the Word is a personal privilege granted to all, creating personal faith and personal responsibility in everyone who hears it. Neither human birth nor descent from Abraham nor membership in any church will save any soul; there must be a visible connection with God through faith that works by love, revealing true preference, firm reliance, entire willing obedience and consecration, securing complete identification with Christ, sharing His feelings, desires, and interests, binding up life with Christ Jesus so that the believer becomes one with Christ. Angels continually give this invitation, but they do not force anyone to accept it; each person must choose Christ, for while God earnestly desires people to accept, His compassion, pardon, grace, and light do not replace repentance, confession, or willing response.
The banquet was provided at great and infinite cost by the love of Christ, at the cost of His precious life and blood, as a banquet of truth prepared for rich and poor. The invitation is given by Christ Himself, plain and simple so it can be impressed on the mind, worldwide to every creature and urgent, to be given not in self and not with difficult controversial theories first but in the armor of Christ with self submerged, calling attention to provisions made accessible to all, lifting up Christ as altogether lovely and chiefest among ten thousand and spreading the unsearchable riches of Christ. It tests those brought to the knowledge of the truth, watching what characters they will develop and whether selfish interests will be counted of greater value than eternal riches and a part in things of eternal value. Ministers of the gospel are therefore to go out into the highways and hedges and by persevering determined effort compel worldly moneyed men to come in, take hold of them and bring them to Christ's table, where Christ Himself promises to seat them and serve them.
The feast is a free gift, and all who will may come to the banquet, yet indifference to the call fails to express love for the fallen race, and messengers constrained by the purest deepest love of God are to reveal deep earnest unquenchable love in life and character, clothed with the mind of Christ, because the free gift presses the question of what is owed to the Lord. The gospel invitation is given in both Old and New Testaments to all people to sit at the gospel feast abundantly supplied for all who will come. It cannot force anyone to eat and feast on spiritual food, but requires willing, grateful, obedient personal partaking to become an all-round Christian, and all who fully yield obedience to the call are highly privileged with precious opportunities for spiritual development and training. The call is to be carried through clear steady rays of truth that draw people to Christ, not through force, applying to outreach among the poor and people of every social level, for barriers raised between people and Christ obstruct the invitation, while those who receive it are offered the Word of God as spiritual food. It is the gracious invitation of the great Teacher to finite fallen men in need of pardon and peace to come to the bountifully spread table and make peace with God, a testing message to be proclaimed everywhere to all nations to the end of the world, yet often met with frivolous excuses, jesting, contempt, and absolute rejection as attractive allurements close ears against hearing; those who ought to give the message and draw souls to the feast but hide their talents in the earth are unfaithful slothful servants who will be called to account, while faithful voices feel their responsibility and work with every means in their power to compel them to come in.
Refusal Excuses and Loss
With one consent those already bidden make frivolous excuses about ground and oxen, farms and cattle, business and merchandise, marriage and home interests, putting earthly interests, blessings, and temporal concerns ahead of eternal things while the mind becomes absorbed by them. The second call comes when supper is ready to those already invited, and the feast is the blessings offered through the gospel with Christ Himself as its provision, a gracious privilege and invitation from God calling for present service and partaking rather than indifference. To give priority to property is to put a minor matter above service for Christ, to slight the privilege and treat the call lightly, and those who close their ears and refuse with such trivial worldly excuses about business, property, and family ties will not taste of the supper, which is loss of heaven. Refusing for farms, business, or other self-interests dishonors God and slights His call, warning against letting worldly concerns take priority over hearing and obeying Him, and when the invitation is slighted it is extended to people the first guests despised, whom God values, leaving refusers outside the influence of truth and righteousness.
