The King Confronts the Guest Without a Wedding GarmentBible World
22:2Matthew 22:2
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,
The kingdom of heaven is pictured as a certain king making a marriage feast for his son, with the hall ready and the table spread and his own people called to attend. The king stands for God and the son for Christ the Bridegroom, and the feast is the gospel invitation spreading the treasures of God's Word and the redemption prepared through Christ's atoning death. Those first bidden refuse and make light of the call for farm and merchandise, and some even kill the messengers, so the king destroys them and sends his servants into the highways to bid as many as they find until the wedding is furnished with guests. Every guest must wear the wedding garment the king provides, which is Christ's righteousness, his imputed righteousness received by justification by faith and shown in obedience to God's commandments. Before the marriage the king comes in to examine the guests to see who has the garment, which is the investigative judgment determining who is prepared to share in God's kingdom.
King, Son and Feast
The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king making a marriage feast for his son, with the hall ready and the table set and the king calling his own to attend. Preparations are made beforehand, and when all things are now ready servants are sent to call those already bidden to the wedding. The first call goes to those already bidden, the higher classes who are his chosen people. The wedding invitation calls people to heed the warning and make ready to enter, so that the house may be filled.
The king represents God and the son represents Christ. Christ is the Bridegroom and the church is the bride. The gospel invitation to this wedding is to be carried to all nations.
The feast is the gospel invitation and the gospel feast, the banquet of God's Word with its treasures spread before people. It is the richest blessings of heaven and the redemption Christ offers to the world, prepared through His atoning death, where the rich repast and spiritual nourishment that satisfies every need is the truth of redemption. The invitation to receive this nourishment is not forced, but each person may respond willingly to God's love and grace. Those who accept must not live to please themselves by absorbing means to flatter their own vanity, but work as Christ worked in devoted service to save souls, proclaiming redemption and conveying to others the invitation to the marriage supper of the Lamb by both the message they bear and the garment they wear. Coming to the banquet requires a reformation of the heart that makes room for Christ by laying aside self, and spiritual understanding enables people to value and receive these truths.
The marriage made for the king's son is a lesson of the highest consequence, representing the union of humanity with divinity. It presents the marriage of humanity with divinity and shows the standard of character each person must reach to be counted a fit guest at the wedding. The invitation to this feast is Christ's call to the marriage supper of the Lamb, which people are urged to accept, with the wedding imagery pointing to the Lamb's glad wedding and its gathered guests. Those who accept the call need the white robe of character, identified as the righteousness of Christ.
Compared with the householder's invitation in the parable of the great supper, the king's invitation comes with authority and offers high honor, yet those invited may despise it and insult the king by rejecting his servants, which makes rejection a graver offense. Marriage itself is a divine institution whose covenant deserves respect, and its solemnity and innocent joy as seen in a Jewish wedding are pleasing to Christ. Marriage is an image through which important truths can be taught.
Invitation Refused and Extended
The preparations for the feast are made beforehand, and when all things are now ready servants are sent to call those already bidden. The dealing of God with men in the gospel invitation is shown first in a general invitation and then in servants sent to invite the bidden personally with the final call that all things are now ready, to make sure they understand. Yet even after that personal final call they still will not come but all with one consent begin to make excuse.
The first call goes to those already bidden, who thought themselves worthy to be bidden. They are the chosen people and the higher classes, the higher walks of life, including the shepherds of the flock and divinely appointed teachers, men in business life and positions of trust, men with large inventive faculties and scientific insight, men of genius and of organization, and men to whom God has entrusted many talents. It is the Lord's will that they hear the truth in a manner different from the way they have heard it in the past, because their gifts are needed to manage institutions and to act as leaders, captains, educators, faithful financiers, and presidents who look ahead and discern what needs to be done. The Lord God as king first sends his messengers to his chosen people.
Those bidden will not come but make light of the invitation and with one consent make excuse, going to farm and merchandise. They are wholly intent on securing worldly gain in buying and selling, planting and building, priding themselves in getting gain by buying and selling, and thinking they cannot afford to lose any worldly advantage for the sake of enjoying the heavenly feast. They excuse themselves with circumstances and supposed duties, and some scorn and kill the messengers. Their refusal and preoccupation with farm and merchandise leads on to spiteful treatment and killing of the servants.
