The King’s Marriage Feast in the Purpose of God

“The kingdom of the heavens has become like a man, a king that made a marriage feast for his son. And he sent forth his slaves to call those invited to the marriage feast, but they were unwilling to come.”​—Matt. 22:2, 3.

1. What has been preached to the nations for sixty years now, and what historic example shows whether their reaction to this will be of benefit?

THE whole world is in trouble. There is no reason to doubt that the system of things under which it lives is in the foretold “time of the end.” For the past sixty years the “kingdom of the heavens,” the “kingdom of God,” has been proclaimed in all quarters of the globe as the “only hope” for distressed mankind. But the vast majority of mankind does not believe in this divine remedy. The people in general do not want it. They are like a nation of people that, nineteen hundred years ago, did not want the “kingdom of the heavens,” when it was offered to them. Their turning down this valid offer did not result in good for their nation. In the light of their national experience, the turning away from the “kingdom of the heavens” today will be of no benefit to those who prefer human schemes and arrangements to this “only hope” for our troubled world.​—Dan. 12:4; Matt. 3:1, 2; 4:17; Mark 1:14, 15; Luke 6:20.

2. When, where and to whom did the “kingdom of the heavens” begin to be preached, and to what nation was it to be given?

² Long ago, the Roman Empire was only in its first century of rule over the Middle East when the “kingdom of the heavens,” the “kingdom of God,” began to be proclaimed there. The year 33 of our Common Era was the fourth year of its proclamation. This kingdom was the subject of heated discussion in the Jewish city of Jerusalem. Discussion of it reached even into the world-famous temple in that holy city. In the course of a discussion, the leading Proclaimer of the good news of the Kingdom said to his many listeners, who included the chief priests and men of the sect of the Pharisees: “The kingdom of God will be taken from you and be given to a nation producing its fruits.” (Matt. 21:43-46) According to those words, the kingdom of God was then soon to be taken away from their nation and be given over to a newly formed nation that would produce fruitage identifying it as being ruled by the kingdom of God. The speaker’s words came true, for to this day the once favored nation does not have the kingdom of God.

3. How did the speaker start off the illustration that bears upon his prophetic words?

³ What was the reason for this to come about? The speaker of those prophetic words went on to illustrate by telling another one of his meaning-packed parables. A man who heard it made a record of it for us, and he starts off this particular account by saying: “In further reply Jesus again spoke to them with illustrations, saying: ‘The kingdom of the heavens has become like a man, a king, that made a marriage feast for his son. And he sent forth his slaves to call those invited to the marriage feast, but they were unwilling to come.’”​—Matt. 22:1-3.

4. What shows whom the “man, a king,” in Jesus’ illustration, pictured?

⁴ The chief figure in this illustration was the “man, a king.” Of whom, then, was he an illustration? He illustrated God himself, for the whole parabolic illustration started off by saying, “The kingdom of the heavens has become like a man, a king,” in taking certain action that met up with a certain reaction. The expression “the kingdom of the heavens” means the same as “the kingdom of God,” for God rules supreme in the invisible spirit heavens. For instance, the ancient ruler of Babylon was put through a humiliating experience for this stated purpose: “until you know that the Most High is Ruler in the kingdom of mankind, and that to the one whom he wants to he gives it . . . after you know that the heavens are ruling.” (Dan. 4:25, 26) Jesus was referring to God when he said concerning Jerusalem: “Do not swear . . . by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King.” To this heavenly King, Jesus taught his disciples to pray, saying: “Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.”​—Matt. 5:34, 35; 6:9, 10.

5. Who is the “son” for whom the heavenly King makes the “marriage feast,” and what is the proof of this?

⁵ The king in Jesus’ illustration is said to have a son. However, God the heavenly King has hundreds of millions of spirit sons, who are Scripturally called “sons of God.” (Job 38:7; Dan. 7:9, 10) Which of these many sons is the one meant in Jesus’ parable? It is the Son of sons in God’s heavenly family. It is for this foremost son that the heavenly King makes a “marriage feast,” and the Sacred Scriptures show that this son is the speaker of the parabolic illustration, Jesus Christ himself. John the Baptizer, who baptized Jesus, said with reference to the baptized Jesus: “I am not the Christ, but, I have been sent forth in advance of that one. He that has the bride is the bridegroom. However, the friend of the bridegroom, when he stands and hears him, has a great deal of joy on account of the voice of the bridegroom. Therefore this joy of mine has been made full.” (John 3:28, 29) In another illustration, Jesus meant himself, when he said: “Then the kingdom of the heavens will become like ten virgins that took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.”​—Matt. 25:1; 9:15.

6, 7. (a) Who is the “bride” of this Son of the heavenly King? (b) Ephesians 5:23-32 likens the relationship between Jesus Christ and his congregation to what?

⁶ Like any prospective bridegroom, Jesus must have had great pleasure when thinking and speaking about this “bride” whom the King, his heavenly Father, would give him. The “bride” is, of course, not an individual person, not an individual disciple of Jesus Christ. To the contrary, it is a composite or collective person, his whole body or congregation of faithful anointed disciples. This should not appear strange. In the prophecies of the Bible the ancient nation of Israel is likened to the wife of Jehovah God, because the nation was, as it were, married to Him by accepting the Law covenant that was mediated by the prophet Moses at Mount Sinai in Arabia. (Isa 54:5; Jer. 3:14; 31:31, 32) So the relationship between the Son of God and his anointed congregation is likened to that of a husband and wife; as we read:

⁷ “A husband is head of his wife as the Christ also is head of the congregation, he being a savior of this body. Husbands, continue loving your wives, just as the Christ also loved the congregation and delivered up himself for it. This sacred secret is great. Now I am speaking with respect to Christ and the congregation.”​—Eph. 5:23, 25, 32.

