Matthew 22 - Love God and love mankind



The Gentiles get the Wedding Supper that the Jews reject. Bible-ignorance loses your place for you in the Wedding Supper

First published on the 16th of April 2021 — Last updated on the 29th of January 2023

We must accept the King James Bible as our Absolute

MATTHEW 22:1   And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,

Jesus spoke in parables so the wise could discern the spiritual meaning behind the story. The rest would miss the point and be none the wiser. We must pursue truth with enthusiasm and interest to convince God that we want Him to open up our understanding.

MATTHEW 13:23   But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it;

Good soil for growing crops is like a mind that has an understanding of Scripture. Only there can the Word of God bring forth the wisdom and knowledge on which we can grow our faith.

GALATIANS 3:6   Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

Our faith in Jesus is the only righteousness that we have in the eyes of God.

Jesus Christ is the Word of God. You cannot fully believe in Jesus unless you fully believe in the King James Bible.

II TIMOTHY 3:16   All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

Never criticize or find fault in the King James Bible. It is the infallible and Absolute Word of God.

Sound doctrine speaks with authority. Doctrinally accurate speech has the authority of God behind it.

Reproof corrects the wrong ideas that we have in our minds.

Correction puts right the things that we are doing wrong. Scripture teaches us about the righteousness of Christ.

We have no righteousness of our own. By believing in the Bible, we gain the righteousness of Christ.

GENESIS 15:6   And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

Believing in God is faith, and that is the only righteousness that we have.

The Kingdom of Heaven turns our worldly kingdoms upside down.

Our works have no real value as we make too many mistakes.

We depend completely on what Christ did for us.

LUKE 17:10   So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say,

We are unprofitable servants:

we have done that which was our duty to do.

"Unprofitable" means we get more wrong than what we get right.

The Jews reject the call to the Heavenly Wedding Supper

MATTHEW 22:2   The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,

God made a covenant with Abraham and his seed. From the birth of Isaac, the natural son or seed of Abraham, to the death of Jesus, the Spiritual Seed of Abraham, was a period of 2300 Bible years of 360 days.

GENESIS 15:18   In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land,

"Thy seed." The covenant only started when Isaac was born.

That was the time period that God worked with Israel until they rejected Him at the cross.

DANIEL 8:14   And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

Instead of accepting Messiah, the Jewish religious leaders killed Him.

The sanctuary was cleansed at Calvary by the Blood of Jesus.

61-0618 REVELATION  CHAPTER  FIVE.2
Now, there was a time when it was in dispute. From the fortieth day, from the beginning of the first day of

the cleansing of the sanctuary, or Christ went to Calvary,

Had they accepted Jesus as King, He would have set up His 1000-year Kingdom of peace 3½ years later, and the Jews would have ruled the world.

That was God’s plan with Israel.

MATTHEW 22:3   And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.

God intended that Jesus would marry the Jewish nation as His chosen Bride, and then they would rule the other nations.

JEREMIAH 3:14   Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD;

for I am married unto you:

and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:

God sent prophets to the Jews, but the Jews preferred their own traditions.

MATTHEW 22:4   Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.

God was endlessly reaching out to the Jews, but they were more concerned with

storing up worldly wealth as the reward for their own hard work.

MATTHEW 22:5   But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:

They were so involved with making money that they did not take God's Word seriously.

They ignored any Scriptures that interfered with their accumulation of wealth.

The natural world runs on money that can be seen. The Spiritual world runs on unseen faith.

The Jews preferred to focus on money-making.

The prophets and great men who tried to turn their attention back to God did not have a long-lasting effect.

MATTHEW 22:6   And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.

The Jews refused to believe that they were outside the will of God. They assumed that their growing wealth was a sign of God's blessing on them because God was pleased with them.

They supposed that gain was godliness.

The Old Testament had run its course as the Jews rejected the prophets and, at times, killed them.

John the Baptist stood up for truth. You cannot divorce your wife to marry another woman. John got killed for saying that.

