SUNDAY MORNING No. 35.
The Wedding Garment
The parable of the marriage of the king's son. -- The interpretation. --
God's purpose to make a feast. -- The invited guests. -- The Jew first. -- Then
the Gentile. -- The Party of the highways and hedges. -- Etiquette of the feast.
- The wedding garment. -- Individual righteousness. -- Christ's righteousness
alone insufficient. -- It will justify a sinner but not ensure a saint's
acceptance at the last. -- The wedding garment not baptism. -- Persevering
well-doing the basis of acceptance. -- Baptism only the first act. -- The
Spirit's wares. -- The Divine merchant. -- A beginning of goodness now. -- But
who shall declare the end?. -- The marriage supper of the Lamb.
OUR meeting this morning, and the meetings of all the brethren throughout the
world, have a particularly interesting significance in the light of a certain
parable spoken by Christ. The parable referred to the hostile attitude of the
Jewish leaders, and the great body of Jewish people, towards himself. It was
spoken to illustrate the real nature of that attitude from a Divine point of
view. A man's course may appear one thing to himself, and be quite another in
fact, when wholly seen. Paul, destroying the disciples in zeal for the law,
appeared, in his own eyes, a righteous man, approved unto God; in God's eyes he
was "kicking against the pricks": that is, he was hurting himself and not those
against whom he was fighting. So the Scribes and Pharisees thought themselves
defenders of the kingdom of God in opposing Christ, whereas, they were in
reality excluding themselves from any part in it when it should be established
in its final form. To set forth this was the object of the parable, and also to
intimate certain consequences, highly unpalatable to them, which would result
from their action. It is in those consequences that we are personally
interested.
The parable is to be found in Matt. 22 and Luke 14. It is as follows: "A certain
king ... made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them
which were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come ... Then saith he to
his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the
marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together
all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with
guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which
had not on a wedding garment: and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in
hither, not having on a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the
king unto his servants, Bind him hand and foot and take him away."
It is not difficult to discern the leading significances of this parable. In the
king we recognize God, who spoke to the fathers and wrought with them for the
execution of His purpose: that purpose is represented as a marriage feast for
His Son. A marriage feast is the most joyous occasion in human experience, and
fitly though feebly represents the character of God's great purpose with the
sons of men. His purpose from the beginning has been to spread a banquet of love
and every good thing in the earth. His Son is the central object of this
banquet. It is a marriage feast for His Son; but before it could be a glory and
joy to Him, there must be a partner and guests. The provision of these is from
the human race by invitation. The invitation was first sent to Israel after the
flesh, who were chosen as the national basis of the purpose. But the bulk of
them did not accept the invitation, for lack of understanding. They accepted it
in a certain way. They consented to be the Lord's people and rejoiced in the
fact, but they used it for their own glory, and shut God out of the matter. They
approached God with their lips but their hearts were far from Him. And
therefore, after long patience, there came a time when the invitation was
extended to another class.
It is here where our personal relation to the parable comes into view. Before
Israel's rejection of the message, we were outside of its scope altogether --
"aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of
promise." [Eph. 2:12]. Till Paul's day, God suffered the Gentiles to walk in
their own ways, and winked at the ignorance prevailing among them. This is
testified (Acts 14:16; 17:30). Our ancestry is altogether undistinguished from
this point of view we are the descendants of barbarians, who were without hope
and without God in the world (Eph. 2:12). They had a hope and they had gods; but
both were matters of imagination, and, therefore, are not Scripturally
recognized.
By the hand of Paul and his co-labourers, the invitation, which had been lightly
regarded by Israel in their generations, was extended to the barbarians, and,
therefore, to us. Here we are, this morning, a company of their descendants. We
have not heard Paul's living voice, but we are none the less invited. The
invitation, by Paul, has come to us. We have it here in our hands. We know from
Paul's authority that that invitation was to survive his decease, and continue
in force till the Lord's appearing. Consequently the fact of Paul's word having
to come to us in the understanding of it, is evidence of the invitation referred
to in the parable having come to us. The servants of the parable are commanded
to go out to the highways and hedges. We belong to the party of the highways and
hedges, which is destined to furnish a considerable contingent of guests to the
marriage feast.