8. Where and how will the marriage of the heavenly King’s Son and his “bride” be consummated?

⁸ The consummating of the marriage between the King’s Son and his figurative “bride” will be by the uniting of Jesus Christ and his faithful congregation in the spirit heavens in connection with the “kingdom of the heavens.” The members of this anointed congregation must be faithful, like an espoused virgin, to Jesus Christ down to their death. In reward for their virgin faithfulness till the end of their earthly course, they will be resurrected from the dead to be his heavenly “bride,” his Bridal congregation, forever in the house of the Heavenly Father and King.​—2 Cor. 11:2, 3.

“THOSE INVITED TO THE MARRIAGE FEAST”

9. In Jesus’ illustration, what relationship did those invited to the “marriage feast” bear to the king, and what would their favorable action toward the invitation show?

⁹ An invitation to the marriage feast of his son was a great favor on the part of the king. Those whom he invited were persons over whom he was the king. They were his subjects. He knew them by name. He knew where they lived within his realm, and so he could send his slaves to their address to notify them at the time that the feast was ready, to which feast they had already been invited. Favorable action of these invited persons when they got notification of the readiness of the feast would display due respect for their king. Whom, then, did “those invited to the marriage feast” in Jesus’ illustration picture?

10. At the time of the illustration, Jehovah God was King over what people, and by what arrangement?

¹⁰ Well, since the king pictures Jehovah God, who, then, were the people over whom He was the king at that time? To whom was it that Jesus said, “The kingdom of God will be taken from you and be given to a nation producing its fruits”? It was the Jewish nation. In the year 1513 B.C.E. Jehovah God had brought them into a covenant with him through the mediatorship of his prophet Moses, at Mount Sinai. They willingly entered this covenant, to keep its Law code, the foundation laws of which were the famous Ten Commandments. (Ex. 19:1 through 24:8) Especially by this covenant arrangement, Jehovah became the heavenly King over this people, and this meant that they were now a “nation” subject to Him. (Deut. 33:5) The Israelites had already sung His praises as their King, after he had delivered them from death in the Red Sea, singing out: “Jehovah will rule as king to time indefinite, even forever.”​—Ex. 15:18.

11, 12. (a) How had the nation of Israel become the Name people of God? (b) How was it that God could send an invitation to them by their national name?

¹¹ This heavenly King has a name​—Jehovah—​and, by virtue of bringing the nation of Israel into a Law covenant with him as their God, they became his Name people. His name was called upon them. Said the mediator Moses to the covenant people of Israel: “Jehovah will establish you as a holy people to himself, just as he swore to you, because you continue to keep the commandments of Jehovah your God, and you have walked in his ways. And all the peoples of the earth will have to see that Jehovah’s name has been called upon you, and they will indeed be afraid of you.” (Deut. 28:9, 10) To this chosen nation, Jehovah said, by the mouth of his prophet Amos: “You people only have I known out of all the families of the ground.” (Amos 3:2) Not only was the nation identified by His name, but He knew the nation by name.

¹² To it, He said, by the mouth of the prophet Isaiah: “And now this is what Jehovah has said, your Creator, O Jacob, and your Former, O Israel: ‘Do not be afraid, for I have repurchased you. I have called you by your name. You are mine.’” (Isa. 43:1) So, if He desired to send an invitation to them or give them a standing invitation, He could do so by the national name.

13. How did the heavenly King know the address of “those invited to the marriage feast,” and this fact was shown in the case of whose birth?

¹³ The king of Jesus’ illustration knew the addresses of those whom he had invited to the marriage feast. Likewise Jehovah knew the “address” of his chosen people, his invited people. He knew where they lived. It was the land that He had promised to their forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the land to which He had faithfully brought them. Even after their exile in the land of Babylon, Jehovah restored them to that same land. Under no misdirection, Jehovah the King sent his Son Jesus to that land. It was no mistake or accident that Jesus the Descendant of Abraham and of King David was born in the city of Bethlehem in the Province of Judea, in the autumn of the year 2 B.C.E. Centuries in advance, by His prophet Micah, Jehovah the King had foretold the address for this miraculous birth.​—Mic. 5:2.

14. Was it first when the messengers of notification arrived that the initial invitation was given to “those invited,” or what relation did notification bear to invitation?

¹⁴ In fulfillment of Jesus’ illustration, Jehovah the King knew the addresses or locations of “those invited to the marriage feast.” Naturally, then, he knew where to send his messengers of notification at the time that the marriage feast, to which they had already been invited, was ready and it was the hour for them to come with keen appetites. The invitation to the feast was not first extended to them when the messengers of notification called at their homes to tell them the feast was now ready and they should come at once. Such a call was merely something supplementary, not the original invitation. Well, now, when and in what way had they already been “invited” or been given the initial call?

15. (a) In what year was the invitation to the “marriage feast” extended, and to whom? (b) On that occasion, the invitation was contained in what, and in what terms?