Their refusal shows they do not feel sufficient respect for the master of the feast. They answer I pray thee have me excused, as them that are turned back from the Lord and those that have not sought the Lord nor inquired for him, thinking their own wisdom sufficient and speaking as if oracles of wisdom. Great men and worldly-wise men refuse the heavenly benefits because this present world is their god, they listen to the wily foe, and they frame foolish excuses to avoid the obligation. Turning from the heavenly provision prepared for their benefit for lesser interests and making excuses leads to rejection, and half-hearted effort, delay, and self-justification leave people unprepared.
Some invited go further and spitefully treat and kill the king's messengers, despising the invitation and insulting the king by rejecting his servants and insulting his gracious generosity. The king's authority makes refusing the invitation a serious offense, graver than refusing a householder's invitation. The king's wrath then brings a punishment more dreadful than exclusion from his presence and table: his armies destroy the murderers and burn their cities. For the day of the Lord is at hand, for the Lord has prepared a sacrifice and bid his guests, and in the day of the Lord's sacrifice he will punish the princes and the king's children and all clothed with strange apparel, and will punish all that leap on the threshold which fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit.
Because they which were bidden were not worthy, the king sends his servants into the highways to bid as many as they find, both bad and good, until the wedding is furnished with guests. The Jewish nation had received the invitation and rich opportunities but rejected God's Son and the garments of his righteousness, so the parable applies to the Christian world. Christ having paid the ransom with his own precious blood sends a gracious invitation to the marriage supper to the great men of the earth, whereby all who desire eternal life above every other earthly consideration may come unto him, take upon themselves the marriage contract, partake of the marriage supper, and associate with him. They refuse him who could have given real value to their characters, brought them back to allegiance to God and his commandments, placed his own image and superscription upon them, changed them into obedient loyal children, made them truly great and valuable, turned their crosses into crowns, and fulfilled the promise to make a man more precious than fine gold; God allows everyone to choose his own lord, and this choosing of the world is why there are so few worldly-wise men in the ranks of Jesus.
Wedding Garment Explained
No guest may enter on his own standing; the king has prepared a spotless robe for every invited one, woven in the loom of heaven and proffered spotless as the pure white lily, and accountability before the king turns on wearing what he provides. That provision is not an ornament added to human worth but the only covering fit for his presence, made ready beforehand for those he calls to the marriage of his son.
The garment is Christ's righteousness, the robe of his righteousness, his distinguishing dress, the white linen of a clean pure character washed white in the blood of the Lamb. It is imputed righteousness received by justification by faith, held to the lips in the cup of truth, offered even to the lowliest who will believe in him as personal Saviour, never gained by superior intellect or refinement of ideas. Beholding his purity exposes every sinner as lost and hopeless, weak and poor and defective, and worthiness to sit at the marriage supper of the Lamb comes only by accepting his robe.
No garment of one's own gives a position of honor, for defiled self-righteousness and the old citizen's dress are unfit for Christ's presence. To cling to that citizen's dress while refusing the dress prepared by Christ does the greatest dishonor to the inviter and insults his gracious generosity. Those who so refuse, priding themselves in buying and selling and getting gain as if they cannot afford loss for the heavenly feast, show they have mistaken worldly advantage for fitness to remain.
Putting on the provided robe requires laying aside self and making God the dependence, putting on the humility and meekness and lowliness of Christ in decided change from stubborn self-will. It is a reformation of the heart that makes room for Christ, a sanctified character representing him, wrought by the Holy Spirit working by love to purify the soul. Those who lean on others and cherish self-willed traits to the last fail to obtain the experience essential to be clothed and become unfit to discern the working of God's Spirit.
That righteousness is shown in right actions and obedience to God's commandments, for deeds reveal character and whether faith is genuine. Those who wear it no longer live the old ignorant citizen life but show changed speech and conversation, with faith standing not in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Mere profession of faith or belief in the truth is not enough unless Christ is revealed in a life of righteousness.
