Turn to Matthew 22, and here we see the parable of the marriage feast. We have been looking at this parable for several weeks. It is a parable similar to a number of others but I want to read just the first fourteen verses of Matthew 22 beginning with verse 1:
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…
(or angry)
…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. For many are called, but few are chosen.
Here we have a marriage, and it is a very powerful marriage, it is a king, and He is the King of all the universe. Even non-Christians could read this passage and understand the king represented here is God Himself, the Lord of the universe, and He is making a marriage for His Son.
This reminds us of the first marriage in the Garden of Eden. Remember God created the woman and He brought her to the man, and Jesus refers to that marriage as the standard of all marriage in Matthew 19:8 where He refers to marriage being a permanent institution. He says it was not so from the beginning, Jews came to Him and wanted grounds for divorce. And Christ was there altering a temporary law He had given. That He had married, several times in the Old Testament, says He had married, earthly Israel and He divorced earthly Israel, then He had allowed a temporary law, but Jesus brought us back to the standard of marriage. Marriage in the Scripture is a picture of the relationship of God to His people.
That is pictured in the parable of the five wise and the foolish virgins. They are invited to a wedding feast just like Matthew 22 and half of them never make it into that marriage feast. They are excluded and they cry out, “Lord, Lord” they believe they are qualified to be there and they are actually completely excluded, and Christ says, “I never knew you”.
There are other marriages in the Scriptures which are parallel to this marriage. The marriage of Esther the queen, who was not a queen at the time, but she was in the court of women of King Ahasuerus who ruled over 127 nations; and this is a picture of God again ruling over the Earth. He invited Vashti, his queen, to the great feast. And she refused to come, and so he replaces her, he divorces Vashti, we just said in the Scripture, and replaces her with Queen Esther.
Turn with me to Ephesians 5, where we see the pattern God has set for men and women in marriage. This is not related to whether you are successful in marriage. The United States government recently announced that over fifty percent of all marriages in the United States end by their fifteenth year. That is fifty percent of all marriages end by the fifteenth year. Write that down. I hear that quoted all the time that fifty percent of American marriages end. Fifty percent of American marriages end by the fifteenth year. That is a much greater number than fifty percent. It is over seventy percent in the former Soviet Union. Marriage as an institution is not doing well in our society. In Ephesians 5 beginning with verse 22-32 we read of marriage:
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Here we see the basic pattern that actually the whole story of human kind is that God has set a marriage for His Son and He has married Him to a group here called the church. And this church is not any congregation or denomination. These are the elect of God. She is presented unto Him as chaste, a virgin, pure, and she is dressed in pure white linen. He is not dressed in white linen. What is He dressed in? His vesture dipped in blood. He has a stained garment on for this marriage but the idea is of God marrying unto Himself a people and a few have been saved, He has come to be married to you.
Here we see in Matthew 22 this parable. By the way there are other parallel parables like in Luke 12. Later on we are going to just mention in passing. Remember the marriage there in Luke 14? Three excuses are given. I cannot come to the wedding. This is the same thing—the king has a wedding for his son, he invites people. I cannot come because I bought a piece of ground, I cannot come because I bought five yoke of oxen, and I cannot come because I have married a wife. If any of you hearing my voice are using your spouse as an excuse why you cannot come to the marriage of Christ and His people, this is not a good excuse, and later on maybe we will have time to look at that. In Luke 12 there is an interesting wedding described a little differently than what I just described, and that is the coming of Christ as described in Luke 12:17 and 21, but in Luke 12:36 we see something else said about this wedding. Verse 34:
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord…
(This is second coming of Christ in this chapter),
…when he will return from the wedding;
What wedding is Christ coming from when He returns? He is coming from the wedding of Himself and His bride which occurs one at a time. He calls in history His saved people. He elected and named them and wrote them in the Lamb’s Book of Life from before the foundations of the world. But in time He marries them, and there are joy bells ringing in Heaven when he marries them, over one sinner that repenteth. He does that. This is a very difficult verse, but I think we can understand it when we realize there is a marriage that takes place when He eventually and at a certain point in time, marries one at a time.
