OUR WEDDING BANQUET
Zephaniah 1:7 Be silent before the Sovereign Lord, for the day of the Lord is near. The Lord has prepared a sacrifice; he has consecrated those he has invited.
Jesus spoke of this in Matthew 22:1-14. It says, “Jesus spoke to them again in parables saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’ But they paid no attention and went off - one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the street and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.’ But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants. ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
It is amazing how God scattered prophecies of blessings and warnings throughout the Bible that we see have come to pass. And yet there are people that to this day have eyes to see and ears to hear, but do not see them. Much of this is because they don't even look for them, and others have hardened their hearts toward God’s word and don’t want to accept it. Even when Jesus walked the earth there were people that rejected him, because they didn’t want to turn from their sinfulness. Then there were those like the Pharisees who didn’t want to believe him because he didn’t fit their expectations. Whether we want to believe God’s prophecies to us or not, they will still come to pass. The Jews that rejected Jesus and had Pilate crucify him were later killed and the city of Jerusalem destroyed in 70 A.D. by the Romans.
In Revelation 19:6-10 says, “Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given to her to wear. (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) Then the angel said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’” And he added, “These are the true words of God.” At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
What Zephaniah hinted to and Jesus expounded on will come to pass in the end times. It will happen just before Jesus comes back to earth at the end of the seven years of tribulation. All those that accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior when he went to the abode of the dead following his resurrection (I Peter 4:6), those Christians that died before the rapture and those of the rapture will be at this great and joyous wedding banquet. It will certainly be something that no one should want to miss out on. It will be a celebration like we have never seen or could imagine. The best thing of all will to see Jesus, and the love he has for us in his eyes.
Yet many will not want to be part of it as we see in Matthew 22. It is obvious that the Heavenly Father has wanted to honor Jesus in this parable. When the Jews rejected Jesus and had him crucified, the Heavenly Father sent more servants to encourage them to come to Jesus so they could be part of his wedding banquet. Instead of receiving them, the apostles and disciples were killed. So God invited Gentiles all over the world to become lovers of Jesus and be his bride. But even most Gentiles look to the temporary activities of life rather than making Jesus their priority. Matthew 7:13,14 points this out by saying, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
It is not that God only has chosen a few as Calvin’s predestination of the saved says, because God so loved the world that he sent his Son to die for all who would chose his salvation. The problem lies with people that want to go to heaven on their terms and not God’s. This is why in Jesus’ parable we see the person without wedding clothes being cast into the darkness or hell where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. They missed the most important call in their life. Few are chosen out of all the creation of humanity, because only a few chose to make it a priority to put God first in their life and this comes only through Jesus.
God’s prophecy is very important. It is to believed in, trusted and obeyed. God prepared a sacrifice, but not of bull or calf. It was the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, Jesus Christ God’s only begotten Son. The consecrated that are invited is the church the Bride of Christ.
Have you accepted your invitation to the wedding banquet from God? To delay is another way of saying no just like in the parable Jesus told. If you were to place a mark on the timeline of eternity, your life on earth would be a dot. Where does your priority lie today?
Prayer: Heavenly Father thank you for sending Jesus to come and sacrifice himself for us. Please help us to be ready, and listening for your call that our wedding banquet is ready for us to attend. We love you Heavenly Father, and ask this in Jesus name.
