Those Who Reject The King’s Invitation

Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
–Revelation 19:9

The parable of the marriage feast could be seen as a play in three acts. Act 1 begins in Matthew 22:2: “The kingdom of heaven maybe compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.” I believe Jesus was alluding to a future banquet that we call the wedding supper of the Lamb. Revelation 19 says when Jesus returns to set up His millennial kingdom, God is going to throw a party. Jesus Christ has married His bride, the church, and there is going to be a wedding feast to celebrate. I think that is what Jesus was alluding to here.

Look at Matthew 22:3: “[The king] sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come.” The king could have cancelled the celebration. But he wanted to honor his son, so he took the unprecedented step of sending another invitation.

How did the people respond? Some declined the invitation because of their indifference. Verse 5 says, “They paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business.” In Luke’s account of this story, Jesus added, “They all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused’” (14:18). Was the land going anyplace? No, it would have been there after the celebration. But he was coming up with a lame excuse not to accept the king’s invitation.

Other people responded to the invitation with anger. Matthew 22:6 says, “The rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them.” Why would people get so angry about being invited to a feast? It does not make sense. But sometimes when you share the gospel with people, when you invite them to escape hell and experience heaven, they become angry or insulted. The fact that some people get so angry about the gospel shows how separated from God they really are.

What was the king’s response? Verse 7 says, “The king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire.” Some scholars believe Jesus was alluding to God’s coming judgment on Israel. Just a few years later, in 70 AD, Titus, the son of Roman emperor Vespasian, marched into Jerusalem and burned the city to the ground. But this story also points to the ultimate judgment when those who have rejected the King’s invitation, those who have not trusted Christ as Savior, will spend eternity in hell, separated from God.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “The Kingdom Of God Is A Party” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2008.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org