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Your Wedding Invitation--
read this column first...

“The kingdom of heaven is like a King, that made a marriage for his Son, and He sent his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: but they would not come.” Matt 22:2.

This parable was spoken by Christ in the last week of his life and is especially relevant for the end-time period of seven years.  Until now, most people in western societies have not been too interested in the kingdom of heaven because money has met most of their needs and government has promised to meet the rest of it—health care, education, welfare, and people have been free to marry or divorce whomever they please so their “needs” can be met.

But life is changing. Things will never be the same again. What’s happening will be like the “great voice as of a trumpet” that separates the past, present and future, Revelation 1:10,19.  The scenes of Revelation are beginning.

America has been like the church of Laodicea, “rich and increased with goods and in need of nothing,” but God says we are lukewarm and will be spewed out. It happened to the ancient church in Asia—the city was destroyed with an earthquake. History has lessons that repeat.

Because America in general, and some groups in particular, have not been interested in the wedding invitation when they should be, the king “burned up their city.” Matt 22:7. Perhaps we can see in the destruction that is happening, a need to refocus our attention on things that are eternal and cannot be taken from us.

The Bible asks, “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.” But with God, “all things are possible.” And it will be His truths that separate us into the wise who get into the marriage in Matthew 25:10, or the foolish who aren’t prepared—they don’t have oil (that comes from study of the Bible, Zechariah 4:3,14) to light their lamp and see the way.

But if you will follow this message with your Bible and look up texts to see the basis for what is being said, any who choose may be included, even “bad and good,” Matthew 22:10.

In the next verse we find a man who wasn’t wearing the wedding garment provided by the king, so that he was thrown out. The Bible explains that our loins are to be girded with truth, Ephesians 6:14. “Your word (Scripture) is truth,” John 17:17. What we do should be covered by Scripture so that we are wearing the wedding garment.

This does not mean we are cut out if we ignorantly make mistakes, for the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commands all men every where to repent because he has appointed a day, in which he will judge the world.” Acts 17:30,31. We are entering that time of judgment and must repent (change our minds and ways of doing things) so that our lives are shaped by God’s laws which has principles of self-government.

It is coming down to a choice of big government that will tell everyone what to do, how and when to do it (bondage), or freedom in God’s kingdom live in harmony with His laws that mean true equality and worth of every person as Moses said--

“What nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law?” Deuteronomy 4:8.  How surprised a heathen spy might have been if he could have crept into the Most Holy Place of Israel’s temple in the time of Solomon. He might have discovered that the secret of Israel’s success and prosperity was not an idol studded with gems, but a law that had principles of fairness for every situation in life.

In a world going crazy and falling apart with lawlessness and rebellion, here is wisdom and fairness for all, for God is no respecter of persons. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ…And if you are Christ's, you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:28,29.

The wedding invitation is a call to be part of God’s kingdom. “In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom,” Daniel 2:44.  This kingdom is at the end of the world, in the toes of time as Daniel sees a stone cut out of a mountain. In Daniel, mountain represents God’s people, Jerusalem, Dan 9:16,20. Everyone believes they are God’s people, but God is going to cut a stone out of these groups to be His special kingdom. It will be composed of those who choose to base their lives on His laws.

If we choose, “the Bridegroom comes” for us and we may marry Him in a covenant relationship. That’s how Israel did it when they came out of Egypt and went to Sinai. God said, “if ye will obey my voice in deed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure… And ye shall be unto me a kingdom,” Exodus 19:5,6.  They accepted the covenant and God later said, “I am married unto you,” Jeremiah 3:14.

The times ahead will test us and our faithfulness to the covenant and we will learn more, but we also learn by sharing, even as light gets greater by sharing what we have. Step one for us: The King “sent his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding.” We become His servants by inviting others to consider the invitation. 

May God bless and guide us as we seek to conform our lives to His principles in these troublous times when the kingdoms of this world are falling apart and have nothing to offer us except empty promises now, and a New World Order that will soon force everyone against God’s will as shown in Revelation 13:17.

