The Parable of the Wedding Feast
Matt. 22:1 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, 3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 4 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.” ’ 5 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ 10 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.
11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, "Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and ecast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”
A uniform wedding garment was provided by the host, so that poor guests and rich guests were not recognisable as such. Notice that only those in the supplied wedding garments were permitted to attend the wedding. Likewise, only those dressed in the righteousness provided by Christ are permitted to attend the wedding feast of the Lamb, the resurrection on the last day.
We could say, "Those in the provided wedding garment are chosen to attend the wedding feast. " Now, when was the decision made that "those in the provided wedding garment will be chosen to attend the wedding feast" ? That decision could have been made even before the Son's looking for a bride. If we were attendees of the wedding who had submitted to requirement to don the supplied garments, and we were not thrown out into the darkness, we could say "The groom's father chose us in the supplied garments before the search for a bride even began."
The groom's father did not know the names of the individuals in the supplied garments before the bride was sought. Many of the intended attendees, the invitees, refused to come. Many of those who came were randomly called at the last minute. And yet it is true that , "The groom's father chose us in the supplied the supplied garments before the search for a bride even began."
We know that Christ is our righteousness, and being "in Him" is to be robed in white, and robed in righteousness. Therefore, those of us who are putting on the righteousness of Christ, being in Him by faith, can say, "God chose us-in-Him from the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before Him in love." And there is no need or implication in this statement that we were known by name from the foundation of the world, just as there was no need or implication in the parable of the wedding feast for the groom's father to have known from before the bride search the names of each person who would attend his son's wedding.
Matt. 22:1 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, 3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 4 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.” ’ 5 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ 10 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.
11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, "Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and ecast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”
A uniform wedding garment was provided by the host, so that poor guests and rich guests were not recognisable as such. Notice that only those in the supplied wedding garments were permitted to attend the wedding. Likewise, only those dressed in the righteousness provided by Christ are permitted to attend the wedding feast of the Lamb, the resurrection on the last day.
We could say, "Those in the provided wedding garment are chosen to attend the wedding feast. " Now, when was the decision made that "those in the provided wedding garment will be chosen to attend the wedding feast" ? That decision could have been made even before the Son's looking for a bride. If we were attendees of the wedding who had submitted to requirement to don the supplied garments, and we were not thrown out into the darkness, we could say "The groom's father chose us in the supplied garments before the search for a bride even began."
The groom's father did not know the names of the individuals in the supplied garments before the bride was sought. Many of the intended attendees, the invitees, refused to come. Many of those who came were randomly called at the last minute. And yet it is true that , "The groom's father chose us in the supplied the supplied garments before the search for a bride even began."
We know that Christ is our righteousness, and being "in Him" is to be robed in white, and robed in righteousness. Therefore, those of us who are putting on the righteousness of Christ, being in Him by faith, can say, "God chose us-in-Him from the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before Him in love." And there is no need or implication in this statement that we were known by name from the foundation of the world, just as there was no need or implication in the parable of the wedding feast for the groom's father to have known from before the bride search the names of each person who would attend his son's wedding.
