El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-05-07

IL - commentary Dy inc rSeS' IL 1"'
Stearns.
copyright, 1898, by D. M. Stearns.1
l, 3. "And Jesus answered and spake
unto them again by parallels, and said,
The Kingdom of heaven is like unto GER
tain king which made a marriage for his
son. When the kingdom shall have come
for which our Lord taught us to pray, the
will of God shall be done on earth as in
heaven. But while this is sure, according
to Rev. XII, 10; l Cor. XIV. "a, 20, and
other assurances, there are many seeming
delays and there shall be until the time
when He who has the title deeds shall ex-
claim, "There shall be delay no longer"
(Rev. K, 6, r. W. The preparations for
that glorious contamination and the many
events leading up to it are so one with 1T
that they seem to be spoken of as part OF
it. The Bible story begins with marriage
in Eden, and ends with the marriage of
the Lamb (Rev. XIX, of which many mar
riage stories like those of Isaac and he
bekah, Joseph and Asenath, Moses and
Zipporah, Boaz and Ruth, are very sug-
gestive.
3. "And sent forth his servants to call
them that were hidden to the wedding,
and they would not come" Not only will
there be the bridegroom and the bride,
essential to any wedding, but there will
be those who are called 1.-The virgins, her
companions" FPS. xiv, 1916 perhaps the
wise virgins of Math. XIV. Then there
are to be some who will be watching for
their lord when he returns from the we'd
ding duke xii, 36), and we read in Rev.
xix, Q, BLESSED are they which are called
to the marriage supper of the Lamb. >" All
will be there either as bride or guests who
are redeemed by His blood up to that time
4. again, he sent forth other servants,
saying, Tell them which are hidden, Be
hold have prepared my dinner. My oxen
and my fatlings are killed, and all things
are ready. Come unto the marriage. ="
Not until we shall see the fullness and
magnificence of all that is here signified,
when we shall be at the real marriage,
can we begin to imagine what is included
in these preparations. But we can get
some faint idea if we will persistently and
prayerfully ponder this great fact, that God
SO loved that He gave His Son, and that
He who spared not His own Son will with
Him freely give all things John iii, 16;
Rom. viii, 32). These servants may in
clude the seventy and the apostles, but the
messengers not SO important as their
message: "Al things are ready. Comet!
8. "But they made light of it and went
their ways, one to his farm, another to his
merchandise 1 am writing these notes
in the harbor of Colombo, Ceylon, in the
Shanghai to Calcutta and I have never
been more impressed than 1 have these
weeks at sea, with the awful truth that
they all make light of it. Meeting COM
panies of those who love the book from
day to day every day of my life when at
home, it is something new to be asked to
live for weeks with men and women who
roam the world over, but care not for Him
or Ht q affairs whose their breath is.
&c nd the remnapt took His servants
and entreated them spitefully and slew
them" If those who make light of these
things are allowed to go on their way, the
way of self and death, they may not show
the reality of the carnal mind that is in
them, but if the invitation is pressed upon
them, the spirit of hatred, which is muir
der, may become very manifest.
z. "But when the king heard thereof he
was wrath, and he sent forth his armies
and destroyed those murderers and burned
up their city, Because there is wrath
beware lest He take thee away with His
stroke; then a great ransom cannot deliver
thee Dob xxxiv, 49,.
8. "Then saith He to His servants, The
wedding is ready, but they which were
hidden were not worthy" He might have
said that they did not consider His invita-
ton worthy of acceptance, but He seems
to pass by their treatment of Him and
speaks only of their treatment of them
selves. 1t may be like Paul's saying to
the people of Antioch, "Ye put the word
of God from you and judge yourselves I'm
worthy of everlasting life (Acts xiii. 46).
9, 10. $50 ye, therefore, into the high
ways, and as many as ye shall find bid to
the marriage. So those servants went
and the wedding was furnished with
guests" Our present commission is to
go everywhere with the invitation that the
time of the marriage may come.
IL. And when the king came in to see
the guests he saw there q man which had
not on a wedding garment. There is one
and only one, who will judge every one
and everything (Acts xvii, 81. His eyes
are as a flame of fire, and nothing can
escape Him or them. 1t is a small matter
comparatively what people think of US.
Christ is the Judge, not they. He has, by
being made sin for us, provided perfect
Righteousness which He gives freely to any
one who will truly accept Him OH Cor. V,
81. 1t is illustrated in the coats of skins
provided for Adam and Eve (Gen. iii, 21),
and plainly stated by the believer in lisa.
Xxi, 10.
~. "And He saith unto him, Friend,
how earnest thou in hither not having a
wedding garment? And he was speechless. F"
AS the thief is ashamed when he is found
(Jer. ii, 26), SO sinners shall be ashamed
and COMPOUNDED when brought before His
eyes or lire, and John II, 70, indicates n
possibility of believers being in some sense
and measure ashamed also.
ID. "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 crashing of
teeth" Only in seven places do we find
this expression indicating great torment.
The other places are Math viii, 12; xiii,
42, so; xiv, 81; XIV, 30, and Luke xiii,
20. In each case they are from His lips
who was the manifestation of the love of
God, and who so loved us that He gave
Himself for us and came from the glory
of heaven to 33 years of unparalleled hu-
initiation on this earth that we might not
perish or know the meaning of this awful
torment.
IA. "For many are called, but few are
chosen" The same words are found in
chapter Xxx, Is, in connection with 1.-THE
last shall be first and the first last" See
also chapter xix, 80, and notice the content
concerning rewards We are often at fault
in our Judgment of who are believers ard
who are not, of who are really Jealous ~.
God and His glory and who are not. But
the eyes of the King will make no mis-