¹⁵ This was, in fact, in the year 1513 B.C.E., and the way in which it was done was by the action of God the King, by his bringing the people of Israel into the Law covenant through Moses as mediator. The initial call or “invitation” was extended to the Israelites as a nation, not as individuals, for the nation rather than the individual members was what would continue to exist until the King’s “wedding feast” was prepared and ready to be served. The initial call or “invitation” to the nation of Israel was included in God’s terms that set forth the benefit to the nation of Israel for entering and keeping the Law covenant with Jehovah God. When proposing the covenant to Israel at Mount Sinai, God told Moses to say: “And now if you will strictly obey my voice and will indeed keep my covenant, then you will certainly become my special property out of all other peoples, because the whole earth belongs to me. And you yourselves will become to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”​—Ex. 19:1-6.

16. (a) On what basis was the Law covenant concluded with the nation of Israel, and how? (b) To whom did both the obligations and the invitation contained in that covenant extend, till when?

¹⁶ Kingdom prospects were thus set before the nation of Israel, the opportunity, really the invitation, to become a “kingdom of priests.” Such a priestly kingdom would act as God’s servant for the benefit of all the rest of mankind. The people of Israel accepted this invitation from their heavenly King by accepting His proposals and saying: “All that Jehovah has spoken we are willing to do.” Accordingly, God the King concluded the Law covenant with the nation of Israel over sacrifices carried out by the mediator Moses. (Ex. 19:7, 8; 24:1-12) Not only the obligations of that Mosaic Law covenant, but also the invitation to become a “kingdom of priests” extended to the natural descendants of those covenant-making Israelites down to the first century of our Common Era. (Rom. 9:4, 5; Acts 3:25, 26) Because those natural descendants of the first century C.E. were an “invited” nation, God the King was acting in line with the terms of his covenant by raising up John the Baptist and sending him to preach to the nation of Israel: “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.”​—Matt. 3:1, 2.

17. (a) How does a “marriage feast” for the king’s son have a connection with a kingdom? (b) What further function will be served by those making up the “bride” of the Eternal Father?

¹⁷ What, though, does a “kingdom of priests” have to do with a king’s wedding feast for his son? That there is a connection between the two things Jesus Christ himself inferred by introducing his illustration with the words: “The kingdom of the heavens has become like a man, a king, that made a marriage feast for his son.” (Matt. 22:1, 2) Naturally the “bride” whom the king’s son married would become a princess and, ordinarily, a queen elect, a queen designate. Correspondingly, the “bride” whom God the King marries to his Son Jesus Christ is his anointed congregation of faithful disciples. In the heavens these faithful anointed disciples are to be more than a “bride” to Jesus Christ as the one who will become the “Eternal Father” to the redeemed race of mankind. They are also to be joint heirs with their heavenly Bridegroom in the Kingdom that God the King assigns to his Son Jesus Christ over all mankind.

18. How did Jesus keep the Kingdom hope before his disciples in his Sermon on the Mount and at his last Passover?

¹⁸ Jesus Christ constantly set this Kingdom hope before his true disciples. In his Sermon on the Mount, he said to them: “Happy are those conscious of their spiritual need, since the kingdom of the heavens belongs to them. Happy are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, since the kingdom of the heavens belongs to them. . . . For your heavenly Father knows you need all these things. Keep on, then, seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you.” (Matt. 5:3, 10; 6:32, 33) And on the night of the last Passover with his faithful apostles and after Jesus had set up the Lord’s Supper, he said to them: “You are the ones that have stuck with me in my trials; and I make a covenant with you, just as my Father has made a covenant with me, for a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel.”​—Luke 22:23-30.

19. How is it that the royal Son does not remain such without a kingdom, and how does the Bridal congregation share with him?

¹⁹ So the Bridal congregation of Jesus Christ is to share with him, they being his joint heirs in the heavenly kingdom and he being their Bridegroom head. He is to be a Ruler like the ancient Melchizedek, who was both the king of Salem and the priest of the Most High God and hence a king-priest. (Gen. 14:18-20; Ps. 110:1-4; Heb. 5:5, 6; 6:20 through 7:28) Jesus Christ serves as Jehovah’s High Priest, and the Bridal congregation of Christ provides the underpriests. In this way the true Christian congregation becomes a “kingdom of priests.” To this congregation, the apostle Peter wrote, saying: “You are ‘a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for special possession, that you should declare abroad the excellencies’ of the one that called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Pet. 2:9) Thus Jesus Christ the Son of God does not remain a royal Son without a kingdom, but God the King assigns to the Son a special kingdom over all mankind, and his Bride class shares this Messianic kingdom with him.​—Rom. 8:16, 17.

ATTITUDE OF “THOSE INVITED TO THE MARRIAGE FEAST”

20. (a) What about the generation came under question when informed that it was the one able to attend the marriage feast? (b) What question arises as to how many would respond favorably?

²⁰ Through being taken into the Mosaic Law covenant the nation of Israel had a wonderful privilege and “invitation” offered to them. With respect to the “marriage feast” arranged for by their God, Jehovah the King, they were a nation of “invited” ones. But there were conditions attached to their becoming a “kingdom of priests.” The question therefore arises, What would be the attitude of the nation when notified that it was the generation favored with the opportunity of now acting on their King’s invitation and entering into the marriage festivities? Would as many individuals of the nation respond favorably as the number of the places or seats within the marriage feast chamber? There was an opportunity for many, because the illustration indicates that the king invited many and that there were many lounges provided for the invitees to recline at the festal table.

21. When was it that the heavenly King began to send out his “slaves” to notify the “invited” ones that the feast was ready?

