V1-2 – This parable teaches that God has prepared a place, a feast for his son. Being God, this banquet will be extraordinary and full of splendor.
God has prepared this feast for his only begotten son, Jesus Christ. It will be Jesus’s wedding feast. And therefore there will be a bride.
V3-6 – There are people who were invited to the feast. They were to go and celebrate and dine with Him. But as we can see, they refused to come. The servants are sent out again, the second time, to tell those who were invited that the feast is ready. But those who were invited refused and went on to their businesses, farms and their own things. Others killed and hurt the messengers.
There is a great mystery here.
These verses refer to the Children of Israel who has been called by God and were his chosen people. They were his first invited people. But they refused to follow the Lord. They killed the messengers (the prophets) and eventually killed Jesus.
V7-10 – The King now decided to invite everyone else. The guests He had invited at first were not worthy of that honor. And so now, everyone else was invited. EVERYONE! Not a select few, every person!
Dear friends, everyone has been CALLED to the feast now. Every person has an invitation from the King who is God Almighty. And He has made this invitation by making a way through Jesus Christ. Everyone person who believes in Him will be saved and will have eternal life.
John 3:16 NIV – For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
V11-14 – But everyone who is invited and who has accepted the call to go to the feast must have the right clothing.
The Lord has prepared a banquet where his people who have endured to the end will come to marriage with Jesus and dine with God. The banquet is the marriage supper of the lamb.
Revelation 19:6-9 ESV – Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”
From another angle, we see that Jesus said He has gone to prepare a place for his disciples.
John 14: 1-6 NIV – Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” Jesus the Way to the Father Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
So, Jesus is the way to the banquet and we (the bride) prepare and clothe ourselves with the right clothing if we are to be present at the banquet and to come into perfect union with Him. From the verses in Revelation, it is clear that the Bride clothes herself with fine linen, bright and pure.
And what does that fine linen mean?? “for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.”
Ephesians 2: 10 KJV – For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
The “righteous acts” are the outworking of one’s faith, which are visible to the human eye. God ordained that those who are created in Christ Jesus do good works. And God prepared the good works that we should do beforehand. King James Version says He prepared these good works so that we “walk in them.” This means that He prepared these good works for us so that we can live doing them, they become our way of life.
But how do we clothe ourselves? How do we do these good works?
I believe and agree with the statement that “the Book of Revelation appears to correlate invisible (inward / in-working) faith with visible (outward / out-working) faith.” (words from a certain website). This means that these righteous acts are a result of what has happened in the inside of us. As we get renewed in the knowledge of Him who has saved us, we bear fruits of righteousness.
And so it is obvious that whoever is truly in Christ will bear fruit. If you are not bearing the fruit of righteousness, then we are not in Him.
We abide in Him, and then automatically, we will bear fruit. This is what Jesus says:
John 15: 1-6 NIV – I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
And how do we remain in Him? Colossians chapter 3 gives us a very clear way that we abide in Jesus. It says that we set our hearts on the things above, where Christ is. It says we think and meditate on the things of God. We set our hearts on his word and feast on it so that we can know Him. We set our hearts to dwell in his presence in prayer and in communion with Him. We set our hearts to attend and be in fellowship with other believers. And more and more… We set our hearts on the things above, where Christ is… the things of God.
Here is:
Colossians 3: 1-17 NIV – Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
We abide in Jesus, setting our hearts on Him and the things above where He is and as a result, we know Him and get to bear fruit. This outward fruit, which will be seen, even by those around us, are the righteous acts of the saints. And there is more and more that God will lead us to do provided we abide in Him.
As an example, when we abide in Him, we are led by the Holy Spirit and we therefore bear the fruit of the Spirit:
Galatians 5:22-23 NLT – But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
In verse, we see that the one who is called but does not have the right clothing will be thrown out of the feast! This one will not participate in that wedding feast. Outside there, where the person will be thrown out, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. It will be a place of pain and regret.
And so the saying becomes clear… “For many are called, but few are chosen.” Basically, Many are called because everyone has indeed been called to the wedding feast, but few are chosen. Few have the right clothing required for the feast. These are those who remain in the straight and narrow road that leads to life, to the wedding of the Lamb of God.
Matthew 7:14 Berean Literal Bible – For small is the gate and narrow the way leading to life, and few are those finding it.
The church must not forget that it is the BRIDE — It is not yet the “wife”
