The Bride is getting ready, the invitations have been sent out. Have you received yours yet? It will be a large wedding, yet many will not wish to come. Can you imagine anyone refusing to attend such a wedding as this will be?
Many of those who have been invited will say they are too busy. The everyday things of life, such as going to work and raising a family, will prevent them from going. Many in high church positions will be too busy tending their flock to take the day off.
Jesus explained that the kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a great wedding dinner for his son. Many guests were invited, and when the banquet was ready he sent messengers to notify them that it was time to come, but all refused. So he sent other servants to tell them, "Everything is ready...Hurry."
But the guests he had invited merely laughed and went about their business--one to his farm, another to his store; others beat up his messengers and treated them shamefully, even killing some of them. Then the angry king sent out his army and destroyed the murderers and burned their city. And he said "the wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren't worthy of the honor. Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see." The servants went out and brought in all they could find, good and bad alike, and the banquet hall was filled with guests."
Jesus explained that the one who came without wedding clothes would be put out. He said "Many are called, but few are chosen" (Matt.22:14).
The king is God, the son is Jesus. The guest list includes you and me. We are all being sent an invitation. What are we going to do with it?
The first lot of invitations have been sent to the church people. Many are refusing; they are too busy doing good deeds to respond to the invitation. If they could only take time to think about the implications of refusing to attend, they would respond quickly!
Jesus is saying if we don't wish to go to the wedding we will have to suffer the agonies of the great tribulation which the Bible tells us is coming upon the earth (Rev.6:17).
The wedding banquet of the Lamb will be held in heaven (Rev.19:7). If we accept the invitation, the promise is that we will be physically caught up with Jesus in a mass exodus from this earth (I Thess.4:13-18). Those who are left will realize, only too late, what has happened. The Bible says "The nations will weep in sorrow and in terror when He comes" (Rev.1:7). Imagine the agony of realizing you had a chance of escape, a chance of attending a great dinner in heaven, and you had turned it down!
Because so many who should have made the choice to go will refuse, the invitation is today being extended to those outside the church. The invitations are being sent to both the good and the bad people. The one who had gone to the wedding without wedding clothes was the one who had not repented of his sins and so was unfit for the kingdom. Today the good and bad people who have never entered a church door are told to clean up their lives quickly. The drug addicts, the convicts, the sexually immoral - all involved in deep sin are invited. All they need do is make Jesus the ruler of their lives and ask his forgiveness. He will then make them into new creatures (II Cor.5:17) and give them their white robes, robes of purity.
Many leaders in the present revival are coming out of jails. Unworthy and unloved by the world, they have found the power of Jesus to transform their lives. They have their proper robe on to attend the wedding, and they are answering by the thousands!
Whoever you are and whatever it is that keeps you busy, put it down and read the Bible! Satan has deliberately kept the teaching of Jesus' return for his Bride hidden from God's people. Satan hopes that we will miss the wedding! Jesus told us to keep watch, for we would not know on what day He would come for his church, that He will come at an hour when nobody is expecting Him (Matt.24:42-44).
© 1999, Doreen Palmer