²¹ When, in fulfillment of the parable, was it that God the King sent out his “slaves” to notify the “invited” ones that the time for the “marriage feast” had arrived and so they should come at once? This was after the water baptism of Jesus and the anointing of him with God’s holy spirit so as to become the Christ, the one anointed to be the Messianic King. When Jesus Christ returned from forty days spent in the Judean wilderness, John the Baptist pointed to him and said to listeners, “See, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!” John not only identified Jesus as the figurative Lamb that was to be sacrificed for rescuing the world of mankind from the penalty of sin but also testified that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. Shortly after this, the anointed Jesus began his teaching work with some who began to follow him as the Messiah. One of these, named Andrew, found his brother Simon and said to him: “‘We have found the Messiah’ (which means, when translated, Christ).” (John 1:26 through 2:2) Thus Jesus began forming a body of disciples.

22. How long did the first period of notification last, and who were then the ones notified?

²² Not only Jesus Christ taught and preached God’s Messianic kingdom but he also sent out his Jewish disciples to preach with him: “The kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.” (Matt. 10:1-7; Luke 9:1-6; 10:1-9) In this way the heavenly King, Jehovah God, sent out his “slaves” under the Law covenant to give the first notification. This went on from the fall of the year 29 C.E. to the spring of 33 C.E., or about three and a half years. These “slaves” were sent only to “those invited.” That is to say, the Jewish nation under the Mosaic Law covenant that afforded an opportunity to become a “kingdom of priests.” In recognition of “those invited,” Jesus said to the disciples whom he sent out to announce that the time had come: “Do not go off into the road of the nations, and do not enter into a Samaritan city; but, instead, go continually to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” And with reference to himself, Jesus said: “I was not sent forth to any but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”​—Matt. 10:5, 6; 15:24.

23. How did Jesus show that it was the right time for the first call, but how did his illustration indicate the attitude of the ones invited?

²³ It was the right time for this initial notification work. Jesus reminded the “house of Israel” of this divine timing of things, when he said to the Jews: “The appointed time has been fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has drawn near. Be repentant, you people, and have faith in the good news.” (Mark 1:15) But did the nationwide preaching by the “slaves” of the heavenly King result in a national repentance and conversion and an acceptance of the King’s Son as the royal Messiah? It was almost at the end of the first call of notification that Jesus described how this initial call had been received. In his illustration he went on to say: “But they were unwilling.”

24. Just how stubborn was the unwillingness on the part of “those invited,” and with what event did the first call end?

²⁴ Ah, yes, there had been no national conversion, no nationwide acceptance of the King’s Son Jesus Christ as the Messiah for whom a royal “marriage feast” was in store. Their unwillingness was so stubborn that they prevailed upon the Roman governor Pontius Pilate to put him to death on Passover day of 33 C.E. Thus Jesus died as “the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29, 36) His death as a perfect human sacrifice was to result in lasting benefit for those “invited” to the King’s real “marriage feast.” However, this sacrificial death ended direct, personal participation of Jesus Christ in the notification work. In this way, the first call to “those invited” ended.

25. (a) Why did God’s purpose for the marriage feast not then fail? (b) Why did God still give recognition to those originally “invited” according to the Law covenant?

²⁵ What, then? Was the preparation of the King’s “marriage feast for his son” all in vain? Was it now doomed to failure? No, not according to the purpose of God the King. Almighty God raised his faithful Son Jesus Christ from the dead and exalted him to a royal seat at God’s right hand in the heavens. (Acts 2:32-36; Ps. 110:1, 2; Matt. 22:41-45) In God’s presence the resurrected Jesus presented the value of his human sacrifice as the Lamb of God, and this brought the Mosaic Law covenant with its subhuman animal sacrifices to an end. In spite of this canceling out of the Law covenant and the establishing of a new covenant with Jesus Christ as Mediator, Jehovah God the King still mercifully gave recognition to “those invited to the marriage feast” according to the Law covenant. He did this because they were the natural born “house of Israel” and the natural, fleshly offspring of the faithful patriarch Abraham, God’s friend.​—Dan. 9:24, 27.

SECOND NOTIFICATION OF THE “INVITED ONES”

26. How did the resurrected Jesus indicate a second notification was to be given to the invitees to fill all places exclusively?

²⁶ Jehovah God the King had cause for great indignation against the nation of “invited” ones, but he gave the nation a further opportunity of exclusively occupying all seats at the purposed “marriage feast for his son.” He sent them a second notification, but a final one. Jesus Christ indicated that extended mercy of God to the invitees, when he said to his disciples just before his ascension to heaven: “You will receive power when the holy spirit arrives upon you, and you will be witnesses of me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and [first after that] Samaria and to the most distant part of the earth.”​—Acts 1:8.

27. How did Jesus illustrate what the reaction of the invitees would be to the second notification?

²⁷ What the reaction to this second notification on the part of the nation in general would be, Jesus foretold in his illustration, saying: “Again he [the king] sent forth other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those invited: “Look! I have prepared my dinner, my bulls and fattened animals are slaughtered, and all things are ready. Come to the marriage feast.”’ But unconcerned they went off, one to his own field, another to his commercial business; but the rest, laying hold of his slaves, treated them insolently and killed them.”​—Matt. 22:4-6.

28. When did the second notification begin, and what charge of the Jewish Supreme Court shows that the nation of invitees was being notified?

