The King Confronts the Guest Without a Wedding GarmentBible World
22:3Matthew 22:3
And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.
The King is God making a marriage for His Son, and His summons confers high honor and carries commanding authority, while those already bidden are His chosen people, the Jewish nation, who had long before consented to come and enjoyed every privilege and opportunity. Servants are then sent to give them the final personal call that all things are now ready, as God's messengers proclaiming pardon and salvation through the atoning death of Christ. They would not come, rejecting the promised Messiah and despising the King's authority, which opened mercy to the Gentiles. Their refusal came from being wholly intent on worldly gain and lesser interests, making light of the command with excuses, and even treating the messengers with scorn and slaying them. That insult brings more than exclusion from the feast, for the King's wrath destroys the murderers and burns their cities, and it warns that only those who put on the wedding garment of Christ's righteousness will be received when He scrutinizes the guests before the marriage.
The King and Invitation
The king is God, making a marriage for his son, and his sending of servants to call those bidden to the wedding is an invitation proceeding from one vested with power to command. It confers high honor upon those invited and involves much in its acceptance.
Those bidden are those who thought themselves worthy to be invited, God's chosen people, the Jewish nation. The king first sends his messengers to them among the higher classes, to those already invited who had consented to come and had every privilege and opportunity. Despite repeated sending of prophets, they are the first people invited who refuse the call.
The invitation had been given long before, and when the gospel feast was ready servants were sent to summon those already invited. That sending is a general invitation followed by a final personal call to make sure the guests understand the invitation and know that all things are now ready. Some did not value it and excused themselves from the royal banquet, though the call was Come, for all things are now ready.
The servants are God's messengers, repeatedly sent, including prophets and all who follow Christ. All who follow Christ are sent to call those bidden to the wedding, to summon God's own to the marriage hall and to carry the gospel call broadly to others. They proclaim redemption and the rich repast of truth, bearing witness to His atoning death that prepared the marriage feast and inviting people to the marriage supper of the Lamb. That work of calling others to come is a work of love for souls that fits and prepares the servants themselves for service and trial.
The feast to which they call is the gospel feast, the marriage supper of the Lamb. It is the treasures of God's Word and the proclamation of pardon and salvation, the offer of salvation to be carried even to people who have not yet heard it. It is what God prepared by sending His Son into the world to die in behalf of sinners, that through faith in Him they should become one with God. It goes to all and not to a few, with no walls built to keep any living soul from salvation.
Israel Refused to Come
The refusal to come is the Jewish people not receiving the promised Messiah, the Son of God, when He came into the world. The invitation is the gospel invitation, and its rejection is despising the king's authority. After that rejection came the call of mercy to the Gentiles, and that same call to bring people to the feast reaches all classes, including those in the Southern States who needed to hear the gospel. The first call went to the Jewish nation when it was deciding its own destiny, a people who had every privilege and opportunity to enjoy the richest banquet ever presented, who had consented to come and accepted the invitation, yet who had already divorced themselves from God. By rejecting His only begotten Son they refused the garment of Christ's righteousness and forever separated themselves from God.
They refused because they were wholly intent on securing worldly gain and did not feel sufficient respect for the master of the feast to answer him. They prided themselves in buying and selling to get gain and thought they could not afford to lose any worldly advantage for the sake of the heavenly feast. Their refusal was turning away from the Lord and not seeking or inquiring of Him, choosing earthly interests and lesser interests over eternal life. The way was not closed, for as Sin-bearer He had opened the way for all who desired eternal life above earthly considerations, but those who refused would not let Him restore their allegiance to God and His commandments nor transform them into loyal children bearing His image. Each person is allowed to choose whom to serve, yet their unreadiness brought loss, left the shut door with seeking admission too late, and could keep others from becoming ready.
