21 Days of Prayer: Day 20
Missions: Broken for Sinners
“In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth"
READ MATTHEW 22:1-14.
Today is the next to last day of our twenty-one days of prayer and fasting. Up to this point, we have focused on God and how we are to worship Him in our weekly gatherings, our community, and our discipleship. One thing we have not focused upon are those people who do not belong to God… To be sure, all people belong to God in one sense because God is the Creator of all good things. However, mankind has rejected God’s good design for life – namely that our lives are to be lived in joyful worship of Him. Since people have sinfully rejected God, their sin has torn them away from Him. Our sin separates us from God so that we are no longer His.
Now we turn to the life of Jesus recorded in Matthew’s gospel to get a glimpse of those who do not belong to God. Here Jesus is talking to the chief priests and Pharisees (the Jewish religious leaders) about those who will and will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven at the end of time. Jesus tells them a parable, comparing the entrance into the Kingdom to an invitation to a wedding feast. This comparison makes sense because Christ will invite all His blood-bought people to His wedding feast at the end of time (see. Rev. 19:9)
Jewish wedding feasts would often last for a full week since the groom’s parents would invite all guests to stay at their residence and provide for all the food and drink. Jesus said a king put on a wedding feast for his son and invited all the wedding guests to come. In context, we know that Jesus is talking about the Jews (the people of God) being invited to the feast… But the wedding guests (the Jews) did not come to the feast. Instead, they ignored the king’s invitation to come. They went off to look after their own interests. The Text even says that some wedding guests beat and killed the slaves of the king (the slaves symbolizing the prophets of God).
The king’s response is chilling: “The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.” The king destroyed those who rejected his wedding invitation. Scholars believes that here Jesus is predicting the slaughter of the Jews and the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans in AD 70… Nevertheless, the wedding guests are punished for rejecting the king…
Therefore, the king sends his slaves out again to invite “all whom they found, both bad and good.” The king gathers all types of people – both the bad (those whom culture would deem as wicked) and the good (those whom culture would deem as righteous). The king’s edict is breathtaking! The wedding guests (the Jews) have rejected the king’s invitation, so the king invites others – most likely symbolizing the Gentiles (any non-Jewish person). Sinners are invited to the King’s banquet! This is astounding because the culturally wicked and the culturally righteous are both still sinners. Yet, the king says, “Come.”
Once inside the wedding hall, we read something else interesting… One man has come in without a wedding garment. To us today, a person’s clothing seems like no big deal, but back then it was serious. If a groom’s parents would usually provide wedding attire for guests, how much more so would a king for the prince’s guests? By coming into the king’s house without the proper clothing – the attire the KING provided – this man is basically saying, “King, I do not need you or your wedding clothes. I come on my own terms.” This man arrogantly spurns the king’s provision, which is a direct insult to the king himself…
Thus, the king has his slaves bind the man without a wedding garment. The man is thrown outside the king’s house into the darkness, where “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” With these words, Jesus is describing all those who will experience the wrath of God for all eternity. When the last day comes, those without a wedding garment will NOT be allowed to partake in the wedding feast of the Son of God. God will throw all people without a garment into the fiery pits of hell to weep and gnash their teeth as they are slowly destroyed for eternity.
This seems harsh of God… Why are these people punished this way? People will experience the eternal wrath of God because they reject Him. Like the Jews, people know about God but reject His commands. Or, like the man without a wedding garment, people try to come to God on their own terms. Both reasons earn a person their rightful place in hell because they have insulted the holiness of the King of kings. (Do this sound much like our American culture?)
How are we to escape the wrath of God on our sin? Like the king of the parable, God the Father has provided a way for us to be clothed with His righteous (for us to be made holy like He is). What is shocking is the way He provided this garment of righteous. The King of kings sent His SON to purchase our wedding garment… Wow… We put on this garment by trusting in the King’s provision – by trusting in the life and death of Jesus which provided us with the forgiveness and righteous we could never attain for ourselves (this is what we mean when we say God imputes or gives us righteousness) … In His mercy and grace, God clothes us with the righteous of Jesus!... But what about those sinners who do not how to get into the King’s wedding feast?
In missions, we are the King’s slaves who live to do the bidding of our King. The King commands us to invite all people to His wedding feast… But do we carry out the King’s orders? Though we have been saved from sin by the shed blood of Christ, do we joyfully tell others about how they can come into the King’s court?
As slaves of the King, our first motivation for carrying out the King’s order must always be the mercy and grace He already SHOWN US in His Son. We have been given everything, so we cannot say anything against the King’s orders… And a secondary motivation for telling others about King’s feast is BROKENESS for sinners.
If we could hear the screams of hell for only five seconds, I do not believe any of us could bear it… Are we broken over the fact that people will experience the wrath of God for eternity? Are we so utterly humbled by God’s mercy and grace that we will do anything to keep His command of teaching others the gospel of Jesus?
The Son of God died, not that we would keep the news of Him to ourselves, but that we would spread the news of Him to all peoples.
Personal Questions:
Who is represented by the wedding guests, the King, the slaves of the king, and the others the king invites?
Why are the original wedding guests and the man without a wedding garment punished?
How do you put on the wedding garment of the King?
Are you totally humbled by the King’s mercy and grace to you? Are you heartbroken for sinners who will experience the King’s wrath for eternity?
How far will you go to carry out the King’s order to tell other people about His Son?
Prayer Points:
Pray that you and our church would more and more understand the seriousness of sin and its consequences.
Pray that you and our church would increasingly be humbled by God’s mercy and grace to save us in Jesus Christ.
Pray that you and our church would be willing to do anything to spread the news of Christ – because He did everything for us.