No earthly tie excuses refusal, not marriage nor absorption in contemplated marriage that shuts the heart to the gracious Visitor and His counsel, not a spouse's refusal or opposition, not a child's attachment to unbelieving parents, not fear of hatred from scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees, and not self-sufficiency and refusal of light. Husbands, wives, and children each may let a family member's refusal keep them from coming when worldly interests or fear of disruption in family and social relationships are valued more than eternity, but this does not preserve true peace or love, since only Christ can give human love purity and steadfastness. Every hearer has individual responsibility through the conviction of Christ and the wooings of the Holy Spirit that cannot be submerged in husband or wife nor surrendered to relatives or children, for the soul belongs to Christ by creation and redemption as His bought property and the church is married to Him as bride to husband, so no earthly marriage can excuse refusal. To present frivolous excuses, turn away to please family, or neglect the invitation brings spiritual loss and eternal consequences, and faithfulness requires forsaking father, mother, husband, wife, sisters and brethren if needed in order to walk in the light and manifest loyalty to God.
Refusal tests character and proves whether selfish interests will be counted of greater value than eternal riches and a part in things of eternal value, watching what characters develop in those brought to the knowledge of the truth. To refuse the invitation or doubt willingness to receive with pardon and grace shows contempt for God and for one's own highest good, insults the generous host by neglect, disobeys the heavenly command to follow and take part in eternal things, and accepting the blessings honors the Giver while meeting every spiritual need through the Holy Spirit working through the whole person in service. Many professing present truth, even those best able to advance the cause, frame the same excuses, letting farms, cattle, marriage, home interests, worldly possessions, and business cares overpower every divine attraction and making the very blessings given to prove them, to see if they will render to God the things that are God's, the reason for disobedience. In doing so they close the door of the heart to the heavenly messenger until it becomes unimpressible as the beaten highway and overgrown with thorns and cares, so that knocking is in vain, keeping the galling yoke of selfishness and covetousness that enslaves to mammon instead of exchanging it for the easy yoke and light burden of self-denial and sacrifice for others, meekness and lowliness of heart, and rest to the soul. Religious teachers who refuse follow the Jewish rulers in closing their eyes to evidence into continued opposition and hatred of Christ's character, and refusal can influence others to stay away, whereas those who accept should draw families and relatives with them.
Those who disregard the privilege lose their place and will not taste of the supper, for the renewed call when the meal was ready ends in exclusion for guests who refuse. The urgent call to the marriage supper of the Lamb is to be given to all classes, yet many who have heard it for years will not heed it, and those who persistently refuse will not taste of Christ's supper, so messengers are sent to those who have not heard in the highways and hedges to compel people to come in that the house may be filled. Pleading fear of ridicule, desire to please neighbors, care of the farm, need to work on the Sabbath, hiring others to work on the Sabbath, or letting neighbors think Sabbath-keeping foolish and withdraw harmony is slighting the gospel invitation bought by the death of the Son of God, and accepting requires obeying the commandments of God and keeping the Sabbath; those who despise the offer will not taste of the supper. The invitation is still open as the ark door was open in Noah's day before it was closed, warning that time to accept will end and people must prepare and respond without delay before cases are fixed for eternity and probation closes. Those who disregard warning and refuse to obey are not spared in judgment and receive no second invitation after probation closes, remaining bound to Satan's yoke and losing sight of the eternal, with the door shut in eternal loss.
Neglecting the gracious heavenly entertainment prepared for the special benefit of those bidden, turning from it to slight inducements thought to serve self better, is slothfulness toward heaven, doing the work by halves and by odd spells, neglecting it when attention is diverted, and easing conscience with resolves to be diligent at some future time. The prepared feast is the opportunity for salvation calling for diligent, thorough preparation engaging all powers of the mind for everlasting life and the great judgment, to be accepted now while the waters of life are freely offered, including obeying God and preparing for judgment when works will be tested, without flimsy excuses or delay. If the claims and cares of the world are allowed to engross all time and attention, spiritual powers weaken and die in proportion as they are not exercised in active piety, every inlet for light from heaven is closed, transforming grace is not felt, and talents for piety are ignored and neglected. A mind trained to disregard God's plainest requirements, disobedient, unthankful, unholy, disliking religious things and loving earth more than heaven, cannot make the response, for receiving requires a mind prepared to value heavenly things in active piety and obedience; such neglect leaves a person unready, outside the influence of truth and righteousness, and, remaining unready, sustaining eternal loss and keeping others in unreadiness by influence, condemned out of the own mouth when too late seeking admittance to find the door shut.
