Below is a commentary from chapter sixteen, Rapture Passages in Matthew, from my manuscript, Waiting for the Day and Hour.
Matthew 8:11-12
I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take
their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of
heaven… But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the
darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (NIV).
“And I tell you this, that many Gentiles will come from all over the world—from east and west—and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven… But many Israelites—those for whom the Kingdom was prepared—will be thrown into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (NLT).
(Parallel passage: Luke 13:28-29)
I believe that Jesus refers to the wedding supper of the Lamb in this passage (Rev. 19:6-9). He prophesied that at his wedding supper, there would be many dismissed. The writers of the New Living Translation (NLT) get right to the point. Many of these people will be Jewish. The people of Israel are the sons and daughters of God’s kingdom (Exod. 4:22-23; Deut. 14:1-2). The Lord proclaimed through Jeremiah that he is Israel’s father (Jer. 31:9). At the wedding supper of the Lamb will be Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob because they were faithful to their Messiah when they were alive, before his 1st coming. They are God’s sons. The people from the east and the west are believing Gentiles that have been grafted into God’s family during the church age (Rms. 11:11-24). The faithful saints of Israel are God’s heirs along with every born-again Gentile (Eph. 2:19; 3:6). Every Jew who has put their faith in Jesus as their Messiah during the church age will be at this marriage supper, along with their faithful Old Testament brothers. Every Jew who has rejected Jesus and is still living when the rapture of the body of Christ happens will be cast into Israel’s 70th week period/7-year Tribulation. This is what the ἐξώτερος σκότος (exóteros skótos) “outer darkness” is. It is the Tribulation Period. It is seven years of “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Every Jew and Gentile who has rejected Jesus Christ before Christ’s 1st coming, and during the church age, and Israel’s 70th week, will be resurrected at the end of Christ’s millennial reign (Rev. 20:5). They will then be judged because they names are not written in the Book of Life (Rev. 20:11-15).
I have given the reader two
translations of the above passage to view. I did this so that you can see the
different interpretations of this text, from both the New International Version
(NIV) and the New Living Translation (NLT) translators. According to Scripture,
the wedding supper will happen after the rapture occurs (Rev. 4:1-2; 1 Thess.
4:16-17) and before Jesus returns at his second appearance (Rev. 19:11-16). It
takes place in heaven while the world is going through the seven-year
Tribulation Period, while the Jews who missed the rapture are going through
their 70th week. Some believe the wedding supper of the Lamb happens
after the Tribulation Period. In chapter twelve, The Rapture of the Church,
under the heading, The Marriage Supper of the Lamb, I wrote about this.
The context of Matthew 8:11-12: A
Gentile soldier reveals that he has faith in Jesus and his ability to heal his
servant, who was paralyzed (Matt. 8:5-10). Jesus then implicitly prophesies the
creation of the church, the new creation, that will be at the wedding supper of
the Lamb with Israel’s patriarchs in attendance in verse eleven—the centurion’s
initiative revealed that Gentiles would put faith in Jesus Christ, something
unrepentant Jews will not do during the church age. Then he gives the
grievous news that the sons of the kingdom (Israel) will not be allowed to
take part in his wedding supper with the Jewish patriarchs.
To recap: At the marriage supper
of the Lamb, any Jew who has not put their faith in Jesus before the rapture
occurs will not be allowed to attend. Instead, they will be cast into exóteros
skótos (outer darkness) where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. In
chapter fourteen, Pastors and Teachers, under the heading Placed With
the Hypocrites, I have written that this horrible place refers to the
Tribulation Period, the 70th week of Israel. The 70th week
of Israel will be seven years of great affliction, physically and mentally.
Scripture prophesies that these seven years will be the worst time any man will
ever have to endure (Dan. 12:1b; Jer. 30:7; Matt. 24:21). The lake of fire is a
similar place of darkness. But it will be even more unbearable because there is
no chance of repentance in that place. No unbelieving Jew or Gentile will get
into the marriage supper of the Lamb or partake in it with Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob.
In Luke 13:28-29, the same thing
is written. It refers to entering the kingdom of God through the narrow door,
which is faith in Jesus (Lk. 13:23-24). Once the rapture happens, many
unregenerate Jews and Gentiles will call on God from the earth, wondering why
they are not snatched out of the world with the body of Christ (Lk. 13:25-27),
and left to endure this very dark time that is coming.
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