Transcript
All right. Well I’m here once again with Zane Hodges and we’re discussing the issue of the outer darkness. Last time we talked about the fact that the outer darkness is only found in Matthew’s Gospel which is surprising to a lot of people. And it’s only found in three places, Matthew chapter 8, Matthew chapter 22 and Matthew chapter 25. And we saw in Matthew chapter 8 that it is the sons of the kingdom, that’s the expression the Lord uses, who are cast into this darkness outside. And the only other use of the expression sons of the kingdom in Matthew is used by the Lord in Matthew 13:38 where it says that there the wheat, not the tares, so the sons of the kingdom in Matthew 13:38 are regenerate people. And we made the case last time that so are the people in Matthew chapter 8.
This time we’re going to move on to the other two chapters which are a bit longer treatment of this whole discussion and dealing with parables on this issue. So let’s begin with Matthew chapter 22 and we’ve broken it into three sections, 1 through 7, 8 through 12 and 13 through 14. So Zane, could you overview 1 through 7 and give us a picture of what’s going on here in this parable?
Okay Bob. And that’s a summary introduction for this. I think we should say right up front that there’s a sense in which the passage in Matthew 22 is the key passage of the three passages that relate to outer darkness. Because it’s the most detailed. And if we get this right it is likely that we will get the other two passages all right as well. So it’s important for us to spend a little bit of time I think on the details. And as you’ve indicated we’re going to break the passage down into three units.
In the first unit verses 1 to 7 the kingdom of heaven is compared to a king who makes a wedding celebration. The Greek word is gamos. And the wedding party, the wedding celebration for His son. I think it’s important to say that the background of this in the Old Testament is found perhaps more than any other place in Psalm 45. Because what you have in Psalm 45 is, first of all over the first part of the psalm, a description of a triumphant king who defeats his enemies and to whom God said, “Your throne is forever and ever.” And then He says God anoints this king with the oil of joy or gladness above his partners or companions.
Your throne is forever and ever.
Then in the latter part of the psalm we have description of the queen who is apparently being married to the king. So we have the imagery here of kingdom, king and queen. And we have really basically a marriage song. And I think that’s a very important background. And it happens to be a song that plays a big part in the first chapter of Hebrews as we know. So we should be thinking here of the fact that in the kingdom that is still to come God is going to, so to speak, arrange a wedding or a wedding celebration for His Son. That we need to keep in mind that this is parabolic. That we’ll come back to that in a minute. But that’s the image that we have here of a king throwing a wedding party for the king’s son and for His bride.
Right now what He does is in the story here He sends out invitations twice. First of all He sends out an invitation to those who have been invited to the wedding. And it simply says they didn’t want to come. Yeah. And then He sends out other servants, other slaves according to verse 4, saying tell those who are invited that everything’s ready and we’re ready to go. Now if we stop and pause on this almost nothing in Jesus’ parables is a throwaway line. So if there are two separate invitations here they’re on a significant. And what I would suggest is that the first is the invitation that comes through the Old Testament servants of God. They the prophets of God who predicted the coming of this kingdom and the coming of the celebration for the Son of God.
The second invitation seems to me is the New Testament invitation. Because now after all this period of time everything’s ready. Whereas the Old Testament prophets looked at it from a long distance. The New Testament people starting with John the Baptist and of course including the Apostles in the ministry of Jesus and in the ministry in Acts they all announced that the kingdom was ready to go and that the events that were to take place in the kingdom were near.
Now what we have is that the invitees, and at this point we would certainly think of the Jewish people as the subject of this invitation. Because in the Old Testament they were the primary people to whom the prophets addressed themselves. And initially of course they were the people to whom John the Baptist and the Apostles addressed themselves in the New Testament. Now they don’t want to come. And what is suggested here is that their various motives. That they’re basically too busy with their own affairs to do that. And some of them just go away and ignore it. But others are hostile to the invitation and persecute the servants who had brought the invitation. Of course we know particularly New Testament period and that’s exactly what happened. And it was in particular the Jewish rulers who initiated the persecution. Some may even kill some of them.
That’s correct. Uh-huh verse 6. Yes. So in verse 7 what we have is that the king is angry about this and He sends His armies and He destroyed those murderers and burned their city. What city would that be? Jerusalem would be Jerusalem. Yeah. And this is a reference surely to the calamities of 70 AD. The armies of Rome become the armies of God. Because in the final analysis He is in control of all the armies of the world. And therefore judgment is executed on the initial recipients of this invitation because they have refused to respond to it.
I think one final thing before you might want to introduce some questions here. We need to remember that this is more than just an invitation to the kingdom. It’s an invitation to share in the joy of the bridegroom who is getting married. It’s more than just simply getting through the door into the kingdom. The king is saying I’m throwing a real big party and I want you to participate. My Son is getting married and I want you to share in the joy and the life that is involved in that. And of course in the parabolic form and we think of the actual life situation to which it could refer that would be a big insult. I mean you’re throwing a wedding party. What is more important than getting your son married off to a marriage of love maybe? Yes.
And the people that you have initially invited said we don’t care about this. And in fact some of them even mistreat the people who bear the invitation. This is a social insult of large proportions. So the idea is of course that Israel has committed the very serious sin in turning down this invitation. And the judgment the 70 AD is the retribution that comes as a result of that.
Okay. Well this leads to quite a few questions. Okay. First one thing that’s interesting all through the Old Testament we have Jerusalem being God’s chosen city. It’s His city. But now we get in verse 7 it’s their city. It’s not His city. Is that because they don’t have the proper attitude to make it His city because they’re unwilling to receive His Son?