Refusal meant making light of the king's command, pleading circumstances and supposed duties for failure to comply. It went further, to treating his messengers with scorn, despitefully using them and slaying them. It was knowing and deliberate, because they knew that accepting the call meant putting off the common citizen's dress and wearing the robe of Christ's righteousness, thereby showing themselves His church, married to Christ as His bride.
Compared with the parable of the great supper, where a householder's invitation is met with indifference and the punishment is only exclusion from tasting the supper, refusal of the king is a deeper insult and deeper guilt. It meets wrath beyond exclusion from his presence and table, even to sending forth armies to destroy those murderers and burn up their cities.
The invitation had been given long before, and when the feast was ready servants were sent to summon those already invited, but some did not value it and excused themselves from the royal banquet. The gracious call was plainly given, yet merely hearing and agreeing with truth without obeying and coming is not enough. Refusal to respond leaves people separated from the source of spiritual life and strength, and that conduct in refusing is brought into account when judgment takes place.
Judgment and Punishment
The refusal brings more than mere exclusion from the feast, for wrath sends armies to destroy those murderers and burn up their cities. The invitation proceeds from one vested with power to command, conferring high honor and involving much, and to refuse it is to reject the gospel, despise the king's authority, and then see mercy pass to others. Compared with the householder whose invitation meets only indifference and whose punishment is only exclusion from tasting the supper, refusal of the king is a deeper insult and deeper guilt. It makes light of the royal command, pleads circumstances and supposed duties for failure to comply, and goes on to scornful mistreatment of the messengers, despitefully using and slaying them.
The marriage represents the investigative judgment taking place before the marriage, when the great King scrutinizes the bidden guests. Servants were sent to summon those already invited long before, but some did not value the call and excused themselves from the royal banquet, and that conduct is brought into account when judgment takes place. That closing work in heaven examines professed followers to determine fitness for the kingdom, receiving only those who obeyed the requirements and put on the wedding garment, the robe of Christ's righteousness, while those without it are rejected. Righteousness is right-doing, all are judged by deeds because character is revealed by what is done and works show whether faith is genuine, and it is not enough to believe Jesus is not an impostor, to believe the Bible is true, to believe in the only name for salvation, to believe the theory of truth, to profess faith, or to have a name on the church roll, for faith must make Him a personal Saviour kept through commandment-keeping as the genuine evidence of conversion, and whatever the profession amounts to nothing unless Christ is revealed in works of righteousness.
To come into His presence in defiled garments of self, thinking they are good enough, insults His benevolence and abuses His grace. Human righteousness will not do, and the dealing is severe, for the one refusing Christ's righteousness is separated from His presence and cast out. The invited who refuse the call are those who do not respond to Christ, yet even to share the feast requires the garment, so wrongs that grieve Christ must be repented of and confessed that He may forgive and cleanse. The guest must be like Jesus, clothed in Christ's righteousness.
Being invited does not ensure readiness to enter when Christ comes, for the garment represents the readiness needed at His coming. The invitation is the proclamation of pardon and salvation prepared for the benefit of the bidden, yet they turned away for lesser interests, and those who receive its warning and then reject light and truth will have no second call after probation closes and no later opportunity to come to the heavenly feast. The refusal brings loss, and the shut door leaves them seeking admission too late, while their unreadiness can also keep others from becoming ready. Hence the solemn warning is to heed the invitation and prepare without delay in the closing days of probation, so that His house may be filled.
The Required Wedding Garment
Only those who put on the wedding garment are received at the feast, for the bidden guests must pass the scrutiny of the great King. That garment is the robe of Christ's righteousness, the white garment of character woven in the loom of heaven, spotless as the lily, the truth as it is in Jesus. It represents Christ in character through the Holy Spirit in the heart working by love and purifying the soul, and it presents the marriage of humanity with divinity and the standard of character each must reach to be counted a fit guest. No one has a garment of his own that gives a position of honor, and apart from Christ all are lost and hopeless, clad in garments of self-righteousness.