Sadly, divorce and re-marriage are rampant in churches today.

Jesus talked about the Jews killing the prophets they disagreed with as a blunt warning to the chief priests of that day who wanted to kill Jesus.

On Palm Sunday, the crowds hailed Jesus as a Prophet. So the chief priests knew He was a Prophet.

MATTHEW 21:11   And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.

Jesus warned them that the Jews were more inclined to kill a prophet than listen to him.

MATTHEW 22:7   But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

True to form, the chief priests were opposed by Jesus, and they reacted in a typical dictatorial manner by killing Jesus.

God is in complete control of human events. He will even use evil men to achieve His purpose if He has to. So, to punish the Jews, God used the evil Roman emperor Nero to send the cruel Roman armies to attack Israel in AD 66 in what turned out to be a 4-year war. The Roman army finally surrounded Jerusalem and destroyed the city and the Temple in AD 70, killing more than 1 million Jews.

Jesus had effectively issued a stern warning to the Jewish leaders about their fate because they were determined to reject and kill Messiah.

New guests must be invited to the Wedding Supper

MATTHEW 22:8    Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.

The Jews rejected God by killing Messiah. God had to start all over again. The Jewish Old Testament had closed in failure for the Jews. They were scattered from their Promised Land. God had to now spend nearly 2000 years dealing with Gentiles during the seven church ages. This new covenant would be the New Testament. The Gospel of grace would replace the works of the Law.

The Jews knew the language of Hebrew, but that did not stop them from rejecting the truth. God stopped working with the Hebrew language. God wrote the New Testament in Greek for the Gentile world that had largely been conquered by Alexander the Greek.

Between 1604 and 1769, God produced the perfect and infallible King James Bible because He knew that English would spread around a quarter of the world with the British Empire and its brave missionaries. Their steamships and steam railways would open up the countries. Then the American-invented internet would spread the Bible truth to the farthest corners of the earth. Most nations now learn English because that is the majority language on the internet. English websites occupy about 60% of the internet.

Human nature does not change.

As the Jews rejected Jesus as a Man at the end of the Old Testament so the churches would condemn and criticize the King James Bible at the end of the New Testament. Today, hardly anyone describes the King James Version of the Bible as the Absolute Truth. Thus, they criticize Jesus as the Word of God. Whatever you say about the King James Bible, you are saying about Jesus, because the King James Bible tells us the thoughts of Jesus.

As a result, the criticized Jesus now stands outside the church in the church age of the Laodiceans.

REVELATION 3:14   And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write;

:20   Behold, I stand at the door, and knock:

Because Jesus, as the condemned and criticized King James Version of the Bible, is no longer wanted in the churches and has been pushed outside, He looks for believers outside the church.

The church-goers are considered to be the good guys. The ruffians are in the highways and hedges.

MATTHEW 22:9   Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.

So, God uses ruffians at the end-time to do His will as they often are the only ones with enough courage to stand up and oppose the church's errors.

Donald Trump, a rough character, was the only American President with enough courage to stand up against the Muslim world when he recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

MATTHEW 22:10   So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.

God is now searching outside the church systems for bad people and good people. Thus, some good people want nothing to do with the modern unscriptural pastor-dominated churches and their numerous Roman Catholic beliefs like Trinity, Christmas, Easter Monday, Good Friday, a pastor is the head of the church, William Branham is the infallible Voice of God (as if he is a second Pope), etc.

Ultimately, the rejected Bride of Christ is caught up to Heaven to the Wedding Supper.

Bible ignorance is not wanted at the Wedding Supper

MATTHEW 22:11   And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:

ISAIAH 61:10   I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation,

he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness,

as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.

Our robe or garment is our belief in the righteousness of Scripture.

JOB 29:14   I put on righteousness, and it clothed me:

We must know what is in the Bible and be able to understand the Bible. Being saved is essential to escape hell, but it is not enough to be ready for Jesus at His Second Coming if you are Bible-illiterate as many message-people are.

