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Those Who Came to the Feast
With the rejection of two calls, the king now sent out another one, this time to “as many as ye shall find” (Matt. 22:9), and ordered his servants to invite them to the wedding. This time, however, the reception was different, because, according to the text, they went out and “gathered together all as many as they found” (Matt. 22:10).
Read the rest of the parable (Matt. 22:9–14). Who were the ones who came to the wedding feast? What does it mean that some who came were “both bad and good”?
Have you ever noticed that some of the meanest, nastiest, and most hateful people are professed Christians? Or that some of the most judgmental, condemnatory, hypocritical, and downright evil folks are those who go to church, who claim the promises of salvation, and who profess assurance of salvation?
This is nothing new. How do we understand, for instance, the faith of the Crusaders, so dedicated to the Lord Jesus that they pillaged and plundered their way to the Holy Land? One eyewitness reported that "our troops boiled pagan adults in cooking pots. They impaled children on spits and devoured them grilled." How could those horrors have been done in the name of Jesus?
It's easy (you say): These people weren't real Christians. But how do you know? How can you judge their hearts, what they were taught, what opportunities they had to know better? Might not some have later repented, claiming the same promises of forgiveness and grace that we do? What about the horrendous acts of those who turned out to be, it seems, pretty pious souls? Who are we to judge hearts?
We shouldn't judge—but God does, should, and will (Rom. 14:10; Heb. 10:30; Eccles. 12:14; Dan. 7:9, 10). Seventh-day Adventists call it the "investigative judgment," and it is revealed in this parable.
Think through some of the things that have been done by professed Christians through history, and sometimes in the name of Jesus, too. How does this parable help us understand how God will deal justly with them?
| TUESDAY | June 7 |
With the rejection of two calls, the king now sent out another one, this time to “as many as ye shall find” (Matt. 22:9), and ordered his servants to invite them to the wedding. This time, however, the reception was different, because, according to the text, they went out and “gathered together all as many as they found” (Matt. 22:10).
Read the rest of the parable (Matt. 22:9–14). Who were the ones who came to the wedding feast? What does it mean that some who came were “both bad and good”?
Have you ever noticed that some of the meanest, nastiest, and most hateful people are professed Christians? Or that some of the most judgmental, condemnatory, hypocritical, and downright evil folks are those who go to church, who claim the promises of salvation, and who profess assurance of salvation?
This is nothing new. How do we understand, for instance, the faith of the Crusaders, so dedicated to the Lord Jesus that they pillaged and plundered their way to the Holy Land? One eyewitness reported that "our troops boiled pagan adults in cooking pots. They impaled children on spits and devoured them grilled." How could those horrors have been done in the name of Jesus?
It's easy (you say): These people weren't real Christians. But how do you know? How can you judge their hearts, what they were taught, what opportunities they had to know better? Might not some have later repented, claiming the same promises of forgiveness and grace that we do? What about the horrendous acts of those who turned out to be, it seems, pretty pious souls? Who are we to judge hearts?
We shouldn't judge—but God does, should, and will (Rom. 14:10; Heb. 10:30; Eccles. 12:14; Dan. 7:9, 10). Seventh-day Adventists call it the "investigative judgment," and it is revealed in this parable.
Think through some of the things that have been done by professed Christians through history, and sometimes in the name of Jesus, too. How does this parable help us understand how God will deal justly with them?
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