Wedding Garment

The title of our present lesson is: The "Wedding Garment",

and as you know, it deals with the parable about the wedding feast we find in the 22nd chapter of the gospel of Mathew.

But, before we move to discuss the most important aspects of this parable, let us read the memory text which has a lot to do with the story about the wedding garment.

As a matter of fact, this memory text which is found in Romans 8:1is one of the most wonderful and most important texts in the whole Bible.

Let us read it then and try to find out what is the meaning of this most precious statement.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1).

Now, if you remember the content of the book of Romans you know that this statement is the conclusion of the truth Paul proclaims in the book of Romans.

So it means that if we don't properly understand it we will miss the whole point and loose also a great blessing.

So, may I ask you now to share with us your ideas concerning this verse, and how do you understand this text?

First of all, we read here that there is no condemnation, or no punishment, no second death for those of us who fulfil 2 conditions:

1. They are in Christ; and

2. They walk not in the flesh but walk in the Spirit.

What does it mean to be in Christ?

Does it mean, to have communion with Him through prayer and listening to what He says in the Bible?

If yes, than we would have to admit that our sanctification contributes to our salvation. But this would be a heresy as we know that salvation is only through imputed righteousness and the imparted righteousness (Christ in us or sanctification) is the fruits of the gospel.

The context tells us the meaning of the phrase "in Christ". The word therefore, used in Romans 8:1 tells us that this verse is the continuation of chapter 5, 6 and 7.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer “Life Together”:

"When God’s Son took on flesh, he truly and bodily took on, out of pure grace, our being, our nature, ourselves. This was the eternal counsel of the triune God. Now we are in him. Where he is, there we are too, in the incarnation, on the Cross, and in his resurrection. We belong to him because we are in him. That is why the Scriptures call us the Body of Christ".

Now, what do you think about the second condition which is found in the next sentence of Romans 8:1 which suggests that, there is no condemnation for those "who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit”.

- Fortunately, this sentence does not exist in oldest manuscripts of the book of Romans and therefore, it doesn't same new translations such as NIV, because this sentence is just a scribal addition and shouldn't be there. Why?

Because otherwise Paul would contradict the truth about salvation by faith only.

Now, knowing the meaning of Romans 8:1, which is the memory text of our lesson, we may move to Mathew 22 and the parable of the wedding garment.

But if you don't mind, I would like to suggest that in order to use the time wisely it would be much better if we focus on the most important aspect of the lesson and the parable which is the wedding guest who was caught red-handed and as a result had to face the music.

First of all, in order to understand the parable we have to explain what does the wedding garment stands for according to the Bible?

- We all know and agree that both the Old and the New Testament make it very clear that the wedding garment here represents what?

Christ's righteousness which can be ours only by faith.

In the book Christ’s Object Lessons, Ellen G. White wrote about this wedding garment which represents Christ's righteousness:

“This robe, woven in the loom of heaven, has in it not one thread of human devising” (p.311).

It means that the garment is all of God and that we can't add to it even one single good deed which would be ours and not Christ's.

Another important detail concerning the parable is that it tells us about three groups of people and 3 attitudes toward the gospel.

The first group are fools or those who like the Jews openly, wilfully, deliberately and persistently rejected the invitation to the wedding feast of the Lamb.

And, thank God none of us here belong to this group, and the evidence is the fact that we are here.

However, we may belong to one of the remaining two groups which represent those who accepted the invitation. Both groups joined the church but there two important differencesbetween them. What are those differences according to the parable?

1. The first difference is that among Christians there are those who accepted the robe of Christ righteousness as the only righteousness which qualifies them for salvation and they also remain in Christ's righteousness until the end of their lives.

And, unfortunately, there are also those who somehow can't understand or accept what Paul wrote in Gal 2:16 saying that "A man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ ... for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified" (NKJV).

This is the first difference, and what is the second one?

What could be the second basic difference among us Christians?

2. The second difference is that among us there are those who are truly sanctifiedas a result of accepting the garment of Christ's righteousness and who bring the fruits of justification who allowed Christ to live a holy life in them, and there are also actors who are not sanctified.

Let us now look at verses 9-10 (Mathew 22), and find out who was finally invited to the wedding feast, after the first invitation was rejected?

9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

Who was invited?

Was John Kalvinright saying that some of us are predestinedby God to salvation and some to distruction?

How many sinners God invited to the feast of the Lamb?

All sinners!