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Wedding Parables for Endtime, Revelation

Wedding parables support our need to invite others to the wedding and for us to have light showing how we get there. We may marry the Bridegroom by making a covenant.
Each wedding parable supports

  1. An invitation that we must give

  2. An unexpected calamity

  3. High reward

  4. Loss of destiny for preachers that don't participate

Keywords: Wedding parables, Revelation, prophecy, end times, earthquake

Ask your pastor or Sunday School teacher how many wedding parables there are in the Bible. Most know about the 10 virgins in Matthew 25; some may know about the wedding garment in Matthew 22, but none that I’ve asked know about Luke 12:32-48--“wedding” is mentioned once.

1. All three wedding parables support the need to invite others and for us to have light showing the way (how we marry the Bridegroom).

   A.  The King who makes a marriage for His Son sends His servants to bid everyone ("bad and good," Matt 22:10) to the marriage.

   B.  The wise have light to show the way. The foolish do not and go looking for oil, Matt 25:9. (They lack oil from the Old Testament olive tree, Zechariah 4:3,14. Christians focus on N.T.

   C. "Lights burning" is parallel imagery in Luke 12:35.

2. All three wedding parables have an unexpected calamity.

   A. In Matt 22:7, the "remnant" had their city burned for failing to appreciate the invitation. It’s more than 70 AD, because Christ blended the temple signs with “end of the world,” Matt 24:3.

   B. Christ is the word (John 1:1,14) and He is also “the First and the Last,” Revelation 1:11. The first place that a word or phrase is found often has a meaning or context for the end-time. Using this rule, the midnight cry in Matt 25:6 is linked to calamity at Passover, Exodus 12:29,30.

   C. We are to be ready "that when He comes and knocks, [we] may open to Him immediately." Luke 12:36. What's His "knock"? With the Bible as it's own expositor, the only other place that Christ knocks is in Revelation 3:20, for the church of Laodicea. We think Jesus always knocks at our heart, wanting to be part of all we do.

We forget He wanted His church to repent of their materialism and lukewarmness. The church ended in an earthquake; a sign for us? No one denies that the description of the church at Laodicea fits us.

"What is to come has been already, and God summons each event back in its turn." Ecclesiastes 3:15, NEB.

3. All three wedding parables offer high reward, but a loss in destiny for church leaders.

   A. We see this in 70 AD when the temple burned, but Christ mingled those signs as also being for the end of the world in Matthew 24:1-3. Would God do such a thing for America that tries to bless the world?  Maybe we are like that lukewarm materialistic church. We forget our slight of the wedding invitation. We think about the 2nd coming when we hope to eat the wedding supper, but we are ignorant of Bible teaching on how the wedding occurs (explained below), and church leaders failed to inform us.

   B. Change in leadership is also suggested in the imagery of "Go to them that sell [oil]." Matt 25:9. The ministry studies Scripture and distills it as oil for the church. Earning their living doing so, they are "them that sell," but in Christ’s parable, they weren’t going to the wedding, and those who ask them for their input will arrive too late. This is not a good picture for preachers.

   C. Luke's wedding parable has four groups, Luke 12:43-48.

        1. The "little flock" that is “so doing when He comes” are made "ruler over all that He has" Luke 12:44.

        2. The evil servant who thinks delay and smites fellow servants is lost as unbelievers, Luke 12:45,46. This is New World Order forcing compliance by marking everyone, Revelation 13:17.

        3. The ministry "that knew his Lord's will and prepared not"...shall be beaten with many stripes, Luke 12:47.

        4. Church members they did not inform "that knew not...shall be beaten with few stripes."

Confirmation: The aggelos (messenger or preacher to the lukewarm church of Laodicea) is “naked.” Naked means he is not wearing a wedding garment and will be thrown out, Matthew 22:11-13. These are parallel passages--Luke’s wedding parable has six parallels with the message to Laodicea, so this is all about the wedding. We compare Scripture, "here a little, there a little." Isaiah 28:10.

