Today we continue in the study of God's Word and the teaching of the Lord Jesus at Matthew chapter 22, verses 1-14. And we shall read it together first.
And again Jesus spoke to them in parables. The "them" here, of course, is what is referred to in the previous two verses: the chief priests, in verse 45 of chapter 21, the chief priests and the Pharisees in particular. And again, I can remind you that in verse 43 the Lord said that the kingdom of God will be taken away from them, in chapter 21, verse 43. Will be taken away from them and given to a nation that produces the fruits of it. So speaking to these religious leaders in particular, but also to all who have ears to hear, the Lord gives this parable.
"And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the marriage feast, but they would not come.' Again he sent other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, Behold, I have made ready my dinner. My oxen and my fat calves are killed, and everything is ready. Come to the marriage feast.'" Notice this is the second time he repeats the invitation to them. "At this time they made light of it, and went off, one to his farm, and another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them." Which is, of course, an act of rebellion. "The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the thoroughfares, and invite to the marriage feast as many as you find.' And those servants went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests."
"But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, 'Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?' And the man was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, 'Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.' For" — and this is the punchline, if you like, the conclusion of the parable — "for many are called, but few are chosen."
Now, let us just survey this parable and try to get a clearer picture of it. We have already noticed that there were persons, these persons had already been invited beforehand. And as we saw, like the parable last week, which is similar to this though not the same, they had obviously not rejected the invitation in the first place. But when they, even after they had rejected — and this is the special feature of this parable here — that even after they rejected the invitation the first time, he still sent other messengers to invite them again. But this time, they reacted even more radically than the first time, killing the servants of the king, the messengers. And so, in judgment, the king then destroys the city.
Now, the picture here, of course, is perfectly plain, very easy to see. In verse 7, the destruction of the city is, of course, a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem. The Jews had rejected God's invitation in Christ to the banquet. They had, as we saw in the last parable, harmed His messengers, His prophets, His servants, and killed them, and stoned them, and done all kinds of things to God's servants. And now, God's judgment had come upon the city. The destruction of Jerusalem is clearly stated here. And that is not a new theme in the Lord's teaching, of course. In the Lord's teaching, the destruction of Jerusalem is spoken of and predicted explicitly. For example, in Luke chapter 19, verses 41 to 44, where the Lord Jesus says to the Jews that Jerusalem will certainly be destroyed. And this element is now incorporated in this parable. The same statement, of course, is made in the last verses of the next chapter, chapter 23, and the beginning of chapter 24 makes the same statement about the destruction of Jerusalem, and in particular the temple.
So the features of this parable are very clear. Now, in verse 9 onwards, the servants are told to go to the thoroughfares, to invite those there. Now, these thoroughfares are obviously the roads leading out of Jerusalem, which is in fact what the Greek word does also mean — the roads leading out of the city. So, since the city is destroyed, the people that you can invite must be the people outside the city, in the villages lying near or around the city, or upon the highways to those villages, where people are in farms, living off of the main roads.
And so it is clear that, seeing that the Jews, and particularly Jerusalem, has rejected the gospel, then the invitation of the gospel is now extended to those people outside of Jerusalem, in particular, of course, to the Gentiles, though not excluding, for example, the Galileans. As you will know, all except one of the twelve disciples were in fact Galileans. The Jerusalem people, arrogant as always, and complacent, and self-assured, as always, had always resisted the message of salvation as the Lord Jesus proclaimed it. Though the gospel is extended to those people outside of the city, those who live by these roads, these thoroughfares, in the country.
Now, we will come speedily to look at some of the main points here. The point here is, surely you could not have read this parable very carefully without noticing something which gives you a problem. The point is that, after the others had been invited, these people in the countryside had been invited and accepted the invitation, of course, the banquet hall, we are told, was filled with guests. And then the king comes, and he looks at the guests to welcome them, of course, and to speak to them, and he discovers there someone without a wedding garment. And he asks this man, "How did you get in here without a wedding garment?" And the man was speechless. And then he is thrown out. Now, notice carefully: he had accepted the invitation. He was in the banquet already. And then he ends up being thrown out because he did not have the wedding garment.
So the key point is to understand, of course, what is the wedding garment. That would be one key matter that we will have to deal with. But there is another point which demands our attention, and that is verse 14: "For many are called, but few are chosen." As I have pointed out already, that, you can say, is the bottom line, the punchline, carrying the whole message of this parable.