The robe is proffered by Christ Himself, with every provision made to seat guests at the feast, and those bidden must give their whole attention to securing this richest gift that can be bestowed on mortal man. It is offered even to the lowliest who believes in Him as personal Saviour, and if any are saved it is not because of superior intellect or refinement of ideas but through the grace of God, by imputed righteousness alone, which makes sons and daughters of Adam members of the heavenly family. Coming to the banquet means accepting Christ as personal Saviour, returning to loyalty and to perfect obedience to all God's commandments, with no walls built to keep any living soul from salvation.
True coming says by that act that Christ has been accepted as personal Saviour, and only those who so come do honor to Christ. It requires no longer living the old citizen life lived in ignorance, but putting off the common citizen's dress and wearing the robe of Christ's righteousness, thus showing belonging to His church as bride married to Christ. This means laying aside stubborn self-will and hereditary and cultivated traits that misrepresent Christ, with humility, meekness and lowliness, dependence on God rather than leaning on others, surrender to God of what is already His own, and a vital connection that leaves speech and conversation no longer unchanged but standing in the power of God.
It is not enough to believe Jesus is not an impostor, to believe the Bible is true, to believe the name of Jesus is the only name under heaven whereby man may be saved, to believe the theory of truth, to profess faith in Christ, to have the name on the church roll, to profess to believe the truth and come to hear the Word, or to accept outwardly with a form of godliness without the inward working of the Holy Spirit. Righteousness is right-doing, character is revealed by what is done, works show whether faith is genuine, and whatever the profession amounts to nothing unless Christ is revealed in works of righteousness by keeping His commandments and dwelling in Him. Those who come carrying self with no room for Christ, keeping truth in the outer court and Christ out of the heart, who are hearers but not doers and to whom the work of the Holy Spirit is strange, build on sand and come unsanctified to meet the reckoning, Friend, how camest thou in hither without a wedding garment.
The wedding supper was prepared for the church in the message of justification by faith and the imputed righteousness of Christ shining forth since the Minneapolis meeting. The servants sent to call them that were bidden are messengers sent under God, such as Jones and Waggoner, to bring the church to understand its true state and come to the supper. They that would not come, including leaders like Butler and Smith who do not walk in the light, hold themselves aloof and harmonize only in part, refuse the richest blessings proffered, cling to the old citizen's dress instead of the dress prepared by the Lord, fail to drink fully of the wine of truth, and give the trumpet no certain sound.
Answering the last call to the supper requires a pure life clothed in the white robe of Christ's righteousness, to be presented together with the reckoning with the one found without the wedding garment, for the time is short and everyone must be prepared now to have His peace and not be found wanting. Many are in danger of presumption in matters of eternal interest ending in loss of the soul, because they do not agree with the standard God has given and measure character by their own ideas. The danger is not failure of God to fulfill every specification of His promise, but hindrance of fulfillment by continuing in sin, with wrongs that grieve Christ needing repentance and confession that He may forgive and cleanse. Satan is working and will work in great power with the children of disobedience as agents to destroy the soul, so those called must resist the devil that he may flee.
Carrying the Call Today
The sending of servants to call those already bidden is the final gospel invitation to the marriage supper of the Lamb, to be carried earnestly to the world before the soon coming of Christ. It is a call to people of every class in the highways and byways, urging them to come without lowering the standard of God's law, and it must still reach places and thousands that have not yet heard it. Young people are to help proclaim it, and canvassers with Christ in the heart are to go forth speaking truth in love to perishing souls. Some who are invited will refuse, but not all will refuse.
The invitation is first to be given to those in the higher walks of life and must reach hearers of high standing, wealth, and influence. They are spiritually hungry, not beyond converting power, and will come if invited, and those who accept truth can then use influence, resources, and gifts for the work of God. Reaching the higher classes in the highways of life is difficult for lack of association, and they have been too much neglected. They are to be sought with tender affection and brotherly regard, approached wisely and graciously with a fair chance to consider truth, in a manner different from before. This includes shepherds of the flock and divinely appointed teachers, men in business life, men in positions of trust, men with large inventive faculties and scientific insight, men of genius and talents, managers of industrial institutions, leaders, captains, educators, faithful financiers, and presidents of conferences.