Coming in name while refusing to practice the truth is coming without the garment, keeping Christ out of the heart and truth in the outer court while cherishing hereditary and cultivated unsanctified traits. It is the state of those who have nominally accepted Bible truth without bringing it into the inner sanctuary of the soul, who are hearers only and not doers, who profess to be circumcised yet in practice walk with the uncircumcised in covetousness and selfish indulgence and misuse of entrusted talents, whose lives do not show the inward work of the Holy Spirit despite outward religious activity. Even talking the Word throughout the world leaves such hearers unsanctified and building on sand.
Those who put on the robe honor Christ and show they are his church married to Christ as his bride, and by imputed righteousness alone the sons and daughters of Adam are made members of the family in heaven and fit to remain at the supper. Only those so clothed are prepared to serve in his work and share the invitation of mercy. To feel at liberty to come yet refuse the robe insults the king and leads to being cast out and destroyed with the uncircumcised, for the guest without it will not be spared.
Examination and Final Readiness
Before the marriage the king comes in to examine the guests to see who has the wedding garment, and that examination represents the investigative judgment taking place before the marriage to determine who is prepared to share in God's kingdom. The wedding itself represents the kingdom, and the garment required is a spotless character washed white in the blood of the Lamb. All who come to the gospel feast are examined by God, and only those clothed in Christ's righteousness are accepted. That righteousness is shown in right actions, for deeds reveal character and whether faith is genuine, so profession of faith or belief in the truth is not enough unless Christ is revealed in a life of righteousness. Special warning is joined to this call in the man who came without the wedding garment, whose inspection and rejection belong to the truth that feeds earnest listeners.
The presence of a man without a wedding garment who is then rejected raises the question of who can be present at the marriage, and this is used to challenge the claim that the church is the bride and that the marriage occurs only after Christ returns and takes the saints to heaven. Being found without the garment means being found unready. Probation is fast closing and the end is near, so hearts must not be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life lest that day come unawares. The Son of man comes in an hour not expected, and blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments lest he walk naked and his shame be seen.
There is no second bidding after probation closes: those who received warning and offer of pardon and salvation but refused will have no later opportunity to accept the invitation to the heavenly feast. Turning from the marriage-supper invitation prepared for the guests' benefit toward lesser interests and excuses leads to rejection, and the door is shut before the unready seek admittance. Half-hearted effort, delay, and self-justification leave people unprepared, self-righteousness cannot provide the wedding garment which is the righteousness of Christ, and the unready also influence others to remain unready. The feast is a supper to which a final call is given, and those who answer it must be clothed in the white robe of Christ's righteousness. A person cannot share in Christ's kingdom while holding to unconfessed and unrepented wrongs, while repentance and confession make way for forgiveness and cleansing.
Readiness can meet even death calmly, as those facing the fire prepared as calmly as guests going to the king's feast.
Carrying the Invitation Worldwide
The call to the marriage supper is the gospel itself, to be carried to all nations and pressed upon people of every class, rich and poor, without passing any by. Those who have come to the feast are to invite others to come with them, going out into the highways and hedges and compelling those found there to come in, both bad and good, until the house is full and the wedding is furnished with guests. The invitation is not made to a few but to all, with no walls built to keep any living soul from salvation. It is the final invitation, the call to receive the gospel and share the message of Christ's soon coming, and it must reach those who have not yet heard it.
It is to be pressed especially upon neglected and difficult-to-reach people, including thousands now in vice and iniquity that they may be redeemed from dissipation and sin, the poor and needy, and the formerly enslaved and ignorant people of the Southern field. It is also to be carried to men in the higher walks and higher classes of life, who are difficult to reach because few believers can obtain association with them. These include men in business life and positions of trust, men with large inventive faculties and scientific insight, men of genius and God-given powers of organization, men of wealth and influence, men in high places, worldly-wise men, Gentiles, heathen and even idolaters who are unenlightened and uninformed. Canvassers with Christ in the heart are to carry it into the highways and byways of life to perishing souls, and while some will refuse, not all will refuse. All are to be given a fair chance to hear, weigh evidence and consider the truth, including the privilege and opportunity to give of their abundance for the support of the work.