Well what they have done is preempted His ownership. Right. They have taken charge of the city and they have done what they wanted to do. It’s remarkable that the Son of God came to the city that really belonged to Him. He came to His own and His own received Him not. And the city of Jerusalem was the place where He was crucified. Right. So I think the idea here is you know this is their city in the sense that they have appropriated it for themselves and are doing what they want to with it. And not doing what He God would want them to do.
Exactly. Okay. A second question. Zane what you suggested is fascinating here. If you’re saying the invitation is not really to be in the kingdom but to share in the joy of His Son and His Son’s marriage and His Son’s kingdom. Then it seems you’re implying here that some of the people who were unwilling to come were probably regenerated.
Well it’s an entirely conceivable isn’t it that that might have been the case? The King here is not saying come and visit My home or come and live in My quarters here. He is saying I am having a wedding celebration for My Son. It’s going to be a wonderful time. I want you to participate in the joy that My Son is sharing at that moment. So the issue it seems to me of whether the people are regenerate or unregenerate is not on the surface of this story. The point is that an invitation to share in the joy of the son who is getting married goes out and people rejected it. We always have a tendency to try to read saved unsaved in everything. And I think that’s probably a mistake here. Because the point of the passage is not whether the people are saved or unsaved. But whether they’ve responded to this invitation to participate in the wedding celebration.
That’s good. And in fact the kind of excuses they make etc. sounds like a lot of the excuses people make in discipleship.
Yeah. Yeah. You know I’ve got business to do I’ve got to take care of my family I’ve got to do this. So they don’t follow Jesus.
That’s exactly right. And the issue there is not whether they’re regenerated or not regenerate. They’re just making excuses and not following Jesus. A person can get saved and still take care of their own business and even put that first. Yeah. But they can’t be the disciple of Jesus and put it first.
That’s good. That’s good. I wondered in this verse 3 they were not willing to come. It sounds particularly bad. It’s a very concise. And I’m wondering what that means especially if this first invitation relates to the Old Testament prophets. In what sense were Old Testament people not willing to come? Does this mean there weren’t many people like Simeon and Anna? There you have some Old Testament people who when Jesus is brought to the temple they’re right there you know they’re excited about Him being there. But and of course I’m thinking of people before even Jesus was born.
Yes. I think that what we actually see when we look at the Old Testament and its description of the nature of Israel we see a very recalcitrant nation. We see a nation that constantly resists the desires that God has for the nation. And as a result is repeatedly over and over again disciplined for their failure to respond to Him. So if we’re talking about for example the period of the kings we’re talking about a period in which idolatry was very prominent in Israel. And the prophets of course spoke very closely about idolatry. But people who were engaged in idolatry are not interested in the plans of God for His Son. No. So I think what we would say here is that this is a very brief and general statement of the fact that they were not responsive to God as a nation. And this invitation goes over their head. They’re not interested in this by and large.
Okay. Now this raises another point. And I don’t know how much we want to go into this. But what if they had been responsive? What if the invitations had gone out and they hadn’t even asked for an earthly king? They had said we want God to reign over us. We don’t want an earthly king. We want this kingdom now. We see the promise you know Moses said He was going to send a prophet like me. We want that prophet. Can God send that one now to come and to reign over us? And if is the implication here that if they had responded to the invitation then Jesus would have come earlier?
I don’t think we can draw that implication from it. I’m not sure we could draw a negative to that implication either. But what we really have in the Old Testament is a general time frame of presented prophecy after which Messiah can come. Frank we’re thinking of Daniel 9 for example. So that this places the coming of Messiah within a future time frame. And I don’t think that we have any real evidence that there was a possibility that that time could have been moved forward. But the nation is not interested in this because they’re not interested in the purposes of God. And they’re concerned with their own interests instead.
Right. I think that’s all that’s really said. They okay they didn’t want to come. You know if you just like us we could find ourselves here and our grandchildren and great-grandchildren here. Well we would like this to come immediately.
Right right. And we would like to get to be involved in it. And of course that’s what it was possible for people who lived long before the first coming of Christ. If they were faithful to God they could be participants in this wedding celebration.
Yes. So I don’t think the point is so much exactly when it came or when it could have come. But whether the Old Testament people had the attitude I wanted to come and I want to participate in it. And you make a good point about Daniel 9. Because by the time we get the nation deported the southern kingdom deported. Well with the chronology given there then actually the return of Christ is given down to the day. Yeah. And it has to be when it has to be. But I was thinking you know before the deportation in fact before even the deportation of the northern kingdom before the split of the kingdom there were offers of the kingdom before that. But I see your point and I think it’s well taken.
So what we have in 1 through 7 then is the king which represents the Father is that correct?
Yes.
Huh. And arranging for the marriage of His Son.
Yes. And am I right in saying that the queen at this point is undefined?
The queen is completely undefined at this point. If a young man is getting married we assume there’s a bride around somewhere. But we’re not told anything about her here. And the point of it one of the things that we need to keep in mind when we study parables is that we don’t take a parable as an exhaustive treatment of all the ancillary theology that flows out of the basic truth of the parable. The parable is designed to teach a central message. And the details coalesce here with this central lesson. But there are a lot of things related to the central message the parable isn’t really designed to explain. So here it seems to me that almost nothing is made of the bride.
