Matthew the apostle wrote how, “Jesus answered and spoke unto” the chief priests and elders in Jerusalem” “again by parables, and said, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. 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. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise. And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then said he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go you therefore into the highways, and as many as you shall find, bid to the marriage. 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. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment. And he said unto him, Friend, how came you in here not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless”, and in chapter twenty-two and verse thirteen of his book Jesus told how the king told his servants, “bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness” where we read:
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.
The verse reads, “Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, ...” Matthew began with the words, “the said the king” which means “therefore, wherefore and these things being so the king uttered, declared and proclaimed” “to the servants” or “to his bondmen and servile men”, “bind him hand and foot” or “fasten and tie the man without a wedding garment with chains by his hands and feet”, “and take him away” or “and remove the man without a wedding garment from the wedding feast”. Matthew shared how Jesus said the “king” instructed his “servants” to “arrest the man without a wedding garment” and remove him from the “wedding feast”.
The verse goes on to say, “... and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew continued with the words, “and cast him” which means “and throw, expel and compel the man” “into outer darkness” or “to exterior ignorance respecting divine things and human duties, and the accompanying ungodliness and immorality together with their consequent misery in hell”; “there shall be weeping” which means “there shall exist wailing, crying and lamentation” “and gnashing of teeth” which refers to “and grinding, growling and snarling as in the sense of biting their teeth to denote extreme anguish and utter despair of men consigned to external punishment in hell”. Matthew wrote how the “king” also instructed his “servants” to “throw” the man without the “wedding garment” into “exterior ungodliness, immorality and consequent misery in hell”.
When we meditate upon Matthew's words in this verse, we discover the horrific judgment pronounced upon man who was found not wearing a “wedding garment”. The king ordered this man not only to be “thrown out” of the wedding feast, but also to be “cast” into “outer darkness” where people there shall “weep” and “grind their teeth” in anguish. God's desire is to save every person from this judgment, and the way to receive a “wedding garment” is to believe and trust in His Son Jesus as a personal “Savior and Lord”. Those who are wise shall accept God's invitation through His Son Jesus, and they shall never need to worry about being “thrown into” such a horrific place of anguish and pain.
Next time Matthew shares how Jesus declared, “many are called, but few are chosen”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book
“Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the
marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the
Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms
Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County"
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