People of high standing who accept the truth can support the work with their means and influence and help reach others beyond the ordinary minister's reach. Their gifts are needed to manage institutions and to act as leaders, captains, educators, faithful financiers and presidents, to look ahead and discern what needs to be done. For this reason they are to be sought out with tender affection and brotherly regard and to hear the truth in a manner different from the way they have heard it in the past, and very much more should have been done for them.
Those who have received the message are to work and pray to bring people to salvation and to lead them to accept the kingdom invitation to the marriage supper of the Lamb, without lowering God's law to gain converts. Those who put on Christ's righteousness are thereby prepared to serve in His work and share the invitation of mercy. They show they have on the wedding garment, the robe of Christ's righteousness, by both the message they bear and the garment they wear, proclaiming redemption and conveying to others the invitation to the marriage supper. They are not to live to please themselves by absorbing means to flatter their own vanity, but to work as Christ worked in devoted, self-denying service to save souls. The invitation is to be carried persuasively yet humbly and in the sanctifying power of the gospel.
Bringing the invitation requires travail of soul for the lost, going to them where they are, approaching them wisely, becoming acquainted with them while remaining in the world but not of the world, taking hold of them and urging them to come in. Influential and wealthy people who are starving for spiritual food, and people of every station, are to be asked whether they are prepared for immortal life.
Accepting and Living Prepared
The feast set before souls is a banquet that will satisfy every want, offering peace and happiness and joy and rest from the din and confusion of earth, full of marrow and fatness in His Word. He longs to bestow it and waits to see it received, waiting for a response from those He bids to the marriage He has made. Partaking of that gospel feast, the marriage supper of the Lamb with all things now ready, means accepting Christ as personal Saviour and accepting the truth as it is in Jesus. It means returning to loyalty and perfect obedience to all God's commandments, truly receiving Christ, surrendering to God's will, and being fitted by wearing Christ's righteousness, His distinguishing dress, the white linen of a clean pure character. Some accept hoping to benefit themselves, wanting the provisions while refusing to clothe themselves in the wedding garment, but only those who come and put it on honor Christ, no longer living the old ignorant citizen life, with changed speech and conversation so that faith stands not in human wisdom but in God's power. The invitation is through a lifetime and into eternity and is offered without restriction to all with no walls to keep any living soul from salvation, yet it is not forced, for each may respond willingly to offered grace and bestowed love. He cannot work for the soul that does not respond, though every heart may and can respond if it will, and the yearning heart recognizes His voice, while the issue rests wholly with those invited.
Accepting the call requires personal trust in God and genuine faith, with decision and effort, seeking Him with all the heart in every family. Those who so respond receive an outpouring of His Spirit as on the Day of Pentecost. People may hear and acknowledge the gracious call yet refuse to accept and obey it, and merely hearing without obeying leaves them separated from their source of spiritual strength. The time to be prepared for the marriage supper of the Lord is now short, and everyone must be prepared. Being prepared means accepting the robe of Christ's righteousness so as not to be found without the wedding garment, and having the peace of Christ while resisting the devil, who works in great power with the children of disobedience as agents to destroy the soul.
Christ's call to the marriage supper of the Lamb can be crowded out when worldly entertainments distract people from accepting it, and those who accept need the white robe of character which is the righteousness of Christ. Turning from the heavenly provision prepared for the guests' benefit for lesser interests and making excuses leads to rejection, and the door is shut before the unready seek admittance. Half-hearted effort, delay, and self-justification leave people unprepared, for self-righteousness cannot provide the wedding garment, and the unready also influence others to remain unready. Coming in name without practicing Bible truth is coming without the garment, and those who neglect faithful service and efforts to seek and save the lost are accountable for the talents entrusted to them. The marriage presents the marriage of humanity with divinity and shows the standard of character each must reach to be counted a fit guest, a lesson of the highest consequence to be studied carefully for its full import. Measuring character by human ideas does not agree with the standard God has given, and presumption where eternal interests are involved results in loss of soul. Everyone deciding for Christ must take a firm stand and surrender to God that which is already His own, and unless the righteousness of Christ as set forth in the sixth chapter of John is accepted, the wedding garment is not on.