Now, two things then. First, let us remember what we have to deal with. The first is that a person can already be in the banquet, having in fact accepted — he didn't reject the invitation; he had accepted the invitation — and then being thrown out because he did not have the wedding garment.
Now, Professor Schweizer, Eduard Schweizer, rightly observes in connection with this verse. And these are Professor Schweizer's words: "Matthew cautions against the false security which thinks God's salvation is in the bag." And then a little further on, in the next page, he writes: "Here too we see Matthew's special concern, as expressed in this parable in particular. It is Jesus' own band of disciples who must heed the warning not to lose what has been given to them." Those are certainly very perceptive remarks. And so we can see that one could be in the banquet and yet be slung out. And as Professor Schweizer says, a warning against false security which thinks that salvation is in the bag. That is, you've got it.
Now, let's turn our attention first then to the second question: many are called, but few are chosen. This conclusion of this parable seems to be rather inappropriate at first sight, anyway. It seems rather inappropriate. Why? Because what we see here is that many were called, and many responded, and only one was thrown out. Only one was thrown out. So the conclusion should have read somewhat differently. What it should have read would be more like saying, many were called, and only one was thrown out. Not "few will be saved," but only one was thrown out. I mean, surely that is the conclusion, isn't it? If you look, prima facie, at this parable, surely the conclusion must be: many were called, and most of the people remained; only one was thrown out. But the conclusion is most unexpected: many were called, few are chosen. And you still have the question: but only one was rejected. How can few be chosen? The many and the few don't seem to fit in very well here. How to understand this matter? How are we to deal with this?
Now, there are only two alternatives open to us here. Either we will delete verse 14 as being inappropriate, which is what some scholars, and especially liberal scholars, are very ready to do: just delete the verse. That is to say, it doesn't fit in, so maybe Matthew in his editing activities simply added this verse on, but somehow he didn't have his usual grip on the situation and put in a bit of teaching from another place, and so, delete. Now, of course, we will not accept that kind of solution, I'm sure you will not accept it. We cannot simply go around crossing out parts of the Bible that we don't think fit the context very well, or that in our judgment doesn't fit the context.
Now, if that doesn't work, then that leaves us only with the other solution: that the person without the wedding garment was not the only person at the feast who did not have a wedding garment. He was not the only person. You see. Now, this, of course, is the only conclusion we can come to. For otherwise, the conclusion is indeed inappropriate. Unless, of course, many were thrown out, of which this person was only one. Then how can we say that few were chosen?
So, when we study this passage, and when we study the rest of the Lord's teaching, we will see why. First of all, we cannot delete verse 14 because, in fact, this is not the only place in which the Lord Jesus says that only few will be saved, only few will be chosen. For example, in Matthew chapter 7, verse 14, He has already said this. And this verse, I am sure, many of you do remember. Let me read it to you again. Chapter 7, verse 14, and I will read verse 13 as well: "Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many." The way to destruction: the gate is wide, and many go down that road. In verse 14: "For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." Now that is saying almost exactly the same thing as here in Matthew 22, verse 14.
The Lord also goes on to say, in Matthew chapter 9, verse 37, something quite similar to this as well. Namely, the harvest is plentiful indeed, but the same problem: the laborers are always few. It is always the few that have to take the load of the work in the Lord's work. The majority are nowhere to be seen. But you say, "Are they not Christians?" Indeed, they are Christians. Then why should the laborers be few? Why should so few people engage in the Lord's service, in the Lord's vineyard, if we are all called to serve?
So again, you have this "few." Again, in 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 20, we are reminded that there was a great multitude in the days of Noah, but only eight people were saved. Eight people out of that entire generation. We are also never allowed to forget in the Word of God that a whole generation of people, numbering some two million, came out of Egypt, but only two out of two million entered the land of promise. The others perished through unbelief, even though they had responded to the call to leave Egypt. Even though they were called God's people. Even though they were the covenant people of God — the people called by God. And so it goes on.
In Revelation chapter 3, verse 4, we find the same thing: that in the church there in Revelation, only a few remained faithful. The others, obviously, had been unfaithful to the Lord. So this teaching, then, cannot be deleted from here, simply because it is a teaching that extends throughout the Bible. There is nothing about it which is peculiar only to this passage.
