Kingdom of Heaven

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. For many are called, but few are chosen. §

Almost everyone in the Christian walk thinks about the masculine Christ and His feminine Bride and many have their own earthly-oriented picture of a wedding feast or marriage supper that goes with it. In this account Jesus brings out a slightly different approach to the wedding. He likened it to THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. We therefore see that whoever is included, it is not an automatic arrangement for them. For there must be preparation. If it is up to us, as individuals, to prepare ourselves without any help, then the whole occasion would be very unfair.

SERVANT - MINISTRIES Servant-Ministries are abroad in this hour, announcing that there is a WEDDING FEAST and the invitations are going forth. What an honor for one to be invited ! Especially since it is a ROYAL wedding. Those occasions are not an everyday occurence. When a King invites (bids), it is usually known as a COMMAND !

Normal weddings, at the time of Jesus, would be held at the Bride-to-be’s home. The invitations would go forth and those invited would know that a ‘wedding-feast-garment’ would be provided. These robes would be very precious to the bride’s family, having been used from generation to generation. It would be an extreme insult not to wear the robe.

Likewise, with a Royal Wedding, which carries greater splendour, the wedding-feast-robe is provided. One would be available for every invited guest. It would carry on it the royal insignia (like the Old English ‘Coat of Arms’), which would declare former accomplishments.The one thing different from ordinary weddings, is that it is held at the Palace, the place where the King abides. It would be necessary therefore, for the servants to go forth and tell the invited guests that ‘all things are ready’. That would be the sign to drop what you are doing and activate one’s earlier preparation.

Can you imagine how hurt the King must have been to hear that His honoured guests had turned down the invitation at the last minute ? "Why ?", He asks. Then is told, "They are doing their own thing. They were just too busy to be able to fit this important wedding feast into THEIR schedules ! " These "farm-like" churches have such busy programs that just HAVE to be fulfilled: their` fund-raising enterprises seem so essential to maintaining their ministry for God.

We are aware that initially Jesus was speaking to the Talmud-orientated Pharisees who had deliberately refused to come to the Lord Jesus, even though Father-God had sent His Word of invitation over many years and through many vessels. The affronted King, Father-God, later sent "His" Roman army and dealt with those rebellious citizens of natural-thinking Jerusalem.

"It is time!", the cry went forth. The long awaited cry should have sparked excitement and expectation in the hearts of the invited. Alas, there was no such reaction, because those particular guests were NOT ready; the King called them ‘unworthy’. The wedding feast of the Kingdom of Heaven (or the Kingdom of God), will still go on as planned. The picture or parable here shows us that there are many ‘old testament’ Christians who refuse the King’s invitation, and even, with their tongues destroy the effectiveness of the King’s servants who declare such good news.

"Guests, there will be!", declares the ruling Monarch. "You will find them on the highways"; He spoke this to those who ministered His desires and His Word. Those on the highways would most certainly NOT be those sort of people (Christians) who are ‘sitting down’! They are purposing to attain to the next destination (in God). Possibly they would have a heart-cry for a greater dimension in God; their ‘walk’ could be labelled by some as "bad", or "good" by others. Either way, it did not matter as long as they would prepare themselves according to what the Ruler expected. They could believe what those servants were declaring from the King.

The King appears among His wedding guests and finds one person who had not walked in wisdom. This one thought that all this fuss about having to put on the robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10), freely given him by the King, wasn’t too important. ‘The compassion of the King will surely overlook my lack ? GRACE will surely cover me, because I am not under ‘law’ .With that thought, his preparation of obedience, was pushed aside. The grace of God had provided what he needed, but he had put the works of his reasoning mind first. It seems that this one had HEAD KNOWLEDGE of the Kingdom of Heaven, without any commitment (which is shown in obedience) to the King’s Word.

At the palace, this foolish Christian, who had put his own reasoning before the King’s command, was able to get in past the lowly servants at the door. They would catch his flicked-off sandals and wash his feet. Those servants had no authority (anointing) to challenge him as to why he was not fully prepared for the wedding feast. The King seeing him, is again flabbergasted at such an attitude of self-righteousness. H asked him, pont blank, "How come you came in here not having on a wedding garment ?" The man was speechless! He had no anointing of the Holy Spirit to produce his thoughts. He was embarrassingly exposed as one who did not have the ability to know what the King wanted. Had this man believed the Word of the King sent by the servant- ministries, he would have been fully prepared.

The Monarch’s decision was very just. This man was not a stranger and he well knew what was required. The King’s word went forth to bind him hand and foot. There was to be no opportunity given to him to "DO" something in order to be accepted. "Dead works", that we are to repent of, are whatever we try to DO in order to get God’s attention. (Heb.6:1). He was to be tied up so that he could not affect anyone else with his unbelief. Return him to the realm that he came from - the darkness of ignorance, outside the Palace. He was not suited to abide in the place where the King dwells. He was not prepared to walk in that realm of "God-think". In those days, the wedding feast would take place just before midnight. This explains why the ten virgins carried torches.Perfection is required for such an occasion. The wedding feast will take place only after all self-thinking is removed and the King’s word is obeyed, and grace is applied, seen by the putting-on of His righteousness (righteousness = right living, as viewed by God).

GOSPEL ENCOUNTER No. 6