The Garmentless Wedding Guest; Part #4 of 4

Verse 11. But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. 

Since the whole of this parable concerns itself with the ariston  (the midday meal) this coming of the King “to see the guests” has reference to a viewing of the guests during the preparatory meal (the eucharist), not the Marriage Supper proper. 

The professing Christians must be aware that the King exams them. God searches the heart (Romans 8:27, Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.). 

“he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment.” 

The concern caused by this statement is justified, because the guests were furnished their garments upon arrival, by the host. The analogy shows the wedding garment of the church to be the blood of Christ, our Host. Therefore, Christ, our Host, covers our nakedness with His own righteousness. While it would not be possible for one to be at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rev 19:7-9) without the wedding garment, it, nonetheless, is true that many are in the Church Militant, even partaking of the ariston (midday meal, i.e. the eucharist), along side of true believers, without the proper garment of the wedding.

The Greek term translated “guests” is: “anakeimenous.” Anakeimenous literally  means “reclining ones.” The analogy intended is that the church is a place to rest from the toil of self works. “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” Jesus said. (Matt 13:28). We are to rest from our works and trust in the finished work of the cross! One needs not but to read the writer to the Hebrews to understand: “Since therefore it remains that some must enter it,” (the rest) “and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, 7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. (Heb 4:6-10). The man therefore, who is not dressed in the righteousness of Christ is not resting: i.e. not reclining. He is not a true “guest” —  a reclining one. How obviously conspicuous such a one would be in a room of reclining guests. 

We read of these improperly dressed pretenders in Jude’s epistle. Jude writes, “These are spots in your feast of charity” (love feasts), “when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear… .” Who were these people? They were “certain man crept in awareness… ungodly men turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Greek text reads: “ton monon despotên kai kurion hêmōn Iêsoun Christon arnoumenoi.” — “denying the only master and Lord of us, Jesus Christ.” They are pretenders, confessors of that which they have not. “Clouds they are without water,… trees without fruit,” (Jude 1:4-12). 

(Matthew 21:18 relates an event where Christ approached a fig tree to pick some figs. Upon finding no fruit, He cursed the tree. One might question the severity of the Lord’s actions on this occasion. But the Scripture states clearly that the tree had leaves, and when a fig tree puts forth leaves it should already have fruit. Unlike most fruit bearing trees, the fig tree produces its fruit before it leafs out. Like many professing Christians, this tree gave a good testimony to all passersby, it had the proper foliage, but upon examination its profession was an empty one. So it is with many in the Kingdom (Marriage), they profess but do not possess!) 

Jude continues to speak of these unlawfully clad church members: “Behold, the Lord cometh … , 15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them” (the professing Church) “of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, …”(Jude 1:14b-15a KJV). 

Verse 12.  So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.

As stated previously, it is the Host (bridegroom) who provides the wedding garment. Therefore, the man was asked how, or why, he came to the marriage without the wedding garment; “he was speechless.” He was without excuse. It was not his responsibility to provide for himself; the garment was provided for him. To be without it was a testimony of his rejection of it. How sad to reject the righteousness of Christ for our own garment of human works. Adam progressed from the garments of fig leaves on to the blood covering of innocence. However, in contrast, far too many Christians regress from the blood garment of Calvary back to a garment of self-righteous works. Somewhere between the waters of baptism (where the blood of Christ clothes us — Acts 22:16; Galatians 3:27) and the testimony service many lay aside the garment of His righteousness, and swaddle themselves in garments of self-worth. 

What will such ones reply to the query of our King, as to why they do not trust in the blood of Christ alone? 

They, too, will be speechless! 

The apostle writes about those who are “ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.” (Rom 10:3). These are they who frustrate the grace of God, understanding not that if righteousness came by keeping the law then Christ died in vain (Gal 2:21). 

Verse 13. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

As in any honest study of Scripture, the identity of an item must remain consistent throughout the parable, Therefore, the identity of the servant should keep the same nature throughout our parable. Within the confines of this law of interpretation the servants of verse 3 and 4 would be the same nature as the servants of verse 13. Some would argued for the servants to be the heavenly Angels. But this interpretation is proven unsound, as we look to verse 6 and find “servants” being murdered. This certainly could not be the heavenly Angels. (Howbeit, one could consider the identification of the “servants” as angels if the meaning of the term be strictly limited to that of  “messenger of God.” In this sense the bishops of the seven churches of Asia are called Angels in Revelation chapters 2 and 3.  The servants are clearly mortal men who are in the service of the Lord of Heaven as messengers. 