Wedding Garment and Obedience
Coming to the supper is not complete until each invited guest puts on the wedding garment, which is the righteousness and character of Christ Himself. That garment means being clothed with meekness, humility, truth, holiness, and likeness to God, with humanity combined with divinity, and the call to put it on belongs together with the reckoning of the man who appeared without it. The feast itself is a lifetime of accepting God's invitation reaching into eternity, and a place at it cannot be claimed while withholding full service. Those who truly receive Christ surrender to God's will, obey His commandments, follow His example, and strip off every inherited and cultivated trait that dishonors God, for keeping such traits puts them to shame as surely as laying a foundation without counting the cost. The humble who come are welcomed without payment and receive Christ's white robe, while merely accepting Bible truth in name without practicing it leaves a person unprepared and accountable.
Accepting the ready invitation means obeying God, denying self, taking up the cross, keeping all His commandments including the Sabbath even when neighbors call it foolish, ridicule, and withdraw fellowship, devoting talents to His work, and welcoming Jesus to abide. Pleading fear of ridicule, desire to please neighbors, care of the farm, need to work on the Sabbath, hiring others to work on the Sabbath, serving both God and mammon, or living in disobedience as a cumberer of the ground is slighting the invitation. Those who receive light are to obey it, and when they become enlightened a vast reformation is wrought as they pass from blindness to sight and take their stand fully on the Lord's side. Self-righteousness and self-justification in a wrong course can never form the wedding garment, which is Christ's righteousness alone.
The invitation creates personal faith and personal responsibility that cannot be submerged in husband or wife nor surrendered to relatives or children. Neither human birth nor descent from Abraham nor membership in any church will save any soul. There must be a visible connection with God through faith working by love, showing true preference, firm reliance, entire willing obedience and consecration. That faith secures complete identification with Christ, sharing His feelings, desires and interests, binding up life with Him so the believer becomes one with Him, belonging to Him by creation and redemption as His bought property and as bride to husband. Therefore no earthly marriage can excuse refusal, and faithfulness requires forsaking father, mother, husband, wife, sisters and brethren if needed in order to walk in the light and manifest loyalty to God.
Merely accepting the privileges of the gospel supper, seeking its benefits while refusing the garment, or accepting Bible truth in name while refusing to practice it is not enough. Only thorough preparation and fruit-bearing will avail, leaving the former life of ignorance, stripping off dishonoring traits, and showing a clean changed character in speech and conversation. Turning to slight inducements thought to serve self better is slothfulness toward heaven, doing the work by halves, working only by odd spells, neglecting it when attention is diverted, and easing conscience with resolves to be diligent at some future time. Those who live for themselves and do not seek God, even if neither openly immoral nor infidel, place themselves with unbelievers by self-righteousness and disregard of God's commandments, are unfit to live in His presence, would prefer any place to heaven, sustain eternal loss, keep others in unreadiness by influence, and are condemned out of their own mouth when the door is shut.