²⁸ This part of Jesus’ illustration began on the day of Pentecost of the year 33 C.E., when holy spirit was poured out upon Jesus’ waiting disciples and they began preaching the good news of God’s Messianic kingdom in Jerusalem to the Jews and circumcised proselytes to Judaism. How many hundreds of thousands of celebrators from many parts of the earth were there at Jerusalem, the inspired record does not say. Thousands of celebrators began to hear the good news about the resurrected Jesus the Messiah. Before long, the Jewish Supreme Court said to the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ: “Look! you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you are determined to bring the blood of this man upon us.” (Acts 5:27, 28) Unquestionably, the nation of “invited” ones was being notified, now for the second time.

29. How did those invited respond to the king’s second call, and what record shows how true Jesus’ illustration was on this?

²⁹ How did the mass of the nation respond to the heavenly King’s second reminder of their invitation to the now ready “marriage feast”? With insult to the King and with disdain for his marriageable Son, by showing more personal concern for their materialistic interests than for dignifying the King by presenting themselves at the marriage feast for His Son! They even resorted to outright murder of his obedient “slaves,” the Christian preachers of the good news of God’s Messianic kingdom. A person just has to read the book of Acts of the Apostles, Ac chapters three through nine, to have a historic record of how true was Jesus’ prophetic illustration in this regard.

30, 31. (a) When did the second notification end? (b) In the illustration, after rejection of his second notification, what did the king do?

³⁰ Not otherwise, then, that second notification of the ones invited came to an end, had to come to an end according to prophecy. It did so in the year 36 C.E., three and a half years after the martyrdom of Jesus Christ at Jerusalem. How was this? Jesus’ illustration pictured how. Pointing to the punishment that was to come upon the nation of “those invited” for disloyally rejecting the invitation of their heavenly King, Jesus said:

³¹ “But the king grew wrathful, and sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, ‘The marriage feast indeed is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Therefore go to the roads leading out of the city, and anyone you find invite to the marriage feast.’ Accordingly those slaves went out to the roads and gathered together all they found, both wicked and good; and the room for the wedding ceremonies was filled with those reclining at the table.”​—Matt. 22:7-10.

32. Does the word order in Jesus’ illustration mean that the king delayed further marriage feast arrangements until after he had the city of those “invited” destroyed?

³² From the above word order of Jesus in setting out the details of the illustration, we are not to understand that, before the king paid any further attention to the marriage feast, he ordered out his armies for active service and sent them against the city where unappreciative “invited” ones lived and “destroyed those murderers and burned their city.” Otherwise, it would mean that the heavenly King, Jehovah God, did not send out his slaves to gather in people indiscriminately to the wedding feast until late in the year 70 of our Common Era, for it was in the summer of that year that Jerusalem was razed to the ground by the Romans under General Titus the son of Emperor Vespasian. Then, indeed, those “murderers” were killed. As reported by Flavius Josephus, 1,100,000 Jews perished in the siege and destruction of Jerusalem and 97,000 were carried away captive to be disposed of as slaves.​—Luke 21:20-24; 19:41-44.

The Gathering In of Replacements for the Feast

1. (a) How did “those invited” to the marriage feast show that they were “unworthy”? (b) What would it have meant for them to leave their selfish materialistic interests?

WHY did the killing of the antichristian “murderers” at the destruction of their holy city, Jerusalem, and the breaking up of their Jewish nationhood in the year 70 C.E. occur? It was because, as the king in Jesus’ illustration said, those invited to the marriage feast “were not worthy.” (Matt. 22:8) The Jews had proved this by their insulting, disrespectful, disloyal, often violent refusal to act on the heavenly King’s invitation after the second notification from Him. What would it have meant for them to leave their selfish materialistic concerns and come to the spiritual “marriage feast”? It would have meant to repent, not only of their falling short in keeping the Mosaic Law covenant, but also of their violent rejection of the Messiah from God and then to get baptized in water as disciples of Jesus as their Messiah. But they were too proud, too self-righteous, too occupied with their own plans, and so balked against meeting such requirements. This was the case with the nation of Israel in general.

2. (a) Why were not all the marriage feast places left unoccupied at the end of the second notification? (b) How many places did the King have in mind to fill with “worthy” ones?

² Does this signify that all the places at the “marriage feast” were then left unoccupied? No, not all of them! The Bible record shows that there were some of the “invited” Jews that responded after the first notification and still more Jews and circumcised Jewish converts after the second notification began on the day of Pentecost of the year 33 C.E. But these were really few in comparison with the many seats that were available in the marriage feast room. How many places did the King have in mind to fill? Since those who worthily occupied reclining places at the “table” pictured those who become joint heirs with the King’s Son in the “kingdom of the heavens,” the heavenly King Jehovah counted on filling 144,000 places in order to have the “room for the wedding ceremonies” filled with “worthy” ones. What Jesus Christ shows us in the last book of the Bible, Revelation, proves that. (Rev. 7:4-8; 14:1-3; 20:4-6) That number means many places at the marriage supper.

3, 4. (a) According to Jesus’ illustration, to whom had the opportunity been offered to fill 144,000 places exclusively? (b) Were they numerically able to fill so many places?

³ According to Jesus’ illustration, Jehovah the King threw open the opportunity for the whole nation of Israel in the Law covenant to provide sufficient worthy ones to fill all those 144,000 places. They were the natural fleshly “seed” of Abraham with whom God had made his covenant for the blessing of all the families of the ground by means of such “seed.” (Gen. 12:3; 22:17, 18) The Law covenant into which God had brought them through Moses put them in line for becoming the “kingdom of priests” that God purposed to establish under the Messiah, the Mediator greater than Moses. They were exclusively “those invited” to the spiritual marriage feast.