The kingdom of heaven is pictured as a certain king making a marriage feast for his son, with the hall ready and the table spread and his own people called to attend. The king stands for God and the son for Christ the Bridegroom, and the feast is the gospel invitation spreading the treasures of God's Word and the redemption prepared through Christ's atoning death. Those first bidden refuse and make light of the call for farm and merchandise, and some even kill the messengers, so the king destroys them and sends his servants into the highways to bid as many as they find until the wedding is furnished with guests. Every guest must wear the wedding garment the king provides, which is Christ's righteousness, his imputed righteousness received by justification by faith and shown in obedience to God's commandments. Before the marriage the king comes in to examine the guests to see who has the garment, which is the investigative judgment determining who is prepared to share in God's kingdom.
King, Son and Feast
The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king making a marriage feast for his son, with the hall ready and the table set and the king calling his own to attend. Preparations are made beforehand, and when all things are now ready servants are sent to call those already bidden to the wedding. The first call goes to those already bidden, the higher classes who are his chosen people. The wedding invitation calls people to heed the warning and make ready to enter, so that the house may be filled.
The king represents God and the son represents Christ. Christ is the Bridegroom and the church is the bride. The gospel invitation to this wedding is to be carried to all nations.
The feast is the gospel invitation and the gospel feast, the banquet of God's Word with its treasures spread before people. It is the richest blessings of heaven and the redemption Christ offers to the world, prepared through His atoning death, where the rich repast and spiritual nourishment that satisfies every need is the truth of redemption. The invitation to receive this nourishment is not forced, but each person may respond willingly to God's love and grace. Those who accept must not live to please themselves by absorbing means to flatter their own vanity, but work as Christ worked in devoted service to save souls, proclaiming redemption and conveying to others the invitation to the marriage supper of the Lamb by both the message they bear and the garment they wear. Coming to the banquet requires a reformation of the heart that makes room for Christ by laying aside self, and spiritual understanding enables people to value and receive these truths.
The marriage made for the king's son is a lesson of the highest consequence, representing the union of humanity with divinity. It presents the marriage of humanity with divinity and shows the standard of character each person must reach to be counted a fit guest at the wedding. The invitation to this feast is Christ's call to the marriage supper of the Lamb, which people are urged to accept, with the wedding imagery pointing to the Lamb's glad wedding and its gathered guests. Those who accept the call need the white robe of character, identified as the righteousness of Christ.
Compared with the householder's invitation in the parable of the great supper, the king's invitation comes with authority and offers high honor, yet those invited may despise it and insult the king by rejecting his servants, which makes rejection a graver offense. Marriage itself is a divine institution whose covenant deserves respect, and its solemnity and innocent joy as seen in a Jewish wedding are pleasing to Christ. Marriage is an image through which important truths can be taught.
Invitation Refused and Extended
The preparations for the feast are made beforehand, and when all things are now ready servants are sent to call those already bidden. The dealing of God with men in the gospel invitation is shown first in a general invitation and then in servants sent to invite the bidden personally with the final call that all things are now ready, to make sure they understand. Yet even after that personal final call they still will not come but all with one consent begin to make excuse.
The first call goes to those already bidden, who thought themselves worthy to be bidden. They are the chosen people and the higher classes, the higher walks of life, including the shepherds of the flock and divinely appointed teachers, men in business life and positions of trust, men with large inventive faculties and scientific insight, men of genius and of organization, and men to whom God has entrusted many talents. It is the Lord's will that they hear the truth in a manner different from the way they have heard it in the past, because their gifts are needed to manage institutions and to act as leaders, captains, educators, faithful financiers, and presidents who look ahead and discern what needs to be done. The Lord God as king first sends his messengers to his chosen people.
Those bidden will not come but make light of the invitation and with one consent make excuse, going to farm and merchandise. They are wholly intent on securing worldly gain in buying and selling, planting and building, priding themselves in getting gain by buying and selling, and thinking they cannot afford to lose any worldly advantage for the sake of enjoying the heavenly feast. They excuse themselves with circumstances and supposed duties, and some scorn and kill the messengers. Their refusal and preoccupation with farm and merchandise leads on to spiteful treatment and killing of the servants.
