#DailyDevotion There’s No Good Thing Left When You Refuse Christ
Matt. 22:1-14 Again Jesus used parables in talking to them. He said: 2“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding for his son. 3He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding, but they refused to come. 4Then he sent other slaves and said to them, “Tell the people who are invited, “Look! I prepared my dinner. My bulls and fattened calves are killed, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding.” 5“But they paid no attention and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, 6and the rest took his slaves, shamefully mistreated them, and murdered them.7“The king became angry. He sent his soldiers and they killed those murderers and burned their city.
Who is them? Well we see in the previous chapter it is the chief priests and Pharisees. Jesus is really laying down the Law hard on these guys. But Jesus isn’t doing that just to put them in their place and to insult them. They too were made in his image and likeness. They too are going to be redeemed and ransomed by his blood. Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for their sins and their propitiation of their sins as well as us. Jesus is trying to call these guys to repentance.
This parable is indeed told against them to warn them and to call them to faith in the Son of Man. So what is the kingdom of Heaven like? It is like a king who prepared a wedding for his son. Fairly plainly, the king is the Father. The son is none other than Jesus Christ. The wedding is the union of the Son with his Bride, the Church, i.e. Israel. Throughout Israel’s history, the Father has been preparing for the day of this wedding. He has been sending the prophets in succession to call Israel and Judah to repentance from their stiff-necked ways, their idolatrous ways, and the wicked and evil ways that followed.
But what happened? The Israelites and the Jews mocked the prophets. They beat the prophets. They ignored the prophets and went on making money as usual, often to the detriment of their fellow Israelites. Some of these prophets they even murdered. Eventually, they even murdered the Son, Jesus Christ, but that was the Father’s plan to redeem them from their sins. After the resurrection, they continued to persecute those whom the Father sent to call them to the wedding feast of the Lamb. They imprisoned the apostles, killed other Christians, like Stephen. They pursued the apostle Paul and sought his death. The continued to use Rome to persecute the Christians until they hung themselves in rebellion. Yes, the LORD, the Father, sent the Roman armies to kill those murderers and burned their city in 70 AD. He used them again as they continued in their unrepentance in the Bar Kochba rebellion in the second century. The Father depopulated the area of Judea of these unbelieving Jews who treated his Son and those who followed the Son.
Now this is a warming to us as well. If the Father would do this to the people who were to be his people yet rebelled against his Son, what would he do to us foreigners of the kingdom who having received the gift salvation from him and then later turn away from him and reject the invitation? What will he do to those who reject and mistreat those he sends with the good news of Jesus Christ? Won’t he utterly destroy us as well? Let us then take heed, give blessings to those who bless us with the Gospel and receive it with joy.
Heavenly Father, may we, when we hear the good news of Jesus Christ, rejoice in this good news and remain faithful to Christ until his resurrection. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.