John has to write this down especially. It is so wonderful to be invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb that it has to be put on paper. The invitation does have to be accepted, however. Jesus tells a parable about this.1 A man prepared a banquet and he invited all the important guests, a long time in advance, so that they could all set time aside for this event. They were invited a second time on the day itself, when the kitchen had made extensive preparations for the banquet: “Come, for everything is now ready.” In some denominations these words are spoken at the invitation to come and participate in Holy Communion, in the Lord’s Supper. They all excused themselves, however. One of them had purchased a field, another had bought five yoke of oxen, and a third had married a wife. They preferred to attend to their personal affairs though these were not urgent enough to justify their absence from the banquet. Those invited simply did not want to come. These were just poor excuses. Jesus says later of some of the leaders of the Jewish people that they have hated Him and His Father.2 They rejected Jesus like those invited to the man’s banquet rejected the invitation. Although in Israel’s case there is another side to this. Israel cannot see Who Jesus is. Paul writes in Romans 11:8 ““God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear, to this very day.” Then in the parable, the master told his servants to go to the roads and country lanes to compel them, to force them to come in so that his house would be full. Similarly, the Lord Jesus invites all the ordinary people in Israel—the beggars, deformed, lame and blind. Such people were unclean and unfit for the priesthood and Levitical service according to the Law. And the ordinary people, the masses went out to listen to Him and to be with Him. Thousands of them. Today, He is inviting us, too, us poor sinners – those deformed physically and psychologically, the blind, physically and spiritually and the lame, those who can’t walk or are paralysed into inaction by fear and anxiety. Jesus invites us all. We are all beggars for God’s grace and mercy. In the parable, the man instructed his servants to those they would meet on the roads, the paths, the highways and byways, outside town. For us, Jesus’ instruction is to go into the world of the unbelievers and urge them to come in. Maybe they are embarrassed or they just don’t dare. Or maybe they have been given all kinds of theological objections during their upbringing in their parents’ home. Urge them! Compel them to enter in. Carry them if necessary, just like the Good Shepherd carries the lost sheep Himself and brings it home in His arms.3 However those self-righteous citizens, those pious, Law-abiding people, who looked down upon the ‘mob that knows nothing of the Law’4 will not taste Jesus’ banquet. Only the despised tax collector will come in! Luke 18:13:” But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to Heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb. You sometimes have to take the invitation card with you to a reception or an official dinner to which you have been invited, as evidence that you are on the guest list. We have all received Jesus’ invitation in black on white, in the Bible. “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”5 Do you belong to ‘all’? Yes, you do. Yes, you too. You belong to ‘all’. He says: “Knock and the door will be opened to you.”6 Not maybe, but for sure. You do need to knock on the door, however, and you do have to accept the invitation and go to Him on your knees. Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” The Word of God contains so many wonderful promises, black on white, all addressed to us. This is why John has to write in order that we have it ‘in black and white’. Those who are invited are the bride, the wife, the wedding guests, the friends and acquaintances. Not all of them are the bride, or the wife of the Bridegroom. There is a distinction between the ‘New Jerusalem’- the bride/wife and the nations who come to the New Jerusalem, and who walk in its light.7 Those who are ‘invited’ are Old Testament saints as well, such as Abel, Seth, Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the faithful remnant of Israel, Moses, David, Job, Ruth, Esther, Rahab, the prophets and John the Baptist, who calls himself a ‘friend’ of the Bridegroom, as well as the ‘hundred and forty-four thousand’ who are sealed from the tribes of Israel. So the God-fearing people from before the Coming of Jesus and the God-fearing people from the nations before and after the Flood, from the line of Seth who was born after his brother Abel was murdered. Also those worldwide who never heard of Christ, had no Bible, but who worshipped God in the works of His Creation and served God on the basis of their God-given conscience.8 The ‘bride of Christ’ are those who belong to Christ personally9—gathered in, chosen from Jews and Gentiles.10
• When you just read this, you read, ‘in black and white’, that you are also invited. Look simply at the texts in the Bible. I really would like to ‘compel’ you to personally accept the invitation!
• The text: ‘Compel them to come in’ has been misused and abused in the history of the Church when the Church was compelling Jews and Gentiles to be baptised by force and under the penalty of torture and death. That is a distortion of the Bible. That is absolutely wrong!
• Coming to Him is a free, personal choice, answering His invitation. But of course, you can urge others, and urgently be invited! Christians feel an urge of compelling love for other people, so that they may as well experience themselves how wonderful it is to know that you are loved by God and Christ! They truly want to share that love with people around them!
Bible References:
1.Luke 14:15–24 2.John 15:24 3.Luke 15:5 4.John 7:49 5.Matthew 11:28 6.Matthew 7:7–11 7.Revelation 21:2, 9 and 24–26 8.Romans 2:12–16; 1 Peter 3:18-20 9.John 3:29 10.Ephesians 2:11–22