Here comes an important practical question, to which the parable furnishes an
answer. Shall we be accepted as the King's guests merely because we have
answered the King's summons by the hand of the King's servants in the hedges and
highways? Shall we enter the kingdom of God merely because we have believed the
Gospel and been baptized? Shall we be chosen merely because we have been called?
The answer of the parable is in harmony with Peter's exhortation to make our
calling and election sure, which implies possible uncertainty. What is that
answer?
When the King came in to see the assembled guests, He found one without a
wedding garment, and said unto him, "Friend, how camest thou in hither, not
having on a wedding garment?" This shows that something was implied in the
invitation that was not expressed in the first instance. The invitation was,
"Come to the feast." The implication was, "Come in a fit state." The King's
question shows that every guest, though freely invited from the highways and the
hedges, was required to come in a fit dress for the occasion. The man might have
said, "I came because I was asked to come but the King's question shows that he
regarded the acceptance of the invitation as acceptance also of the implied
conditions. Now let us come to the point. What are these implied conditions?
What is this wedding garment? We ascertain from another figure of the same
matter. The guests in their collective capacity are symbolized in the Apocalypse
as a woman in white array -- a bride in fine linen, clean and white. And
concerning this white raiment it is added, "the fine linen is the righteousness
of the saints" (Rev. 19:8). In the parable this principle is illustrated in its
individual application. Each applicant for a place at the feast must possess the
individual righteousness, without which no man shall enter the kingdom of God (1
Cor. 6:9; Matt. 5:20).
Some escape this conclusion, deceiving their own selves by saying Christ will be
their righteousness. Why was he not righteousness for the rejected guest? Why
will he not be righteousness for false brethren who sow to the flesh, and to
whom he tells us he will say, "Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity"? If a man
have no righteous fruits of the Spirit to present before Christ in the account
we must all give at his judgment-seat, when he judges the living and the dead at
his appearing and his kingdom, the fate of the rejected guest will be his. "Cast
out the unprofitable servant" (Matt. 25:30). Those who have to say they have no
righteousness of their own, will find that Jesus will be nothing to them.
The sentiment that Christ's righteousness alone is to be the basis of our
acceptance., is one of the countless and pernicious corruptions of clerical
theology. It doubtless originated in the misapplication of a certain element of
apostolic truth, namely, that which informs us that all are under sin, and that
our salvation is not of works, but through the righteousness of faith that is in
Christ. Men have long ceased to perceive that this principle applies only to
unjustified sinners, and not to those who have been placed in a justified or
forgiven position, through the obedience of faith. Christ is righteousness for
sinners in this sense, that God offers to forgive them for Christ's sake, and to
grant them a co-heirship with Christ, of what Christ as a manifestation of God,
has achieved for himself. But when sinners become saints, they come into
relation to a new principle. They are responsible to him as servants to a
master, and he will judge them according to their works (Rev. 2:23; Matt. 16:27;
2 Cor. 5:10; Gal. 6:8). If they bring forth fruits to the Spirit -- that is, do
and be what the Spirit in the word requires, they will receive everlasting life;
and if they bring forth fruits to the flesh -- that is, be and do what the mere
natural mind prompts a man to do, they will inherit corruption. So says the last
testimony referred to. Hence it is that the apostles dwell so incessantly and so
emphatically on the necessity for brethren to walk as saints, and to be on their
guard against conformity to the world, lest any be hardened through the
deceitfulness of sin (Heb. 3:13). If we present ourselves to Christ as one of
the guests unprovided with that raiment of personal righteousness which he
requires, we shall assuredly be rejected, and no man can learn what that
personal righteousness is, so as to have it in continual available remembrance,
except by the continuous and reverential study of the word of Christ contained
in the writings of the apostles and prophets. Apart from this, a man with even a
complete theoretical knowledge of Christ may become so infected with the spirit
of the world around him, which also exhales so freely from his own heart, that
while professing the name of Christ he will walk in the flesh, having a name to
live while utterly dead to the high things of God.