Right right. She isn’t mentioned. We assume there’s a bride. You can’t have a wedding unless there’s a bride. But that’s not the concern of the parable. But the concern of the parable is with the response to the invitation to enjoy this wedding with the bridegroom.
Okay. Well maybe we could move to the second unit verses 8 through 12. Because it seems to me the fireworks start here. I mean they’ve already started with obviously God sends His representatives and they’re mistreating them and killing them. But now and then of course He burns up their city. But now verses 8 to 12 introduces some more elements that I think are very important in this discussion.
Yes. And what’s involved here it seems to me is the fact that in the light of the general rejection of this invitation by the nation of Israel God goes beyond the nation of Israel. And He goes down to the Gentiles. And a particularly important word here is found in verse 9 where the king is saying you know everything is ready. So He says go therefore to the highways. The New King James Version has highway. That this is an unusual word. And the word in Greek seems to probably refer to the point at which a main thoroughfare through a city crossed the boundaries of the city line and went out into the country. So what He’s essentially telling them to do is you know go out of this city and go out there wherever the highway leads you and find people who will fill the wedding banquet hall. And so this carries with it I think the implication particularly against the background of the understanding we suggested for 1 to 7. The implication that the Gentile mission is a search for people who will in fact come into the wedding celebration enjoy the joy of the bridegroom as they do so.
What’s interesting here is that they go out into the various roadways and they bring in as many as they found both good and bad. Yeah. What this suggests of course with the nation of Israel in theory the nation of Israel should have been by all of the revelation they had from God by the law that they have from God it should have been a basically good nation.
Right right. It should have been ready for the coming of the kingdom and it should have been responsive to the invitation. But as the King says here that they weren’t worthy. They didn’t deserve it. But now character qualifications are going to be set aside. You know go out and get anybody who will come. So this is a reminder by implication that fundamental to the acceptance of this invitation is of course the fact that we come as we are to the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe in Him. But it’s not discussed in the parable. But the point is that character qualifications don’t figure in this. They may gather as many as they found you know the bad sort the good sort. Right. People that we would you know good citizens and the people we would call worthless citizens. Nobody of course is anything but a sinner. But by contrast with one another there are good and bad people in the world.
Right. We know that perfectly well. But the invitation now is extended beyond the place where they have initially been issued. Here we think of Israel. And it goes out to the Gentile world. And anybody out there no matter what their character or background can become a part of this. So the invitation is magnificently broadened. And the opportunity is given to many to do this.
Now the result of this is that they do in fact fill the banqueting hall. And now in verse 11 after everybody’s gathered in after everybody’s gathered then the King comes out. This is the king who issued the invitation on behalf of His Son. He comes in to look at those who are reclining. Now the Greek word there is a verb that means something like to gaze at somebody. I think the implication in this context is He’s gonna look them over carefully. You know here all these people that have been gathered from everywhere and everywhere. And now the king comes in and then there’s Mr. Bob Wilkin and is He dressed properly for this occasion? Is Mr. Zane Hodges dressed properly? He’s going to come and look them all over. And lo and behold there’s somebody who has accepted the invitation who is not properly dressed.
Now at this point it seems to me what we are to understand here is something that functionally represents the judgment seat of Christ. That after people have responded to this invitation and are in the presence of the king they have to be surveyed looked over and evaluated by the king. And in the case of one of these men this is obviously an example. Because in the reality there will be lots of these people. But in the example that the Lord is focusing on here He isn’t properly dressed.
Now this said this idea has sometimes been suggested here that He doesn’t have the robe of righteousness which sounds good as an evangelistic idea. But it is my understanding that the inviter to a wedding feast didn’t supply robes for people who came. It was up to them to dress properly. So we’re not talking here about something the king bestows as a gift on somebody. We’re talking about someone who didn’t get ready to participate in the wedding supper properly. So this wouldn’t be positional truth. This would be experiential truth.
Exactly. And His experience doesn’t match up to what it should.
That’s right. He obviously you know if we look at this He obviously has believed the invitation. Right. He wouldn’t have come here or business of faith you know that there He has walked in with everybody else. So He most naturally represents to us a believer. But He also represents a believer who doesn’t get Himself ready for the judgment seat of Christ. And therefore doesn’t get ready for the proper participation in the joy of the wedding celebration.
So the King says to him friend this is not a very warm word. Hetairos. How did you come in here not having a wedding garment? Now I don’t think He means by this how did you slip by the guards you know how did you manage to get in the door? His question really means how come you have come to this event without a wedding garment? How did you come in this way? This is inappropriate. This is the wrong way for you to come to this occasion. And so what is focused on here is the fact that here’s a man who accepted the invitation but didn’t prepare properly to participate in the celebration.
Let me stop there because that carries us through verse 12. You may have some questions.
Yes. This is outstanding. And so the word in verse 10 you were talking about translated highways basically are the roads which are going out into the countryside.
Yes. But then outside of the city.
Yeah. The text goes to suggest that this would be like a main thoroughfare that ran through the town. And it doesn’t just stop at the border of the town. It extends beyond the border of the town. So the word suggests a road that goes out entirely. Within this picture we’re thinking of something that’s other than these people in the city that rejected the first invitation.
Right. Is the second invitation clearly to a new group?
Yeah. And I think when the King says go to the highways if I want to paraphrase it here go to the out roads and gather as many as you find. He’s really telling them to go out of the city and get people.
Yes. We haven’t been very successful in the city. So go out and you know take these routes outside and find people who will fill up the banquet.
Okay. Now one thing that I wondered about is while we have reference for example in verse 3 they were in He’s calling those who were invited and then verse 4 tell those who were invited. And however when we get down to verse 10 it doesn’t specifically mention invitation. It says they gathered together all who were found. And I wonder of course in a sense all believers are being invited. And I guess we’re going to get that down to the end in verse 14 later. We’re invited to share in this joy of the king’s son’s wedding. But what I wonder is is there a slight nuance here without the word invitation being repeated again that also brings out the fact this is different than the first group which ultimately will receive the invitation? I mean ultimately there will be a generation of Jews in the tribulation that does respond.
Right. Yes. I doubt if there’s a very significant distinction. Because what we have here is a summation of what they did. When you really consider the actual situation that is presupposed from the parable you can’t imagine them dragging these people in. What they’re doing is inviting them you know. Well they’re coming willingly.
Sure. Yeah. So I mean the messenger goes out He says there’s a big party for My master’s son please come. So they get an invitation. I don’t think the point right is whether it’s strictly an invitation or whether it’s strictly not. The point is that they are able to get a lot of response to this.
That’s good. That’s good. Now another question I had. I really like your comment that this relates to the judgment seat of Christ. And your point there is because we’re looking at this wedding garment which is more than simply someone who’s gotten into the party.
Yes. And you’re tying this into some sort of judgment. Because obviously in verse 12 this is a negative comment.
Absolutely. And that prepares of course I will talk about in a minute that prepares for the concluding verses. But what we notice here is a slightly different situation than the initial one. Because in the initial situation the people got the invitation weren’t interested at all.
Right. Yes. So they’ve got all these other things to take care of and they say oh no go go take your invitation elsewhere.
Yeah. This is a man who doesn’t do that. He’s interested.
Right. But He’s careless. He doesn’t prepare Himself. He responds and He gets through the door. That I don’t think as I said a moment ago I don’t think there are guards standing there and saying hold it you’re not dressed right you know. And so the king is not saying how did you surpass the guard. That is how you have come to an event like this and not dress yourself properly for. How could you do that? So wouldn’t this be some shame on this person?
Absolutely. And whatever. In other words the point here is that the things that He needed to do to prepare Himself for this He did not do. That’s the point.
Yeah. That’s good. I wonder in the English and it’s even stronger in the Greek at the end of verse 12 He was speechless. And that jumps out at me. I mean it’s a very strong statement. And it strikes me that that’s different than what occurs in Matthew 7:21 to 23. Because in the great white throne judgment many will say to me in that day Lord Lord and have we not prophesied in your name cast out demons in your name and done many wonders in your name? They’re giving a little speech. They’re defending themselves. This person is speechless. I wonder if this doesn’t suggest that at the judgment seat of Christ we’re not going to see a lot of people rationalizing. We’re not going to see people making excuses. We’re going to see people accepting what the response is to their life of service for Christ.
That’s a very good point. And it’s underlined by the fact that the people who stand at the great white throne are untransformed people. They’re still you know and even though they have been raised from physical death they still have a sinful nature. And so they argue. But Christians who stand before the judgment seat of Christ are now perfect. They’ve been transformed in the likeness of Christ. There’s no arguing with you know God says yeah you shouldn’t have come this way. What is there to say back? Nothing you know. So this individual says nothing. What can He say? And as I’ve said the fact that He’s there with the other people indicates He’s a believer. He didn’t disbelieve this invitation. He didn’t totally fail to respond to it. He’s there. But He has no excuse for not preparing Himself. That’s the point.
It seemed to me when you get to verse 12 the music is starting to play. Dum dum dum. Something bad’s gonna happen. You commented by the way that friend in verse 12 hetairos is not exactly as positive as we might think in English. Could you comment a bit more on that before we go on to 13 and 14?
Yeah. It’s something like it’s not like the word philos which is you know a person with whom you have friendly relation. Which could have been used. Yeah. It could have been used. And it’s kind of like when we you know friends that I borrow your paper that you read. Yeah. That implies nothing about my relationship to Him. It’s just the other guy over there.
Right. And I think that’s the kind of word that we have. It’s a very remote word. In other words here’s a man that stands before the judgment seat of Christ. And from the standpoint of a Christian person He hasn’t been close to God at all. He hasn’t developed what we would call spiritual friendship. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. But that’s the word philos.
That’s good. So here’s a man who’s had a distance from God as He stands there. And He’s rebuked for this.
Now one thing and I think this would probably be borne out by the fact that we’re not supposed to make every aspect of this parable exactly correspond to every detail for example of the judgment seat. But the King here who’s recognizing the person doesn’t have on the proper garments. If it’s the same King at the beginning is the Father. And yet we know at the judgment seat of Christ it’s going to be Jesus that is you know Jesus said the Father’s committed all judgment unto Me. So would we say here that that’s not trying to make a point on whether this is the Father or God the Father God the Son at this point?
Well connecting it with the verse that you’ve mentioned we would say this is God the Father. But we need to remember that even though the Son will personally sit there everything that the Son does perfectly reflects the Father. The Son can do nothing of Himself but what He sees the Father do. So there is a sense in which even though Jesus is the agent of judgment both of the great white throne and the judgment seat of Christ God is still judging people. And this is really what the Father does.
Yes. And remember that Paul says every knee shall bow to Me and every tongue shall confess to God in a passage that refers to the judgment seat of Christ.
Yeah. That’s very good. Okay. Well with the dum dum dum how about 13 and 14? Because it seems to me the heat gets a little hotter in the last two verses doesn’t it?
Well here is the penalty for coming unprepared. And it is noteworthy that what He tells His servants to do is to bind this man hand and foot. That is to restrict His activities severely. You can’t do a whole lot if you’re tied up hand and foot. And then it says take him up and throw him into the darkness outside. And here is where this parable is really really helpful in understanding the total impact of the imagery of all three of the outer darkness passages. Because here we have a big banqueting hall. And of course in the ancient Near East these banquets would be held at night. So it’s a brightly lighted banqueting hall. And all the guests have gone inside. They and the king has come and looked people over. And then He says to His servants throw him into the darkness outside. Within the corresponding reality that’s the darkness outside the brightly lighted banqueting hall.
Yeah. And so He’s thrown out on the grounds down the saloon. Yeah. Toss him out you know He’s out the street in the case of the saloon. And in the case of this man He’s out on the ground. He’s and here’s where false theology picks up the ball runs off the field. He’s not only on the ground the quarry. But for false theologies in hell. And He not just tied up He’s being tortured. None of this is part of the parable. And so what we’re left with it as far as the conclusion of the parable is concerned is here’s a big party going on inside this brightly lighted banqueting hall. And here’s a man out on the grounds who can’t do anything. It’s not you know suffering anything beyond the fact that He’s tied up. He can’t get back into the party house. You know you could crawl like this but it would be very difficult tied up hand and foot. So He’s excluded from the party and restricted in terms of His activity.
Now it seems to me that this is in itself helpful to us in understanding what the passage is about. Because what really happens is that He is excluded from the joy that is participated in by those who are inside. And if we go back for example to Psalm 45 or if we go back to Hebrews 1 which quotes Psalm 45. God says to the Son your throne O God is forever and ever a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You’ve loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness. He has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your partners. But that means you have more joy than they do. But they have joy too. They’re sharing in this joy in this oil of gladness.
Your throne O God is forever and ever a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You’ve loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your partners.
Exactly. They are sharing in the oil of gladness with which the king has been anointed. So and if we look very carefully the psalm that the joy is nothing less than the fact that He then He has a throne that lasts forever and ever. You know the scepter of your kingdom is a righteous scepter. And God has made you happy with all that this is your throne. This is your privilege. This is your joy. And of course the writer of Hebrews refers to that again when He talks in chapter 12 who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God. What does that mean to the writer of Hebrews? He sits at the right hand of God till God says now the time has come for Me to make your enemies the footstool of your feet. So I think it would be proper for us to understand the joy that is taking place inside the banqueting hall as an image of the joy of the King in possessing His kingdom. And therefore the joy that is shared with Him is the joy of sharing in His royal authority. And therefore sharing in the pleasure of co-reigning with Jesus Christ.
Now people who do that have all sorts of opportunities open to them for active service to the king. Sometimes people say and we may have discussed this on one of the other talks I’m not interested in reigning as I don’t like to have authority over people. Yeah. But we will all be interested in reigning that day. Because it’ll be an opportunity to serve the king. We will be looking for opportunities to serve the king greater opportunities. Yes. Service that we had here. And so therefore it will be an enormous privilege for us to be told to have rule over five cities I have rule over ten cities or even have rule over one city. Because of doing that we can be active for the king. But that is exactly what the man without the wedding garment is deprived of. He’s not active. He’s tied up hand and foot. He doesn’t share the joy that is inside. And He is cast into the darkness outside. Meaning that He is excluded from the marvelous privileges that we’re talking about here.
And there it says there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And as we talked about it before that is not an automatic indicator of hell. Because in the Orient extreme expressions of grief were understood and frequently engaged in. And so the point here is that the man who has been deprived of this priceless privilege and opportunity has been deprived of the opportunity to be active on behalf of the king. He will enormously regret this. And He will weep and gnash His teeth. Not forever of course. Because God wipes away all tears from our eyes. But nevertheless there is real remorse and regret. And we lose it seems to me the value of this passage unless we learn from the passage that to lose this privilege is something that we will very deeply regret if indeed we lose it.
So the bottom line then in verse 14 is many are called meaning many are invited but few are selected. I noticed that the boy did they called and chosen because that has a theological ring that we don’t want to do here. A lot of people in this parable were invited. Right. They were the clay toy they used the Greek word. But only a few of those invited were actually chosen for this. In other words we have the people that are excluded in the first paragraph and we have this individual who is excluded and who is obviously typical of others who are likewise excluded. So the warning here is the invitation is very broad but the final selection is very narrow. And therefore it becomes vital and important for the individual Christian to make sure that He’s prepared for the judgment seat of Christ. And that God will be pleased to give Him this privilege.
Well all right now you’ve got I got three or four five more. I’d be surprised.
Well let’s go through some of these. First of all on the binding him hand and foot. I take it this won’t be any sort of literal experience. We’re thinking of a figure of speech here.
Yeah. And I’m thinking that the fact that He’s not active doesn’t mean He’s not active at all. We know in Revelation 22:3 His servants shall serve Him. Every believer will be active in the kingdom. This refers to a figure of speech related to not active concerning the joys associated with ruling and being a partner. Psalm 45 Hebrews 1 being a partner of Christ in the life to come.
That’s right. And obviously if we don’t take that literally we shouldn’t take the outer darkness literally. Yes. This is a parable. And nobody even if we thought this man was unsaved and going to hell which of course we don’t. But even if we thought that we wouldn’t think that He was going to be tied up. That’s an absurdity. So what we have to keep in mind is the visual imagery of the parable. And this is all to be understood in terms of what the significance of the wedding celebration is in and of itself. We shouldn’t draw into it all the ancillary pieces of theology that we can think of. If what is going on in the wedding celebration represents the joy of Jesus Christ in reigning over the world and sharing that reign with His faithful partners. If that’s what it refers to then being cast into the outer darkness means to be excluded from that privilege. And it also means to be restricted from ever participating in that privilege. It’s like being bound hand and foot. So that the imagery of the parable serves the function the central function of the parable.
Okay. Now you just mentioned that ever functioning as one of the co-rulers with Christ. And I wanted to touch on that. Because as you know many people in the grace movement believe that ruling with Christ is a millennial reward. And after the millennium everybody gets back to the same experience. However you cited Psalm 45 which is referred to in Hebrews 1 your throne O God is forever and ever. Would that not suggest as you’re saying here that the person who is bound hand and foot figuratively have not experienced this joy of ruling with Christ will never experience it? Not only won’t they experience it in the millennium. They won’t experience it on the new earth either.
That’s correct. And we should also remember that at the I guess it’s at the end of chapter 12 in Hebrews you remember the writer talks about God shaking things and the things that are not shaken may remain. And then He says since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom. In other words the kingdom we are receiving is eternal. This is an eternal benefit and benefaction that God gives to us in accordance with what He’s given to the Son. Back throne O God is forever and ever. And then you remember that this is followed immediately by quotation from another Psalm. And that is in Hebrews chapter 1 where it says that the heavens and the earth are like old garments that He just simply folds up and changes. Right. But your years shall not fail. In other words you are the eternal King. And your kingdom goes past the fading of the old heavens and the earth. You just simply lay these old garments aside put the new garments down on. But your throne goes on forever and ever. Your years never end. And so the teaching of Hebrews I think is emphatically that what we receive as a reward for our fidelity to Jesus Christ is an eternal kingdom position and eternal kingdom.
Yes. Now that also brings up the point therefore that the millennium is not some precursor to the eternal kingdom. It’s the first thousand years of Jesus’ eternal reign.
Exactly. And remember that Peter tells us that so an entrance shall be ministered to you abundantly into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Second Peter 1:10-11.
That’s right. Because when I enter the millennium I am entering the eternal kingdom. For some reason because we have made the distinction between the first thousand years and the rest of the kingdom we have over emphasized the division as if there two kingdoms. There’s a millennial kingdom when there’s an eternal kingdom. No there’s an eternal kingdom. And it has a millennial phase to it. And the phase is ended by man’s final rebellion by the final destruction of all sin and the remaking of the world. That the kingdom has already begun and goes on through eternity. And that’s one of the points that the writer of Hebrews makes emphatically here both in chapter 12 and in chapter 1. Because what the cosmos is now wearing is an old and decaying garment which must be replaced. But the King who begins His rule in this decaying cosmos will not decay. He will continue to rule in the new kingdom. So we are receiving an unshakable kingdom. And whenever anything else is shaken the kingdom that we’re receiving will not be shaken.
That’s good. In fact this reminds me of Daniel. Because in Daniel you’ve got these four major kingdoms of the earth followed by the fifth eternal kingdom the kingdom of the Son of Man. And it seems to me in dispensational thought many of us have six kingdoms.
Yeah. The fifth kingdom is the millennium and the sixth kingdom is in fact we even say it that the eternal kingdom starts in Revelation 21. No. The eternal kingdom starts in Revelation 20.
Absolutely. Okay. Well that is very helpful. Not a couple of quick comments. I thought it was fascinating your point in verse 14 many and few. Many are invited but few are actually selected to reign. Am I following you correctly that this is a statement much like the narrow gate? That’s saying within the people who are born again although you have them invited to share in this you’re going to have and of course the many invited the many invited would even include unbelievers I take it from the first part of that. But anyway in terms of the few who were chosen to is the implication here that we’re going to find a large number in fact maybe even a large percentage of believers who are not chosen to reign?
Well I want to be cautious in answering that. Because it seems to me as we said earlier that the issue particularly in the opening paragraph is not so much whether the people are saved or unsaved. It’s the fact that this invitation was spread before the whole nation of Israel.
Right right. And of course we understand that nobody would have accepted an invitation to participate in Messiah’s kingdom who didn’t believe in the Messiah.
Right. But nevertheless the invitation is broadly extended. And there is a sense in which I think we can accurately say that when God invites us to participate in His kingdom He invites us to participate in the wedding celebration of His Son. I mean those two things are hard to distinguish. They can be distinguished theologically so that I can get into His kingdom by simple faith. But the invitation to the kingdom is more than just okay just walk through the door and sit there you know in the kingdom of heaven. Says this parable is like a king who made a wedding celebration for His Son. That’s what the kingdom is like. So when you’re invited to the kingdom you’re invited to that. And so I think that this is a broad statement here in verse 14 that lots of people get the invitation.
But the number who are actually selected to participate in this special privilege that is mentioned here is relatively few. Now that is not quite the same as the question are there few that be saved. Even though Jesus answers yes that’s true there are few that be saved. We would say here that among the saved as this parable itself indicates there are even fewer who participate in this privilege. But how much fewer is not a subject of the parable. And we would have to look for clues elsewhere in the Bible there I would think. But in the parable the whole point is lots of people get this invitation. But remember the number who actually participate is viewed. So we want to be the ones that are properly dressed.
Yes. At the judgment seat of Christ.
Right. And that parable has a two-tier admonition for us. Don’t ignore it like the first recipients did. But don’t receive it carelessly so that you don’t take the necessary preparations for it.
Just a couple of quick points on the weeping and gnashing of teeth. We know that that occurs in passages related to hell. And as you have suggested this is an oriental expression of grief. You know there are some people that have the idea that if this does refer to believers that somehow they’re going to be weeping and gnashing their teeth for the whole millennium for a thousand years. And I know from talking to you previously you take it they won’t weep or gnash their teeth at all in the millennium. That this is going to be very short-lived with people with glorified bodies.
Right. You know all this says to us is and the word there is the Greek word in that spot okay it isn’t there you know there’s going to be this and there doesn’t refer to a place in particular. But okay there at that in this situation is what the parable says. In this situation there’s going to be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Okay. That can be very brief grief. That can be fulfilled with a very brief period of deep remorse. And doesn’t need to be fulfilled during any of the years of the millennium. So unless we make this say more than it actually says all it really tells us is that the person who is deprived of this priceless privilege will weep over it and gnash their teeth over it. And so this really has nothing to do with Revelation 21:4. Has nothing to do with this when it says He will wipe away every tear. That’s referring to Him reversing the curse. No more death no more pain no more suffering. So the people in natural bodies from the millennium they are going to experience pain and suffering and tears. But He’s going to eliminate all that when He eliminates pain death and the curse.
That’s good. And I don’t expect when I’m in the millennium to see brother Joe cry and I say why are you crying Joe? It is because I didn’t get my wedding garment ready. I don’t expect to see that. What we all know about grief is that on earth we go through periods of grief. There’s a period of time where we’re grieving. And then if our makeup is healthy we get over it. We recognize that we’ve suffered a loss. But we don’t spend a lot of time grieving about a person who goes on grieving and grieving and grieving over some tragic or something is wrong with their makeup.
Right. We need to remember that this happens to people who are glorified. They have a perfect spiritual and psychological makeup. Grief is appropriate. It’s appropriate within the time span that that makes it appropriate. But not appropriate beyond that. And so I think we can say that glorified Christians will have wonderful recuperative abilities and will be able to recover from this kind of grief. But that doesn’t make it any less of real grief. And I think the emphasis of the passage is you know the guy that gets kicked out on the grounds and gets tied up does not holler back into the interior of the wedding hall I don’t care I don’t want to come to the party anyway. He doesn’t do that. He’s out there weeping over it. Because this is an enormous loss.
Yes. But still every believer will have joy forever.
Yes. It’s just some will have a more a fuller experience. They’ll experience the oil of gladness of Hebrews 1:9 because they’re His companions His metochoi His partners. And the others they’re going to have joy. But it’s going to be a lesser joy.
Yes. And you know I would be very surprised speaking of myself I would be surprised if I stood at the judgment seat of Christ that had my life reviewed and didn’t shed a tear. But I can already think of things that would make me cry before I and so it’s almost inconceivable for me to think of myself standing through the whole judgment and being tearless. Sure. But that’s different than saying what characterizes your experience is weeping and gnashing. It we know from 1 John 2:28 my little children abide in Him so that when He appears we may have confidence or boldness and not shrink back in shame at His coming.
My little children abide in Him so that when He appears we may have confidence and not shrink back in shame at His coming.
Yeah. Well we know there’s going to be two basic experiences confidence or shame.
Yeah. But you’re saying even if we are fortunate enough to be one of those who has the confidence the boldness that is coming there still will be probably tears.
I’ll be very surprised if they’re not. Yeah. And there will be regrets.
Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. We can already pinpoint some of them. And when the work gets finished with reviewing our life I suspect that a lot more pinpoints will be handled. And what I’m trying to say here I think Bob is that we shouldn’t regard this as an abnormal or unexpected experience for Christians. It’s just that if this kind of loss is suffered then that’s a very deep grounds for grieving.
One thought that I might bring out is you could see how I know being a perfectionist I’m a recovering perfectionist. I’m starting a group called Perfectionists Anonymous. Haha. Sounds like a great idea. Yeah. You want to do in the NBA to remember. But you know you can see how as a perfectionist to me to think about the judgment seat of Christ is a scary thing. And I have to go out of my way not to introspect about well let’s see what have I done you know over the 33 years 34 years I’ve been a believer. And it seems to me 1 Corinthians 4 kicks in here where Paul says I know nothing against myself you know I’m not justified or vindicated by this. But He who judges me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord comes who both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the heart. It seems to me a healthy sort of way of looking forward to the judgment seat of Christ is what Paul’s talking about here.
I think that’s absolutely correct. And I would add one other thing. You remember the statement of James He shall have judgment without mercy who has shown no mercy. But mercy rejoices over judgment. Yes. The minute I become aware that at the judgment seat of Christ I’m going to be a big helping of mercy. The way to concentrate is to extend mercy as widely and as generously as I know how to extend it. Because He shall if I want mercy at the judgment seat of Christ I have to be a merciful person. If I’m not a merciful person I’m going to get a very scant amount of mercy from God. Not as that you you judged everybody else by your strict standards. You didn’t give them an ounce of mercy. So I’m gonna go by the book with you. I don’t want that to happen. So instead of retrospective on the past I can’t do anything about it. I can prepare for the future by becoming an increasingly merciful individual. And that’s not as easy to do as it sounds now. Because we encounter a lot of people who rub us the wrong way and do things that we strongly disapprove of. And be merciful in an abundant way is a spiritual enablement from God. But we should focus on it. I think it helps us to get off the introspective track. And the mindset that the Lord Jesus is not only our Savior our Lord but He’s also our judge. And He’s coming soon. If we keep that mindset and live in light of it it makes us more merciful toward others.
