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The Marriage Feast
Kat:
In the early morning while laying awake in bed, I find in the quiet and dim morning light a good time for meditation. The parable of the marriage supper came to mine and I thought these scripture seemed to fit together. So I have searched out these scripture, that I felt help explain this parable.
In maroon are Matt. and Luke's account of this parable.
Luke 14:16 But He said to him, "A Man once gave a great banquet and invited many.
v. 17 And at the time for the banquet He sent His servant to say to those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready.'
Deu 7:6 "For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.
Mat 22:1 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying,
v. 2 "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a
King who gave a wedding feast for His Son,
v. 3 and sent His servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.
Dan. 9:9 To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him.
v. 10 We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets.
v. 11 Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice;
Mat 22:4 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.'
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Mat 22:5 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business,
Luke 14:18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to Him, 'I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.'
v. 19 And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.'
v. 20 And another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.'
Mark 4:19 and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
Mat 22:6 while the rest seized His servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.
Mat 24:9 "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake.
Mat 22:7 And, the King, was provoked to anger,—and, sending His armies, destroyed those murderers, and, their city, set on fire. (Rotherham)
Rev 19:11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The One sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.
v. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following Him on white horses.
v. 15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
Mat 22:8 Then He said to his servants, 'The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy.
v. 9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.'
v. 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.
Luke 14:21 So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the Master of the house became angry and said to His servant, 'Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.
1Cor 1:27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
v. 28 and God has chosen the base things of the world, and things which are despised, and things which are not, in order to bring to nothing things that are;
Luke 14:22 And the servant said, 'Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.'
v. 23 And the Master said to the servant, 'Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that My house may be filled.
v. 24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste My banquet.'"
Mat 22:11 "But when the King came in to look at the guests, He saw there a man who had no wedding garment.
v.12 And He said to him, 'Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless.
v. 13 Then the King said to the attendants, 'Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
v. 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.
Rev 16:15 "Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame."
Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.
Rev 20:15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Luke 14:12 He said also to the man who had invited him, "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid.
v. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,
v. 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just."
This is just my understanding, I would appreciate input. If anyone finds other scripture that would fit, please post whatever you find.
mercy, peace, and love
Kat
Joey Porter:
This is a good thread. :)
I think the parable in Luke 17 could relate to this issue also.
Luke 17
7"Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? 8Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? 9Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.' "
This kind of goes back to Joe's thread about producing fruit. In order to even be in the marriage feast, we will need to produce fruit - righteous acts. As is written in Revelation:
Revelation 19
7Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready.
8Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear." (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)
But we must keep ourselves from feeling as though we have done anything to deserve the feast. It is truly a narrow path - producing a crop so that we might be found worthy of the feast, and yet, recognizing and acknowledging God's sovereignty in any works that are carried out through us.
How do we each, individually, ensure that we are producing a crop and "keeping our garments" while also acknowledging that is not us who is actually doing it? I don't think that answer can be given from one man to another. I think that comes down to each person relying on the guidance of God's spirit. We rely daily on God to lead us in our own lives - to keep us from carrying out dead works, and to guide us into bearing the fruit, through us, that is according to His own will.
Kat:
Hi Joey,
Good points.
It's true we must as you said, recognizing and acknowledging God's sovereignty
John 6:44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
And we have no power of ourself to do anything, you are right,
But we must keep ourselves from feeling as though we have done anything to deserve the feast.
John 15:5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
But we also have hope in Him.
John 15:7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
v. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
mercy, peace, and love
Kat
YellowStone:
Hi Kat & Joey
This is a very deep thread and I pondered on it for most of the day, but then God graciously allowed me to see what I could not word.
You wrote:
Hi Joey,
Good points.
It's true we must as you said, recognizing and acknowledging God's sovereignty
John 6:44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
And we have no power of ourself to do anything, you are right,
But we must keep ourselves from feeling as though we have done anything to deserve the feast.
John 15:5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
But we also have hope in Him.
John 15:7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
v. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
Joey made the valid point that all of this does indeed go back to Joes thread about producing fruit. Which prompted your response that "we also have hope in Him."
The Scripture you posted from John does hold the key. :)
John 15:7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
Christ say's "If you abide in Me" but this is something that man cannot do on his own. How can mere man abide in anything but his carnal evil nature? :)
Christ follows with "and My words abide in you" but this is a with a twist; having the words of Christ, the Spirit of Truth is not by some chance event. It is not an "if" statement as some would believe.
This text would be understood better if Christ had said this: "If My words abide in you and you abide in Me you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you."
This puts everything into perspective. We cannot abide in Christ until He gives us the Spirit, wisdom and strength to do so, regardless of how much we may want.
And only then will one ever begin to bear the fruits of the spirit. :)
John 15:8 "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples."
Joey I think this was the point you were making when you said: "But we must keep ourselves from feeling as though we have done anything to deserve the feast. "
Kat, you are perfectly correct as well, we are not without hope, but it is by him havng called us, not by us calling him. We must never forget that the fruits of the spirit are of the spirit and not of prideful man.
I thank you both for a very enlightening study. :)
Your brother in Christ,
Darren
Kat:
Hi Darren,
Thanks for the input :)
Your statement is right on target.
--- Quote ---This puts everything into perspective. We cannot abide in Christ until He gives us the Spirit, wisdom and strength to do so, regardless of how much we may want.
And only then will one ever begin to bear the fruits of the spirit.
--- End quote ---
mercy, peace, and love
Kat
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