Most students of the word, in the early stage of their studies, fall into the
mistake of supposing the "wedding garment" stands for baptism. If they pursue
their studies to any practical effect, they by and by get rid of this mistake.
They remember that many baptized persons will be rejected at the judgment seat,
and that the most distinguished of the guests "Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and
all the prophets" -- have never been baptized; in which case, if the "wedding
garment" stood for baptism, we should have the anomaly of guests with wedding
garments turned out, and guests without them allowed to remain. Besides, to what
a cheap affair it would reduce the garment in question, and how out of harmony
with the whole spirit of the divine economy, which lays such stress on
persevering well-doing as a qualification for acceptance, and keeps in a
comparatively minor place mere ceremonial compliances. Baptism is only the first
act of obedience on the part of a believing sinner, and is of a nature with the
kind of righteousness which the Pharisees performed when they circumcised
children, and kept the feasts -- all very essential in their place, but not
accepted at the hands of otherwise unrighteous men. The law of admission to the
kingdom says: "Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes
and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of God" (Matt. 5:20).
This is the righteousness typified by the wedding garment -- "the righteousness
of saints" in its fulness and ripeness, the unreserved and patiently-continued
submission of enlightened men and women, in whose hearts faith fully dwells with
purifying effect, working by love to the keeping of the commandments of God.
With this in view, the lesson of the parable is sobering and wholesome. It shows
us that our mere acceptance of the Gospel will not suffice to save us. It shows
us that there must be a clothing of the inner man with all those principles,
precepts and affections which the Spirit has so abundantly stored for us in the
word, and which we must procure from thence by diligent daily reading. These
constitute the wedding garment, without which we are poor and miserable and
wretched and blind and naked, even if we may be infatuated enough to suppose
ourselves "rich and increased in goods, and in need of nothing." The fact helps
us both to understand and rightly estimate the Spirit's invitation, "I counsel
thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white
raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not
appear" (Rev. 3:18).
This Divine merchant has erected a house for the sale of His wares. In the Bible
He has spread them out to view, and cries at the street corners: "Unto you, 0
men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men. 0 ye simple, understand wisdom:
and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. Hear; for I will speak of
excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things" (Prov.
8:4-6).
Those who respond to this call will experience the truth of the assurance that
"Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding;
for the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain
thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies: and all the things
thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her
right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of
pleasantness, and all her paths are peace" (Prov. 3:13-17). The experience of
the goodness of divine wisdom begins even now in the constant satisfaction which
springs from the answer of a good conscience towards God and towards man, and in
the joyful hope of ineffable good, when the weary journey of this life shall
have come to an end, as come it will. But what shall we say of that final form
of the experience which will be the lot of those who shall be declared by Christ
to have overcome and kept his works unto the end? Language simply fails to
define and imagination to conceive it. We can simply say with David, "Oh how
great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up ... for them that trust in thee
before the sons of men!" The rebuke of His people will be taken away from all
the earth. It will no longer be the portion of the sons of God to endure the
quiet scorn of those whose portion is in this life, who dwell at ease, and are
filled with substance, whose eyes stand out with fatness, and who have more than
their hearts can wish. The sons of God will be in honour when the children of
the flesh in all ranks of society shall have passed away, and become a mere
memory. The sons of God are in heaviness for a season: but when their warfare is
accomplished -- when the fight is passed, they will receive the garment of
praise for the spirit of heaviness, and in the vigour of an immortal nature,
rejoice evermore in the great joy which is the appointed portion of the accepted
guests at the marriage of the King's Son. Well may it be said, "Blessed are they
who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb."