Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who held a wedding feast for his son. 3 And he sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. 4 Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened cattle are all butchered and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast!” 5 But they paid no attention and went their separate ways, one to his own farm, another to his business, 6 and the rest seized his slaves and treated them abusively, and then killed them. 7 Now the king was angry, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. 8 Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 So go to the main roads, and invite whomever you find there to the wedding feast.’ 10 Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests.
11 “But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, 12 and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the servants, ‘Tie his hands and feet, and throw him into the outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth in that place.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”
TODAY'S TAKEAWAY:
The Lord Jesus invites everyone to the table, where there is close fellowship, all in the love, peace and unity of God! To accept His invitation is to become a believer, by humbling one's heart, repenting of one's sins, and believing in the Lord Jesus as our Lord and Savior. In our salvation, all sins are forgiven (past, present, future), we receive His indwelling Holy Spirit, and are covered by His righteousness. THIS is to be dressed and ready for the wedding feast.
One might think it unfair to be tossed out of a wedding celebration because one is not dressed appropriately, but understand that God is very fair and just, and gives everyone fair opportunity to accept His invitation. Not only does He want all people to accept, but He provides the wedding attire!!!
Now to explain the end times: for those becoming believers before the Tribulation, the Bible describes the Church as the bride of Christ, and He is the groom, therefore in this parable, God is the King. Scripture has also described the Millennial kingdom as the wedding feast.
Keep in mind that Jesus is speaking to the Israelites, who are waiting for their covenants to be fulfilled, which will happen in the Millennial kingdom. But because they as a nation rejected and still reject Jesus as their Messiah, their Jewish Age was put on pause, with seven remaining years. Not until Jesus had died and rose again, and ascended into heaven, did the disciples know about this Church Age.
Now, in the Church Age, whoever becomes a believer is part of the Church, including Jews. At any moment, like "a thief in the night", Jesus will catch up all believers of all time, up until that point, and take His "bride" (the Church) to heaven. This all parallels the events of a traditional biblical Jewish wedding.
In a traditional Jewish wedding:
- the groom (Jesus) proposes (presents the good news of salvation)
- the bride accepts (those becoming believers, become the Church/the bride)
- the bride is from that moment forward legally bound together (one cannot lose their salvation)
- the groom goes away to prepare his home (Jesus ascended to heaven and prepares a place for us)
- when it is time and everything is ready, the groom returns to collect his bride (the rapture, which is when believers are caught up to heaven to be with Jesus)
- the groom and bride have their honeymoon phase (believers will be with Jesus in heaven, while the Tribulation occurs on earth for seven years)
- the attendants wait... (those on earth who become believers during the Tribulation must wait for Jesus to return, in particular, the entire nation of Israel)
- attendants must be ready for the moment when the groom determines it is time to lead the way to the wedding feast (Jesus returns to have victory at the battle of Armageddon, and brings all believers from the Tribulation into the Millennium)
. the festivities can go on for days (the Millennium lasts for 1,000 years)
- when they are finished celebrating, it is time to go home (all believers, and those being born into the Millennium and choosing to become believers, all go to heaven for all eternity)
Because He loves us, the Lord Jesus wants to have a relationship with us! He has already proven His unconditional, sacrificial love for us by suffering, dying and rising again for us, and wanting to do everything for us, and desiring to spend all eternity with us - He extends His invitation - His proposal - all we have to do is say, "YES"!
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