Yes. I agree. If I think that tomorrow I would be in the presence of the Lord and waiting for Him to review me then you know.
All right. Well that’s great. One final one final thought. We began this and by the way I didn’t know there was so much in here but this is awesome. This is a great isn’t it? Yeah. I’m gonna preach us a couple of sermons on this one. I do I think so. But what we began talking about Israel. And we had the invitation in verse 3 going out to Israel. And then in verse 7 we have the first century Jews and their city has burned up. And we’re thinking of the Jewish wars. And then we’ve got the invitation now extending out to the Gentile world. And we’re thinking of the church age. We end with no statement about what happens to Israel. And we for that have to go to many other passages. Right. Maybe you could just make a comment about what is the future for the nation of Israel.
Well fortunately we really don’t have to go beyond Matthew for this. In particular the Olivet discourse which takes up the whole matter of the coming of the Lord as it relates to the church and as it relates to Israel.
Right. And so even though that is not a focus of the passage that we have looked at it is not an irrelevant concern for Matthew. And so if we take the whole of Matthew into consideration it seems to me that we will be able to place the destiny of Israel in the proper context. But from this passage alone of course we wouldn’t be able to do that. And so there is an eternal I mean as you know some dispensationalists are actually saying that Israel will be a kingdom in the millennium. And after the millennium there will be one people of God.
I have friends who I graduated from seminary with who are telling you this who believe that olam in the Old Testament forever when it refers to Israel means they get a thousand-year kingdom. And after there’s no more Israel. I don’t know what what’s up with the New Jerusalem if there’s no more Israel. But why is it called the new Israel at the new Detroit or something? But in any regard would not argue be that there’s an eternal kingdom for Israel. And it won’t be for us. We will participate in it. We can be rulers in it. But the kingdom is ultimately going to center from the New Jerusalem from Israel.
Yes. And there are many prophecies in the Old Testament which taken in their historical context and their original meaning promise Israel an eternal destiny. And so if we deny that Israel a distinctive eternal destiny if we transfer promises made to Israel to the church we are not doing justice to the promises that God made to that nation. Of course we wouldn’t be the first people to write the nation off. And what’s going to happen is despite all of the theologies to the contrary God is still going to fulfill His promises to Israel. And the very existence of Israel as a nation today in the land in the land of Palestine should be a red flag that God is going to do this regardless of what people think.
When I first started studying prophecy I heard prophetic teachers say there there has to be a revived nation of Israel. Because the Old Testament predicts that there will be a treaty between the man of sin and the nation of Israel. And you can’t have a treaty with people who are not a nation. That was before 1948. The other then it was roared before 1948. Oh yeah. But in 1948 all that changed. And suddenly there was a nation. There’s been a nation there ever since. And not only did the nation begin again to exist but it recovered the control of Jerusalem in 1967. Yes. And now we’re looking at the possibility of some kind of settlement. What is interesting to me is that some of the leaders themselves have said that it is possible that there might be a truce or for the set down for a period of years like a covenant.
Yes. And if the covenant is for a distinct period of time may very well be called the treaty. All I’m saying here however is that the Old Testament prophecies predict the eternal nature of God’s relationship with Israel. And that insofar as we can watch what is happening today the events of the present time confirm this. And so we don’t really have any grounds for collapsing the distinction between Israel and the church. I think that’s without biblical foundation. Because when the tribulation ends you’re going to have Jews that survive.
Yes. And you see that in Romans 9 10 and 11 there’s a day coming when all Israel will be saved.
That’s right. And so you know we’re looking forward to that day. And it’s we’re glad that the invitation went out to the highways.
That’s right. We are glad. In a sense the appalling truth here is that all this has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles come in. So that’s what this parable said.
Okay. The nation rejected this invitation.
Right right. And God says let’s go out there outside the city and get people. That’s the Gentiles. Bring them in. But of course Paul’s view was that so all Israel will be saved. Because they’ll come out of Zion a deliverer turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
Am I allowed to promote my book?
Yeah. Do it.
Well of course we’re coming out with the little booklet Jesus God’s Prophet His Teaching about the Coming Kingdom. And one of the things we do emphasize as you know because you helped us enormously with the book is that Jesus recognizes the existence of two distinct bodies of people whose relationship to Him is different.
Yes. And that’s part of Matthew. And this book is on Matthew 24 and Matthew 25 called the Olivet Discourse. Because Jesus is teaching from the Mount of Olives.
That’s exact. And your argument in that booklet is that Jesus is indeed the greatest prophet of all time. And that when we see teaching like Jesus is coming again as a thief in the night like we find in Paul and Peter they didn’t make that up. They got it from Jesus.
That’s right. All of the New Testament doctrine about prophecy is rooted in the teaching of Jesus. And the core of that teaching is found in the Olivet discourse.
Yeah. That’s fantastic. Well thank you Zane. This has been a wonderful wonderful discussion. And my hope is that I would be that you would be and that our listeners would be one would be those who are indeed invited to share in this joy inside the banquet hall.
Absolutely. Thanks.
Thank you.