‘And they would not come.’ It is almost amazing. You say, it is not true to life. No, but the illustration has to be stretched to do justice to how man behaves towards God. Why not go? This will be a lavish occasion. There is no charge for admission. Wonderful delicacies and delights are available, yet all are given freely. This is how they treat the prince, the soon-to-be ruler. How foolish to insult one who is so powerful! Their possible future fortunes will be dashed. We insult God; we daydream under the preaching of the gospel and do not take it seriously, yet we depend on God for life and health. He is the one who will be our judge. We hold in contempt what Christ did on the cross – the message and way of salvation. They were not interested in meeting the king’s son or his bride. We have the word of God. God inviting us to come to him and we are only interested in the passing things of this world. A great many are called who are never converted. ‘To call them that were bidden.’ Now we send off a single invitation. Then, many invitations.
Obviously they are hostile to the king. They thought they could get away with it; they thought the king was a soft touch, and could be insulted without any consequences. This was an invitation from the king, and yet they refused him. Surely he had a reputation for being so patient, or else they would not have dared treat him with such contempt. We hear God’s message – ‘Seek me and find me’ – and we won’t come. ‘If he is there’, we say, ‘he is benevolent and he won’t mind.’ It is a mirror of us. We refuse to believe in him seriously, and in our pride we think we can be happy without him.
According to custom, those who were to be invited had a prior invitation. We have all had a prior warning. We have all heard of a holy God or at least have an awareness of the being of God. We all have a knowledge of God within us. Then comes a time when we learn more about God than that inkling: that God has made arrangements for forgiveness. How gracious is this invitation! Sinful people, cut off from God, are heading away from him, and there is lavished upon them the opportunity to come to this great feast. In the parable, it is ordinary citizens who are invited to the wedding of the king’s son; these are his subjects. This king is ready to condescend to all in his realm.
Participation at the wedding feast is by invitation. No one just decides they will come. The kingdom of heaven is not entered by birth, and not by all people. Even in Old Testament times when God dealt with a single nation and promised to bless the physical descendants of Abraham, this was still true. Every Jew had to believe as Abraham believed, if that blessing was to extend to the world to come. Universal salvation is an idea made up by men but it is not in the Bible. The idea is this: ‘If there is a God, there is nothing to fear; he will save all. Don’t believe in the idea of hell and a day of judgment. All will be accepted, except maybe the very worst, the Adolf Hitlers of this world.’ But you cannot find a verse in Scripture that supports that idea; Christ says the opposite, and he says it again and again. Those who teach this, dispose of the human race’s accountability to God. They dispose of it either by atheism, or by teaching the kind of a God who is not holy and does not really care how we live. No, he is bound to punish the wicked, and only if he freely forgives can we have hope. Salvation comes only by Christ finding a way to take our penalty himself, and that is what he has done. He has made an atonement for all who come to him, all who are his and who trust in him. In this parable we have people who are punished and judged, as well as people who are blessed. Some will find and know him, and some will be shut out. Some come and find salvation from their sin in Christ. They belong to him. This is what receiving an invitation to the wedding banquet and responding to it signifies. Preachers have liked to take this banquet picture as all benefits we receive.