He called Jacob in the womb at the instant of conception in Romans 9. Was there rejoicing in Heaven when Jacob was saved? Yes, there was! He did not call his twin brother but He called Jacob and there was rejoicing and that made a marriage forever, and that marriage cannot be broken by divorce. So the subject of a marriage is just written right through, and I have only touched on some of them. But it is the theme of the Bible. It is the theme in the Garden of Eden. And Jesus reminded them in Matthew 19, God intends to marry unto Himself a wife. And we know this wife is a harlot. He is going to cover her in white linen with His own righteousness. But he marries a harlot and you can see all about that picture in the book of Hosea.
Here we are in Matthew 22, the king made a marriage for his son, he sent forth his servants—there was an invitation. He sent them forth to bring in those that were bidden and not everyone was bidden and that is very clear here, painfully clear. And the answer is they would not come, kind of unbelievable in the face of it. Here is the King of the whole universe, has sent the invitation to a wedding for His Son, and not only that He sends out His servants to bid them to come and they would not come. And amazingly, even more amazingly, when they will not come, what does He do? Is He angry? Does He say, “Too bad for you. I made this wedding. I invited you and you will not come. Ok, too bad!” No, He sends a second invitation, and by the way I believe this is the law and the prophets. He is inviting Israel to come in the Old Testament by His prophets. First by the law which Moses brought and then by the prophets. He gives two gracious invitations. And this invitation is not at all well received. He gives a second invitation. Look at Matthew 22:4 he says:
I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready:
I have killed the fatted calf. Who is the fatted calf in the Bible? Three times in the prodigal son parable, this fatted calf. Who is the slain animal that is going to be served at this wedding reception? It is the Lord Jesus. What? Christ is the bridegroom and He is the slaughtered lamb and the meal at this wedding feast. How is that for a paradox? Did you ever hear of a wedding like that? He has come to give Himself for His harlot wife and He is the meal itself. He is everything. God says in this text, “all things are ready” all is of grace, I made the invitation list, I am commanding you to come. Even more amazingly what do they respond? It is a picture of the Jews of the Old Testament? No, I do not care what you are serving for dinner. I do not care what the menu is, I am not coming. So they do not come.
Remember the last verse I read in this parable is:
For many are called, but few are chosen.
Just knowing the Bible, reading the Bible, saying you are a Christian, growing up in church, or whatever your life experience is; that will not qualify you for the wedding. You are going to see in a minute. They do not come to the wedding because Christ says they are not worthy of this wedding.
However, the message of the Gospel is just beaming right through all of these marriages—the ten virgins, Queen Esther, the marriage of Adam and Eve in the Garden (what we just referred to). [Singing] “Down from His glory ever living story, my God, my Savior came, and Jesus was His name. Born in a manger, to His own, a stranger. A man of sorrows, tears, and agony. Oh, how I love Him, How I adore Him. My breath, my sunshine, my all in all. The great Creator, became my Savior, and all God’s fullness dwelleth in Him.” There is a story. That is the story, there is no other story. The great Creator became the Savior. I do not care what story you have to tell, I do not care how many movie scripts you have written, you cannot write a story like that. Not a story for sinners, for dirty rotten sinners, who are not worthy to be called. There is a story.
Here is the king. He made a marriage for his son, nobody would come and this is the truth, the hard truth of the Gospel, nobody wants the true Gospel of the Bible. They may quote the Bible. They may be interested in religion. They may have many schemes about accepting Jesus as their Savior which is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible, as their religion, but they do not want this Gospel. “All things are ready,” the king said. Five bleeding wounds He bears. This wedding is ready, it is prepared, and He is qualified as the Bridegroom. He is qualified to invite you there if that is His choice, “Many are called but few are chosen.” And to dress you properly in white linen because right now our garments are filthy, in Zachariah 3 it speaks of this. The garments are covered with filthiness. And Christ has to bear that filthiness of us, read that in Zachariah sometime about the kind of garments that we come into this wedding with.
