Matthew 22:1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
4 “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.’
5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.
13 “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.’
14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
In this story, the "those who had been invited to the banquet" in verse 3 are Christians who are stuck in their religion and not willing to go where the Lord is sending them. They "went off" to their own personal business (selfishness). I believe the ones that seized the servants are Christians misusing the Spirit for personal gain. I also believe that people who wonder if their loved one who has passed away is in heaven or not should have hope, God is able to do things we cant image, like minister to them on their death bed, or after an accident. God knows our hearts and knows who is for real. This may also give alarm to those of us who have been in the church for years and have become complacent and have lost that diligent search for Jesus. Now it has become ritualistic and ineffective. We need to stir up the spiritual gifting in us! 2 Timothy 1:6.
From the text in Matthew 22, we Christians, need to know that this could be an issue of salvation. Because the people that he is destroying in verse 7 are the ones he called in verse 3. We must be aware that if we misuse, or lessen the authority of the spirit of God in us is to deny his power. This goes with the message from Matthew 7: 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!"
I don't know about you, but these are the words I definitely don't want to hear from my Lord on the day I see him face to face. I will do whatever it takes to avoid hearing this!
But I am very afraid that there will be many who call themselves Christians who will be very surprised to hear for there own eternity. Like it says in 2 Timothy 3:5 "having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them."
In verse 11 the King sees a guest not wearing "wedding clothes"... What is that? Isaiah 61:3 says Having..."the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit" (esv). Also Romans 13: 14 says: But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. This makes great since because Galatians 3: 27 says: And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. The greek for putting on is "endyo" -to sink into (clothing), put on, clothe one's self.... I believe it is time to sink into Jesus, to delve deep into what he has for us!!
Without this garment or covering of Jesus, we are unable to be in the presence of God and will be cast out into the darkness...
It is time to throw off our selfish deeds and going back to Romans 13:12 The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living.
