Is Now the Time
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. – Matthew 22:8-10 NKJV.
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. – Psalm 23:6b NKJV.
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. – Matthew 24:14 NKJV.
Looking ahead to our future home can give us great comfort. I believe King David often contemplated his eternal home, and how wonderful that would be to leave behind the pain and troubles of this world. How close are we to the end? I think that every generation has believed that they were on the brink. Surely, now we are very close to the Gospel being preached to every nation. Of course, only the Father knows as Jesus says, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only (Matthew 24:36).”
With every day, the wedding feast of the Lamb is drawing closer and closer. In Revelation 19:9 we are told, “Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!” Who will be in the Kingdom of Heaven? All those who respond to the invitation, and are clothed with the wedding clothes will be in the Kingdom of Heaven. What are the wedding clothes? In Matthew 22:11-14 is the description of a guest who refused to put on the wedding clothes: “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 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.”
It was the custom of royalty during the time of Jesus to give beautiful robes to all those attending their parties or feasts to wear while in attendance. The robes were luxurious, and when they left the robes would be collected. In the parable Jesus tells, the king has passed out the robes so everyone would be properly dressed. One man, even though he wanted to attend the party, refused to put on the proper clothes. What is the King’s robe? It is the Robe of Righteousness that can be ours through the turning from sin and receiving Christ as our Savior. Isaiah says, “I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a Robe of Righteousness (Isaiah 61:10).” In Revelation chapter three we are given a view of those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life and everyone is wearing a white robe.
Perhaps life’s greatest question is have you accepted the King’s invitation and been clothed with the Robe of Righteousness?
(Are you ready for the end?)