This being the case, therefore, we are left only with the second alternative. It is evident, in this parable, that this person without the wedding garment is spoken of as representative of a whole group of people who were in fact present without wedding garments. But the Lord Jesus does not address the whole group collectively, because He asks a question. And the question is, "How did you get in here without the wedding garment?" which must be answered differently by different people. At the last judgment, which is what this passage is concerned about, everybody will have to answer for himself. The Lord will address each one of us, each one of you, individually. You will not be addressed as a crowd. That is the frightening thing about judgment. The Bible tells us that in the last day of judgment, the books will be opened, and every person will be judged according to his or her deeds. It would be so nice if, at the judgment, you could hide behind the crowd. And when the Lord calls your name, you say, "Who, me?" If only you can hide behind the crowd, let's be judged collectively, you would feel a bit better. But to have your name called out, and you, in front of all this multitude, will explain to God why you did what you did, or why you did not do what you did, or what you should have done — that will be the thing that is going to be another terrifying aspect of the judgment.
So, this is evident here. We are talking about the banquet that has to do with the judgment of God. And at the judgment, the element that comes forth is that each person, each of us, will have to answer for ourselves. No hiding behind crowds at the judgment. Remember that well. And this element is brought out so clearly in this passage.
Moreover, elsewhere in the Lord's teaching, this aspect of one person representing a crowd, a group of people, is constantly used in the parables. We see this, for example, in the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, verse 30, and in its general context, that the kingdom of God is compared to servants who are entrusted with talents. Now, in the parable, only three servants are mentioned. Of course, it cannot be that the householder had only three servants, out of which only one proved unfaithful. Otherwise, the kingdom of God is going to leave us with only few will be saved, that it will be reduced only to three people who are going to be saved. Or, in fact, only two people, because out of the three, one is in fact also cast into outer darkness. Now, of course, these three represent three different types of persons, and not just to be taken literally as there being only one person who failed and two who succeeded.
So, in the same way, this method of teaching that the Lord uses is seen elsewhere in the parables. Matthew chapter 8, verse 12, is also very close in this respect to this parable. Matthew 8:12 reads like this, and also has to do with the banquet in the kingdom of God, where the great servants, the faithful servants of God, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are present in the kingdom of God, as we read in verse 11. And then verse 12, the Lord Jesus says, while the sons of the kingdom — maybe we should read from verse 11: "I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth." Now, again, outer darkness is exactly what it says here. And those who are thrown out are those who in fact should have inherited the kingdom. They are the sons of the kingdom, who should inherit anything: the sons. The very sons of the kingdom, who should have inherited the kingdom, are thrown out. Why? No wedding garment. Everything depends on understanding this wedding garment.
Thus, I would like you to notice then a striking technique again of the Lord's way of teaching. Time and again, He would say something which is apparently inappropriate. And it's this very inappropriateness that strikes your attention and causes you to think. I do confess that sometimes I try to copy the Lord Jesus in this very respect. Particularly with the last training team, I would sit down and very casually say something utterly inappropriate. And then you see their eyebrows raising up. They look at one another, and they wonder whether they had heard me correctly. Why do you do this? A teacher often does that, by saying something inappropriate. It seizes the attention and causes them to think. And the Lord Jesus, being a consummate teacher as He is, I have noticed time and again He would say something precisely in this way that stuns you. And you say, "Hmm? This doesn't sound right. It doesn't seem to be the fitting conclusion." Now that's exactly what He wanted you to do. He wanted you to ask the question: how can this conclusion fit the parable? And then you start thinking about it. Truly wonderful is the way the Lord Jesus teaches.
So, from this we can proceed then to begin to look more deeply at the parable. The key idea of the parable begins with the call. The word "call" occurs five times in the first nine verses. The word "call" is in Greek the same word as "invitation." To be invited is to be called. Now, the same word then is used, for example, of the call of the Israelites. In Hosea chapter 11, verse 1, "I called my son out of Egypt," which is quoted in Matthew chapter 2, verse 15. All Christians are called. That is the same word as applied to Christians as well. The calling of Christians is the same word that is in Greek translated here as "invited." Because of course, you can see, there is not much difference in meaning between inviting and calling. When you invite the person, you are calling that person.
