Welcome to Without A Wedding Garment chapter of Christ’s Object Lessons
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WITHOUT A WEDDING GARMENT
The parable of the wedding garment opens before us a lesson of the highest
consequence. By the marriage is represented the union of humanity with divinity;
the wedding garment represents the character which all must possess who shall
be accounted fit guests for the wedding.
In this parable, as in that of the great supper, are illustrated the gospel invitation,
its rejection by the Jewish people, and the call of mercy to the Gentiles. But on
the part of those who reject the invitation, this parable brings to view a deeper
insult and a more dreadful punishment. The call to the feast is a king’s invitation.
It proceeds from one who is vested with power to command. It confers high
honor. Yet the honor is unappreciated. The king’s authority is despised. While the
householder’s invitation was regarded with indifference, the king’s is met with
insult and murder. They treated his servants with scorn, despitefully using them
and slaying them.
The householder, on seeing his invitation slighted, declared that none of the men
who are bidden should taste of his supper. But for those who had done despite to
the king, more than exclusion from his presence and his table is decreed. “He
sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.”
In both parables the feast is provided with guests, but the second shows that
there is a preparation to be made by all who attend the feast. Those who neglect
this preparation are cast out. “The king came in to see the guests,” and “saw
there a man which had not on a wedding garment; and he saith unto him, Friend,
how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was
speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take
him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth.”
The call to the feast had been given by Christ’s disciples. Our Lord had sent out
the twelve and afterward the seventy, proclaiming that the kingdom of God was
at hand, and calling upon men to repent and believe the gospel. But the call was
not heeded. Those who are bidden to the feast did not come. The servants were
sent out later to say, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my
fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.” This was
the message borne to the Jewish nation after the crucifixion of Christ; but the
nation that claimed to be God’s peculiar people rejected the gospel brought to
them in the power of the Holy Spirit. Many did this in the most scornful manner.
Others were so exasperated by the offer of salvation, the offer of pardon for
rejecting the Lord of glory, that they turned upon the bearers of the message.
There was “a great persecution.” Acts 8:1. Many both of men and women were
thrust into prison, and some of the Lord’s messengers, as Stephen and James,
were put to death.
Thus the Jewish people sealed their rejection of God’s mercy. The result was
foretold by Christ in the parable. The king “sent forth his armies, and destroyed
those murderers, and burned up their city.” The judgment pronounced came
upon the Jews in the destruction of Jerusalem and the scattering of the nation.
The third call to the feast represents the giving of the gospel to the Gentiles. The
king said, “The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the
marriage.”
The king’s servants who went out into the highways “gathered together all as
many as they found, both bad and good.” It was a mixed company. Some of
them had no more real regard for the giver of the feast than had the ones who
rejected the call. The class first bidden could not afford, they thought, to sacrifice
any worldly advantage for the sake of attending the king’s banquet. And of those
who accepted the invitation, there were some who thought only of benefiting
themselves. They came to share the provisions of the feast, but had no desire to
honor the king.
When the king came in to view the guests, the real character of all was revealed.
For every guest at the feast there had been provided a wedding garment. This
garment was a gift from the king. By wearing it the guests showed their respect
for the giver of the feast. But one man was clothed in his common citizen dress.
He had refused to make the preparation required by the king. The garment
provided for him at great cost he disdained to wear. Thus he insulted his lord. To
the king’s demand, “How camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?”
he could answer nothing. He was self-condemned. Then the king said, “Bind him
hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness.”
By the king’s examination of the guests at the feast is represented a work of
judgment. The guests at the gospel feast are those who profess to serve God,
those whose names are written in the book of life. But not all who profess to be
Christians are true disciples. Before the final reward is given, it must be decided
who are fitted to share the inheritance of the righteous. This decision must be
made prior to the second coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven; for when He
comes, His reward is with Him, “to give every man according as his work shall
be.” Revelation 22:12. Before His coming, then, the character of every man’s
work will have been determined, and to every one of Christ’s followers the reward
will have been apportioned according to his deeds.
