Title: Those Worthy of the Kingdom of God
Contents
worthy of the kingdom of God
<Matthew 22:1~14>
Jesus spoke to the Jews and people of the world who rejected, persecuted and hated Himself and the Gospel in the parable of the prince's wedding feast. Parables are a way of speaking that takes a lot of thought, but makes difficult stories easy to understand. Jesus told parables about who he was and what consequences of rejecting the Lord's gospel and persecuting the church would be.
<Contents of the parable>
A certain king prepared a wedding feast for his son. And through his servants, he sent them to those who could participate in the king's wedding feast, and told them to come because the wedding feast of his son was ready. However, they react negatively to the invitation, expressing displeasure at the king's invitation. Then the king sent other servants once more, saying, “I am preparing a supper, slaughtering my oxen and fat animals, and having everything ready, come to the wedding banquet.”
However, those who were invited by the king did not show any interest at all when they heard the news from the servants. Ignoring the king's invitation, some went to the fields and others to their business. Not only that. Some captured, insulted, and killed the servants sent by the king.
In the distant past, there was military power and power in each region ruled by a king. So, through occasions such as the prince's wedding feast, the rulers of each region showed their loyalty to the king. However, the refusal of the king to come to the wedding of his son by the local authorities indicates that they have animosity towards the king's rule. Even killing the servants sent by the king was not an act of antagonism, but a sign of rebellion.
Therefore, the king became very angry, and immediately sent his army to annihilate the murderers of his subjects, and burned down the towns that refused the invitation.
After that, the king commanded his servants, "The wedding feast is ready, but the invited ones are not worthy. Go to the crossroads, and as soon as you find people, invite them to the wedding feast!" Therefore, the king's servants went out into the streets to meet the bad and the good, that is, the common people, and invited them to participate in the king's wedding feast. So, after a while, the king's wedding feast was filled with people brought by the officials from the road.
As the king entered the wedding banquet and looked around the guests, he saw a man there without a robe. The king asked him, “Friend, why did you come in here without a robe?” But the man without a robe did not say anything. So the king gives orders to his servants. “Tie up his hands and feet and throw them into the darkness outside, where they will weep and grind their teeth.”
The king made those who participated in the wedding feast at the king's invitation to wear robes instead of those who were originally invited as commoners. The robe was a measure for the dignity of the royal palace, and not wearing the robes would damage the dignity of the royal palace. So the king drove out those who were not wearing robes.
Jesus concludes this parable by saying: “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14).
<Meaning of parable>
It can be said that the people who were originally invited were the Israelites, descendants of Abraham. Especially the priests and Pharisees, the spiritual leaders of Israel. God sent prophets to them to ask them to repent of their false beliefs. You are invited to enter the kingdom of glory that God has prepared. But they rejected God's invitation. They refused to live according to God's will, and in everything they wanted to live according to what was right in their own eyes. In other words, I did not acknowledge God's kingship and resisted my power.
God will never accept those who disobey His commands as worthy of His kingdom. Therefore, God decided to forsake Israel, who was originally destined to be invited as the real people of God's kingdom, and also prophesied that he would destroy Israel by sending an army. In the end, they even rejected Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son sent by God, and ultimately crucified him to death. Therefore, God decided to forsake them. Perhaps it could be said that the destruction of Israel by sending the Roman army was the fulfillment of that prophecy.
<Application of analogy>
At the end of the parable, Jesus says, “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). In other words, God invites many people in the world to come to the kingdom of God without cost, but it must be said in anticipation that not many people will come in response to that invitation.
The invitation or request of God, the King of the universe and of the whole world, continues even today. Through the evangelism of Christians or the preaching of pastors, God invites people. We must not ignore the gospel. This is an act of ignoring the king's invitation, going out to the fields, and going out for business. It is an act of ignoring the gospel by being drunk with the world, and ignoring the Lord.
To respond to God's invitation is to accept the grace of Jesus Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross. Therefore, we must believe in the gospel, come to the cross, repent of all our sins before we believed, and put on the grace of the cross, that is, the robes, by deciding and confessing to believe only in the Lord.
And those who wear robes must live a life worthy of this. The book of Revelation says, “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have authority to come to the tree of life, and to enter the city through the gates. Outside the city will be dogs, and sorcerers, and fornicators, and murderers, and idolaters, and all those who love and create lies” (Rev 22:14-15). When you say that you should wash your clothes, it always means that you should be careful not to pollute your life.
Therefore, we who are saved must never practice idolatry, practice divination, murder, fornication, or lie. To this end, putting all our heart and devotion into this is our text in robes. ◎