In Amos 1, Israel cheers as God promises to punish their enemies, but their joy soon turns to sorry as God promises them punishment also for "three transgressions or for four." Every denomination today has at least three or four areas that they are not following the light. God's movement in the end-time must transcend denominational lines.

Our actions choose the group we want to be in:

“By faith Noah…by faith Moses…” None of them knew except they had the word of God, and He “will not do anything [except] He reveals His secret…” Amos 3:7. We must be like Bereans who studied to see if Scripture supports it. "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin," Romans 14:23.

The King's servants bid to the marriage and have light to show the way. If we aren’t inviting others and don’t have light to show how we can marry the Bridegroom, we’re not included

So how do we marry the Bridegroom?

When Christ said, “Search the Scriptures…they testify of Me,” the only Scriptures in existence were the Old Testament. There we see God appealing to Israel to turn to Him, “I am married to you,” Jeremiah 3:14. When did they get married?

God took Israel from calamity in Egypt to a covenant relationship at Sinai. That's how they got married, and became His kingdom. “All those things happened unto them for examples [types, margin] and they are written for our admonition…ends of the world” 1Corinthians 10:1,11. We are headed for calamity, as shown above, #2, but we can marry Christ if we make a covenant with Him when He "knocks" if we "open to Him immediately," Luke 12:36.

If you wish to consider more information on how the "knock" is an earthquake,  please read this article and return here.

This has been a lot to consider. Please visit again to read the next column when your "digestion" of this has cleared.

As John the Baptist was a forerunner before the first advent and fulfilled the role of Elijah, Christ spoke of His 2nd advent, "Elijah truly shall first come, and restore all things," Matthew 17:11. The intent of our focus is to consider truths that have been lost and consider how we may help to restore them. (Next column).

One important truth for end-time that we overlook is the "appointed times" that God instituted to teach truths in His plan of salvation.

Passover was when God said, "I will execute judgment." Exodus 12:12. Judgment fell on Jericho in the context of unleavened bread (Passover) in Joshua 5:11-13. Sodom also received judgment in that context, Gen 19:3.

The disciples were probably thinking "Passover" for the judgments that Christ said would come at the end of the world (their question in Matt 24:3) when three times He said, "You don't know the day or hour..."

#1. The Greek word, eido, does not mean can't know, won't know, never know. It means "be aware, consider, understand or perceive. Christ was saying, You don't understand, or It's not like you think... and each time He said it, He gave an example that fit a provision in their law for Passover one month later, like for travel, or

#2. "As in the days of Noah," the Flood came with Passover timing, but in the 2nd spring month, Gen 7:4,11. These provision for 2nd Passover were based on Numbers 9:10,11

#3. You don't know...but if the goodman had known...he would have watched and not suffered his house to be broken..." Matt 24:43. To see how this clue fit 2nd Passover, 2009, visit http://www.PopesVisit.net

#4. The pope's Jerusalem visit last year at 2nd Passover (above link) suggests the possibility that Christ's final example, His coming at Bridegroom, could come at 2nd Passover this year, 2010, because after telling us to watch (be awake on the eve of Passover as those appointed times enjoined (Exod 12:11,42) and as He asked His followers (Matt 26:38-41) and as He later said, "If you don't watch [be awake], I will come on you as a thief" Rev 3:3.

 

 

*Passover is considered by many to begin at the even of the 14th day from when green ears of barely are found on a new moon in spring. Others go by the first new moon after the equinox. Using this latter rule with the clues Christ gave for 2nd Passover, it would begin on the evening of May 29. Readers are encouraged to "watch and pray" on that evening that God will "passover" us in any judgments that may fall as His appointed time of judgment. Exod 12:12

 

 

 

For an excellent paper, "The Gospel According to Moses and Elijah" by a Professor of Hebrew at Andrews University, please click Gospel

If you would like the 7 Seals--7 topics that are emphasized 7 times in Scripture as a mark of end-time truth, please send an email to Ruhling7@juno.com  There is no charge for this material that offers a basis for the covenant we must make with Christ as Bridegroom.