“Bind him hand and foot, and take him away.” 

To the “servants” this command is given. In that the servants have been identified as the messengers of God (i.e, the New Testament ministers) our eyes are opened by the awesome responsibility and authority of the Ministry of Christ’s church. Few, if any, think of the elders of their assembly as holding the power of spiritual life and death on their behalf. However, in our text it is the ministry that was to bind and castaway the improperly clothed one. All this may sound strange to the modern ear; it, nonetheless, was certainly common enough doctrine to the disciples of the first century. They were accustom to hearing Jesus say such things as: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (John 20:23). Also, “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:19). Not only were they so empowered, but they conducted the business of the kingdom accordingly. In Acts chapter 5 we read, “But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan field your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost. … And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost….” 

One must not lose sight of the fact that it was the ariston (midday meal) and not the deipnon (the supper) that characterizes this entire parable. The Church has been given the communion meal of Matthew 26:26-28 as the represented touchstone of the dinner that the parable centers itself around. The man had come to the ariston (the midday preparatory feast) without the wedding garment. That translates into: A professing Christian coming into the fellowship of believers around the Lord’s table while in his/her heart the blood of Christ is disavowed as being the only means of salvation. Such a one in our parable is “CAST OUT!” Even so in our Christian Fellowship.  Such a one should be placed outside the fellowship of the light of the Church. In this sense we should think of the light of a well illuminated  house penetrating the darkness about the house only to a point, beyond which the darkness rules. It is the “outer darkness.” The darkness beyond the reach of any light from the house. (Jesus said that the Church was the light of the world, Matthew chapter 5:14-16). Therefore, one who willfully rejects the garment of Christ’s righteousness is to be cast into “outer darkness.” Also, “outer darkness,” because darkness is compounded to the one who has had fellowship within in the light, albeit, unlawfully. We read of such action being taken by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 where the Church was instructed not to eat the communion meal with a certain man which was sleeping, openly, with his father’s wife. This man, once placed outside the fellowship of the Church repented, and was received back into the light of the eucharistic meal (2 Cor. 2:6-8).

A warning must be sounded here: The language of our text has a note of finality about it and is closely akin to language of final judgment and may well reflect that sad outcome if such a one is not brought to repentance and true conversion.

The same language is found in Hebrews 10:26-29 where the “willful sin” is defined as: “trodden underfoot the Son of God and counting the blood of the covenant an unholy thing.” 

Verse 14. For many are called but few are chosen. 

All of mankind are called to the wedding, although during the proceedings of the feast only those who demonstrate a willingness to submit to the righteousness of Christ will be submitted to the Married Supper. 

The story of Queen Esther illustrates the principle of our parable very well. King Ahasuerus (a type of Christ) wishes to manifest his wife, Vashti (a type of Israel), to the world. Vashti would not respond to the king so he had her put away and chose another wife in the process, in the person of Esther (a type of the church). King Ahasuerus sent invitations throughout all the land inviting all the maidens of his kingdom to the palace. There was to be a wedding! Even so, in our parable: guests were brought from everywhere. In the palace at Shushan many guests were gathered but only one would be the bride of the king and move from the palace to the “King’s Royal House.” Even so, in our parable, many fill the guest chambers of the Kingdom of Heaven, such as Christianity’s houses of worship. Many gather around the Lord’s table for the wedding dinner “ariston,” but not all will enter the “King’s Royal House.” Only the one who pleases the king will be chosen, and she must be dressed properly. How does one dress for the wedding? Take a clue from Esther: 

Now when the turn of Esther, … was to go unto the king, She required nothing but what Haggai the kings chamberline, the keeper of the women, appointed. 

We must follow the example of Esther, we must be presented before the King (Father God) with only the garment provided by Hegai (the Holy Spirit).

The End

After spending over forty years in the dispensational doctrine, and having raise my children in that theological framework, I became a convinced adherent to a "kingdom" theology that recognizes the Church as the Israel of God, and that the first century actually saw the fulfillment of most of Matthew chapter 24. "Letters to My Children on Apostolic Kingdom Theology" is a compilation of twenty four letters written to my children explaining my journey. These "Letters" provide a systematic approach to Apostolic Eschatological study of Scripture. It is sure to interest all students of Scriptures

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