Well, all is ready. Who can turn down this invitation? I recently got invited to a wedding in Hawaii and my wife and I had to turn that down when I looked into the airfare to Hawaii. A fellow that I work with is a missionary for years, he got married and had a wonderful wedding in Hawaii and I am sorry I missed it. You do not ordinarily like to turn down a wedding invitation. Somebody is honoring you by the invitation. But here is an invitation turned down twice, twice refused.
In Matthew 22:5, what did the people do when they are invited the second time?
But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:
In the past when we looked at this we looked first of all at Sodom and Gomorrah, Somebody making light of this wedding invitation. You remember we looked at how Lot was given about 24 hours to live. Remember the day before? The three men came to Abraham’s tent and said I have seen the wickedness of Sodom coming up in my nose and my face; I am going to destroy them. And Abraham began to plead for his nephew. Who the New Testament says in Peter, was a godly man. He was terribly unhappy there in Sodom. Many of you have asked and I have, what this fellow was doing living in Sodom and Gomorrah. Who would locate in such a place? But the Scripture says when he chose to live in Sodom it was watered as the Garden of Eden. It was like the Garden of Eden. It was a fabulous place. In human terms you can understand why he chose this place in the Jordan River Valley. But it had become a grossly wicked place. And there is Lot, I can see him on bended knee, pleading, maybe tearfully, with his sons and all. This man had a big family. He had daughters that were married. He had virgin daughters that escaped with him. It says he had sons, and he had sons-in-law. You do the math; he had at least ten in his family and maybe twenty. It does not say how many daughters he had, or how many sons.
This fellow had a big family and here he is pleading—judgment day is about to fall as it is right now in 2006. Judgment is about to come crashing on the heads of the whole universe, and he is begging, begging at the danger of his own life and the lives of his sons-in-law. Because remember how he got out of Sodom? He had to be dragged out of there by these two men. So he is with his own family.
I have said before and I want to say it again. The commission is to you; do not bypass your relatives when pleading the Gospel. Charity begins at home in the Scripture. Who did Noah have on that ark with him? Seven other souls—his close family. I am condemned in my speech, when these words come over my lips, that I have not been a faithful witness, even in my own close family. And Jesus said a prophet is without honor, even in his own country. They are the toughest audience. Try witnessing to your relatives because they know everything about you. They know how foolish and sinful you have been right to the core. They know things about you nobody else does. And you want to witness to them that Hell lies ahead and “just please listen to me I want to give you what the true Gospel is.” They are not ready to listen. Do not neglect the witness to those nearest and dearest to you, your own kin. Maybe they will not listen, but Abraham had a godly nephew. Maybe you have nephews and nieces, remember he took him from the Ur of the Chaldees with him to Haran and down into the Promised Land and he settled there in Sodom and Gomorrah? Do not be too quick to condemn them. But, Abraham had a ministry with his own nephew and you can see that throughout the Scriptures. David had ungodly children and godly children. Solomon whose name means, “The prince of peace” loved the Lord, he had sin in his life but he loved the Lord. So now I commend to you the days of Lot, and the days of Noah, these days we are in right now where judgment is about to fall. Do not neglect the witness to your family.
These sons-in-law thought, the Scripture actually says in Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot appeared unto them as “one mocking”. We took a look at that word for Sodom and Gomorrah in Hebrew. Remember the same word was used when Abraham laughed and Sarah laughed? The same word was used when Samson had his eyes put out and they were playing a game with him, a taunting game. Did Christ ever have His eyes put out? Did he have a blindfold put on His head and then punched and they said, “Ok, if you are a prophet you tell us who punched you?” As He suffered in Hell He was blinded in that way. And Samson whose name means “sun” which is the name of Christ, this very word that the sons-in-law in Sodom used. They thought he was a man mocking. They made mockery of Samson. Where it says, “they made light of it” this word is the same word where it says, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” It has that connotation of these people invited to the feast then they made light of it in a sense that they just did not pay attention, they neglected it.