Message-people claim to be followers of William Branham.

In the end, the wise virgins will understand the Bible symbols and patterns.

DANIEL 12:9    And he said, Go thy way, Daniel:

for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

:10     Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand;

but the wise shall understand.

We must only speak from Scripture. To do that, we must understand the Bible.

When we are in Heaven, we will be shocked by our own ignorance. Human wisdom will be worthless. Only what we can say from Scripture will be valid.

MATTHEW 8:8   The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof:

but speak the word only,

We must learn to only speak Scriptural truths. Not human opinions.

We have to be clothed in righteousness but only God has righteousness.

ISAIAH 54:17   This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,

and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.

PSALM 132:9   Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness;

All Christians are priests but only God has the righteousness that we need to be clothed in.

PSALM 71:16   I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD:

I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.

We need to be saved by repenting and accepting Jesus as our Saviour and to be clothed in God's righteousness.

“Speak the Word only” is the secret to being clothed in God’s righteousness.

JEREMIAH 23:6   In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

ROMANS 3:22   Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ

Righteousness is caused by faith in every Word of God. Never daring to criticize or ignore the Bible.

ROMANS 9:30   What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness,

even the righteousness which is of faith.

God’s covenant with Abraham was based on the fact that Abraham believed God.

ROMANS 4:9   … for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.

This person who got into the Wedding Supper was soon betrayed by his ignorance of Scripture. In Heaven, you can only speak Scripturally.

ROMANS 10:17   So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

MATTHEW 22:12   And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.

He did not have much understanding of Scripture. Asked Bible questions, all he could do was say, “I don’t know.”

If we cannot answer the following basic Bible questions, then it shows that our knowledge of Scripture is weak.

Why did Elisha curse 42 little children who mocked him for being bald?

In Matthew, Mary held Jesus by the feet at the tomb. In John, Jesus told Mary not to touch Him. Explain.

Why did God make Jephthah’s daughter come out first to greet him, which ensured her death?

Why does Luke not mention Jesus walking on the water?

Why does Matthew not mention the Ascension of Jesus?

In John 3:13, Jesus said no man hath ascended up to Heaven. What about Elijah and Enoch?

Why does the Gospel of John mention no parables?

Why does the little horn in Daniel grow amongst the 10 horns of the Roman beast but grows out of one of the four horns on the Greek goat?

We should know enough about understanding the Bible to answer these questions. If we cannot answer questions like that, then we are speechless. That means we may not be at the Wedding Supper.

DANIEL 12:10     … and none of the wicked shall understand;

but the wise shall understand.

If we do not understand the Bible then it looks like we get classified as wicked.

Understanding the Bible is critical to being invited to the Wedding Supper.

The Bride of Christ is dressed in the clean, white linen of the Lord's righteousness.

They are the wise virgins who will understand the Scripture.

REVELATION 19:8  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.

This stranger could not understand the Bible and thus could not speak from Scripture. As a result, he could say nothing. A typical Bible-illiterate modern-day church-goer. Knows the opinions of man but not the Word of God.

Jesus was totally unimpressed with his ignorance of Scripture.

MATTHEW 22:13   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 gnashing of teeth.

This man knew enough to get saved but then, as a typical church-goer, he thought that his specific church was correct and thus he needed no correction from outside. He gets thrown out into great Tribulation.

Church-goers today catch the spirit of the pastor instead of the Holy Spirit Who reveals Scripture.

JOHN 16:13   Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:

This warns us that being saved is not sufficient to make the catching up to meet the Lord in the air for the Wedding Supper. We also need to understand the mysteries in Scripture.

God promised to reveal the mysteries of the Biblical symbols and patterns at the end of time. This understanding would be given to the wise virgins only, not the foolish virgins who were saved, clean women (churches) but had been fooled by their church leaders.

People are sensibly attracted to Jesus to be saved. After that, they foolishly follow their church leader and accept unscriptural beliefs like Trinity, Christmas, 25 December, Good Friday, and foolishly start believing that there are mistakes in the King James Bible, etc.