It is while men are still dwelling upon the earth that the work of investigative
judgment takes place in the courts of heaven. The lives of all His professed
followers pass in review before God. All are examined according to the record of
the books of heaven, and according to his deeds the destiny of each is forever
fixed.
By the wedding garment in the parable is represented the pure, spotless
character which Christ’s true followers will possess. To the church it is given “that
she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white,” “not having spot, or wrinkle,
or any such thing.” Revelation 19:8; Ephesians 5:27. The fine linen, says the
Scripture, “is the righteousness of saints.” Revelation 19:8. It is the righteousness
of Christ, His own unblemished character, that through faith is imparted to all who
receive Him as their personal Saviour.
The white robe of innocence was worn by our first parents when they were
placed by God in holy Eden. They lived in perfect conformity to the will of God. All
the strength of their affections was given to their heavenly Father. A beautiful soft
light, the light of God, enshrouded the holy pair. This robe of light was a symbol
of their spiritual garments of heavenly innocence. Had they remained true to God
it would ever have continued to enshroud them. But when sin entered, they
severed their connection with God, and the light that had encircled them
departed. Naked and ashamed, they tried to supply the place of the heavenly
garments by sewing together fig leaves for a covering.
This is what the transgressors of God’s law have done ever since the day of
Adam and Eve’s disobedience. They have sewed together fig leaves to cover the
nakedness caused by transgression. They have worn the garments of their own
devising, by works of their own they have tried to cover their sins, and make
themselves acceptable with God.
But this they can never do. Nothing can man devise to supply the place of his lost
robe of innocence. No fig-leaf garment, no worldly citizen dress, can be worn by
those who sit down with Christ and angels at the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Only the covering which Christ Himself has provided can make us meet to
appear in God’s presence. This covering, the robe of His own righteousness,
Christ will put upon every repenting, believing soul. “I counsel thee,” He says, “to
buy of Me . . . white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of
thy nakedness do not appear.” Revelation 3:18.
This robe, woven in the loom of heaven, has in it not one thread of human
devising. Christ in His humanity wrought out a perfect character, and this
character He offers to impart to us. “All our righteousness are as filthy rags.”
Isaiah 64:6. Everything that we of ourselves can do is defiled by sin. But the Son
of God “was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin.” Sin is
defined to be “the transgression of the law.” 1 John 3:5, 4. But Christ was
obedient to every requirement of the law. He said of Himself, “I delight to do Thy
will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart.” Psalm 40:8. When on earth, He
said to His disciples, “I have kept My Father’s commandments.” John 15:10.
By His perfect obedience He has made it possible for every human being to obey
God’s commandments. When we submit ourselves to Christ, the heart is united
with His heart, the will is merged in His will, the mind becomes one with His mind,
the thoughts are brought into captivity to Him; we live His life. This is what it
means to be clothed with the garment of His righteousness. Then as the Lord
looks upon us He sees, not the fig-leaf garment, not the nakedness and deformity
of sin, but His own robe of righteousness, which is perfect obedience to the law
of Jehovah.
The guests at the marriage feast were inspected by the king. Only those were
accepted who had obeyed his requirements and put on the wedding garment. So
it is with the guests at the gospel feast. All must pass the scrutiny of the great
King, and only those are received who have put on the robe of Christ’s
righteousness.
Righteousness is right doing, and it is by their deeds that all will be judged. Our
characters are revealed by what we do. The works show whether the faith is
genuine.
It is not enough for us to believe that Jesus is not an impostor, and that the
religion of the Bible is no cunningly devised fable. We may believe that the name
of Jesus is the only name under heaven whereby man may be saved, and yet we
may not through faith make Him our personal Saviour. It is not enough to believe
the theory of truth. It is not enough to make a profession of faith in Christ and
have our names registered on the church roll. “He that keepeth His
commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in him. And hereby we know that He
abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us.” “Hereby we do know that we
know Him if we keep His commandments.” 1 John 3:24; 2:3. This is the genuine
evidence of conversion. Whatever our profession, it amounts to nothing unless
Christ is revealed in works of righteousness.
