We know from other passages of Scripture that those who refuse God’s invitation to come to the wedding feast designed for His Son really cannot come, for they are dead in their trespasses and sins (Eph. 2: 1). In fact, Our Lord said on one occasion, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6: 44). So, it would be easy to conclude that it was not really the case that these invitees would not come; rather, they could not come because their hearts needed to be changed so that they would have a desire or disposition to come. That is all true, but it is also true that we cannot do what we will not do. Thus, there is a sense in which these people could not come to the feast precisely because they would not.
Every person in every moment of decision chooses according to his strongest inclination at the moment. This is the free will spoken of in Scripture. That is, no one ever does something that, in the final analysis, he does not want to do.
The ones who were invited to the king’s feast were not willing to come. That they were unable to will otherwise in no way removes from them their duty to come. In modern evangelicalism, the customary way of doing evangelism is to invite people to place their trust in Christ. However, that concept is quite foreign to Scripture. God does not invite people to come to Christ; He commands them to come. The invitation in Jesus’ parable was no different. The invitees were given a royal summons and it was their duty to obey.
The invitees indifference to the King as they tended to worldly matters and outright hatred of some provoked a righteously vengeful response from the king whose patience had been exhausted. Nevertheless, the king would not be thwarted for it was his express desire that his son should be honored and that every particular seat made available be taken at his wedding feast. If the original invitees were not interested in coming or were violently opposed to the king, still the king would find people who would come to the wedding feast.
By the way, this portion of the parable of the wedding feast had much in common with some of Jesus’ previous teachings since His triumphal entry. It showed once again that those who had been entrusted with the kingdom—Israel’s priests, elders, scribes, etc.—had forfeited their place by rejecting the King, Jesus Himself. Therefore, the kingdom would be taken from them and given to others.
Note from the parable that the last group of servants went out to the highway and invited whomever they found there, good or bad, to come to the king’s banquet. Now these people were delighted to come, so they hurriedly prepared themselves. Yet when the guests were assembled together and the king came amongst them, he encountered one man who had come in without proper attire.
If we are not clothed in the righteousness of Christ, we will not be welcome at the wedding feast of the Lamb in heaven, because all of our righteousness, the Bible says, is like filthy rags (Isa. 64: 6). Ours is an alien righteousness, that of Another, not of ourselves. We can enter the kingdom of heaven only if we are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, which is imputed to all who believe (Zech. 3: 3-4).
When confronted by the King the improperly clothed man could offer up no excuses, but was speechless, just as Scripture teaches about man’s silence before the tribunal of God on judgment day (Ps. 76: 8-9; Zeph. 1: 7; Zech. 2: 13).
Finally in Matthew 22: 14 we find that from the parable the many are called means that many have been invited to the wedding feast. But not all those invited are actually the ones who are supposed to be there, because few are chosen. This is the general call or the outward call: the gospel is proclaimed to all people everywhere, both those who will believe and those who will not.
However, Paul also mentions another kind of calling, the effective call or inward call from God that comes powerfully to individuals and always brings a positive response. When the gospel is proclaimed, only some are inwardly called—those who are the elect—who respond with true faith (1 Cor. 1: 24, 26-28). This is consistent with Our Lord’s statement that “few are chosen,” for the ones “chosen” (eklektos, “selected, chosen”) are the elect, a term used by Jesus to refer to his true disciples (Matt. 11: 27; 24: 22, 24, 31).
The ones who were invited to the king’s feast were not willing to come. That they were unable to will otherwise in no way removes from them their duty to come. In modern evangelicalism, the customary way of doing evangelism is to invite people to place their trust in Christ. However, that concept is quite foreign to Scripture. God does not invite people to come to Christ; He commands them to come. The invitation in Jesus’ parable was no different. The invitees were given a royal summons and it was their duty to obey.
By the way, this portion of the parable of the wedding feast had much in common with some of Jesus’ previous teachings since His triumphal entry. It showed once again that those who had been entrusted with the kingdom—Israel’s priests, elders, scribes, etc.—had forfeited their place by rejecting the King, Jesus Himself. Therefore, the kingdom would be taken from them and given to others, all kinds of others from other nations.
Note also from the parable that the last group of servants went out to the highway and invited whomever they found there, good or bad, to come to the king’s banquet. Now these people were delighted to come, so they hurriedly prepared themselves. Yet when the guests were assembled together and the king came amongst them, he encountered one man who had come in without proper attire.
If we are not clothed in the righteousness of Christ, we will not be welcome at the wedding feast of the Lamb in heaven, because all of our righteousness, the Bible says, is like filthy rags (Isa. 64: 6). Ours is an alien righteousness, that of Another, not of ourselves. We can enter the kingdom of heaven only if we are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, which is imputed to all who believe (Zech. 3: 3-4).
When confronted by the King the improperly clothed man could offer up no excuses, but was speechless, just as Scripture teaches about man’s silence before the tribunal of God on judgment day (Ps. 76: 8-9; Zeph. 1: 7; Zech. 2: 13).
Finally in Matthew 22: 14 we find that from the parable the many are called means that many have been invited to the wedding feast. But not all those invited are actually the ones who are supposed to be there, because few are chosen. This is the general call or the outward call: the gospel is proclaimed to all people everywhere, both those who will believe and those who will not.
However, Paul also mentions another kind of calling, the effective call or inward call from God that comes powerfully to individuals and brings a positive response. When the gospel is proclaimed, only some are inwardly called—those who are the elect—who respond with true faith (1 Cor. 1: 24, 26-28). This is consistent with Our Lord’s statement that “few are chosen,” for the ones “chosen” (eklektos, “selected, chosen”) are the elect, a term used by Jesus to refer to his true disciples (Matt. 11: 27; 24: 22, 24, 31). The man in the wrong attire was one of the professors of faith that does not possess the faith.