John 3:16

Hebr 2:9 (tasted death for "everything").

What kind of sinnerswere chosen for salvation according to Mat 22:9-10?

First type of sinners who are invited to the wedding fist are the bad sinners, like myself - virus type sinners!

The thief dying on the cross with Jesus is the best example.

When Holy Spirit inspired him to consider Christ as the Saviour of the world than he said: Lord, would you be willing to invite to your wedding feast a scam like me?

What did Jesus answer to him?

Well, I don't know. May be I would, but first you have to answer 13 questions. You need to have Bible studies and be baptised. And than we will see...

No, What did Jesus say to that scam?

Right now - He said - salvation is yours!

The second type of sinners who were invited to the wedding fist are so called good sinners.

Who are they?

What is the difference between bad and god sinners?

Bad are those who sinned a lot and they know who they are.

Good ones are those who didn't sin a lot and although they are sinners they think they are quite good. and that it may contribute to their salvation.

The best example of such good sinner we find in verse11:

11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.

Now, we already know why he was condemned, so the next question is, why he was speechless?

Why those professed Christians who accepted the invitation to the feast of the Lamb will be speechless when God will ask them why they are not covered with the robe of Christ righteousness?

- They will be speechless because the only reason they are deprived of Christ righteousness will be their own deliberate refusal to wear the wedding garment. It means they knew they rejected it.

Let us now move to Revelation 19:7-8 because I would like us to deal with another important problem which is found in verse 8:

In v. 7 we read that "the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride (His church) has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear".

And what is the fine linen according to v. 8?

"The fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people".

Doesn't it sound like a contradiction?

So, what does the wedding garment stand for, after all? Is the wedding garment Christ's righteousness or our good deeds?

Any ideas?

There is no contradiction here and it is not difficult to explain it if we take into consideration the fact that there are 2 types of righteousness: Imputed and imparted. Both of them belong to Christ and both we receive by faith.

Imputed one stands for Christ's representative perfect holy life and His death as our representative. This is our history in Him and it becomes ours by faith if we only accept it.

The imparted righteousness stands for sanctification and Christ righteousness. He reproduces in us now which is progressive and ongoing process.

What Christ is doing in us now doesn't contribute to our salvation but it gives the evidence that we are truly converted and saved.

Now comes the question: Does this wedding garment representthe imputed or imparted righteousness of Christ?

And the answer is: both are included in the wedding garment. It is so because we cannot separate the two as they are linked together, and both of them are given us by God.

Please, look again at v. 8 and notice that the fine linen (the wedding garment) which stands for the righteous deeds of the saints (imparted righteousness) "was given her to wear", which means that this imparted righteousness (sanctification) was received by the church from Christ by faith.

Gal 2:20 is the best short explanation of those 2 types of Christ's righteousness:

"I have been crucified with Christ (I was righteous in Him and died in Him), therefore it is not I who live (the righteous life now) but Christ lives in me", and He lives in me now not to save me, as I was saved by being in Him, but now Christ lives in me to prove I am converted and saved.

And, as a matter of fact, this is the reason why in the parable the king is checking or investigatingwho of the invited guests doesn't have the proper wedding garment.

Now, what does this activity of the king remind you of?

It reminds us of the investigative judgment which is taking place now before the second coming of Christ.

What is the role of the investigative judgment?

We Adventists are accusedby evangelical Christians that our unique teaching concerning the investigative judgement contradicts the truth of the gospel and that it deprives us of the assurance of salvation and peace.

Are they right?

How would you answer such accusations?

What is the investigative judgement all about?

Let me read for you an answer given by one of Polish Adventist theologian - professor Łyko, who wrote that:

"The investigative judgement is to reveal who among the professed Christians truly accepted Christ's justification and who among them remains in it".

The biblical truth about the investigative judgement doesn't contradict the gospel because it's role is only to find out who among us is truly saved and who is only an actor.

But, this leads us to another question: Doesn't the almighty God already know who among Christians is a genuine believer and who is not?

Of course He knows. So, what is the purpose of the judgement before the second coming of Christ?

The investigative judgement is also for the unfallen worlds to show them that all the sinners who are going to share the Universe with them will not start the same mass Lucifer did.

The investigative judgement is to demonstrate to those unfallen worlds they those justified sinners are actually transformed by the Holy Spirit and live according to the principle of unselfish agape love and not according to the principle of self love invented by Lucifer.

Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons:

“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” (p. 310).

PRAYER