WE ARE STUDYING THE FOUR GOSPELS MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE AND JOHN TO KNOW THE LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST.
TO KNOW HIM IS TO LOVE HIM.
INTRODUCTION
There is no reason to doubt that this Gospel was written by Matthew. It presents the narrative of our Lord’s life from the standpoint of the pious Jew; and the evident design of the writer is to show how completely and continually our Lord fulfilled the Old Testament Scriptures. No other Gospel contains so many quotations from the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms. In it the predominant aspect of our Lord’s character and work is the Messianic. He was great David’s Greater Son. The keyword of the book is “Behold your King.” As King, His line is traced through the kingly race. As King, He proclaims the kingdom of heaven. As King, He promulgates the laws, describes the subjects, and announces the rewards of the Kingdom. When describing His own action at the last, when He sits on His throne and all nations are gathered before Him, He speaks of Himself as King, Mat_25:40. It was on His avowal of kingship that He was condemned to die. From every viewpoint this Gospel is one of the most precious documents in the world.
By F.B.Meyer
{e-Sword Note: The following material was presented at the end of Matthew in the printed edition}
Find the outline of our Bible study on The Gospel of Matthew at the link below.
Outline Of The Gospel According To Matthew
The King of the House of David
III. FACING REJECTION, Matthew 16:13-25:46
3. Questions, Discourses and Parables of Judgment, Matthew 17:10 to Matthew 25:46
NB !Note:
The Judean ministry of Jesus, which lasted almost one year, is not discussed by Matthew. This one year period is covered in John 1;1 to the end of John 4: and fits between Mat_4:11 and Mat_4:12. Matthew takes us from the temptation directly to the Galilean ministry.
Today we will look at the following question in the outline starting with
Matthew 22:1-14
75. What is the present-day application of the parable of the wedding feast?
75. What is the present-day application of the parable of the wedding feast?
The Parable of the Wedding Feast
And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,
And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.
Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.
But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:
And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.
But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
75. What is the present-day application of the parable of the wedding feast?
For many are called, but few are chosen.
Comments by F.B.Meyer
Matthew 22:1-14
The answer for 75. What is the present-day application of the parable of the wedding feast? As presented by F.B.Meyer.
THE PENALTY OF SLIGHTING THE INVITATION
We have here a continuation of our Lord’s teaching on that last great day in the Temple. This day seems to have begun with Mat_21:23, and it continued to Mat_25:46. What wonder that His strength was prematurely exhausted, and that He succumbed so soon under the anguish of His cross!
In this parable He describes His union with His people under the symbolism of marriage. This must have suggested the allusions of Eph_5:23-32, where the Apostle tells us that Christ loved the Church as His bride; and of Rom_7:1-4, where He encourages us to believe that we may be married to Him who was raised from the dead. We can never forget Rev_21:2; Rev_21:9. Messenger after messenger was sent to the Hebrew people, but as they would not come, the Church was called from the highways and byways of the world to occupy the vacant space. But let us see to it that we are clothed in the spotless robe of His righteousness, in which alone we can stand in the searching light of eternity.
Believer’s Bible commentary
Book by William MacDonald
H. Parable of the Wedding Dinner (22:1-14)
22:1-6 Jesus was not through with the chief priests and Pharisees. In a parable of a wedding dinner He again pictured favored Israel as set aside and the despised Gentiles as guests at the table. He likened the kingdom of heaven to a certain king who arranged a marriage feast for his son. The invitation was in two stages. First, an advance invitation, personally conveyed by servants, which met a flat refusal. The second invitation announced that the feast was spread. It was treated contemptuously by some, who were too busy with their farms and businesses, and violently by others, who seized, abused, and killed the servants.
22:7-10 The king was so furious that he destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Scrapping the first guest list, he issued a general invitation to all who would come. This time there wasn’t an empty seat in the wedding hall.
22:11-13 Among the guests, however, was one who did not have a wedding garment. Challenged on his unfitness to attend, he was speechless. The king ordered him to be cast out into the night, where there would be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The attendants in verse 13 are not the same as the servants in verse 3.
22:14 Our Lord concluded the parable with the words, “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
As to the meaning of the parable, the king is God and His Son is the Lord Jesus. The wedding feast is an appropriate description of the festive joy which characterizes the kingdom of heaven. Introducing the church as the bride of Christ in this parable unnecessarily complicates the picture. The main thought is the setting aside of Israel—not the distinctive call and destiny of the church.
The first stage of the invitation pictures John the Baptist and the twelve disciples graciously inviting Israel to the wedding feast. But the nation refused to accept. The words, “they were not willing to come” (v. 3), were climactically dramatized in the crucifixion.
The second stage of the invitation suggests the proclamation of the gospel to the Jews in the book of Acts. Some treated the message with contempt. Some treated the messengers with violence; most of the apostles were martyred.
The King, justifiably angry with Israel, sent “his armies,” that is, Titus and his Roman legions, to destroy Jerusalem and most of its people in a.d. 70. They were “his armies” in the sense that He used them as His instruments to punish Israel. They were His officially even if they did not know Him personally.
Now Israel is set aside nationally and the gospel goes out to the Gentiles, both bad and good, that is, of all degrees of respectability (Act_13:45-46; Act_28:28). But the reality of each individual who comes is tested. The man without a wedding garment is one who professes to be ready for the kingdom but who has never been clothed in the righteousness of God through the Lord Jesus Christ (2Co_5:21). Actually there was (and is) no excuse for the man without the wedding garment. As Ryrie notes, it was the custom in those days to provide the guests with a garment if they had none. The man obviously did not take advantage of the offered provision. Without Christ, he is speechless when challenged as to his right to enter the kingdom (Rom_3:19). His doom is outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. The weeping suggests the suffering of hell. Some suggest that the gnashing of teeth signifies continued hatred and rebellion against God. If so, it disproves the notion that the fires of hell exert a purifying effect.
Verse 14 refers to the whole parable and not just to the incident of the man without the wedding garment. Many are called, that is, the gospel invitation goes out to many. But few are chosen. Some refuse the invitation, and even of those who respond favorably, some are exposed as false professors. All who respond to the good news are chosen. The only way a person can tell whether he is chosen is by what he does with the Lord Jesus Christ. As Jennings put it, “All are called to enjoy the feast, but not all are willing to trust the Giver to provide the robe that fits for the feast.”
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