The Wedding Furnished with Guests

In Matthew 22, the king’s servants called those that were bidden to the wedding, “and they would not come” (v. 3). The king answered, “The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy” (v. 8), and then commanded, “Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage” (v. 9). Romans 9–11 is Paul’s exposition of that same movement. Israel was bidden first, yet “to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people” (Rom. 10:21). The invitation did not fail; the guests refused.

But their refusal did not empty the hall. “Through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles” (Rom. 11:11), and the servants “gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests” (Matt. 22:10). Paul speaks of “us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles” (Rom. 9:24). The unwillingness of the first guests cannot frustrate the purpose of the King, nor leave His table bare. God desires a full house, and He is filling it: “blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in” (Rom. 11:25).

Yet the message to Israel is not closed. “A remnant shall be saved” (Rom. 9:27), for “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (Rom. 11:29). The God who widened the invitation to the highways has not withdrawn it from the first guests: “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom. 10:13). Paul’s own burden shows the heart of the King: “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved” (Rom. 10:1). Both Jew and Gentile stand on mercy alone, for “God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all” (Rom. 11:32). The parable adds its sober note, “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matt. 22:14), so the call must be pressed. The church therefore goes to the highways with an open hand, because God's heart is to fill His kingdom, “and so all Israel shall be saved” (Rom. 11:26).