I do not know if you are like me, but immediately I am condemned. Have you neglected the Gospel? How can you answer that? Have you neglected to speak up? Have you had opportunity and done something else? My whole life is a story of that, when I could have spoken up for the Lord, it just was not convenient. It is not easy.
How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? (Hebrews 2:3)
They did not regard it. Paul writes to Timothy, in I Timothy 4:14:
Do not neglect your gift, which was given you…
That is this very word, “they made light of it”. They did not regard it. In Hebrews 8:9 He says:
It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.
But they made light of it. We then saw not only did they think that Lot was mocking them; we saw the same pattern in the New Testament. Turn with me to 2 Peter 3:3-5:
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts…
Does that remind you of “they made light of it?” They did not take it seriously. The last days will be filled with these people, scoffers.
…And saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of…
Noah’s flood. They should know about Noah’s flood. The whole world and all of geology in the world bears witness to the fact that there was a great flood and perhaps fortunately a number of geologists in the world, in the history of geology, acknowledge there was a great flood. They look at the Delaware Water Gap and the Grand Canyon and say, “Hey, this was gouged out by a great flood, it had to be, we should acknowledge that according to this.” But there are scoffers that say, “Nope, nothing has changed in the world.” There is one huge thing that has changed, there was a universal flood. Somebody tells me that every culture in the world has a record of it: the Mayans, the Incas, the Idumeans, and the Babylonians. They all have a record of a universal flood. That is interesting. But scoffers will arise. If you look in Jude 1:17-18 we can see that same word “scoffers” will arise:
But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
This is that same word, to “scoff” or “mock”.
Well, they are invited to the king’s wedding, they made light of it, they made light of it in Noah’s day. Hebrews 11:7 says, “Noah, moved by fear.” Why did he build that ark? He believed God. God came to him and said you have 120 years left. If you are going to save that family of yours you have 120 years to build an ark one and a half times the size of a football field. The clock is ticking as it is right now. We are ticking right to the end of time.
Just try telling somebody that today. Try announcing that, “The world is going to end soon. The Bible contains a calendar of all things including the end of time.” It is interesting what you will be told. You will be scoffed at immediately and the first thing that will happen to you is you will receive a Bible verse in reply. What is that verse? It is Matthew 24:36, it is one of the best known verses by all people on Earth. They may not even be Christians but they know Matthew 24:36. They know it as well as they know John 3:16. You are going to tell them the Bible contains a calendar of all of history. It says that the world was created in 11,013 BC and it foretells when Christ is going to come. No you cannot know that, you are out of your tree talking like that. What is the matter with you? Did you not ever read the Bible? Did you not ever read Mathew 24:36:
But of that day and hour knoweth no man…
“No man” is “Oude” in Greek. “Nobody. You are nuts. You are misquoting the Bible. What is the matter with you? You cannot know when Christ is coming.”
… No not the angels in heaven, but my father only.
“That is a secret. So do not come around and warn me that Judgment Day is going to be in a few years now. You do not know the Bible. You are a deceiver you are a false prophet.” Unfortunately they never read Revelation 3:3 and I can give you a dozen verses related to it. But look at what Revelation 3:3 says:
Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch…
(That is 23 times in the New Testament)
… I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
How about this, are you supposed to see, as a believer, the day approaching in Hebrews 10:25? Does Christ come as a thief for everybody? No, just the unsaved. For the children of the day they will not be caught like this in Revelation 3:3 because they will be watching. And what are they watching for? The hour. It is the same word in Greek by the way, “hora” hour, they will be looking for the hour. They will be looking for the timing. And those of you hearing my voice, that think you know something about the timing, you are not out of your mind. You are probably studying the Scriptures. In 1 Thessalonians 5 about this thief in the night, He is coming to steal away everything, but not for the elect. He is coming to bring them eternal life. They are watching, 23 times in the New Testament, they are watching for the day and the hour.