So, as applied to Christians, the word "call" is used, for example, in Romans chapter 8, verse 30, or chapter 9, verse 24, or 1 Corinthians chapter 7, where this is used in verses 15, 17, 18, 21, 22, 24, etc., etc. Now, many times, as I have mentioned before, and I will not go into detail, there is a mistaken conception among Christians that the word "call" has to do with full time service, that you are called in the sense that you are called to full time service. This is quite erroneous. The word "call" in the Bible is used of every Christian. If you are a Christian, you have been called. If you haven't been called, you are not a Christian. So every Christian is called, is called a saint. We are called saints. Called to be saints. Called to respond to God and to become His possession, His peculiar people — people who are peculiarly His, not peculiar in their conduct, I hope, in the sense of being strange. Though maybe the world might regard our conduct as strange too.
Now, however, also very close to this parable is: although you are a Christian, though you have responded to God's invitation to come to the gospel feast, to join the banquet of salvation, you may also turn away from that call even after having first responded to it. This we see, for example, in Galatians chapter 1, verse 6, where Paul says to the Galatians, in chapter 1, verse 6, "I am astonished that you are so quickly turning away from Him who called you." You have been called, and you have first responded to that call, but now you are turning away from that call.
In Revelation chapter 19, verse 9, in a passage again very similar to this parable, because it has to do with the marriage feast of the Lamb, the feast of salvation, Revelation 19, verse 9 says, "Blessed are those who are invited" — who are called, the same Greek word — "to the wedding feast of the Lamb." You have been invited. You have been invited to God's salvation, and you have responded to that call. But beware, lest like the Galatians you turn away from Him who called you.
So, in this way, we find constantly in the Scriptures that calling and invitation is the same thing. And I would like to impress this deeply upon you. If you are a Christian, you have been called. That is the important thing to remember. And you have responded to that call. How does the call come to you? Well, it comes to you in the invitation. For example, in Matthew chapter 11, verse 28, it says, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden." That is an invitation. It is also a call. When He says, "Come to me," then that is the invitation, the call. And when you respond to that coming, to His call, then you become a Christian. You become a disciple. John chapter 7, verse 37, again, it is the same kind of call: "Come to me, all you who thirst, and drink of the water of life." And as Christians, we responded to that call. We drank of that water of life.
Now, here comes a point, of course, that we have to consider. Calling — what is the difference between calling and choosing? It says, "Many are called, but few are chosen." Well, clearly, calling must be a form of choosing. If you invite somebody to your house, you have chosen these particular people to invite to your house. So calling must certainly be a form of choosing. I cannot call somebody if I didn't choose to call that person. And so that person has been chosen to be invited. And therefore, to understand the difference, we must make the difference even more clear: that there is indeed a close connection between calling and choosing. And it is also true that calling is a form of choice, and yet it is not identical.
Because, first of all, take for example Judas, in John chapter 6, verse 70. The very word "chosen," as used in this passage, is applied also to Judas. "Have I not chosen you twelve apostles?" They were called, they were invited, they were chosen. "I have chosen also Judas, one of the twelve. Yet he is a devil." That is exactly what the Lord Jesus says. "I have chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil." That is, an enemy of God in his heart. Even though one can respond to God's call, and in responding have been among the chosen, and yet be found to be an enemy of God at heart, insisting to go on one's own way.
Oh, brothers and sisters, I beg of you to learn one thing in the Christian life. It is absolutely fatal in the Christian life to insist on doing your own thing, going your own way. Because you may soon find yourself, intentionally or unintentionally — and the latter is the more painful of the two — to be an enemy of God. Therefore, anyone who keeps insisting on his own way, and doing things, especially if he is in God's service, will have to be dealt with in such a way that he understands that this will not do, for his own good as well as for the good of the church. This was the great problem, the great danger. How can you be an apostle, as Judas was, and end up being an enemy of God?
Again, another example of this is that the Jews were God's chosen people. They are still called the chosen people today. Yet, the chosen people are chosen because they responded to God's call, to God's election — the word "election" simply means "choose." And yet, finally, were rejected, as we saw: the kingdom was taken away from them. There is a chosen among the chosen. We see that in Romans chapter 11. In Romans chapter 11, verse 28, the Jews generally are called the people of God's election, the chosen people. Just as Christians can be said to be the chosen people today, the new Israel. Yet, in verses 5 and 7 of the same chapter, the chosen people fail to make it. They don't make it. And there is another group of chosen within the chosen.
