The Invited

 

“And again, Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again, he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So, the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen (Matthew 22:1-14, ESV).”

This is a parable of a certain wedding feast, and another one of Jesus’ many prophetic allusions that he taught during his ministry to the Jewish people. This prophecy is an indirect reference pointing to an event that will begin sometime after the rapture of the church. But before the rapture of the body of Christ happens Jesus reveals how this wedding feast for his son transpires. Jesus tells his hearers who the banquet is for, and who made the arrangements for it, and where it will be.

The kingdom of heaven in this parable is alluding to Eternity, the place where the body of Christ will be raptured to when Jesus comes for the church. Picture it as the place behind the door that the apostle John saw in his vision, when the voice he heard commanded him to: ἀναβαίνω ὧδε (anavaíno óde) “ascend here” (Rev. 4:1). And then once he was in the Spirit, he gives us a clearer image of what he saw, he saw the throne of the κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ παντοκράτωρ (kýrios o theós o pantokrátor) “Lord God Almighty” (Rev. 4:2-8). This is the kingdom that Jesus is alluding to. Jesus compares this kingdom to a βασιλιάς (vasiliás) king, because God is the ruler and the majesty of the eternal realm. The son is allusive to Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The wedding feast will assemble in the eternal realm (Matt. 22:2a). The king, or God the Father, is the one who will prepare and host the wedding feast for his Son, Jesus Christ (Matt. 22:2b).    

The people initially invited to the wedding feast is allusive to the nation of Israel (Matt. 22:3), “but they would not come.” This phrase is emblematic to their rejection of Jesus when he made his first appearance to them. They would not see that he was their Messiah even though they were looking right at him, they could not hear their Messiah even though they heard him speak (Matt. 13:13-15; Isa. 6:9-10). Yahweh had sent his servants, the prophets, to the Jews even before their Messiah made his first appearance telling them he would come (Isa. 7:14; 9:6; Mic. 5:2; Zech. 9:9; Hos. 11:1), but when he came, they rejected him. The Jewish people did not realize that God had come to them in the flesh (Lk. 19:44c), they refused to believe in Jesus from Nazareth. Yes, the early church was Jewish, but this prophetic parable was referring to the Jewish nation in general.

Jesus further describes how those initially invited to the king’s dinner refused to come. He sent one prophet after another in attempt to get Israel and Judah to serve him instead of the false gods, and to follow him instead of following the practices of the nation’s God had driven out before them. They were invited to the δεῖπνον τοῦ γάμου τοῦ ἀρνίου (deípnon toú gámou toú arníou) “marriage supper of the lamb” (Rev. 19:9), but they paid no attention to Yahweh’s warnings and continued to worship false gods. The prophets warned Israel to serve Yahweh and not continue to do evil (Josh. 24:15; 1 Sam. 12:1-25; 2 Kgs. 17:13), he prepared the way for them (Deut. 30:15-16), he invited them to the wedding feast of his Son but Israel paid no attention to the invite, instead they chose the Babylonian system instead of Yahweh’s plan (Matt. 22:4-5). The invited, mistreated and killed the king’s servants (Matt. 22:6). Israel persecuted and killed the prophets of the Lord (Matt. 5:12; 23:31-34).   

The parable says, the king got θυμωμένος (thymoménos) angry (Matt. 22:7a). He got angry because they mistreated and murdered his servants. So, he sent his army to destroy them and burn their city (Matt. 22:7b). The imagery in verse seven serves as a harsh reminder of how Israel and Judah ignited the anger of Yahweh for mistreating every prophet that he sent to them to warn them of what would happen to them if they did not stop worshiping the gods of their neighbors and adhering to their practices. The kings of both the northern and southern kingdoms mistreated and killed almost every one of God’s servants that he sent to them. As a result, Yahweh exiled Israel from Samaria to Assyria beginning in 722 BC, and he exiled Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, beginning in 605 BC (2 Kgs. 17:1-23; 24:1-25:1-21). The Lord used both the Assyrian military forces to lay siege to Samaria, and he used the Babylonian military forces to raid and besiege Jerusalem eventually burning the temple, the royal palace, every important building, and all the houses to the ground. They even destroyed the walls of Jerusalem. Many Jews were killed when God’s wrath was unleashed against both Israel and Judah during the besiegement’s of both Samaria and Jerusalem.