Well, scoffers would come at the end of time to say “where is the promise of His coming?” But, the world is going to make light of it, they are going to scoff and make fun like they played games with the blind Samson who just had his eyes put out. Like they played a game with Christ who was blinded by a blindfold as He went on trial for the sins of His people figuratively. Remember how when the two men, the two witnesses we just had here in a quiz, came into Sodom to warn them that Judgment Day was about to fall. And the people in the city tried to get in, they wanted to have homosexual relations with these two men, the whole city it says, and Lot got pulled into his house and the door locked and the men tried to break down the door.
Why could they not get in there? They were struck blind. What is greater than that blindness that they could not find the key or the doorknob to get into Lot’s house? What is greater? In 2 Thessalonians 2:11 at the end of time God will “send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” That is worse than breaking into Lot’s front door. It is worse than sexual perversion. It is worse than that. Every one of us battles the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, every one of you, unless you are lying to yourself. In 1 John right, you have all got that cancer, what is worse than that? Not being able to find the door. “I am the door,” Jesus said. Being struck blind, who was struck blind in Sodom? The men trying to break—how about this, how about his sons-in-law he was pleading to get out of there. They were blind as a bat! They thought he was joking. He appeared unto them as one mocking.
There is nothing funny about Judgment Day. It is coming very soon. The Scripture reveals the timing of it. Perhaps not the very day or hour but the general timing of it we can see now. Christ put 30 signs, at least, in the Old Testament like the days of Lot, the days of Noah, the falling away, Satan taking his seat in the holy place and on and on. He put signs in the New Testament that we could see this day approaching. Well, men make light of it and they are blind to it like Lot’s two sons-in-law.
Let us take a few minutes and go on in this parable. We are not going to finish this Matthew 22 today. They think it is funny, the wedding invitation. They refuse to come and they get up and one goes to his farm and that is Strong’s number 68 it is the word, “agros” it is a word we use. A lot of words in Greek came into English. Here is one, “agros”. It is the base of the word “agriculture”—farming. They get up and go to their farm. What is this teaching us? They go and spread their own Gospel. They do not want this fatling. They do not want roasted lamb for their wedding dinner. They do not want to come to this bridegroom, the great wedding invitation, like I said no to the wedding in Hawaii. They say, “Thanks but no thanks, I do not want it. I do not care if you are having roasted lamb.” The King is having roasted lamb—His only begotten Son. What a paradox of the Gospel. But they want to go farming, agros, they get up and they go farming and what do they sow? Tares. The King is sowing wheat but amidst the wheat they are sowing tares. They go to the farm.
And others get up and they go to their merchandise. And what is merchandise? All throughout the Bible merchandise, the buying and selling of something is discussed. Remember Isaiah 55:1:
Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
What is being traded in the world? Stock options? Bonds? Gold bars? God does not care about those things. He cares about the trading in the Gospel. The two witnesses go forth from the garden to the end of time trading in the Gospel and there is One who is the real merchant man. Let us turn back to Matthew 13. Who is the true merchant man trading in the True Gospel? He is in Matthew 13 verse 45-46:
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
Who is that merchant man? Christ, our God and Savior. And He is trading in the pearl of great price, not stock options, not in my pension plan. He is trading in one commodity. The world does not want what He is trading. He sends out the ships of Tarsus, and all their delicacies, all their dainties Revelation says. They do not want His product. And His product can be had for nothing.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon wrote his capital work, “All of Grace” that is what he named it. It is all free. You get the invitation. You come. And the meal is provided and the meal is God Himself. I cannot explain that to you. If you think you can explain that to me, I will stay here the rest of the day with you. The meal is God Himself. Yes, Christ became a man, but He never was absent from being the Godhead. He is going to give Himself for the sins of His people, roasted.