To simplify the whole matter, we must distinguish then between two forms of "chosen." That is, those who are chosen in the present will not necessarily be the people who are still chosen at the final judgment. Now that is very important to understand. You and I are chosen people, if you are Christians, chosen by God because He invited us and we responded. So we are chosen people as Christians. But woe be us if we dare to be proud about that. If we dare to behave arrogantly because of that. Because the question is not whether we are chosen now, but whether we will still be chosen, still be accepted, at the final judgment. You see, this "chosen" here concerns the final judgment, not the chosenness of this present time. Because this last passage, of course, is dealing with the final banquet and the final judgment. So the important thing is not whether you and I are chosen right now, but whether, on that day, God will still accept us as His chosen. And again, the whole thing depends on the wedding garment, whether or not He will accept us. It has to do with this wedding garment.
So, let us see, in this parable, as we analyze it, there are three kinds of persons in this parable. And you and I will belong to one of these three categories. Everyone in this room, everyone in this world, will belong to one of these three categories. What are the three categories? Well, the call is extended. The gospel call today is extended to everyone. "Many are called" — is extended to everyone. Anyone who hears the Word of God, who hears the invitation of Jesus to come to Him, has been called.
Now, there are three categories, then, of those who have been called. Those who have been invited but then reject the invitation. For example, if today you are listening to the gospel and you still reject the invitation of Christ to come to Him and to drink of the water of life, then, for the present time, you are still in this first category, namely, that you have been invited but have not accepted the invitation, for whatever reasons or excuses you think to be fit, which is not really relevant. The main point is that you have rejected the invitation as up to this day. The second group are those who have been invited and they do not reject. They do come to the wedding feast, and that we saw already in last week's parable. But this parable has a distinction that goes on to a third category of people, who have been invited, who come to the feast, and yet are thrown out because they do not qualify. They are not wearing the wedding garment. Which category, then, of these three categories do you belong to? Because certainly, you will belong to one of these categories.
# Many Are Called, Few Are Chosen (Part 2) — The Wedding Garment — Matthew 22:1-14
Look carefully at what it means. And here, of course, we have coming to our rescue that great servant of the Lord, the Apostle Paul. For he has made the meaning of the wedding garment exceedingly plain to us. He has indeed expounded this metaphor for us very clearly. But first, before we come to Paul's exposition of the meaning of the wedding garment, we must come and look carefully at verse 12, the question that is stated there.
Look carefully at verse 12 and see what it says. We generally assume that the meaning of the question here is, "Why are you not wearing a wedding garment?" That's what we assume the question to be. But that's not the question. Look carefully at the question. The question is, "How did you get in here without a wedding garment?" Now, there's a big difference between those two. I realized, until I studied the question very carefully, that I had always assumed the question to be, "Why are you not wearing a wedding garment?" But this question is wider than that. It includes that question, but it's wider. "How did you get in here without wearing a wedding garment?" The implication of the question, as the Lord Jesus states it, is that you could not have gotten into this banquet without a wedding garment. That's what the question implies. How did you get in here? How? It's not "what" or "why," but "how." How did you get in here without the wedding garment?
Now, this question is very interesting. Because it implies that you could not have gotten into the banquet in the first place without a wedding garment. And if then he did have a wedding garment when he first came in, then where is the wedding garment now? Why is he not wearing it then? That is the secondary question. You see. This means, and this is indeed the meaning of this, as you study the Scripture carefully, that he could not have gotten in without the wedding garment. Therefore, the wedding garment had been supplied to him as he entered the wedding. But then, for some reason or other, better known to himself, he decided either to take off the wedding garment, maybe because it was too hot for him, or maybe he was careless and he dirtied the garment, as wedding garments are festal garments. And when he dirtied the garment, he might feel a bit embarrassed to wear it. Or for any reason better known to himself, that he just didn't want to wear a wedding garment. I don't know.
This is not a wedding garment, of course, in the sense that brides put on. This is a garment. A wedding garment here means a garment appropriate to the wedding. It is a festive garment. It doesn't mean that all the ladies were wearing white dresses and veils, all being brides. But this simply means a garment suitable for the festive occasion. And of course, you would hardly appear appropriate at a wedding wearing blue jeans. Maybe some weddings today are very liberal-minded. But I mean, in most weddings, certainly in the Orient, that would not be regarded as very polite to do.
