Parable of the Marriage of the King's Son
Matthew 22:1-14; In this Parable of the Marriage of the King's Son, sometimes called the Parable of the Royal Marriage Feast, Jesus teaches these truths: (1) His own divine Sonship; (2) the impending destruction of Jerusalem; (3) the rejection of the Jewish remnant of the covenant race; (4) the gospel call to the Gentiles; and (5) that those who answer the gospel call will not be chosen for salvation unless they put on (the robes of righteousness. 'Compare Luke 14:16-24.
Matthew 22:1-14; Deity himself is the king in the parable; Jesus, his offspring and heir, is the king's son; and those first invited to "the marriage of the Lamb" (D&C 58:11) are the chosen and favored hosts of Israel to whom the gospel had been offered in ages past. "The remnant" who rejected the later invitation with violence and murder were Jewish descendants of ancient Israel; and it was their city, Jerusalem, which was violently destroyed.
Matthew 22:2. A marriage for his son] This glorious event, still future, has reference to the ushering in of Messiah's millennial reign, the day when he shall reign in triumph and glory over all the earth. By their preaching in this present dispensation, the "servants" of the King are inviting guests to come to the marriage supper of the Lamb. "For this cause I have sent you," the Lord says to his modern missionaries, "that a feast of fat things might be prepared for the poor; yea, a feast of fat things, of wine on the lees well refined, that the earth may know that the mouths of the prophets shall not fail; Yea, a supper of the house of the Lord, well prepared, unto which all nations shall be invited. First, the rich and the learned, the wise and the noble; And after that cometh the day of my power; then shall the poor, the lame, and the blind, and the deaf, come in unto the marriage of the Lamb, and partake of the supper of the Lord, prepared for the great day to come." (D&C 58:6-11; 65:3.)
Matthew 22:2; That a royal marriage feast would signal the beginning of the Messiah's triumphant reign had been revealed to the prophets of old. (Zeph. 1:7-8.) Among the Jews of Jesus' day, however, the doctrine had been diluted and distorted. According to rabbinical tradition, only the seed of Abraham would be invited while the Gentile peoples would remain hungry and unfed.
Matthew 22:3; 3. His servants] 4. Other servants] Legal administrators sent forth with power from on high to preach the gospel and administer its saving ordinances. Such were Moses and the prophets of old; such was John the Baptist, who had been sent to those very Jews; such were the apostles of Jesus' day; and such are those today who—tracing their priestly commissions in a few steps to modern heavenly visitants—are continuing to invite all to the feast of righteousness found in the restored gospel.
Matthew 22:5-6; 5-6. All who reject the gospel are not damned to the same degree. Those who simply turn to their farms and merchandise, thereby putting temporal things ahead of spiritual, are denied the filling satisfaction of the feast, while those who persecute and murder the King's servants are by him condemned to an awful destruction.
Matthew 22:7; 7. How literally was this promise fulfilled! In the lives of most of those then living, Jerusalem—"the city of the great King" (Psalms 48:2)—was to be destroyed with brutality and vengeance by the armies of hated Rome. See Luke 19:41-44.
Matthew 22:9; 9. 'Leave the cities of the Jews. Take the highways into the country. Get out among the Gentiles. "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."' (Mark 16:15.)
Matthew 22:10; 10. Gathered . . . both good and bad] See Matthew 13:47-53.
Matthew 22:11; 11. Had not on a wedding garment] He had accepted the invitation (the gospel); joined with the true worshipers (come into the true Church); but had not put on the robes of righteousness (that is, had not worked out his salvation after baptism).
Matthew 22:11; In using this figure Jesus was harking back to what Zephaniah had said about the Second Coming: "Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God: for the day of the Lord is at hand: for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests. And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord's sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king's children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel." (Zeph. 1:7-8.)
Matthew 22:11; Similar imagery was used by the angelic ministrant who, speaking in the Lord's name, told the Revelator, John, of these same events: "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb." (Revelation 19:7-9.)
Matthew 22:13; 13. Outer darkness] See Luke 16:19-31.
I. V. Matthew 22:14. 'Many are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb, to the Church and kingdom of God on earth, but few are chosen for salvation in the kingdom of God in heaven, because they do not keep the commandments.' See Matthew 20:16.