Those who have received from God are to share with others, draw their families and relatives with them, invite hungry souls to receive, and help carry the message to others. Christ rejoices whenever people accept, whether of high rank or humble circumstances, and accepting allows the Holy Spirit to work through the whole person in Christ's service, while refusal leaves needs unmet and can influence others to stay away. Since the Minneapolis meeting the call has been given through messengers including A. T. Jones, Prescott, E. J. Waggoner, O. A. Olsen and many others at camp meetings and institutes, with heaven's light on justification by faith and the imputed righteousness of Christ, and making excuses then meant losing much. Those wrought upon by the Spirit answer by bearing living testimony rather than holding only a theory, searching the Scriptures, walking in the light received, communicating precious truth to others, and receiving more light as they impart what they have received in cooperation with heavenly agencies sent to impart the power of the truth. Every opportunity should be used to urge people to come because everything is ready, and those who have received gospel light have the duty to invite others perishing in ignorance and sin.
Universal Call to All
The call to come because all things are now ready is free and universal, going out to all the world without exception, limitation, or restriction. It is addressed to every nation, kindred, tongue, people, and creature, to every one who will come, and it is given in both Old and New Testaments. The way is open and the gospel feast is abundantly supplied for all who will partake, for the costly banquet was provided by the love of Christ and the invitation is given by Christ Himself. It cannot force anyone to eat but requires willing, grateful, obedient personal partaking to become an all-round Christian, and all who fully yield obedience to it are highly privileged with precious opportunities for spiritual development and training. Those who accept receive Christ's grace, which gives earnestness and a compelling, persevering spirit to urge others to accept salvation even when rejected or abused. It is to be carried not in self and not with difficult controversial theories first but in the armor of Christ with self submerged, lifting up Christ as altogether lovely and chiefest among ten thousand and spreading the unsearchable riches of Christ, calling attention to provisions made accessible to all. It is as definite as the preaching that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, declaring that the Lord of glory is soon coming in the clouds of heaven, offering salvation through pardon in a crucified and risen Christ as a banquet spread for those without God and without hope. It belongs to today as well as to the disciples, to be carried from door to door by pastors, teachers, and evangelists, not with tame, lifeless utterance but with clear, decided, stirring utterance and power from on high showing the power of Christianity, and hundreds waiting to escape for their lives and men and women hungering for truth as it is in Jesus will recognize the provision made for them and respond. It is to be extended not confined to churches that already know the truth or to specially favored localities, but by well-organized, earnest, painful effort into cities and into the highways and byways of life and into dark places enshrouded in spiritual gloom, by workers who need not be ordained ministers but have an earnest desire for the salvation of perishing souls. Indifference to the call fails to express love for the fallen race, while messengers constrained by the purest deepest love of God reveal deep earnest unquenchable love in life and character, clothed with the mind of Christ, because the feast is a free gift that presses the question of what is owed to the Lord.
When supper is ready the servant renews the invitation to those already invited, and when they treat it lightly and make excuses the invitation is extended to people they despise, whom God values. It is not restricted to the wealthy or socially favored, but when the invited guests make excuses the poor and people in need are brought in. It goes into the streets, lanes, highways, hedges, and byways to the poor, maimed, halt, blind, needy, degraded, helpless, and outcast, including sinners fallen through sin to the lowest depths and those sunk in sin. No one is to be excluded as unfit or unworthy to come as they are, and no territorial, social, or other human distinction limits who may be treated as a neighbor, for the invitation reaches every soul in need of sympathy and help. Christ's message is presented in simple words that ordinary people can understand, though spiritual blindness may make the call hard to understand. The gospel call has a special application near the close of earth's history: the first call goes to a people highly favored, but they reject it; the invitation then goes to the poor and those in need, and finally to the degraded and helpless, so that the house may be filled. The supper also points to the marriage supper of the Lamb. The call to go into the highways and hedges includes people nearby, such as families the church has neglected, and represents work the churches are to do in every locality to call people to come to God so His house may be full. Every church member has an individual responsibility to invite others and work to save souls, rather than relying on ministers to sustain the work.