But furthermore, we notice from the fact that this man is speechless in verse 12. Notice carefully that when he was asked this question, he could not give a reason for not wearing the wedding garment. Now, if he had a good reason, such as, for example, he could have said, "I'm too poor to afford a wedding gown. This is all I can afford. I'm very sorry." Then, of course, in the light of the Lord's teaching, which is always sympathetic to the poor, he would not have had to be speechless. He could certainly have given a very good and acceptable reason. He could have said, "Sir, you see, I understand this is a wedding. This is the best I can do, because I'm too poor. I couldn't wear anything else." I'm sure the Lord would immediately have pardoned him for that. But the fact that he is speechless shows that he has no acceptable reason to give.
Now, there is this fact, then, that it is clear that a wedding garment had indeed been provided for him. And, in fact, in early biblical custom, it was the custom to provide festal garments for those who could not afford it. We can see that, for example, in Genesis chapter 45, verse 22, or Judges chapter 14, verse 12, where it speaks about providing guests with festal garments. Now, whether this was still the practice in the day of the Lord Jesus really doesn't matter, because the point that the Lord Jesus wants to bring to us is the fact that at the Messianic banquet, at the feast of salvation, God will provide for us the garments that we need.
That is because there is a very important teaching that comes forth from here. And the teaching is this. Here we need to turn to the servant of God, the Apostle Paul, to understand this matter more clearly. Paul uses the Greek word for putting on a garment, for wearing clothing in the spiritual sense. He uses this word 15 times in his teaching. I wonder if you ever realized that. We only are familiar with maybe one or two references to it. But he uses this expression 15 times: to put on clothing in the spiritual sense. He never uses it in a literal sense of actually putting on physical clothing, but always in the spiritual sense.
For example, in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verses 53 and 54, he speaks about our putting on immortality. Immortality is pictured as a clothing that you put on. Immortality, of course, means that you never again die, that you enter into eternal life. And this is what he says in 1 Corinthians 15, verses 53 and 54: "For this perishable nature must put on" — here is the Greek word for putting on clothing — "put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, 'Death is swallowed up in victory.'" So, when we are finally redeemed, when this body, this corruptible body, in that day of resurrection that is yet to come, we are given immortality, we are given a new spiritual body which will never die. Then, Paul says, on that day, we can say that this mortal nature has put on, like a clothing, immortality.
He says the same thing in 2 Corinthians 5, verses 2, 3, and 4, for example. And this is what he says in 2 Corinthians 5, and verse 2: "Here indeed we groan, and long" — and notice the word again — "to put on our heavenly dwelling, so that by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent" — he is referring to the physical body — "we sigh with anxiety, not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life." What he is going to put on, then, in the day of resurrection, is to put on life, to be clothed with life as with a garment.
So it is clear, from the way the Apostle Paul uses this saying of putting on, he is thinking of the garment as a symbol of a new way of life, in this case, immortality. Or even more, he is thinking of this garment as a new quality of life, the resurrection life, the new kind of life that is called eternal life. And here I must stress again, eternal life is not endless duration, as some people imagine. Eternal life is a new quality of life. It is God's own quality of life that we put on.
Now, in order to be able to qualify for that eternal life that we are going to put on, that immortality, as Paul speaks of it, we must in this present time put on, like a garment, what? The Lord Jesus Himself. We are to put on the Lord Jesus Himself, like a garment. This we read in Galatians chapter 3, verse 27. And Galatians chapter 3, verse 27, moreover tells us how we put on the Lord Jesus as a garment. How the Lord Jesus becomes a new way of life for us. Galatians 3:27: "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." You see, again this expression of putting on. How did we put on the Lord Jesus Christ? If you are a Christian, you have put on the Lord Jesus Christ. You are clothed in Him. That is why you can be said to be "in Christ."
How do you put Him on? Well, in two ways, in two related steps. In verse 26: "For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith." And then verse 27: "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." So, verse 26 says there is faith, and verse 27 points out the second step, baptism. You put on the Lord Jesus Christ through faith and baptism. Not just baptism alone and not just faith alone. That faith must find expression in baptism: a dying to the old way of life and entering into the new way of life in Christ.
So here we can see the meaning clearly stated. And there are now two steps before us. First, that this garment of salvation is provided for us by Christ, by God. It is a free gift to us. Free gift. We do not earn the garment. You and I did nothing to earn that garment. I am totally unworthy and incapable of earning such a garment. This is beyond comprehension, that I could earn my salvation. I cannot do this. The garment is provided for us by God. Jesus is provided for us as God's salvation to us from the bondage of sin and death. It is when we put on Jesus, God's gift to us, that we can look forward to eternal life.
