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Sat, 03 January 2009 17:32

jisamazed
Messages: 170
Registered: January 2008
Location: Grand Rapids, MI

Senior Member

I was reading this parable this morning and was struck by a couple of statements Jesus said in this version that he did not say in the Luke 14:15-24. Jesus no doubt told the story a number of times, and told it differently each time, just like we do when we tell a story. However, being holy scripture, the Lord had a purpose for giving us both parallel versions of the parable.

Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. The "son" here is Jesus. Wedding banquets in that culture were important events that lasted for days at a time. If a prominent person such as a king threw a wedding banquet, he fed hundreds of people for that time and sometimes provided accomodations. The whole town shut down for the celebration and business was suspended. For those who did not like the king, it would be a big hassle. Imagine being a merchant and not being able to make trades with your vendors because you had to stay in town for a week to go to a wedding. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. They rejected his first invitation. Then he sent some more servants and said, 'Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.' He patiently gave a second invitation, and he wanted to make it very appealing. He wanted to show them how it will be worth their while to attend. Our job as his servants is to give the invitation, not a threat or beat-down.
BUT THEY PAID NO ATTENTION and went off- one to his field, another to his business. It was inconvenient for them to alter their routine and spend time with Him. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. All who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. We are his servants telling the people about the banquet. Odd that such a glorious event would make people mad enough to kill the messengers. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Yes, the almighty God gets mad. He has every right to be angry, and He will take revenge on those who do not repent for dissing Him and abusing His children. Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Commentators believe he is referring to the Jews of his day who rejected Him, the Messiah. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.' "Anyone" is far-reaching. It could include a lot of people that seemingly would not be interested in the banquet-- terrorists, criminals, gays, movie stars. So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. Good and bad must refer to the way people live, as before God we are all bad in ourselves regarding righteousness. Some of the people they found were nice people who nevertheless were unsaved, others were mean and selfish and unsaved. The Lord calls a mixed bag of people to come to Him. But when the king come in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. The robe of righteousness that only Christ can give. It shows that you have forsaken the garment of your own life and taken on that of the bridegroom. 'Friend,' he asked, 'how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' You can't get to heaven without Christ's righteousness clothing you. Neither Buddha or Mohammed or Joseph Smith nor any other person in history can give you that robe. Then the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' No second chances.

For many are invited, but few are chosen. If it is true that there are 500 million genuinely saved believers in the world, that is still only 8 or 9% of the world's population. Our job is to give the invitation to the lost, not worry about whether or not we are in the minority. We always will be in the minority on a worldwide scale. We should still want as many people as possible to come to the banquet, because we know what will happen to those who refuse or who don't have a wedding garment on.

Amazed smitten astonished stunned floored blown away astounded shocked flabbergasted surprised wonderfully devastated awed shattered overwhelmed incredulous speechless sense of wonder at the love of God.

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