Lessons from the Gospels – The Wedding, Part 2
In my blog “The Wedding, Part 1” we discussed people who refused to go to the banquet when called, citing all sorts of what seem to be ridiculous excuses.
But just because people showed up doesn't mean they were actually ready for the banquet.
Today, we will start taking a look at three wedding guests – or would-be guests – to learn a bit about what it means to be prepared to get the most out of the Wedding of the Lamb. We will consider proper wedding attire, the proper attitude actions of a guest, and how we might miss out even if we RSVP’d that we would be there.
1. Proper attire
The last time I attended a wedding, I bought a special dress just for the occasion. That’s what women do. We don’t try to overshadow the bride, but we are not going to get caught being dressed for a casual, summer outdoor wedding when attending a winter, indoor wedding where the bride said, “cocktail or better attire”.
Amazingly, in Jesus’ parable, someone did show up in the wrong attire.
Recall that, in The Parable of the Wedding Banquet found in Matthew 22, the servants of the kind ended up going out into the streets and inviting just anyone they could find to come to the wedding.
Matthew 22:11-14 [NIV] 11 "But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, 'How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?' The man was speechless. 13 "Then the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' 14 "For many are invited, but few are chosen."
This would seem like a draconian response to just having the wrong clothes, if we didn’t know importance of our spiritual garments, as outlined here:
Revelation 19:7-9 [NIV] 7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear." (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God's holy people.) 9 Then the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!" And he added, "These are the true words of God."
We are to be closed in fine linen, bright and clean. How are we clothed in these fine linen garments? Revelation 19:8 tells us it is by our righteous acts. This aligns perfectly with Matthew 25.
How do they get bright and clean? We find that in Revelation 7:13-14 [NIV] where it says, 13 Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes--who are they, and where did they come from?" 14 I answered, "Sir, you know." And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
It is the very blood of Jesus that gets our garments white and keeps them white.
Sweet sisters, when we are called to the marriage supper, we cannot just show up without the proper attire – disrespecting the bride and the Father of the bride by our lack of self-preparation. We must be wearing bright, white linen, created by our righteous acts – our loving, caring acts of service, and cleaned with the blood of Jesus whenever we repent of the sin that has dirtied them.
We have more to learn about attending the “wedding of all eternity”. So, I invite you to meet me here again next week.
In the meantime, I invite you to share your thoughts and question in the chat or via email at Nancy@DynamicChristianMinistries.org