MATTHEW 22:14   For many are called, but few are chosen.

Very few remain faithful to their calling. If we are called by the Word of God, then we must stay faithful to the full Word of God. Not pick and choose the bits that suit us.

REVELATION 17:14   These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him

are called, and chosen, and faithful.

Many are called by the Word of God but do not remain faithful to this calling. They soon decide to follow human leaders and their opinions and interpretations. Thereby they gain popularity in the church but lose out with God.

Today there are 45000 different kinds of churches and denominations. There are over 100 different versions of the English Bible. Hardly anyone believes that there are no mistakes in the King James Version of the Bible. (KJV).

So very few people are faithful and believe that the KJV of the Bible is Absolutely true.

PROVERBS 30:5   Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him

Finding any fault with the Bible is wrong.

We have to believe that the King James Bible is perfect and we must believe everything that is written therein.

II TIMOTHY 3:17   That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

We cannot serve God if we change the Bible in any way.

We can only carry God's Word to another, we cannot change God's Word in any way.

Do not entangle the Gospel with politics and money

The biggest mistake that Christians make is to try to serve God while their eyes are on politics and money-making. This feeds the flame of self-importance and greedy selfishness. They become involved in the endless disputes that polarize a nation into its short-term political intrigues (Herodians) as they grab for a share of the revenues.

MATTHEW 22:15   Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk.

MATTHEW 22:16   And they sent out unto  him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men.

Herodians were Jews who were politically involved with Herod.

It is wrong to have respect for persons. People are scared to argue with the church leader. That is a bad policy.

MATTHEW 22:17   Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?

Can we pay taxes to the official government?

MATTHEW 22:18   But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?

:19   Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny.

Why does Jesus call them hypocrites?

WIKIPEDIA

 Pilate offended the Jews by moving imperial standards with the image of Caesar into Jerusalem. This resulted in a crowd of Jews surrounding Pilate's house in Caesarea for five days. Pilate then summoned them to an arena where the Roman soldiers drew their swords. But the Jews showed so little fear of death, that Pilate relented and removed the standards.

The Jews preferred to die rather than allow Caesar’s image into Jerusalem. This had happened about 7 years earlier.

MATTHEW 22::20   And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription?

Jesus asked for details of the title of the man’s face or image that was graven on the coin.

The Herodians were religious politicians. These Jews did not allow the Roman army to bring Caesar’s image into Jerusalem.

But when it came to money, the Jews themselves brought coins with Caesar’s image right into the Temple.

No wonder Jesus called them hypocrites. They ignored their own rules about images when it came to money. They wanted the money, so they just ignored the image of Caesar that had so offended them, as long as it was on a money coin.

MATTHEW 22:21   They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.

A brilliant answer. In everyday life, give the government its due.

But in spiritual matters, it is God Who comes first.

MATTHEW 22:22   When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.

People in Heaven have no blood and thus do not marry

MATTHEW 22:23   The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him,

:24   Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.

:25   Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother:

:26   Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh.

:27   And last of all the woman died also.

:28   Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.

It sounded like a clever question, but it was deeply flawed.

MATTHEW 22:29   Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.

Sex was the original sin in Eden, and there will be no sex in Heaven. Thus, there will be no marriage in Heaven.

MATTHEW 22:30   For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.

The angels were created with immortal bodies. They have no blood and no marriage.

I CORINTHIANS 15:50   Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;

There is no blood in any immortal body. With no blood, there can be no male erection and thus no sex.

In Heaven, there will be no man and wife. Just brother and sister.

The Holy Spirit will flow through the veins of our immortal bodies. There will be no blood in these bodies.

MATTHEW 22:31   But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,

:32   I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

The dead Jews went to Paradise and lived there, very much alive in that spiritual realm. They are given spiritual bodies in which they can live. Waiting for their immortal bodies, which they receive on the day of the resurrection.