God has invited His church to the feast and given opportunity to work by inviting others to come with them, and again and again they are sent into the highways and hedges to compel people to come that His house may be full. All who follow Christ are servants in this, organizing workers to bring truth before thousands now in vice and iniquity that they may be redeemed from dissipation and sin instead of living to please self. That work of love for souls fits and prepares the servants for service and trial, proclaiming the rich repast of truth and the redemption Christ offers and wearing the wedding garment of His righteousness that testifies to the atoning death which prepared the feast. Those who through love of ease and selfish indulgence neglect it, though privileged with Bible truth, are held accountable for misused talents, and knowing truth without practicing it shows unfaithfulness and leaves them unready for the wedding supper.
The heavenly banquet goes to all, not to a few, for God prepared it by sending His Son to die for sinners that through faith they may become one with God, and no walls keep any living soul away. Coming means accepting Christ as personal Saviour with return to loyalty and perfect obedience to all commandments, and all willing to be saved by Christ are God's elect, predestinated from the foundation of the world.
Christ bids souls from love without parallel to a banquet of marrow and fatness in His Word that satisfies every want with abundant life, and the bid waits for response, for God cannot work for a soul that does not respond. The issue rests wholly with each person, who may freely respond or refuse, whom God allows to choose whom to serve, and every heart may respond if it will. Satan's pleasures and worldly influence, earthly interests, and lesser considerations can distract from accepting the call and receiving Christ's righteousness, and merely hearing and agreeing with truth without obeying and coming is not enough and leaves people separated from spiritual life and strength. Those who love not the light refuse to come, but a large number will respond, and those who seek with all the heart will find Him. When families and places such as Battle Creek and Cooranbong respond wholeheartedly, God will pour out His Spirit as at Pentecost.
The King is God making a marriage for His Son, and His summons confers high honor and carries commanding authority, while those already bidden are His chosen people, the Jewish nation, who had long before consented to come and enjoyed every privilege and opportunity. Servants are then sent to give them the final personal call that all things are now ready, as God's messengers proclaiming pardon and salvation through the atoning death of Christ. They would not come, rejecting the promised Messiah and despising the King's authority, which opened mercy to the Gentiles. Their refusal came from being wholly intent on worldly gain and lesser interests, making light of the command with excuses, and even treating the messengers with scorn and slaying them. That insult brings more than exclusion from the feast, for the King's wrath destroys the murderers and burns their cities, and it warns that only those who put on the wedding garment of Christ's righteousness will be received when He scrutinizes the guests before the marriage.
The King and Invitation
The king is God, making a marriage for his son, and his sending of servants to call those bidden to the wedding is an invitation proceeding from one vested with power to command. It confers high honor upon those invited and involves much in its acceptance.
Those bidden are those who thought themselves worthy to be invited, God's chosen people, the Jewish nation. The king first sends his messengers to them among the higher classes, to those already invited who had consented to come and had every privilege and opportunity. Despite repeated sending of prophets, they are the first people invited who refuse the call.
The invitation had been given long before, and when the gospel feast was ready servants were sent to summon those already invited. That sending is a general invitation followed by a final personal call to make sure the guests understand the invitation and know that all things are now ready. Some did not value it and excused themselves from the royal banquet, though the call was Come, for all things are now ready.
The servants are God's messengers, repeatedly sent, including prophets and all who follow Christ. All who follow Christ are sent to call those bidden to the wedding, to summon God's own to the marriage hall and to carry the gospel call broadly to others. They proclaim redemption and the rich repast of truth, bearing witness to His atoning death that prepared the marriage feast and inviting people to the marriage supper of the Lamb. That work of calling others to come is a work of love for souls that fits and prepares the servants themselves for service and trial.