⁴ Their nation as a whole could have furnished 144,000 natural Jews to occupy the many places available. The Jewish reservoir for providing the needed candidates was big enough with, doubtless, millions from which to draw. Why, according to Josephus, there were 1,197,000 Jews at the Passover celebration in Jerusalem in the year 70 C.E. And not all the Jews scattered all around the then inhabited earth were there at the Passover.

5. (a) Those of the natural, fleshly “seed” of Abraham who responded to the invitation were counted by Paul as being what? (b) Nevertheless, were there as many places available as before?

⁵ Thus there were many, all 144,000, that were invited from among the natural fleshly “seed” of Abraham. But the Bible tabulation shows that merely a few of Abraham’s natural seed acted on their invitation that was built into the Law covenant. About the year 56 C.E., the Christianized Jew, the apostle Paul, estimated the number of the chosen Jews as a mere “remnant” of the nation of Israel. (Rom. 9:27-29; 11:5) Nevertheless, the presence of this Jewish “remnant” in the “room for the wedding ceremonies” left fewer places available than the many, the full 144,000, that were available at the time that the first notification began in 29 C.E.

6. In Jesus’ illustration, how did the king not let his generous purpose be defeated to his disgrace?

⁶ According to Jesus’ illustration, time was running out for the king with regard to his now ready marriage feast. In view of being turned down by so many of the invitees, how was the king going to have the banqueting room filled with guests in due honor to the occasion? A poor showing in this room would be a disgrace for him, a defeat of his gracious purpose. But the king was not to be defeated. If original invitees did not honor him with their attendance, then he would fill their reserved places with replacements! Promptly before the destruction of the “city” of those “murderers,” the king sent his slaves to locations outside that city, outside that community, “to the roads leading out of the city.” From there the king’s “slaves” would bring in the replacements, yes, “anyone” that they found.

7. What shows whether the king’s slaves gathered in the replacements with the same kind of invitation as the original invitation?

⁷ These unknown persons, not at their home address, the slaves could persuade to take a place at the marriage feast. This was called an invitation, because those now gathered in did not take the initiative and “crash” the wedding festivities. Those now gathered as replacements were not invited in the sense that the original invitees had been. In the corresponding illustration given by Jesus, in Luke 14:15-24, when the third and final call for guests is made, the householder who spreads the “grand evening meal” says to his slave: “Go out [that is, beyond the city] into the roads and the fenced-in places, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say to you people, None of those men that were invited shall have a taste of my evening meal.”​—Luke 14:23, 24.

8. Who were these that were now gathered in, and when and how did the gathering of these begin?

⁸ This work of gathering in enough guests from the “roads” outside the “city” of the invited ones began, not in 70 C.E., but in the autumn of 36 C.E., seven years, or a “week of years,” after the baptism and anointing of Jesus, the Son of the heavenly King. (Dan. 9:24-27) The first slave to be sent out was the Christianized Jew, the apostle Peter. He was sent to Caesarea, the provincial capital of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, and there he preached to uncircumcised Gentiles, non-Jews. God poured out holy spirit upon the listening Italian centurion, Cornelius, and his believing friends, after which the apostle Peter baptized them. (Acts 10:1 through 11:18) From then on this gathering in of uncircumcised non-Jews has continued on down into this twentieth century. All of these are replacements.

9. (a) To what does Paul liken Abraham and his natural fleshly descendants? (b) Why were “branches” broken off, and how were they replaced?

⁹ According to the illustration given by the apostle Paul in Romans, chapter eleven, the natural Jews under the Law covenant were like natural branches in an olive tree. This tree has a limited number of branches. They were the natural descendants of God’s friend Abraham and, as such, they were natural heirs of God’s covenant promise to Abraham. The patriarch Abraham was the trunk of this symbolic olive tree, with its roots firmly fixed in that covenant promise of God. But what God wanted was a spiritual “seed” of Abraham, a spiritual Israel. Hence, when the natural Jews who were invited to become a “kingdom of priests” refused to meet the requirements for this, they were broken off the symbolic olive tree; they were not made heirs of the “kingdom of the heavens.” They needed to be replaced, that the symbolic olive tree might be a full-branched one. To meet this emergency, God mercifully grafted on in their places the believing Gentiles, like branches from a wild olive tree. Thus God gets his full spiritual Israel, the spiritual “seed” of Abraham.

THE MAN WITHOUT A “MARRIAGE GARMENT”

10. The time should be close upon us for what feature of the illustration to be fulfilled, and why?

¹⁰ Well, now, after all the gathering work of the previous eighteen centuries, there should be comparatively few, or far fewer, replacements needed to be made by the time of this twentieth century. So not many would be gathered. Now since the end of the Gentile Times in 1914 and the start then of the “time of the end,” the time should be upon us when the heavenly King’s “room for the wedding ceremonies” should be filled. In Jesus’ illustration that point is reached, and he goes on to say: “When the king came in to inspect the guests [the reclining ones] he caught sight there of a man not clothed with a marriage garment. So he said to him, ‘Fellow, how did you get in here not having on a marriage garment?’ He was rendered speechless.”​—Matt. 22:11, 12.