Their refusal shows they do not feel sufficient respect for the master of the feast. They answer I pray thee have me excused, as them that are turned back from the Lord and those that have not sought the Lord nor inquired for him, thinking their own wisdom sufficient and speaking as if oracles of wisdom. Great men and worldly-wise men refuse the heavenly benefits because this present world is their god, they listen to the wily foe, and they frame foolish excuses to avoid the obligation. Turning from the heavenly provision prepared for their benefit for lesser interests and making excuses leads to rejection, and half-hearted effort, delay, and self-justification leave people unprepared.
Some invited go further and spitefully treat and kill the king's messengers, despising the invitation and insulting the king by rejecting his servants and insulting his gracious generosity. The king's authority makes refusing the invitation a serious offense, graver than refusing a householder's invitation. The king's wrath then brings a punishment more dreadful than exclusion from his presence and table: his armies destroy the murderers and burn their cities. For the day of the Lord is at hand, for the Lord has prepared a sacrifice and bid his guests, and in the day of the Lord's sacrifice he will punish the princes and the king's children and all clothed with strange apparel, and will punish all that leap on the threshold which fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit.
Because they which were bidden were not worthy, the king sends his servants into the highways to bid as many as they find, both bad and good, until the wedding is furnished with guests. The Jewish nation had received the invitation and rich opportunities but rejected God's Son and the garments of his righteousness, so the parable applies to the Christian world. Christ having paid the ransom with his own precious blood sends a gracious invitation to the marriage supper to the great men of the earth, whereby all who desire eternal life above every other earthly consideration may come unto him, take upon themselves the marriage contract, partake of the marriage supper, and associate with him. They refuse him who could have given real value to their characters, brought them back to allegiance to God and his commandments, placed his own image and superscription upon them, changed them into obedient loyal children, made them truly great and valuable, turned their crosses into crowns, and fulfilled the promise to make a man more precious than fine gold; God allows everyone to choose his own lord, and this choosing of the world is why there are so few worldly-wise men in the ranks of Jesus.
Wedding Garment Explained
No guest may enter on his own standing; the king has prepared a spotless robe for every invited one, woven in the loom of heaven and proffered spotless as the pure white lily, and accountability before the king turns on wearing what he provides. That provision is not an ornament added to human worth but the only covering fit for his presence, made ready beforehand for those he calls to the marriage of his son.
The garment is Christ's righteousness, the robe of his righteousness, his distinguishing dress, the white linen of a clean pure character washed white in the blood of the Lamb. It is imputed righteousness received by justification by faith, held to the lips in the cup of truth, offered even to the lowliest who will believe in him as personal Saviour, never gained by superior intellect or refinement of ideas. Beholding his purity exposes every sinner as lost and hopeless, weak and poor and defective, and worthiness to sit at the marriage supper of the Lamb comes only by accepting his robe.
No garment of one's own gives a position of honor, for defiled self-righteousness and the old citizen's dress are unfit for Christ's presence. To cling to that citizen's dress while refusing the dress prepared by Christ does the greatest dishonor to the inviter and insults his gracious generosity. Those who so refuse, priding themselves in buying and selling and getting gain as if they cannot afford loss for the heavenly feast, show they have mistaken worldly advantage for fitness to remain.
Putting on the provided robe requires laying aside self and making God the dependence, putting on the humility and meekness and lowliness of Christ in decided change from stubborn self-will. It is a reformation of the heart that makes room for Christ, a sanctified character representing him, wrought by the Holy Spirit working by love to purify the soul. Those who lean on others and cherish self-willed traits to the last fail to obtain the experience essential to be clothed and become unfit to discern the working of God's Spirit.
That righteousness is shown in right actions and obedience to God's commandments, for deeds reveal character and whether faith is genuine. Those who wear it no longer live the old ignorant citizen life but show changed speech and conversation, with faith standing not in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Mere profession of faith or belief in the truth is not enough unless Christ is revealed in a life of righteousness.
