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Copyright © 2012 J. Neely. All rights reserved.
Chapter 33 - Wedding Feast
Wedding Feast
Matt. 22:1
1 And [kai] Jesus [Iesous] answered [apokrinomai] and spake [epo] unto them [autos] again [palin] by [en] parables [parabole] , and said [lego] , KJV-Interlinear
1 And Jesus answered and spoke to them again in parables, saying, NASB
Recall that in Mat. 21, Jesus questioned the scribes, rhetorically, as to whether they had read the scriptures. Of course they had, and they were even very proud of their dedication to their scriptural readings, as well as to their strict compliance with their tradition of regulations. Jesus has already pointed out that reading scripture and understanding it are two different things. Likewise following a strict moral code in the pattern of ones life, generally turns out to be saturated with hypocrisy, compromise, and is just plain phony.
Emotions or the perceived control over them, is not the spiritual life. Nor is it an end to which one can look to as a solver of problems. Mankind has to deal with sin and death and emotions are not within those boundaries, though emotions can certainly contribute to or aggravate them.
The Pharisees and scribes of Jesus day were no different than people of our day. People today are just as legalistic, and self righteous. In different ways of course, but phony is phony, and changing the names or philosophies, or concepts by which one lives makes no difference.
There is only one way to learn Bible doctrine. First one has to be saved, and having received a human spirit (which occurs automatically at the very instant you believed in Christ), now the believer has the equipment with which to receive Gods Word into their soul.
But there is yet another requirement for understanding Gods Wisdom, and that is fellowship. We have to be 'in fellowship' before our spiritual apparatus will function properly. Once in fellowship, then any spiritual information heard is communicated clearly by the Holy Spirit, into the human spirit, and from there transferred into the soul. There, in the soul, that spiritual information becomes the building material for a palace in your soul. See the chart on the web site index page.
If a person is out of fellowship, then the communication link - Holy Spirit to human spirit to soul - is not functioning. What is functioning, is the information goes directly into the soul as academic information. It is usable for general knowledge, but its spiritual value does not exist. Remember that Satan or any unbeliever, or even any out of fellowship believer can read the Bible and learn all its content, but they will never understand it, nor possess it for its spiritual value.
Unbelievers or negative believers can hear stories which teach principles of life, and that is where parables come into the picture. Christ teaches them through parables in order to get their attention and hopefully to get them to want to know more regarding the things He was teaching and therefore get with a proper Bible study program in their own lives.
In the parable before us, there are five scenes. There is the invitation to the Kings feast, but not just any feast. This is the wedding feast for the Kings Son. Feasts, or parties are supposed to be fun, and it is an honor to be invited. This is the feast of feasts, a royal feast, and no one but no one would turn down an opportunity to attend. Or at least you would think that.
The second scene is the rejection of the invitation, but not only the rejection, it is the indifference and the outright rebellion concerning the feast. Now who would rebel over a party invitation? We can all understand rebellion against tyranny and suffering, but rebelling over a fabulous party?
The third scene is the King's reaction to the rebellion. Never get the King mad at you. Your day is totally ruined.
The fourth scene covers the replacement guests. If you turn down an tremendous honor, it will go to someone else. Opportunity lost. Don't make bad decisions in life. Bad decisions limit your opportunities in life. Good decisions open the door to more opportunities in life. Don't get an education and see how many jobs you'll qualify for.
The fifth scene deals with the intruder, or the party crasher. You are invited to the party of parties, which has a dress code, and the feast of the King is definitely with a dress code. It is not a 'come as you are' party. Then, you best come in proper attire, lest the Kings guards seize you, bind you up and throw you out on your ear. Very embarrassing, and in this case very permanent.
So we have the scenes set for the party. Is this the wedding feast of the Church Age? No. This is the feast of salvation. Actually there are two feast concepts here and we'll 'carve out' (couldn't resist that one - ya know, free food) their subtleties over the course of the next few days.
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