The feast to which they call is the gospel feast, the marriage supper of the Lamb. It is the treasures of God's Word and the proclamation of pardon and salvation, the offer of salvation to be carried even to people who have not yet heard it. It is what God prepared by sending His Son into the world to die in behalf of sinners, that through faith in Him they should become one with God. It goes to all and not to a few, with no walls built to keep any living soul from salvation.
Israel Refused to Come
The refusal to come is the Jewish people not receiving the promised Messiah, the Son of God, when He came into the world. The invitation is the gospel invitation, and its rejection is despising the king's authority. After that rejection came the call of mercy to the Gentiles, and that same call to bring people to the feast reaches all classes, including those in the Southern States who needed to hear the gospel. The first call went to the Jewish nation when it was deciding its own destiny, a people who had every privilege and opportunity to enjoy the richest banquet ever presented, who had consented to come and accepted the invitation, yet who had already divorced themselves from God. By rejecting His only begotten Son they refused the garment of Christ's righteousness and forever separated themselves from God.
They refused because they were wholly intent on securing worldly gain and did not feel sufficient respect for the master of the feast to answer him. They prided themselves in buying and selling to get gain and thought they could not afford to lose any worldly advantage for the sake of the heavenly feast. Their refusal was turning away from the Lord and not seeking or inquiring of Him, choosing earthly interests and lesser interests over eternal life. The way was not closed, for as Sin-bearer He had opened the way for all who desired eternal life above earthly considerations, but those who refused would not let Him restore their allegiance to God and His commandments nor transform them into loyal children bearing His image. Each person is allowed to choose whom to serve, yet their unreadiness brought loss, left the shut door with seeking admission too late, and could keep others from becoming ready.
Refusal meant making light of the king's command, pleading circumstances and supposed duties for failure to comply. It went further, to treating his messengers with scorn, despitefully using them and slaying them. It was knowing and deliberate, because they knew that accepting the call meant putting off the common citizen's dress and wearing the robe of Christ's righteousness, thereby showing themselves His church, married to Christ as His bride.
Compared with the parable of the great supper, where a householder's invitation is met with indifference and the punishment is only exclusion from tasting the supper, refusal of the king is a deeper insult and deeper guilt. It meets wrath beyond exclusion from his presence and table, even to sending forth armies to destroy those murderers and burn up their cities.
The invitation had been given long before, and when the feast was ready servants were sent to summon those already invited, but some did not value it and excused themselves from the royal banquet. The gracious call was plainly given, yet merely hearing and agreeing with truth without obeying and coming is not enough. Refusal to respond leaves people separated from the source of spiritual life and strength, and that conduct in refusing is brought into account when judgment takes place.
Judgment and Punishment
The refusal brings more than mere exclusion from the feast, for wrath sends armies to destroy those murderers and burn up their cities. The invitation proceeds from one vested with power to command, conferring high honor and involving much, and to refuse it is to reject the gospel, despise the king's authority, and then see mercy pass to others. Compared with the householder whose invitation meets only indifference and whose punishment is only exclusion from tasting the supper, refusal of the king is a deeper insult and deeper guilt. It makes light of the royal command, pleads circumstances and supposed duties for failure to comply, and goes on to scornful mistreatment of the messengers, despitefully using and slaying them.
The marriage represents the investigative judgment taking place before the marriage, when the great King scrutinizes the bidden guests. Servants were sent to summon those already invited long before, but some did not value the call and excused themselves from the royal banquet, and that conduct is brought into account when judgment takes place. That closing work in heaven examines professed followers to determine fitness for the kingdom, receiving only those who obeyed the requirements and put on the wedding garment, the robe of Christ's righteousness, while those without it are rejected. Righteousness is right-doing, all are judged by deeds because character is revealed by what is done and works show whether faith is genuine, and it is not enough to believe Jesus is not an impostor, to believe the Bible is true, to believe in the only name for salvation, to believe the theory of truth, to profess faith, or to have a name on the church roll, for faith must make Him a personal Saviour kept through commandment-keeping as the genuine evidence of conversion, and whatever the profession amounts to nothing unless Christ is revealed in works of righteousness.
