Tuesday, June 2, 2020

Who are the Good and Bad, invited to the Wedding Feast?

A comment/question, left at the end of the post, "Who is Worthy".
as follows;
"The Feast is bounteous, indeed!! Please, what does it mean that the invitees to this Feast being "both good and bad" (Matt.22:8,9,10)?"
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My Reply:

As you may know, I seek to derive anything I teach, from scripture. 
Please consider the scriptures to follow, as regards my reply to your question. After reading them, I will cluster them according to the point we can glean, and add my own comment to those clusters, for your further consideration. I will summarize each scripture cluster with how I see their application, to your question about Matt.22:10.

Gen.3:13,22; 1Tim.6:20; Lev.27:12 ESV; 1Cor.6:2-3; John20:22-23; Matt.18:18; Ec.9:2; 1Pet.3:14-15,16-17; Zech.13:9; Mark 8:35; Rev.9:15,20-21; Matt.12:33; Luke 6:43-45; 2Cor.5:10; Matt.13:48 ESV; Matt.13:41 ESV; Matt.24:31; Rev.14:14-19

Gen3:13,22; 1Tim.6:20

"‘The snake deceived me, and I ate.’
"opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge"
"The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil."
My first learned point, is that the nature of good and bad/evil,
and the difference between them, is...
Good: not mislead, knowing truth
Bad/Evil: mislead, believing falsehood

Application to Matt.22:10: 
Both those who perceive, value, and pursue truth and light, 
and those who do not, will be offered (invited to) the marriage feast.

Lev.27:12 ESV; 1Cor.6:2-3; John20:22-23; Matt.18:18

The priest will evaluate and set/judge, the estimation of what is good and bad.
The saints (as God's priests) are authorized to pass judgment.
Jesus empowers them with holy spirit, so that they can judge sinners.
That judgment leads to either being set free by truth, or bound in Hades.

Application to Matt.22:10:
Since the priests are the ones through whom the marriage feast is provided, it is their preaching and testimony that can set a person free from deception (Mal.2:7; Rom.1:16; Matt.10:12-13,14-15), thereby offering the light of life (Matt.5:14; John1:4,14; 17:22). Just as Jesus decided who to preach to, and who not to preach to (Rev.3:20; John19:9-10; Matt.27:14; Luke20:1-3,4-6,7-8), so too the priests can choose who is served until all their needs are satisfied... and who is not served (Matt.10:41; 7:6).
Both the "bad and the good" will have the opportunity to be served by the spring of living water (Rev.22:17)...
but those who show hatred toward those vessels of mercy, will then be refused service 
(2Cor.4:7; 2:15-16; Matt.22:11-13; Col.3:14 NLT; 1John3:10; 4:8).

Eccles.9:2 ESV reads;
"All share a common destiny – the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad,
the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good, so with the sinful; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them."
Eccles.9:2 ESV  helps us to understand the terms of good and bad.
The good are seen as clean, serving God, righteous, committing themselves to a noble purpose.
The bad are seen as unclean, self-centered, sinful, afraid to commit to a cause.

Application to Matt.22:10:
Free will, allows the bad to become good (Eze.18:21-22). They are therefore offered the marriage feast.

1Pet.3:14-15,16-17
This scripture addresses the variety of different situations, regarding those "leaving the city". 
That variable has a direct bearing in determining who is considered good, or bad.
Some are expelled for faithfulness. 
Some are expelled for sin. 
Some walk away on their own.
    (Others though, do remain in the city. 
     They are considered disobedient/bad 
      ----Luke21:21-22; 17:26-28,29-31,32-33; Matt.24:15-18; Rev.18:4; Jer.51:6-7)
The righteous provide a courageous and respectful testimony to those who will condemn and slander them. They suffer expulsion from the city, for "doing good", rather than for doing evil/bad.

Application to Matt.22:10:
While "it is better" to be disfellowshipped/suffer for doing good than for doing evil", 
all sorts leaving the city, will be invited to the marriage feast.

Zech.13:9; Rev.9:15; Mark8:35; Rev.9:20-21

In those scriptures, we learn that there is a symbolic "third" that God is refining by fire (1Pet.4:12; 1:6-7; Dan.11:35; 12:9-10; 1Cor.3:13). That "third" is willing to repent, and die for their loyalty to truth (Rev.6:9-11; 12:10-11; Mark 8:35). They are among those considered, good.
Then there are the other "two-thirds"... "the rest" who are not those of the "third".
They are described at Rev.9:20-21 as those who have not repented of the sins, rife among God's people during that period of time.