The truth is to be planted in the heart. It is to control the mind and regulate the
affections. The whole character must be stamped with the divine utterances.
Every jot and tittle of the word of God is to be brought into the daily practice.
He who becomes a partaker of the divine nature will be in harmony with God’s
great standard of righteousness, His holy law. This is the rule by which God
measures the actions of men. This will be the test of character in the judgment.
There are many who claim that by the death of Christ the law was abrogated; but
in this they contradict Christ’s own words, “Think not that I am come to destroy
the law, or the prophets. . . . Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall
in no wise pass from the law.” Matthew 5:17, 18. It was to atone for man’s
transgression of the law that Christ laid down His life. Could the law have been
changed or set aside, then Christ need not have died. By His life on earth He
honored the law of God. By His death He established it. He gave His life as a
sacrifice, not to destroy God’s law, not to create a lower standard, but that justice
might be maintained, that the law might be shown to be immutable, that it might
stand fast forever.
Satan had claimed that it was impossible for man to obey God’s commandments;
and in our own strength it is true that we cannot obey them. But Christ came in
the form of humanity, and by His perfect obedience He proved that humanity and
divinity combined can obey every one of God’s precepts.
“As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God,
even to them that believe on His name.” John 1:12. This power is not in the
human agent. It is the power of God. When a soul receives Christ, he receives
power to live the life of Christ.
God requires perfection of His children. His law is a transcript of His own
character, and it is the standard of all character. This infinite standard is
presented to all that there may be no mistake in regard to the kind of people
whom God will have to compose His kingdom. The life of Christ on earth was a
perfect expression of God’s law, and when those who claim to be children of God
become Christlike in character, they will be obedient to God’s commandments.
Then the Lord can trust them to be of the number who shall compose the family
of heaven. Clothed in the glorious apparel of Christ’s righteousness, they have a
place at the King’s feast. They have a right to join the blood-washed throng.
The man who came to the feast without a wedding garment represents the
condition of many in our world today. They profess to be Christians, and lay claim
to the blessings and privileges of the gospel; yet they feel no need of a
transformation of character. They have never felt true repentance for sin. They do
not realize their need of Christ or exercise faith in Him. They have not overcome
their hereditary or cultivated tendencies to wrongdoing. Yet they think that they
are good enough in themselves, and they rest upon their own merits instead of
trusting in Christ. Hearers of the word, they come to the banquet, but they have
not put on the robe of Christ’s righteousness.
Many who call themselves Christians are mere human moralists. They have
refused the gift which alone could enable them to honor Christ by representing
Him to the world. The work of the Holy Spirit is to them a strange work. They are
not doers of the word. The heavenly principles that distinguish those who are one
with Christ from those who are one with the world have become almost
indistinguishable. The professed followers of Christ are no longer a separate and
peculiar people. The line of demarcation is indistinct. The people are
subordinating themselves to the world, to its practices, its customs, its
selfishness. The church has gone over to the world in transgression of the law,
when the world should have come over to the church in obedience to the law.
Daily the church is being converted to the world.
All these expect to be saved by Christ’s death, while they refuse to live His
self-sacrificing life. They extol the riches of free grace, and attempt to cover
themselves with an appearance of righteousness, hoping to screen their defects
of character; but their efforts will be of no avail in the day of God.
The righteousness of Christ will not cover one cherished sin. A man may be a
law-breaker in heart; yet if he commits no outward act of transgression, he may
be regarded by the world as possessing great integrity. But God’s law looks into
the secrets of the heart. Every act is judged by the motives that prompt it.
Only that which is in accord with the principles of God’s law will stand in the judgment.