11. Why was the garmentless man rendered speechless at the king’s question?

¹¹ The king had provided a marriage garment for every guest to wear at the wedding festivities, and so there was no excuse for the garmentless man to be without one. Rightly he was rendered speechless, muzzled. Jesus in his illustration does not say that the man put it on to get in and then took it off. Rather, the man declined the garment when the king’s attendant offered it to him or showed him the king’s wardrobe for guests. The king did not ask him, ‘Why did you take off the marriage garment?’ but, “How did you get in here not having on a marriage garment?” He refused to wear it. He declined to wear it at the feast table. He did not meet the requirements for being there at the table, and he did not belong there. Whom does he picture today?

12. Whom, briefly, does the garmentless man picture, and what do Bible commentators saw that the marriage garment pictured?

¹² He pictures those who profess to be godly Christians but who have not put on what was pictured by the “marriage garment.” According to reports, such garments freely provided by the host were long white linen garments, so that all guests were outwardly clothed alike, whether one was originally a Jewish invitee or a Gentile pickup. Hence, many Bible commentators refer to Revelation 19:7, 8, where it is said concerning the Lamb’s wife: “It has been granted to her to be arrayed in bright, clean, fine linen, for the fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the holy ones.” So it is claimed that the “marriage garment” pictures the imputed righteousness of the baptized Christian, his justification.

13. Why does the “marriage garment” picture more than “justification”?

¹³ However, the marriage garment must signify more than one’s being declared righteous by God through one’s faith in Christ as the ransom sacrifice. (Rom. 5:1, 9) Such justification or being declared righteous now is not an end in itself; it does not now stand alone. Its purpose now is that the justified one should be adopted by God the Justifier as his spiritual son and become a member of the spiritual “seed” of Abraham and thus a member of spiritual Israel. As such, this adopted son of God is taken into the new covenant mediated by God’s Son, Jesus Christ. (Gal. 4:4-7; Rom. 8:16, 17; Luke 22:19, 20) Hence, the “marriage garment” symbolizes all that for the repentant, baptized guest at the feast. So it is one’s identification as a spiritual Israelite, one of Abraham’s spiritual “seed.”

14. Whom, then, did the garmentless man picture?

¹⁴ Since the lone one whom the king discovered was not wearing the available marriage garment, he pictured the class who did not exercise faith and take due action in harmony with faith to be declared righteous by God and adopted as his spiritual son and taken into the new covenant that is made with spiritual Israel through Christ. He does not picture Christians who have been anointed with God’s spirit and made joint heirs with Christ but who prove unfaithful to God and lose out on the heavenly kingdom. Rather, he pictures imitation Christians, of whom Christendom today is composed and who claim and pretend to be at the marriage feast “table.” God the King never recognized them as being there with the proper identification, and so he did not anoint them with holy spirit as Kingdom heirs.

15, 16. (a) The time must come for the King to do what with respect to the garmentless class? (b) When is it that the King would come in to inspect the guests?

¹⁵ The time must come when God exposes the wrongness of the claim and pretense of being at the marriage feast “table” as made by Christendom and to execute adverse judgment upon her before the eyes of all onlookers. God the King does this when he as the Arranger of the marriage feast for his Son ‘comes in to inspect the guests.’ According to Jesus’ illustration, this must occur when the “room for the wedding ceremonies” is “filled.” (Matt. 22:10, 11) With the filling of this room with enough guests the gathering work by the king’s slaves would stop. As the gathering of the ones to be “chosen” is done under the invisible guidance of God’s angels, the heavenly King would come in and inspect when the work foretold by Jesus is fulfilled at the conclusion of the system of things:

¹⁶ “Then the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in lamentation, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet sound, and they will gather his chosen ones together from the four winds, from one extremity of the heavens to their other extremity.”​—Matt. 24:30, 31.

17, 18. (a) The completion of that gathering work would be the time for determining what with regard to the garmentless class? (b) How does Jesus’ illustration show what will be done then to that class?

¹⁷ The completion of this gathering of the “chosen ones” would take place shortly before the “great tribulation” that Jesus compared with the deluge of Noah’s day begins. (Matt. 24:21, 22, 37-41) So, at that time of inspection made by the heavenly King, would the class pictured by the man without the marriage garment be taken along as one of the “chosen” ones? Or would this class be left to share with “all the tribes of the earth” who beat themselves in lamentation because of the coming destruction? The class that makes up Christendom has no excuse to offer to the King for trying to be at the “marriage feast” without the symbolic garment. That class can offer no reason for being allowed to enjoy the “wedding ceremonies” and “feast.” At the time of the final inspection, that class is found “speechless.” How will the King treat that class? Jesus’ illustration shows:

¹⁸ “Then the king said to his servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the darkness outside. There is where his weeping and the gnashing of his teeth will be.’”​—Matt. 22:13.

19. Into what will that class be thrown out, and what will it fail to enjoy?

¹⁹ So this class is bound beyond all ability to offer resistance. It is cast thus into the “darkness outside,” outside where the darkness is not alleviated by such things as street lamps. There, with no enlightenment of any kind from God, that class will weep and gnash its teeth, in the “great tribulation” in which religious Babylon the Great and all the rest of this system of things will be destroyed. (Rev. 17:14-18) That class will be cut off from the “kingdom of the heavens” and will have no part in the “evening meal of the Lamb’s marriage” in the heavens above.​—Rev. 19:9.

