The Wedding Feast #
Matthew 22:1-14 — And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said:
During His last week before His crucifixion, Jesus had been speaking to the chief priests and rulers of Israel in parables. He explains what was to take place soon.
Matthew 22:2 — “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son…”
Chronological Events #
The Wedding Feast gives us a chronological timeline of events of prophetic nature. The King is God the Father who gives a wedding banquet for His Son, the Messiah. The temple was essential to the practice of the old covenant laws and rituals. The temple was the place where the high priests and Levites offered animal sacrifices to satisfy the Law of Moses. All the Old Testament prophets spoke about these last days of the old covenant of Israel.[[1]]
Matthew 22:3 — and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come.
Keys to Unlock #
The key to unlocking this parable is to understand these two things:
- the promised wedding feast had to be prepared,
- the (invited) guests had to be gathered at the banquet.
The Old Testament Prophets pictured the Kingdom of God as a wedding banquet—the Messiah’s banquet. The Son had to suffer and die; be raised from the dead, ascend and be exalted at the right hand of His Father to receive His kingdom—and this was the Wedding feast.
Matthew 22:4 —Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.”’
Sent Out Ones #
Verses, 3 and 4 speak of the “sent out” ones. His apostles and prophets were sent out. There has to be a sending out of apostles and prophets of the new covenant—His servants. The guests in both verses speak of the Jews and Jesus came primarily to the lost sheep of Israel.[[2]]
The gospel first came to the Jews and since they rejected it; it came to the Gentiles. God is systematic in His approach and they cannot be judged until His will has been presented and rejected willfully by man.
A Backward Understanding #
The dispensationalist teachers have got this backwards. They claim the gospel is first to the Gentiles and after the secret rapture of the Church when the Church is out from here; there will arise one hundred forty-four thousand (144,000) Jewish Evangelists who will gather the remnant of Israel and prepare them for the coming of the Messiah.
Matthew 22:5-6 — But they were indifferent and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. The rest seized his slaves, insolently mistreated them, and killed them.
When the invitation to receive the Kingdom came to them, they were unwilling to come. The Jews refused the message of the apostles. The chief priests and rulers of Israel had killed Jesus through the Romans and now they instigated the persecution of the Church and the killing of the apostles through the hands of the Romans. Only a remnant of the Jews received the message, obeyed and entered the wedding feast.
Prophesied to the Dot #
Matthew 22:7 — The king was furious! He sent his soldiers, and they put those murderers to death and set their city on fire.
This prophecy was completed to the dot in 70 A.D. when the Roman armies destroyed the city and the temple. The Roman armies were also the conquered nations and kingdoms which made up the Roman Empire. The armies came in 66 A.D. and destroyed Galilee and the region of Samaria; after which, they withdrew for a season and came back around 69 A.D. and laid a siege to Jerusalem and destroyed it and the temple.
Grace and Mercy rejected #
Matthew 22:7 — The king was furious! He sent his soldiers, and they put those murderers to death and set their city on fire.
The King was furious because the offer of mercy and grace—Salvation through His Son, was rejected by Israel. They resisted the spirit of grace and trampled underfoot the blood of the new covenant. This enraged the King, God the Father.
Murderers Destroyed #
Matthew 22:7 — The king was furious! He sent his soldiers, and they put those murderers to death and set their city on fire.
We must understand that the chief priests and rulers of Israel killed Jesus at the hands of the Romans. The judgement of God fell on Jerusalem and the temple in 70AD. because of what they had done. The early church was made up of the believing remnant of Jews first and then the Gentiles.
Wedding Not Postponed #
Matthew 22:8-9 — Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but the ones who had been invited were not worthy. So go into the main streets and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’
It was a prophetic parable spoken to them by Jesus. The first apostolic mission was to the Jews and we will understand this in detail in the upcoming chapters. Salvation is already available and Jesus is King today with all the authority in the heavens and the earth.
Matthew 22:10 — And those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all they found, both bad and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
The Jews were deemed not worthy as they refused the Kingdom and through Paul, the mission was now focussed on the Gentiles. Before the city was burned, the gospel was to the guests; however, after the city is burned, the gospel is for all.
When I say this, I do not imply the gospel was not preached to the Gentiles before A.D. 70, but, it means that the first fruit of the Gentiles was saved before it, as the Old Covenant was coming to a full death.
Acts 13:46-49 — Both Paul and Barnabas replied courageously, “It was necessary to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we are turning to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have appointed you to be a light for the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” When the Gentiles heard this, they began to rejoice and praise the word of the Lord, and all who had been appointed for eternal life believed. So the word of the Lord was spreading through the entire region.
The gathering of the first fruits of the Gentiles began with Peter preaching to the household of Cornelius and in the above scripture, Paul declares boldly about turning to the Gentiles. After the destruction of the temple and the city, the gospel moved beyond the borders of the Roman Empire.
The wedding feast is for all—good and bad. You do not need to be righteous to come to the feast. But, to enter in, you must put on Christ—His righteousness which is the wedding garment.
A Personal Revelation #
Other than the historical interpretation of this verse, a personal revelation is that good and evil represent the fallen man. All who came were either good or evil. However, the wedding garment is a garment of righteousness which is not an earning of a good and evil person, but a gift of God. When one receives the kingdom garment—he is no more righteous through His works or the law, but now he is righteous by faith in Christ.
The Kingdom Garment #
Matthew 22:11-12 — But when the king came in to see the wedding guests, he saw a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But he had nothing to say.
The Kingdom’s nature is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. This was a garment of the Kingdom. The Holy Spirit cannot be separated from the Kingdom. He brought the Kingdom to the earth—to the Church. Putting on Christ is putting on His nature; His robe of righteousness. Christ and His nature cannot be separated.
Revelation 19:8-9 — She was permitted to be dressed in bright, clean, fine linen” (for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints). Then the angel said to me, “Write the following: Blessed are those who are invited to the banquet at the wedding celebration of the Lamb!” He also said to me, “These are the true words of God.”
The man who did not have the wedding garment possibly symbolized the Jew (Jewish people) who believed that his physical lineage from Abraham earned him an automatic place in the kingdom of God.
Matthew 22:13-14 — Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”
The binding and casting into outer darkness symbolize separation. Those who reject the King and the kingdom willfully have to face judgment. This happened to the Jews and Jerusalem in A.D. 70. They had cried aloud with one voice that they had no king but Caesar and asked for Barabbas to be released instead of Jesus.
We must understand these things to function in the present-day administration of the Kingdom Government, and I ask the Lord to open our hearts to receive understanding and revelation.
[1] Acts 3:24
[2] Matthew 15:24