But notice another thing exactly here, as Paul says it, and as Isaiah states it so beautifully in Isaiah chapter 61, verse 10: God gives to us the garments of salvation, the robe of righteousness. Those are God's gifts, whether in the Old Testament or in the New. There is no difference at all. It is always God who provides the salvation. Nobody earns it. It's provided. To earn it must mean that I am so worthy of it that God has to give it to me. Not at all. But God provides this.
But now notice another thing, and this is the beauty of the Lord's teaching and the beauty of Paul's profound spiritual perception. When you look at the word "put on" as it is in the Greek, you will notice that it always occurs in what in Greek is called the middle form. Now there is an active form, and there is a middle form in Greek, and there is a passive form. In the passive, of course, it is what someone else does to you. In the active form, it is what you do to somebody else. But Greek is peculiar in that it has a middle form. And the middle is used when you do something to or for yourself. That is why it is also called the reflexive. So you see, English has not got that. You have to say "do it to yourself." In Greek, you do not have to use the word "yourself." You simply put the word in the middle form. So passive is what somebody does to you, active is what you do to somebody else, and reflexive or middle is what you do to yourself. And this word "clothed," as used by Paul, is always in the middle form. This means that you clothe yourself. You put on the garment yourself.
Now here is the perfection of the scriptural teaching. God provides the garment of salvation, but you have to put it on. You have to wear it yourself. God doesn't put it on you. God simply gives you the garment as a gift. He says, "Here it is, take it." You accept the garment, but you have to put it on. That is truly wonderful. Truly wonderful in the completeness. In other words, God has done His part in providing the garment, but you have the responsibility to put it on and keep it on. That is very important to grasp. Very important to see.
Now in Scripture we see this matter put very beautifully in Paul. When we compare Galatians chapter 3, verse 27, and then compare it with Romans chapter 13, verse 14, we seem at first to be struck by an inconsistency. Galatians 3:27, as we have just read, says that those of you who have believed, who have committed yourself to Christ in faith and have been baptized, have put on Christ. You have already put on Christ. But look at Romans 13 and verse 14, and what does Romans 13:14 say? Let me read it to you again. Perhaps we shall start reading the previous verse. Verse 13 reads like this: "Let us conduct ourselves becomingly, fittingly, as in the day, that is, in light, broad daylight, doing nothing in the darkness. Not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy." Verse 14: "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires."
Now here we seem to have immediately an inconsistency. He is telling Christians to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. He just said that you have put Him on. Now how can you be putting on that which you have already put on? So we are caught in an apparent inconsistency. How can this be? If you have said in Galatians that we have put on the Lord Jesus, now you are telling us to put Him on. But here is the depths and beauty of Paul's insight. The way to understand this is just look at the context, as simple as that. In Galatians chapter 3, Paul is speaking about the initial commitment of faith. The whole context is speaking about the initial commitment of faith. That when you made that initial commitment of faith, you put on the Lord Jesus Christ. But too often Christians again start taking off the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is the point in Romans chapter 13, because the difference in Romans chapter 13 is the context of conduct. Notice the words "conduct yourselves." The whole passage from chapter 12 of Romans all the way to the end is concerned with conduct, as everyone should know. It is concerned with the actual outliving of the Christian life.
Now this is precisely what happens to so many Christians. When we first became Christians, when we first entered into the banquet, we responded to the invitation, we gladly accepted the wedding garment, and we put on the wedding garment in that initial commitment. But later we are found to be without the wedding garment. Why? Because our conduct is such that we returned to the way we used to behave before. We return to the old way of behaving.
Let me say one thing very clearly from Scripture: that every time you don't behave as a Christian and you return to your old way of conduct, you have literally taken off the Lord Jesus Christ and put on your old clothing again. You have put on your old and ugly way of behavior again. And if you keep doing that, you are going to find indeed you are still in the banquet, because you are still in the church. You are now a Christian, and once you are a Christian you will always perhaps be known as a Christian. But it doesn't mean that you will always behave as a Christian. And at the judgment, what counts is not just that initial commitment, but whether your conduct is still the conduct of a Christian. That's what's going to be determined at the judgment. And you are going to taste all the delicious things of the banquet, but the peril and the danger remains that on the day of that banquet you will still be slung out into the outer darkness because you are not wearing the Lord Jesus Christ. Your conduct proves that you are no longer wearing the wedding garment that you once accepted.