The compassionate Redeemer sends His servants to give the call to His supper to rich and poor, high and low, old and young, white and colored, and the call to come is for people of every class. It reaches even the great and worldly-wise, for whom He paid the ransom of His precious blood, and all may come to Him for eternal life. The wealthy men to whom the Lord has entrusted His goods and the moneyed men of the world must not be passed by, but must be worked for earnestly in the highways as well as those in the byways, until many souls come to the knowledge of the truth. Ministers of the gospel are to go out into the highways and hedges and by persevering, determined effort compel worldly moneyed men to come in, take hold of them without passing them by and bring them to Christ's table. Christ has prepared His supper for them at the cost of His precious life as a banquet of truth, and has made every preparation to seat them at His bountiful repast and to serve them Himself. There He promises to seat them and serve them with heaven's rest from the din and confusion of earth and the peace and happiness and joy He longs to bestow, including the robe of Christ's righteousness, spotless as a pure white lily, the richest gift that can be bestowed on mortal man, and life measuring with the life of God. Accepting means entering the marriage bond with Christ and accepting the obligations of allegiance to God, while those who make the present world their god refuse with excuses and turn away from the one who could give lasting value to their characters and restore them to obedience to God and His commandments. The call is to be carried urgently to people who are ready to perish, including those in high social positions, who deserve earnest efforts to reach them, and securing the wedding garment calls for whole attention.
The prepared supper shows the riches of grace God longed to give His favored people, including priests and rulers, with the privilege of living in His presence and receiving spiritual nourishment. The message of mercy and gracious invitation to the gospel feast is given to those blessed with the privilege of hearing it, so it applies directly to them. When all is ready those invited may refuse it with excuses and make light of it through foolish excuses, and their neglect makes them lose the opportunity God intended for them and excludes them from the supper. The invitation is then extended to people of every class, and because the first invitees refuse servants are sent into the highways and hedges to find others, so others may come and the house be filled. Those appointed to serve are to invite people to come when the feast is ready, and the work of inviting must continue wherever there is an opening. Those who refuse to go out with this invitation may be replaced by others who respond to the light and carry the invitation to people in the highways and hedges.
Final Message of Mercy
The servant's supper-time summons sounds now to every soul as the last message of mercy and the last invitation to mankind, the final and closing call given before the vengeance of an offended God. The invitation is still open, as the call to enter the ark was open in Noah's day before its door was closed, but the time to accept will end when cases are fixed for eternity. Human messengers speak it in cooperation with heavenly angels while the Holy Spirit presents every inducement to compel acceptance, and Christ watches for the bolts to be removed and the door of the heart opened for His entrance. When accepted it brings another lost sinner to the gospel feast and moves the hosts of heaven to rejoicing, and its worldwide giving is the final fulfilment of the command to go into the highways and hedges.
It is Christ's present last call and command that must be met by active work, for all things are now ready so those bidden must be urged to come, and workers must go out to save those who will believe and to unite in reaching sinners and the despised classes. Indifference to this call, standing afar off, criticizing the workers, and drawing away from their saving efforts disobeys Jesus, and the call draws both good and bad and does not wait until the church is pure.
It is the urgent call to the marriage supper of the Lamb, to be given to all classes, announcing that everything is prepared, mansions are prepared, and He is at the door and soon coming to receive the faithful. Many who have heard that call for years will not heed it, and those who persistently refuse to heed it with flimsy excuses will not taste of the supper. The prepared feast is the opportunity for salvation, and the invitation calls people to accept without delay and to make ready without excuse, lest they be left unready when probation closes. Christ now sends His servants to those who have not heard, to go into the highways and hedges and compel people to come in so that His house may be filled, and this last call must still reach places that have not yet heard it with many more, including young men, to proclaim it.
