Devotion 4 – Keeping Our Garments of Righteousness

 

Matt.22: 2-14:  ^_ “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.”  But they made light of it [they disregarded the invitation, treating it with contempt and went their ways, one to his own farm, and another to his business... 

vs.8 - Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.  Therefore, go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.

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

vs.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.’  “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

In this parable, the first group of people invited to the feast but who did not respond refers to the nation of Israel. They did not respond to the gospel but instead, treated it with contempt. As a result, partial blindness came from God as judgement upon the nation.

Rom.11:25 - “For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.”

Israel thus lost its favoured position before God, so the gospel was preached to the Gentiles to provoke Israel into jealousy so that they may ultimately repent (Rom.11:11). Hence, the second group of people invited refers to the Gentiles. However, one of those invited came without the proper wedding garment given to him during the time of invitation. This resulted in him being cast into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Garment of Righteousness

This parable shows that it is crucially important for us to be wearing the right kind of garment during the feast, but what does that mean? The man who came to the feast without the proper wedding garment represents those who have come into the wedding feast without the robe of righteousness which was given to us when we accepted the invitation (accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour).

Isa.61:10 – “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness…”

 

However, we are clearly warned in the scripture that it is our responsibility to preserve the garments.

 

Rev.16:15 - “Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walks naked and they see his shame.”

What does our Lord mean by commanding us to “keep our garments”?

We keep our garments by continuing to walk in righteousness by the power of His Holy Spirit. The Scripture has made it very clear to us that the bride has made herself ready by being arrayed in fine linen which represents the “righteous acts of the saints”.

 

Rev.19:7-8 – “For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”

 

Jesus ended His parable with a stern warning, “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

The word “called” is used several times throughout the Bible, in different contexts. In this instance, in the parable of the wedding feast, Jesus is using the word “called” as an invitation, an invitation to live a life together with Christ. To be chosen is to accept the invitation and to do what is necessary to accept the invitation. That is, saying ‘Yes’ to the calling and follow by a faithful discipleship life. God calls us, but those who are chosen are those who wholeheartedly accept the invitation and its conditions.

In order to be chosen, we must show that we really want this life with all our hearts. In the story, the king sent out his servants to all types of people. It doesn’t matter what our starting point is, who we are by nature, what our background is, what talents we have or do not have, etc, etc. The thing that determines whether we are chosen is how we respond to the calling to receive God’s invitation in our heart, and what fruit we bear as a result.

The bride will be few, but this is not because only a few invitations were sent out. It is because few choose to take heed and respond to the invitation. The bride of Christ comes out from the church, but there are not many who can be truly counted among this number. To be a part of the bride of Christ, we need to answer the call diligently.

This parable is a wakeup call for all of us to make a choice to walk in the narrow road, and be sure we wear the right garments of godly righteousness when He returns!

Matt.7:13-14 – “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”