Wedding Clothes

Matthew chapter 22 records the story of Jesus and the Great Wedding Feast. In the story, the King prepares a great wedding for his Son. When the time had come, the King sent out invitations to those who had been invited, but the original recipients of the invitation refused to come and offered various excuses to the King's messengers.

The King sent out an even more urgent message to those who had been previously invited, but they again refused to attend the wedding of the King's Son.

Matthew 22:4-6 (NLT)

“So he sent other servants to tell them, ‘The feast has been prepared. The bulls and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the banquet!’

5  But the guests he had invited ignored them and went their own way, one to his farm, another to his business. 6  Others seized his messengers and insulted them and killed them.

The previous guests (the Jewish people who refused to receive Jesus as Messiah) have ignored the King and have now killed the King’s messengers. The King is furious and announces a plan to invite everyone in the Kingdom (the whole earth) to the Son’s Wedding and Banquet.

Matthew 22:7-10 (NLT)

“The king was furious, and he sent out his army to destroy the murderers and burn their town. 8  And he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren’t worthy of the honor. 9  Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see.’ 10  So the servants brought in everyone they could find, good and bad alike, and the banquet hall was filled with guests.

Everyone was invited, and the Wedding Banquet was prepared. But something strange then happens in Jesus’ story. The King enters the banquet and finds someone without the proper Wedding Clothes.

Matthew 22:11-12 (NLT)

“But when the king came in to meet the guests, he noticed a man who wasn’t wearing the proper clothes for a wedding. 12  ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how is it that you are here without wedding clothes?’ But the man had no reply.

The King removes the man who is not dressed in proper Wedding Clothes from the banquet and casts him out into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Jesus is telling this entire story/parable to describe the Kingdom of Heaven. Do you understand why the man without the proper Wedding Clothes was thrown out of the banquet and what this story has to do with the Kingdom of Heaven?

Yes, everyone was invited. But there is something required to attend this wedding, something more than an invitation. Wedding Clothes! You must be dressed in the proper Wedding Clothes to participate in the Wedding of the King’s Son in the Kingdom of Heaven.

God, the King, has invited the whole world to come to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb, Jesus. This story represents salvation in the Kingdom of Heaven. But what about the Wedding Clothes? What should we wear to the wedding of the King’s Son? There is only one garment that will be allowed inside this heavenly wedding banquet. Our shameful nakedness must be covered by the righteousness of Christ to enter the wedding banquet.

At the cross, the robe of Jesus was removed from his body. Jesus’ discarded robe represents the covering of a perfect man, the only perfect man who ever lived on the earth. Jesus willingly took off that robe of perfection and became the sin of all humanity.

In that moment, a Wedding Garment, suitable for the wedding of the King’s Son, was made available to the whole world. By faith in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, a garment that could cover the shameful nakedness of man was offered to the world.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NLT)

For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

I understand that I must take off my sin (shameful nakedness) and put on the Righteousness of Christ to obtain entry to this wedding banquet. By faith in Jesus, I receive the Wedding Clothes for the soon approaching wedding banquet.

Matthew 22:14 (NLT)

“For many are called, but few are chosen.”

I am overwhelmed with joy that the King of all Creation has invited me to the Wedding of His Divine Son, Jesus.

Isaiah 61:10 (NLT)

I am overwhelmed with joy in the LORD my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with her jewels.

Maranatha, Hosanna, Hallelujah and Amen,

Terry Cooper

Lead Minister