The Marriage of the Lamb Part A

 

One of the most fascinating and enthusiastic moments in this part of the world is a wedding ceremony. The joy to get involved in the preparations and eventually see the bridegroom and the bride being joined as husband and wife. All the daily logistics towards the wedding day is tedious, yet enjoyable. That holistic approach to check and recheck, fix where necessary, allocate certain duties to those that are competent, re-estimate the foreseen and other miscellaneous and lots more. All these is to ensure that there is a remarkable applaud on the success of the marriage if not a hundred percent success.

Even as the D-day draws closer, there is that possibility that some of the supposedly well checked logistics begin to show that they require one or two correction for perfection or they might not even be noticed. Anyways, all these center on who and how well each logistics is handled.

There are a few scriptures that we will be drawing our emphasis from. We will take out some time to see through the lens of the Holy Spirit the emphasis, lessons and instructions from each scriptural reference cited. Let’s begin with Matthew 22:1 to 14. We sincerely had to consider the whole parable, if not, we are likely to miss out some important revelation in the parable. Remember proverbs 25:2 which says “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.” The way to ideally search out a thing in the kingdom is with patience.  Kindly read through with patience.

 It reads “[1]and Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, [2]the kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, [3]and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. [4]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. [5]But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: [6]And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. [7]But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. [8]Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. [9]Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. [10]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. [11]And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: [12]And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. [13]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. [14]For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Each bolden word(s) will be briefly explained so as to get the full understanding of what the bible text is saying. First of all, the text starts with the word ‘parable.' Parable implies a figurative way of explaining something that exist or mandatory but seemingly look incomprehensible. Jesus is trying to let us understand the operations of the kingdom of heaven by using illustrations that best explain the terminologies.

The parable continue to illustrate that that was ‘a certain king which made a marriage for his son.’ This certain king means God and His Son here means the Lord Jesus. The next word worthy of note is 'his servants.’ His servants here means his prophets and ‘them that were bidden to the wedding' are His own people. You remember John 1:11 that says “he came unto his own, and his own received him not?” The Jews are the people that were initially bidden to the wedding.

Alright, let’s us briefly examine the other bolden words then we will draw out some lessons and instructions thereby. The next one is ‘I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready.’ This means that the King(God) has made everything necessary available. Be it in the likes of well arranged and decorated venue, ‘continental’ and ‘intercontinental' dishes that are prepared by the best of cooks, professional servers, enough varieties of souvenirs and much more.

The next bolden word is 'but they made light of it, and went their ways.’ These words means that those that were officially invited to the wedding neglected or disregarded the invitation of the King. And they went on doing their own wishes. The next one is ‘his armies' which means His angels. Another set of words is ‘but they which were bidden were not worthy.’ They that were bidden were unworthy not because they were not invited neither were they not eligible but they turned down the invitation. They weren’t worthy because they likewise did not see it as a great privilege to feast at the King’s wedding. Their unworthiness is because of a wrong mindset to the offer of the King.

Also, 'go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage' implies that since the officially invited guests weren’t worthy by responding, the King demanded that as many that are on the highway are called or allowed into the wedding feast. These people are the gentiles. They received the invitation because the initially invited ones rejected the invite and were found unworthy. We also have ‘and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.’ These words is informing us that the gentiles that were gathered together from the highway into the wedding comprises both good and bad people.

‘He saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment' means that among the bad and good people at the wedding, there was a certain man that wasn’t in his wedding garment. This does not imply that this particular man is necessarily bad. His offence is that he wasn’t in the wedding garment. There will definitely be many bad people at the wedding but they all wore the wedding garment which made them a bona fide, recognized and legitimate guests. The next word is 'friend.’ The King called him friend because he was among those that were beckoned on the highway into the wedding. The next bolden words are words of judgment for those that are without the wedding garment.  While the last bolden words is of great importance. Indeed, many are called but few are chosen. The few that are chosen isn't because it was a deliberate act but because the originally invited ones disregarded the invitation. These few are chosen because they met the requirements of the King's wedding feast. Ensure to be among the few that are chosen. 

Emphasis and lesson from the parable

• 1.    There is going to be a wedding.
• 2.    There is a call to the wedding
• 3. There are those that were originally invited to the wedding.
• 4.      All things are ready.
• 5.     Many neglected the invitation.
• 6. The originally invited ones weren’t worthy.
• 7.  There is a call to the totally unqualified ones.
• 8.  The unqualified ones are both good and bad.
• 9.    There is a wedding garment.
• 10  There is grievous punishment for not being in the wedding garment and for not attending the wedding at all. 

Instructions from the parable

• 1. Ensure you answer the call unto the wedding.
• 2.     Be well prepared to attend the wedding.
• 3.     Never you give excuses for not being the wedding guest.
• 4.       Ensure to have the wedding garment on at all cost.
• 5.       Count it a rare privilege to be invited to the wedding.

We will have to conclude the whole article in the following one. Thanks for reading.