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Chapter 33 - Wedding Feast
Matt. 22:7-8
7 But [de] when the king [basileus] heard [akouo] thereof, he was wroth [orgizo] : and [kai] he sent forth [pempo] his [autos] armies [strateuma] , and destroyed [apollumi] those [ekeinos] murderers [phoneus] , and [kai] burned up [empretho] their [autos] city [polis] .
8 Then [tote] saith he [lego] to his [autos] servants [doulos] , [men] The wedding [gamos] is [esti] ready [hetoimos] , but [de] they which were bidden [kaleo] were [en] not [ou] worthy [axios] . KJV-Interlinear
7 'But the king was enraged and sent his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and set their city on fire. 8 'Then he said to his slaves, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. NASB
The King demonstrated tremendous patience and poise, much more so than any common earthly king. Any ordinary king would have reacted to the first rejection of his messengers as a personal insult and would have retaliated immediately.
But this King was no ordinary King. This is God the Father. He has been rejected, insulted, and now his messengers (prophets) have even been killed. He has made an offer to all of humanity (salvation), an offer that far exceeds anything that any human being could achieve on their own in many lifetimes. But He was rejected.
Now the time for insult and injury has ended and judgment day has come. The king unleashed a tremendous assault of judgment against those who have rejected Him. Against those who went so far as to even use His name in their false version of a spiritual life.
The guilty were killed. The cities were burned. Note that when a city is burned, its inhabitants can no longer live there. They are either dead, taken captive, or they have run off. In any event, the cities are abandoned and the residents are now gone from the area. This destruction and fire is thorough. It was not a haphazard run through by incompetent soldiers, but was done in a thorough and professional and efficient manner. The era was ended as a result.
Those who were originally invited were deemed unworthy. Likewise, Jesus stated that the generation he faced was unworthy. They refused to accept John the Baptist, who was the forerunner of Jesus, but could have been the forerunner of the Kingdom of God, Matt.. 11:4. If you recall that study.
In the tribulation there will be another forerunner, but this time the results will be very different. There will be a tremendous outpouring of positive volition toward God and specifically Jesus Christ. The forerunners this time will be Moses and Elijah, the true forerunners of the Kingdom.
But also note that the wedding feast has not yet taken place. The original invitees were those from the Age of Israel, a dispensation that was interrupted by our Church Age. Now during our Age, the Church, or Royal Family, or Bride of Christ, whichever term you prefer, is being put together.
We are an age of the Written Word of God. And an age when there are no angelic contacts, no manifestations of the Lord, no dreams, no visions, none of the events that were so common during the Age of Israel. But even with these unique contacts with God and His messengers, the Israelites still rejected Him. Jesus Christ was standing right before these people. He was popular for his miracles, but this was about to change dramatically within the next 24 hours.
Christ was telling these people (the generation at the time of the cross) that they were on the verge of being judged and would be dramatically wiped out. As a result, they would be replaced by others, from another generation (the last generation of Jewish people who will live during the Tribulation), others who would accept Gods invitation. These are not the believers of the Church Age, but the last generation of Jewish peoples who will live during the Tribulation (the final seven years of the Age of Israel), and that generation will be positive toward Christ and thus that generation will see the Second advent of Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom of God here on earth.
John the Baptist was not the forerunner to the Kingdom, because this generation was negative toward the Messiah. But the last generation of the dispensation of the Age of Israel, which will occur during the Tribulation, will be a positive generation. And that generation will see the advent of the Kingdom. Just a note in passing, there will not be a generation of Jewish peoples which is predominantly positive toward Christ throughout history until the Tribulation. Thus because of their negative attitude toward Christ, the Jewish peoples will, and have, suffered under discipline and judgment throughout their history, of which history has already demonstrated numerous events of atrocities against them.
We all have an invitation from God and we all need to be aware that if we refuse it, disaster awaits us. Furthermore, once we have believed in Christ, then we still have a life after salvation. We are not immediately whisked off to heaven the moment we believe in Christ.
We remain here on earth to become 'worthy' so to speak. Those who reject God are deemed unworthy. Those who forge ahead in the spiritual life have the opportunity to be described as worthy and even more than that, to be 'complete' in their entire being by advancing in their spiritual lives to the point of spiritual maturity.
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