The call means to make ready and put on the wedding garment, to be clothed with meekness, humility, truth and righteousness so as to appear before Him and enter to sit with Him, and it is proclaimed through lives of self-denial and self-sacrifice that reveal Christ who gave His life to take away sin. Since the Minneapolis meeting the call has been given through God's messengers including A. T. Jones, Prescott, E. J. Waggoner, O. A. Olsen and many others, at camp meetings and ministerial institutes, with heaven's light shining and the trumpet giving a certain sound upon justification by faith and the imputed righteousness of Christ. Making excuses and neglecting to respond to that light means losing much. Those worked by the Holy Spirit answer by bearing living testimony and not holding only a theory of truth, by searching the Scriptures, walking in the light received, communicating precious truth to others, and receiving more light as they impart what they have received while cooperating with heavenly agencies.
The parable is a lesson that reaches to the close of probation, when all is ready, and it does not support the theories to which it was applied, its meaning having been perverted and misapplied. The supper is the gospel feast furnished with guests, and the call to the feast is a householder's invitation conferring high honor upon those bidden. That invitation was regarded with indifference and slighted, and the householder answered the slight with exclusion, that none of the men who were bidden should taste of his supper. Compared with the king's invitation in the wedding parable, the householder's invitation meets indifference rather than insult and murder, and brings exclusion from the table rather than destruction.
Carrying the Invitation Worldwide
The call to come because all things are now ready is pledged to every believer, church member and minister to give together in united, whole-hearted, mutual encouragement as a living church leading thirsty souls to the water of life. Each member bears individual responsibility to invite souls in the highways and hedges, including the poor and outcast, rather than depending on ministers to sustain the work. The invitation is not to be confined to churches that already know the truth or to specially favored localities, but is to be extended to every nation, tongue, people and every creature by well-organized, earnest, painful effort, by workers who need not be ordained ministers but have earnest desire for perishing souls. Every minister is to join fellow workers in giving it earnestly, and even those outside regular employment and consecrated youth can invite scores or hundreds. It is as definite as the preaching that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, declaring that the Lord of glory is soon coming in the clouds of heaven.
It is carried by humble servants formed in the school of Christ, humble, Christlike, meek and lowly, teachable and relying on the Holy Spirit rather than on learning, eloquence or high education. Those who have learned meekness and humility go out to tell others that all things are ready, upheld by humble persistent prayer for what hungry souls need, calling the weary to receive truth and the promises of God. The work is done especially through personal house-to-house labor to save souls among their own people, and as colporteur-evangelists and canvassers carrying books in many languages. Those who have received from God share with others and invite hungry souls to receive.
It is to be carried into cities and towns and into the highways, byways, lanes, hedges, dark places enshrouded in spiritual gloom and remote places not yet reached, including thousands of places, New York, London and the Southern field. Missionaries are to go among people in cities, towns and along the highways and hedges because all things are ready, and home missionaries are to urge people in cities and towns to accept the gospel invitation. City camp-meetings invite people to hear the gospel, but their interest must be followed by continued earnest work rather than ending just as many begin to respond. The warning is to be sounded now with firmness, assurance and faith even when circumstances look forbidding and means and workers are lacking, not waiting for favorable conditions, standing against skepticism, infidelity, speculation, Phariseeism, false reports, misrepresentation, calumny and every reproach to discredit the Word and its advocates, and never quitting the field because it costs much time, great outlay of means, and seems hard and unprofitable. Given in this way through public meetings, personal work, sanitariums and well-organized effort, guests can be gathered rapidly.
Genuine medical missionary work and gospel ministry give the call together in inseparable union, medical missionary work as the gospel in practice serving the cause as the right arm serves the body. All lines of church work are to be harmoniously blended together in unity in a complete whole, with the gospel as the sanctifying influence bringing harmony. The atonement of Christ is to be presented as the grand central theme, and the third angel's message proclaiming the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus is to go forth. Hearts softened through care for the sick, suffering and afflicted listen to the gospel and recognize its claims, and this is the last message of mercy to the world brought before the suffering and before persons of the higher classes who might otherwise never see the light, uplifting Jesus as the Prince of life. This was the long-neglected work given to the church in Battle Creek and carried forward by Dr. Kellogg.