God is love. He has shown that love in the gift of Christ. When “He gave His only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life,” He withheld nothing from His purchased possession. (John
3:16.) He gave all heaven, from which we may draw strength and efficiency, that
we be not repulsed or overcome by our great adversary. But the love of God
does not lead Him to excuse sin. He did not excuse it in Satan; He did not excuse
it in Adam or in Cain; nor will He excuse it in any other of the children of men. He
will not connive at our sins or overlook our defects of character. He expects us to
overcome in His name.
Those who reject the gift of Christ’s righteousness are rejecting the attributes of
character which would constitute them the sons and daughters of God. They are
rejecting that which alone could give them a fitness for a place at the marriage
feast.
In the parable, when the king inquired, “How camest thou in hither not having a
wedding garment?” the man was speechless. So it will be in the great judgment
day. Men may now excuse their defects of character, but in that day they will
offer no excuse.
The professed churches of Christ in this generation are exalted to the highest
privileges. The Lord has been revealed to us in ever-increasing light. Our
privileges are far greater than were the privileges of God’s ancient people. We
have not only the great light committed to Israel, but we have the increased
evidence of the great salvation brought to us through Christ. That which was type
and symbol to the Jews is reality to us. They had the Old Testament history; we
have that and the New Testament also. We have the assurance of a Saviour who
has come, a Saviour who has been crucified, who has risen, and over the rent
sepulcher of Joseph has proclaimed, “I am the resurrection and the life.”
In our knowledge of Christ and His love the kingdom of God is placed in the midst of us.
Christ is revealed to us in sermons and chanted to us in songs. The spiritual
banquet is set before us in rich abundance. The wedding garment, provided at
infinite cost, is freely offered to every soul. By the messengers of God are
presented to us the righteousness of Christ, justification by faith, the exceeding
great and precious promises of God’s word, free access to the Father by Christ,
the comfort of the Spirit, the well-grounded assurance of eternal life in the
kingdom of God. What could God do for us that He has not done in providing the
great supper, the heavenly banquet?
In heaven it is said by the ministering angels: The ministry which we have been
commissioned to perform we have done. We pressed back the army of evil
angels. We sent brightness and light into the souls of men, quickening their
memory of the love of God expressed in Jesus. We attracted their eyes to the
cross of Christ. Their hearts were deeply moved by a sense of the sin that
crucified the Son of God. They were convicted. They saw the steps to be taken in
conversion; they felt the power of the gospel; their hearts were made tender as
they saw the sweetness of the love of God. They beheld the beauty of the
character of Christ. But with the many it was all in vain. They would not surrender
their own habits and character. They would not put off the garments of earth in
order to be clothed with the robe of heaven. Their hearts were given to
covetousness. They loved the associations of the world more than they loved
their God.
Solemn will be the day of final decision. In prophetic vision the apostle John
describes it: “I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face
the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And
I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; the books were opened;
and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were
judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their
works.” Revelation 20:11, 12.
Sad will be the retrospect in that day when men stand face to face with eternity.
The whole life will present itself just as it has been. The world’s pleasures, riches,
and honors will not then seem so important. Men will then see that the
righteousness they despised is alone of value. They will see that they have
fashioned their characters under the deceptive allurements of Satan. The
garments they have chosen are the badge of their allegiance to the first great
apostate. Then they will see the results of their choice. They will have a
knowledge of what it means to transgress the commandments of God.
There will be no future probation in which to prepare for eternity. It is in this life
that we are to put on the robe of Christ’s righteousness. This is our only
opportunity to form characters for the home which Christ has made ready for
those who obey His commandments.
The days of our probation are fast closing. The end is near. To us the warning is
given, “Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged
with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come
upon you unawares.” Luke 21:34. Beware lest it find you unready. Take heed lest
you be found at the King’s feast without a wedding garment.
“In such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.” “Blessed is he that
watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his
shame.” Matthew 24:44; Revelation 16:15.
Translate more chapters:
- A Great Gulf Fixed
- The Reward Of Grace
- Without A Wedding Garment
- Who Is My Neighbor?
- Shell Not God Avenge His Own?
- To Meet the Bridegroom
References:
- The Ellen G. White Estate
- King James Bible Version (KJV)