MANY INVITED, FEW CHOSEN

20. With what statement did Jesus round off his illustration, and did this refer to the garmentless man?

²⁰ In order to round off the illustration and to show the point of it, Jesus said: “For there are many invited, but few chosen.” (Matt. 22:14) Jesus was not saying those words with reference to the ejected man without the required marriage garment.a This man was not the main feature of the illustration. Certainly the man did not picture what was left of the “many” invited ones after the “few” chosen ones had been taken out. Correspondingly, the “guests” who wear the marriage garment and who are not thrown out of the “room for the wedding ceremonies” do not picture the “few” that had been chosen from the Jewish nation after the vast majority of all the “invited” Jews had excused themselves. Whom, then, did Jesus mean by the “many” that had been invited, and whom by the “few” chosen?

21. Who, then, were the few that were chosen, and did they make up all the “guests” that recline at the “marriage feast”?

²¹ The “many” invited were the Jewish nation that was in the Law covenant, which offered help to the Jews to become a “kingdom of priests” to God. The “few” chosen as worthy of the “kingdom of the heavens” were the “remnant” of natural Jews who acted on the notification from the heavenly King. Such Jews left worldly concerns behind, came to the “room for the wedding ceremonies” and accepted the “marriage garment” from the King, put it on and then reclined at the “table.” Because, by the year 36 C.E., merely a “few” (Jews) acted on notification from God the King, he found it necessary to send his “slaves” out beyond the Jewish “city” or community with orders to bring in replacements from the uncircumcised Gentiles. Eventually a roomful of guests results. So the “few” that made up the Jewish remnant were only part of the “guests” at the feast.

22. (a) How did God the King show his choosing of the garmented “guests”? (b) What was Jesus’ illustration meant to show regarding the King’s having a marriage feast?

²² Hence, all the “guests” clothed with the marriage garment picture more than just the “remnant” of Jews who became spiritual Israelites. The “guests” include also all the faithful Gentile replacements. God duly indicated his choosing of all these garmented “guests” by anointing them with his holy spirit through his Son Jesus Christ. Jesus’ illustration nowhere pictures, and was not meant to picture, that an unknown number of anointed Christians would turn unfaithful and prove unworthy of the “kingdom of the heavens.” Jesus’ illustration was meant to show that the heavenly King would succeed in having a fully attended “marriage feast” in spite of difficulties. He would have a successful “marriage feast” in fulfillment of his gracious purpose.

23. Did the King Jehovah have his “slaves” bring in an overload of prospective “guests,” or in what way did he proceed?

²³ All along the King Jehovah knew how many reclining places he would have at the feasting “table.” So he would not have his “slaves” bring in an overload of prospective “guests.” He would have his slaves bring in only as many as were needed to fill all the places available. In his due time he had his “slaves” bring in a remnant from the originally invited Jews. After that he called for all the needed replacements from all uncircumcised Gentile nations. Gradually all places would be “filled.”

24. (a) What does Jesus’ illustration not show as respects the man thrown out? (b) In the fulfillment, why is there no need to bring in replacements for that garmentless class?

²⁴ One thing Jesus’ illustration does not show. What? That, after the man without the marriage garment was thrown out, the king would send out a slave to bring in a replacement for that man. Certainly the king would not send out a slave into the night, “into the darkness outside,” to hunt up a replacement for the man thrown out. What person would be on “the roads” outside the city at that hour of the night? The king approves of the garmented wedding guests (reclining ones), and the feast now goes forward with all these and without the garmentless man who was thrown outside. In the fulfillment of the final part of Jesus’ illustration today, there is no need to bring in a replacement for Christendom and her religious crowd. They merely tried to get in to the feasting table without meeting the divine requirements. Their pretense at being there does not work.

25. (a) So, who does the calling or inviting, and how? (b) How is the choosing indicated, and what is required of those chosen?

²⁵ Jehovah the King does the calling or inviting. As in the case of Cornelius, the first Gentile convert to Christianity, God first reads the heart of the person to whom he gives attention. Then, because of the promising attitude of the heart, God sends the needed aid to the responsive one. This one thus gets the Bible instruction concerning the hope of the heavenly kingdom. Consequently, not all the hundreds of millions who are having “this good news of the kingdom” preached to them are thereby having God’s invitation extended to them to attend the spiritual “marriage feast.” (Matt. 24:14; 28:19, 20) The majority are merely receiving a “witness” concerning the Kingdom. The ones really “invited,” who meet God’s requirements, are then “chosen” by his anointing of them with holy spirit to be joint heirs of Jesus Christ. (2 Cor. 1:21; 1 John 2:20, 27) Now that they have been thus chosen, they must prove faithful to the end.​—Rev. 17:14; 2:10.

26. What are the chosen “guests” yet on earth enjoying now, and what will the faithful ones enjoy after the “great tribulation”?

²⁶ Today the whole world of mankind is in trouble, in this “time of the end” of the system of things. But the faithful chosen “guests” in the brilliantly lighted “room for the wedding ceremonies” are experiencing the joys and blessings of the King’s approval. After they hold fast to their Christian integrity clear through the approaching “great tribulation” that brings the end of the worldly system of things, they will be admitted to the “evening meal of the Lamb’s marriage” in the heavens above. (Rev. 19:7, 9) Since they will make up the “bride” of Christ, this is doubtless why the bride of the king’s son is not mentioned and is not introduced into Jesus’ illustration.b All the 144,000 chosen and faithful members of the Bridal congregation will there enjoy the meal with their Bridegroom.