Coming in name while refusing to practice the truth is coming without the garment, keeping Christ out of the heart and truth in the outer court while cherishing hereditary and cultivated unsanctified traits. It is the state of those who have nominally accepted Bible truth without bringing it into the inner sanctuary of the soul, who are hearers only and not doers, who profess to be circumcised yet in practice walk with the uncircumcised in covetousness and selfish indulgence and misuse of entrusted talents, whose lives do not show the inward work of the Holy Spirit despite outward religious activity. Even talking the Word throughout the world leaves such hearers unsanctified and building on sand.
Those who put on the robe honor Christ and show they are his church married to Christ as his bride, and by imputed righteousness alone the sons and daughters of Adam are made members of the family in heaven and fit to remain at the supper. Only those so clothed are prepared to serve in his work and share the invitation of mercy. To feel at liberty to come yet refuse the robe insults the king and leads to being cast out and destroyed with the uncircumcised, for the guest without it will not be spared.
Examination and Final Readiness
Before the marriage the king comes in to examine the guests to see who has the wedding garment, and that examination represents the investigative judgment taking place before the marriage to determine who is prepared to share in God's kingdom. The wedding itself represents the kingdom, and the garment required is a spotless character washed white in the blood of the Lamb. All who come to the gospel feast are examined by God, and only those clothed in Christ's righteousness are accepted. That righteousness is shown in right actions, for deeds reveal character and whether faith is genuine, so profession of faith or belief in the truth is not enough unless Christ is revealed in a life of righteousness. Special warning is joined to this call in the man who came without the wedding garment, whose inspection and rejection belong to the truth that feeds earnest listeners.
The presence of a man without a wedding garment who is then rejected raises the question of who can be present at the marriage, and this is used to challenge the claim that the church is the bride and that the marriage occurs only after Christ returns and takes the saints to heaven. Being found without the garment means being found unready. Probation is fast closing and the end is near, so hearts must not be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life lest that day come unawares. The Son of man comes in an hour not expected, and blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments lest he walk naked and his shame be seen.
There is no second bidding after probation closes: those who received warning and offer of pardon and salvation but refused will have no later opportunity to accept the invitation to the heavenly feast. Turning from the marriage-supper invitation prepared for the guests' benefit toward lesser interests and excuses leads to rejection, and the door is shut before the unready seek admittance. Half-hearted effort, delay, and self-justification leave people unprepared, self-righteousness cannot provide the wedding garment which is the righteousness of Christ, and the unready also influence others to remain unready. The feast is a supper to which a final call is given, and those who answer it must be clothed in the white robe of Christ's righteousness. A person cannot share in Christ's kingdom while holding to unconfessed and unrepented wrongs, while repentance and confession make way for forgiveness and cleansing.
Readiness can meet even death calmly, as those facing the fire prepared as calmly as guests going to the king's feast.
Carrying the Invitation Worldwide
The call to the marriage supper is the gospel itself, to be carried to all nations and pressed upon people of every class, rich and poor, without passing any by. Those who have come to the feast are to invite others to come with them, going out into the highways and hedges and compelling those found there to come in, both bad and good, until the house is full and the wedding is furnished with guests. The invitation is not made to a few but to all, with no walls built to keep any living soul from salvation. It is the final invitation, the call to receive the gospel and share the message of Christ's soon coming, and it must reach those who have not yet heard it.
It is to be pressed especially upon neglected and difficult-to-reach people, including thousands now in vice and iniquity that they may be redeemed from dissipation and sin, the poor and needy, and the formerly enslaved and ignorant people of the Southern field. It is also to be carried to men in the higher walks and higher classes of life, who are difficult to reach because few believers can obtain association with them. These include men in business life and positions of trust, men with large inventive faculties and scientific insight, men of genius and God-given powers of organization, men of wealth and influence, men in high places, worldly-wise men, Gentiles, heathen and even idolaters who are unenlightened and uninformed. Canvassers with Christ in the heart are to carry it into the highways and byways of life to perishing souls, and while some will refuse, not all will refuse. All are to be given a fair chance to hear, weigh evidence and consider the truth, including the privilege and opportunity to give of their abundance for the support of the work.