Application to Matt.22:10:
All 3 thirds, will initially be offered the marriage feast. It will include 
1. those expelled from the city due to their loyalty to truth.
2. those rebellious who persist in their sinful course and pursue worthless goals devoid of spirit. This third includes those who have abandoned the city, without giving a warning to those who remain in the city. 
3. those who remain in the city, have participated in maligning and condemning the faithful, sought out the harlot's sorcery, consorted with the unfaithful of power, and robbed God's nation of its' inheritance.

Matt.12:33; Luke6:43-45; 2Cor.5:10

These verses help us to make another clarification between the good and bad who are invited to the marriage feast. We are told that the difference will be detectable by the fruit of each. What is the fruit?
Luke explains that it is what a heart produces (Luke6:45) when it speaks (Matt.12:36-37). James chapter 3, explains some of the differences in such fruit. Jesus tells us that we can discern the difference between true and false prophets, by an examination of their fruit (Matt.7:15-16,17-18,19-20). They either speak truths that endure, founded in the Word of God (Deut.11:18; John7:16-18; 8:50,28,47; John15:16) or they speak self-sourced and self-serving human doctrine (John8:40,43,45; Matt.15:9; Rev.13:16) which like rotten fruit, expires and must be replaced. (https://4womaninthewilderness.blogspot.com/2013/05/mark-of-beast.html)
Finally, 2Cor.5:10 shows that the good and bad, are determined by what they choose to do (and say) during the time while they are still able and free, to make those choices.

Application to Matt.22:10:
While there is yet time, God causes his slaves to offer to all, what they need to be aware of their condition and equipped to deal with their spiritual situation and circumstances. Among the Invitees, there are those who have been taught, believe, and teach, demonic falsehood. God wants those humble enough, to have the opportunity to examine those beliefs in comparison to His genuine Word and its authentic message. God wants them to awaken to perceive the real fulfillment of prophecy, taking place around and within them. God desires all possible, to be saved (1Tim.2:3-4). Such ones will be invited to the marriage feast. They are faced with the Valley of Decision (Joel 3:14; Deut.30:19).

Matt.13:48 ESV; Matt.13:41 ESV; Matt.24:31; Rev.14:14-16,17-19

In these verses we see depicted within these parables, the role of the marriage feast in a sorting work. How so? The angels (means: messenger) are the messengers of the provisions being offered. In the last section, we saw that this divine message is either accepted or rejected (John13:20; Luke10:16) by those invited. On that basis, Jesus' angels bear a testimony that sorts those who hear it by their response to the Word of God (John12:48-49; Heb.4:12; 2Pet.3:7), into either good fish or bad fish (Matt.13:48)... either weeded out from the kingdom, or collected into the storehouse (Matt.13:41,30). There will be a "loud trumpet call" from the priest of God's Temple (Matt.24:31; Rev.8:6; Josh.6:8; Isa.58:1; Ps.19:4; Matt.24:14) (Mal.3:1-2; Rev.1:1; 22:6,16; John15:26; 16:8-10,11-13,14-15). 

Application to Matt.22:10:
The harvest will draw to a close. Bad and Good are being given an opportunity to sample the wedding feast. Inside their heart they will make a decision. That decision will become manifest through the words of each attendee, as to the source of their beliefs and the professing of their faith. They will either accept, or reject, the truth (Rev.19:9; 22:6; 10:7; 22:16) (Isa.29:18,24) (Isa.29:10-12).
>(https://4womaninthewilderness.blogspot.com/2015/03/part-i-invited-and-chosen-at-marriage.html)
That is also the place of decision (Joel 3:14), were all are judged, based upon each person's reaction to the unveiling of the knowledge of God (Rev.20:12; 22:10,6; John12:48; Rev.1:1; John16:8,13-15; 13:20; Luke10:16; Mal.3:1-3; Dan.11:35; 12:3-4,9-10; Prov.9:1; Rev.3:12; 17:9; 13:18; Rev.22:16; 1:20; Matt.5:15; Rev.10:7).
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