Remember that Passover meal? If you boiled it you were doomed. If you took that lamb culled out, Palm Sunday was the exact day by the way in Israel, when they were to cull out that ram without spot and blemish. And they had better roast it. Look back and read the rules, not boil that thing; they were doomed if they boiled it. It had to be roasted in the fires of Hell as Christ was. Well He is the merchant man. The rest of these people that did not go on the farm to sow their tares that did not go with their merchandise to sell the false gospel, trade in for a false gospel, the rest, the remnant, treated His servants spitefully, hatefully, and killed Him. Look in first John 3:15, we have got to keep this in mind, very often in the Scripture when it is discussed killing somebody. In 1 John 3:14,15, killing is revealed to be:
We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer:
See the Bible parallels the hatred of our fellow man as wanting them dead. And in effect if we are not giving the Gospel and we are giving a false gospel that is exactly what we are doing. We might as well shoot him with a high-powered rifle if we fail to give the Gospel to others, if we fail to give it to our family. The king is wroth or “Orgizo” in Greek, a very common word, He is angry. All through the Bible is His anger and indignation. Remember the cup of His wrath in Revelation. That is the same word. The king is angry.
What kind of Gospel do you prefer? The gospel that says, “My friends, God loves you. He sent His son to die for you on the cross and he paid for the sins of the whole world?” No. This king is angry. The most famous sermon every preached in the history of America was by Jonathan Edwards in Enfield, Connecticut in 1741. His sermon: “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Read Hebrews chapter 10. God is angry with the wicked every day. Read the first eleven Psalms. He hates the wicked. He has prepared their lives and their souls for the Day of Judgment. God’s posture toward mankind is extremely negative. I cannot say it in more negative words than the Bible does.
This king is wroth the Bible says, that is a word that means super angry. He is furious with the whole world. Why? Because we are born dead in trespasses and sins. There is nothing we can do about it. He hates the wicked. This is the most unkind and unthoughtful and insensitive Gospel that could have been delivered. But it is the truth. Why would you lie to someone about the posture of God toward them, to your relatives, to your children, your brothers and sisters? Do not lie to them. God’s posture toward mankind is not loving and kind. It is toward His own people and He lovingly draws them. He wrote their name in a Book before He created the world in Philippians and it is loving toward them. He came to give His life a ransom for many.
This king is angry. He is very angry with Israel. If you read Hebrews 3 and 4 He went through all sorts of preparations to make a way for Israel. Delivered them from Egypt with signs and wonders with a high hand brought them out of the land of bondage. And their carcasses perished in the wilderness. They did not want to come to this wedding and eat roasted lamb. They did not want it. The minute that Moses left them they sat down to eat and rose up to play. By the way, that word “play” is the same word, the very same word in Hebrew that Lot’s sons used when they thought that their father-in-law was playing a game. And do not dare condemn the Nation of Israel. The New Testament says they were an ensample to you for what your life is like. There is not anything better about the New Testament Gentiles than about the Jews. We are simply a repeat of what they were like.
This king destroyed those murderers. Remember they killed his servants? And God did, beginning in 587 B.C. when he had Nebuchadnezzar destroy the Temple, He did destroy the Jews. He destroyed the ten tribes first, and then he destroyed the two tribes in 587 B.C., raised up Nebuchadnezzar. Then after Israel reclaimed itself and survived under Roman rule in the time of Christ, shortly after Christ ascended into heaven, He absolutely obliterated the land of Israel from the map. History records in AD 70 in a mountain I think called Masada and Israel the very last of them, they even supposedly committed cannibalism. They were done, they were dead. And the Diasporas spread to the four corners of the Earth. Miraculously, somehow, Jesus said in 1948 they will regather and they did. On May 14th they were declared a nation again. There is no fruit in there but they were declared a nation again.
It is an amazing Gospel the Bible brings. It is beyond human understanding, the details of it. But, the truth of this parable is, we are going to end with this, “many are called but few are chosen.” Just being named in a Christian family, or growing up in a church, or reading the Bible, none of those things can ever save you. “Many are called but few are chosen”, and somehow, praise God, He gave the call, not the righteous, but to this wedding feast He calls sinners.