People of high standing who accept the truth can support the work with their means and influence and help reach others beyond the ordinary minister's reach. Their gifts are needed to manage institutions and to act as leaders, captains, educators, faithful financiers and presidents, to look ahead and discern what needs to be done. For this reason they are to be sought out with tender affection and brotherly regard and to hear the truth in a manner different from the way they have heard it in the past, and very much more should have been done for them.
Those who have received the message are to work and pray to bring people to salvation and to lead them to accept the kingdom invitation to the marriage supper of the Lamb, without lowering God's law to gain converts. Those who put on Christ's righteousness are thereby prepared to serve in His work and share the invitation of mercy. They show they have on the wedding garment, the robe of Christ's righteousness, by both the message they bear and the garment they wear, proclaiming redemption and conveying to others the invitation to the marriage supper. They are not to live to please themselves by absorbing means to flatter their own vanity, but to work as Christ worked in devoted, self-denying service to save souls. The invitation is to be carried persuasively yet humbly and in the sanctifying power of the gospel.
Bringing the invitation requires travail of soul for the lost, going to them where they are, approaching them wisely, becoming acquainted with them while remaining in the world but not of the world, taking hold of them and urging them to come in. Influential and wealthy people who are starving for spiritual food, and people of every station, are to be asked whether they are prepared for immortal life.
Accepting and Living Prepared
The feast set before souls is a banquet that will satisfy every want, offering peace and happiness and joy and rest from the din and confusion of earth, full of marrow and fatness in His Word. He longs to bestow it and waits to see it received, waiting for a response from those He bids to the marriage He has made. Partaking of that gospel feast, the marriage supper of the Lamb with all things now ready, means accepting Christ as personal Saviour and accepting the truth as it is in Jesus. It means returning to loyalty and perfect obedience to all God's commandments, truly receiving Christ, surrendering to God's will, and being fitted by wearing Christ's righteousness, His distinguishing dress, the white linen of a clean pure character. Some accept hoping to benefit themselves, wanting the provisions while refusing to clothe themselves in the wedding garment, but only those who come and put it on honor Christ, no longer living the old ignorant citizen life, with changed speech and conversation so that faith stands not in human wisdom but in God's power. The invitation is through a lifetime and into eternity and is offered without restriction to all with no walls to keep any living soul from salvation, yet it is not forced, for each may respond willingly to offered grace and bestowed love. He cannot work for the soul that does not respond, though every heart may and can respond if it will, and the yearning heart recognizes His voice, while the issue rests wholly with those invited.
Accepting the call requires personal trust in God and genuine faith, with decision and effort, seeking Him with all the heart in every family. Those who so respond receive an outpouring of His Spirit as on the Day of Pentecost. People may hear and acknowledge the gracious call yet refuse to accept and obey it, and merely hearing without obeying leaves them separated from their source of spiritual strength. The time to be prepared for the marriage supper of the Lord is now short, and everyone must be prepared. Being prepared means accepting the robe of Christ's righteousness so as not to be found without the wedding garment, and having the peace of Christ while resisting the devil, who works in great power with the children of disobedience as agents to destroy the soul.
Christ's call to the marriage supper of the Lamb can be crowded out when worldly entertainments distract people from accepting it, and those who accept need the white robe of character which is the righteousness of Christ. Turning from the heavenly provision prepared for the guests' benefit for lesser interests and making excuses leads to rejection, and the door is shut before the unready seek admittance. Half-hearted effort, delay, and self-justification leave people unprepared, for self-righteousness cannot provide the wedding garment, and the unready also influence others to remain unready. Coming in name without practicing Bible truth is coming without the garment, and those who neglect faithful service and efforts to seek and save the lost are accountable for the talents entrusted to them. The marriage presents the marriage of humanity with divinity and shows the standard of character each must reach to be counted a fit guest, a lesson of the highest consequence to be studied carefully for its full import. Measuring character by human ideas does not agree with the standard God has given, and presumption where eternal interests are involved results in loss of soul. Everyone deciding for Christ must take a firm stand and surrender to God that which is already His own, and unless the righteousness of Christ as set forth in the sixth chapter of John is accepted, the wedding garment is not on.