The king then told his servants, the wedding feast is ready, but “those invited were not worthy” (Matt. 22:8). He insists they should go to the main roads and invite as many as they can find to the wedding feast (Matt. 22:9). This symbolic imagery is allusive to the Gentiles who are a wild olive tree being grafted into the cultivated olive tree, and those not worthy are allusive to the natural branches broken off (Rom. 11:17- 24). The servants go and gather all they can find, from every highway, the good and the bad, their labor filled the wedding hall with quests (Matt. 22:10). The Gentiles have now received the invite to the wedding feast. The nation of Israel rejected their invite so God then began to invite Gentiles to the wedding feast for his Son. The servants in this imagery are now the household of God, the church. The church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets; Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone (Eph. 2:19-22). The main highways, roads, or streets, is translated into English from the Morphological Greek New Testament (GNT) as, “the exits of the roads [or streets]” – (Greek transliteration: tás diexódous tón odón); this image is allusive to the ends of the earth (Acts 13:47). The servants, the church, are to go the exits of the roads or streets inviting the poor and blind, the crippled and lame, it does not matter whether they are good or bad (Lk. 14:21b-23), to the wedding feast of the Son of God.

Some are confused with Matthew 22:11-12. If this parable is an indirect reference to the wedding feast of Jesus (Matt. 25:1-13), the bridegroom of the bride of Christ (Jn. 3:29; 2 Cor. 11:2), then how did the man without a wedding garment get into the wedding hall? These verses are not to be taken literal because they are allegorical. There was no man without a wedding garment gatecrashing the wedding hall. Jesus was creating a nonliteral image to reveal Israel’s refusal of their invite to the wedding feast, therefore: οὐκ ἦσαν ἄξιοι (ouk ísan áxioi) “they were not worthy” (Matt. 22:8b). Israel is declared not worthy of attending their own Messiah’s wedding feast. Israel forfeited their place at the table of Christ’s wedding feast. The man without a wedding garment is allusive to unbelieving Israel.

The king then tells his attendants to tie the man without a wedding garment and: “cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 22:13). The king’s attendants are allusive to a certain class of the angels of God. But again; the man without a wedding garment is metaphorically unbelieving Israel. Unbelieving Israel will be cast into a place of outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. I have written before that I believe this place refers to the seven-year Tribulation Period, which is also referred to as the seventieth-week of Israel (I prefer to keep repeating this conviction every time I mention this horrible place in different articles). The seventieth-week of Israel/seven-year Tribulation Period will be the worse time the unbelieving Jew and Gentile alike will ever encounter (Dan. 12:1b). It will be seven years of great affliction, pain, and suffering for every man that enters it—some think Jesus is referring to the lake of fire in this text. I do not. The lake of fire will be a similar place of distress because it is where Satan, the fallen angels, and every demon will be sent for eternity, and every person who does not have their name written in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire also (Rev. 20:11-15). But again, I firmly believe that Jesus is not referring to the lake of fire when he refers to this place of darkness, a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The gospel of Luke adds, that the ones initially invited, meaning the nation of Israel, will not get a taste of the great banquet (Lk. 14:24). Israel refused the call to stop worshiping other gods, and to stop doing the practices of other nations, therefore it has been written that they must endure the full seventy-weeks decreed upon them (Dan. 9:24-27). They will be cast into darkness, the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth for a full seven years. It will be the worse time ever for the Jews, the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jer. 30:4-7). Matthew recorded that many are called or invited to the wedding feast, but only a few are chosen. The people appointed to eternal life, the body of Christ, are chosen and will be at the wedding feast of the Son of God. As I said previously, no unbelieving Jew or Gentile will get into the marriage supper of the Lamb or partake in it with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Matt. 8:11-12). In Luke’s gospel, it is written that Jesus told the unbelieving Jew that when they are in the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth that they will know that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all Israel’s prophets will be at the wedding feast of their Messiah but the they will not be; because they did not make the effort to enter the kingdom of God through the narrow door (Lk. 13:23-30).

Picture: Pixabay

Gate, Portal, Entrance Image: Tama66