Therefore, that is precisely what Paul says in Galatians, as I reminded you in chapter 1, verse 6. You were invited by God, you responded to His call, and now you are turning away from Him who called you. You accepted the wedding garment. Don't you remember that you put on the wedding garment, as he says in chapter 3, when you made your commitment in faith, when you were baptized? You accepted the wedding garment, you put it on, and now you are turning away from Him who called you.
Paul constantly speaks of the wedding garment and this garment that we put on in very practical terms. He ties it up constantly with conduct. It is a way of life. Paul stresses this matter again and again, and I mentioned to you that he uses the term 15 times. Let us look at a few other places that he uses the term. In Romans chapter 13, it is in the imperative form: "Put on." He commands the Christian to put it on. If you profess to be a Christian, then behave like a Christian. If you don't behave like a Christian, then whatever you profess, you are not in any case. And this point he stresses again and again.
Let's look, for example, at Ephesians chapter 4, verse 24. Let me read it to you. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 24, and I read from verse 22, because he is using all this language of putting on and putting off of clothing. In verse 22 he says, "Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." You see, he is putting off one form of life and putting on a new form of life. If you say you have put on Christ, then let's see it in your life. Let it be evident in the way you conduct yourselves.
The wedding garment, then, tells us quite simply this: that those who have put on the Lord Jesus Christ must behave in such a way that people see Jesus in them. That's why I said the song that the witnessing team sang at the beginning was so appropriate, because that's exactly the message of that song. You see, if you put on a garment, when people look at you, what do they see? They see you wearing that garment. They see you in that particular form. Paul, therefore, is saying, since you made the profession of commitment, since you were baptized, you have put on Christ. Now if you have put on Christ, and people should look at you and see, "Ah, Christ! Yes, I see Christ in your life. I see you wearing Him. I see it in all your conduct." You can't move without your jacket moving up and down. Everything is moving. What you look at is a new form of life which must be visible. So Paul says, "Put off this old way of life with all its filthiness, in the way you conduct yourself."
Again he speaks of this clothing, in fact, as essential to our salvation. Essential to our salvation. Therefore he sometimes speaks of this clothing as armor: "Put on the armor of God." Now armor is essential to your survival in battle, and we are in spiritual warfare. So this garment is not just decoration; it is for our protection in this present time. And we see that in Ephesians 6, for example, or Romans chapter 13, verse 12, where this garment, putting on Christ, is to put on armor, essential to our salvation, so that now there should be a new quality of life.
Let's look also finally at Colossians chapter 3, verse 10, where Paul makes the same point again. Colossians 3:10. Again I would begin at verse 9 to get the context: "Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old nature" — see again the "put off," taken off the old nature — "put off the old nature with its practices, and put on the new nature, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator." Here you can see again the constant reference to putting on a new way of life which brings with it a new kind of conduct. Now this is essential to understand very clearly.
I hope by now that the wedding garment and what it means is becoming perfectly clear to you, and that there should be no shadow of doubt as to what this means. This is again made clear, for example, in 1st Thessalonians 5, verse 8, which I will read to you now. 1st Thessalonians 5, verse 8, reading from verse 7: "For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But, since we belong to the day, let us put on faithfulness, trustworthiness, and love in our relationships." Love is now portrayed as a clothing that we put on.
By now I think the meaning of this parable should be thoroughly clear to us, and no question at all what this means. What then does it mean? Let us summarize as we close. We may indeed as Christians have responded to God's invitation, and we may indeed have entered into His church, into His kingdom, into His banquet. But though we have made that commitment of faith, though we have been baptized, though we have indeed put on the Lord Jesus Christ in that initial commitment, the important thing that God wants to see is whether, on that day, the judgment day, you have been wearing that garment. You have conducted yourself as a Christlike person. That is the key issue. And every Christian, every one of us, who on that day of judgment is found not to have conducted ourselves since the day of our commitment, not to have conducted ourselves in the manner of a Christlike life, will be thrown out of the wedding feast. The message is as plain and as clear as that.
Let us take it to heart: many are called, but few are chosen. God has provided everything we need. It is now up to us to apply it to ourselves, to put it on. Let us be quiet before God in prayer. Amen.