The work must go beyond those safely sheltered and already knowing the truth to those still in darkness, dead in trespasses and sins, neglected families nearby, those ready to perish, the neglected and outcast, and those in high social positions. No territorial, social or other human distinction limits who may be treated as neighbor, for the purpose is to bring people in so the house may be full and every soul in need of sympathy and help is to be reached. God and Christ and the angels have united with human instrumentalities in the last days when judgments are in the land, divinity and humanity combining, angels commanded to join human beings, the Spirit preparing hearts, and every church, every institution and every member invested with all power to give the invitation to the marriage supper of the Lamb, with all things prepared for recovery of sinners through redemption and the time to come being now. Everyone who comes to the water of life is laid under obligation to invite others, and those who refuse to go out may be replaced by others who respond to the light. Restricting the work or criticizing it because it reaches both good and bad opposes God, yet even if only a few respond it is not in vain, for every soul is precious.
Manner of Giving Invitation
The call is to be given earnestly, urgently, decidedly and perseveringly, urging people to come by every inducement and by the compelling power of the Holy Spirit working with the human agent, not by force upon the intellect. Those who accept it receive grace that makes them earnest and persevering in urging others even under rejection and abuse, reaching people where they are to win them to salvation. It requires a clear, decided, stirring utterance with power from on high rather than tame lifeless speech, making a deep impression that works reformation of character into close connection with God. The Spirit Himself extends the invitation to children, and ministers are to repeat the urgent call to unsaved souls.
It is to be carried in clear steady rays of truth that draw people to Christ, removing barriers raised between people and Him and reaching the poor and every social level. The offer is the Word of God as food for spiritual hunger, the seed of truth, the Bread of Life and words of comfort that meet need and draw to Christ, with Christ the Bread from heaven spread before thousands thirsting for truth as it is in Jesus. He is to be lifted up as altogether lovely and chiefest among ten thousand, with the unsearchable riches of Christ and provisions made accessible to all set forth in simplicity and love, in plain simple words ordinary people can understand. That proclamation comes through self-denying, self-sacrificing lives that reveal Christ who gave His life to take away sin, by workers sanctified through the truth and laboring together with God in a manner wholly distinct from pride-bound churches and the world. It is not to be given in self nor begun with difficult controversial theories, but in the armor of Christ with self submerged, by messengers constrained by the purest deepest love of God and clothed with the mind of Christ, since the costly banquet provided by Christ's love is a free gift pressing what is owed to the Lord.
It is to be offered with humility, longing desire and loving entreaty, as a father yearns for his children, by meek and humble, teachable people who rely on the Holy Spirit rather than learning or eloquence. Humble persistent prayer for what hungry souls need upholds the work of telling weary people that all things are ready and calling them to receive truth and the promises of God. Angels continually give the same invitation yet force no one, for each must choose Christ willingly. Compassion, pardon, grace and light stand ready for the repentant, but they do not replace repentance, confession and willing response.
The invitation calls for decision now to obey the Word, come to Christ, make peace with God and follow Him in self-denial and cross-bearing without hesitating over what must be given up. It works in the heart unto reformation of character and close connection with God. The blessing is available from the beginning and not only at the meeting's close, for Jesus is present at the feast to be found by seekers who receive virtue from Him. The call remains open as the ark door stood open in Noah's day, yet warns that the time to prepare and respond ends when cases are fixed for eternity.
Christ rejoices over every one who comes, whether of high rank or humble circumstance, and those who come help carry the message to others. Faithful voices feel their responsibility and work with every means in their power to compel people to come in. Hiding talents in the earth is unfaithful slothful service that will be called to account, and standing afar off criticizing workers and drawing away from saving efforts disobeys Jesus. Indifference or the fact that both good and bad are gathered is no reason to criticize or abandon efforts among the neglected and outcast. Even if only a few respond the work is not in vain, for every soul is precious to God and those rescued and restored prove the labor worthwhile.