To come into His presence in defiled garments of self, thinking they are good enough, insults His benevolence and abuses His grace. Human righteousness will not do, and the dealing is severe, for the one refusing Christ's righteousness is separated from His presence and cast out. The invited who refuse the call are those who do not respond to Christ, yet even to share the feast requires the garment, so wrongs that grieve Christ must be repented of and confessed that He may forgive and cleanse. The guest must be like Jesus, clothed in Christ's righteousness.
Being invited does not ensure readiness to enter when Christ comes, for the garment represents the readiness needed at His coming. The invitation is the proclamation of pardon and salvation prepared for the benefit of the bidden, yet they turned away for lesser interests, and those who receive its warning and then reject light and truth will have no second call after probation closes and no later opportunity to come to the heavenly feast. The refusal brings loss, and the shut door leaves them seeking admission too late, while their unreadiness can also keep others from becoming ready. Hence the solemn warning is to heed the invitation and prepare without delay in the closing days of probation, so that His house may be filled.
The Required Wedding Garment
Only those who put on the wedding garment are received at the feast, for the bidden guests must pass the scrutiny of the great King. That garment is the robe of Christ's righteousness, the white garment of character woven in the loom of heaven, spotless as the lily, the truth as it is in Jesus. It represents Christ in character through the Holy Spirit in the heart working by love and purifying the soul, and it presents the marriage of humanity with divinity and the standard of character each must reach to be counted a fit guest. No one has a garment of his own that gives a position of honor, and apart from Christ all are lost and hopeless, clad in garments of self-righteousness.
The robe is proffered by Christ Himself, with every provision made to seat guests at the feast, and those bidden must give their whole attention to securing this richest gift that can be bestowed on mortal man. It is offered even to the lowliest who believes in Him as personal Saviour, and if any are saved it is not because of superior intellect or refinement of ideas but through the grace of God, by imputed righteousness alone, which makes sons and daughters of Adam members of the heavenly family. Coming to the banquet means accepting Christ as personal Saviour, returning to loyalty and to perfect obedience to all God's commandments, with no walls built to keep any living soul from salvation.
True coming says by that act that Christ has been accepted as personal Saviour, and only those who so come do honor to Christ. It requires no longer living the old citizen life lived in ignorance, but putting off the common citizen's dress and wearing the robe of Christ's righteousness, thus showing belonging to His church as bride married to Christ. This means laying aside stubborn self-will and hereditary and cultivated traits that misrepresent Christ, with humility, meekness and lowliness, dependence on God rather than leaning on others, surrender to God of what is already His own, and a vital connection that leaves speech and conversation no longer unchanged but standing in the power of God.
It is not enough to believe Jesus is not an impostor, to believe the Bible is true, to believe the name of Jesus is the only name under heaven whereby man may be saved, to believe the theory of truth, to profess faith in Christ, to have the name on the church roll, to profess to believe the truth and come to hear the Word, or to accept outwardly with a form of godliness without the inward working of the Holy Spirit. Righteousness is right-doing, character is revealed by what is done, works show whether faith is genuine, and whatever the profession amounts to nothing unless Christ is revealed in works of righteousness by keeping His commandments and dwelling in Him. Those who come carrying self with no room for Christ, keeping truth in the outer court and Christ out of the heart, who are hearers but not doers and to whom the work of the Holy Spirit is strange, build on sand and come unsanctified to meet the reckoning, Friend, how camest thou in hither without a wedding garment.
The wedding supper was prepared for the church in the message of justification by faith and the imputed righteousness of Christ shining forth since the Minneapolis meeting. The servants sent to call them that were bidden are messengers sent under God, such as Jones and Waggoner, to bring the church to understand its true state and come to the supper. They that would not come, including leaders like Butler and Smith who do not walk in the light, hold themselves aloof and harmonize only in part, refuse the richest blessings proffered, cling to the old citizen's dress instead of the dress prepared by the Lord, fail to drink fully of the wine of truth, and give the trumpet no certain sound.
Answering the last call to the supper requires a pure life clothed in the white robe of Christ's righteousness, to be presented together with the reckoning with the one found without the wedding garment, for the time is short and everyone must be prepared now to have His peace and not be found wanting. Many are in danger of presumption in matters of eternal interest ending in loss of the soul, because they do not agree with the standard God has given and measure character by their own ideas. The danger is not failure of God to fulfill every specification of His promise, but hindrance of fulfillment by continuing in sin, with wrongs that grieve Christ needing repentance and confession that He may forgive and cleanse. Satan is working and will work in great power with the children of disobedience as agents to destroy the soul, so those called must resist the devil that he may flee.
Carrying the Call Today
The sending of servants to call those already bidden is the final gospel invitation to the marriage supper of the Lamb, to be carried earnestly to the world before the soon coming of Christ. It is a call to people of every class in the highways and byways, urging them to come without lowering the standard of God's law, and it must still reach places and thousands that have not yet heard it. Young people are to help proclaim it, and canvassers with Christ in the heart are to go forth speaking truth in love to perishing souls. Some who are invited will refuse, but not all will refuse.
The invitation is first to be given to those in the higher walks of life and must reach hearers of high standing, wealth, and influence. They are spiritually hungry, not beyond converting power, and will come if invited, and those who accept truth can then use influence, resources, and gifts for the work of God. Reaching the higher classes in the highways of life is difficult for lack of association, and they have been too much neglected. They are to be sought with tender affection and brotherly regard, approached wisely and graciously with a fair chance to consider truth, in a manner different from before. This includes shepherds of the flock and divinely appointed teachers, men in business life, men in positions of trust, men with large inventive faculties and scientific insight, men of genius and talents, managers of industrial institutions, leaders, captains, educators, faithful financiers, and presidents of conferences.
God has invited His church to the feast and given opportunity to work by inviting others to come with them, and again and again they are sent into the highways and hedges to compel people to come that His house may be full. All who follow Christ are servants in this, organizing workers to bring truth before thousands now in vice and iniquity that they may be redeemed from dissipation and sin instead of living to please self. That work of love for souls fits and prepares the servants for service and trial, proclaiming the rich repast of truth and the redemption Christ offers and wearing the wedding garment of His righteousness that testifies to the atoning death which prepared the feast. Those who through love of ease and selfish indulgence neglect it, though privileged with Bible truth, are held accountable for misused talents, and knowing truth without practicing it shows unfaithfulness and leaves them unready for the wedding supper.
The heavenly banquet goes to all, not to a few, for God prepared it by sending His Son to die for sinners that through faith they may become one with God, and no walls keep any living soul away. Coming means accepting Christ as personal Saviour with return to loyalty and perfect obedience to all commandments, and all willing to be saved by Christ are God's elect, predestinated from the foundation of the world.
Christ bids souls from love without parallel to a banquet of marrow and fatness in His Word that satisfies every want with abundant life, and the bid waits for response, for God cannot work for a soul that does not respond. The issue rests wholly with each person, who may freely respond or refuse, whom God allows to choose whom to serve, and every heart may respond if it will. Satan's pleasures and worldly influence, earthly interests, and lesser considerations can distract from accepting the call and receiving Christ's righteousness, and merely hearing and agreeing with truth without obeying and coming is not enough and leaves people separated from spiritual life and strength. Those who love not the light refuse to come, but a large number will respond, and those who seek with all the heart will find Him. When families and places such as Battle Creek and Cooranbong respond wholeheartedly, God will pour out His Spirit as at Pentecost.