I CORINTHIANS 15:40   There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial:

MATTHEW 22:33   And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine.

They realized that Jesus knew what He was talking about.

Loving God and man makes you keep all 10 commandments

MATTHEW 22:34   But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.

Humans are show-offs. Jesus had silenced the Sadducees about the resurrection. Now the Pharisees wanted to silence Jesus with questions about the Law. This is always a difficult question to tackle.

They wanted to indulge in an endless debate about which commandment is more important than the others.

MATTHEW 22:35   Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

:36   Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

A clever question. Which commandment is the most important?

Jesus breaks up the 10 commandments into two groups.

The first four deal with man’s relationship with God.

All four are wrapped up in one concept: love God with all your might. Put Him first.

MATTHEW 22:37   Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

:38   This is the first and great commandment.

Then the last 6 commandments deal with your relationships with mankind.

You will obey all six of these if you simply love your neighbour as yourself.

MATTHEW 22:39   And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

:40   On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

The whole of the Old Testament (the law and the prophets) hinged on loving God and loving man.

The Pharisees were flattened. There was nothing here that they could argue about.

Jesus emphasized love (an attitude) rather than a rule (works).

We need to understand the Godhead clearly

MATTHEW 22:41   While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,

Now Jesus cornered these so-called clever Pharisees. (Phar – I – see). They thought this meant "Far - I - see."

But their vision was so limited that they could not recognize the Truth that stood in front of them. They wanted to oppose Jesus because Jesus threatened their power over the people, and of course, their money.

MATTHEW 22:42   Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David.

That was quick and easy. The Messiah must come through the kingly line of David.

MATTHEW 22:43   He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying,

:44   The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?

MATTHEW 22:45   If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?

PSALM 110:1   A Psalm of David. The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.

MATTHEW 22:46   And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.

They simply did not understand the Godhead.

As the Father, God was above the Jews in a supernatural Pillar of Fire.

That way, the Spirit of God was there long before David. And the Spirit of God was David’s Lord.

Then God appeared as a human Man.

This Man was the Son of David.

COLOSSIANS 2:9   For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

MATTHEW 1:23   Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is,

God with us.

As a Man, Jesus was the Son of David.

But the supernatural Spirit that dwelled in Jesus was Almighty God, and He was David’s Lord.

The Pharisees were in deep trouble.

If they admitted Jesus was the Son of David according to the kingly bloodline recorded in Matthew’s Gospel, they would also have to admit that He was God in the flesh.

They had bumped into God as a man and found He was a threat to their position of power.

“Pharisee” and “Sadducee” were words that are not found in the Old Testament. Thus, they held an unscriptural position. They retaliated by trying to get rid of Jesus Who had the Scriptural position of Messiah. People who hold an unscriptural position as the one-man-head of the church will always oppose being strictly Scriptural.

Priests, Reverends, Ministers, Vicars, and Pastors are in the same predicament in the New Testament. They have no New Testament authority to be the head of a church. The apostles who established the early church never put a pastor in charge of a church. In the same way that the Old Testament never wrote of a Pharisee being in charge. But both of these offices emerged, although with no Scriptural foundation, as the head of the church. Spiritual hijacking.

So, when vicars, ministers, reverends, and pastors bump into Biblical reality, they prefer to ignore the written Scripture and rather rely on cherry-picked quotes that establish them as the head of the church. That is why, “I have a quote” has replaced, “It is written” in message churches that claim to follow William Branham. A pastor can only maintain his position as head of the church, and his money, by relying on quotes.

Thus, there is a widespread move to prove that there are mistakes in the King James Bible so that the mantle of infallibility can fall on the quotes. There is a strong move in Message-churches that follow William Branham to silence any criticism of his mistakes. This is mainly because of their doctrines that are built on some of his mistakes. Brother Branham thought that he stood under the 1963 high-altitude Cloud. He made a mistake on that point, but various doctrines have developed around the Cloud that cannot be proven just from the Bible.

The few mistakes that brother Branham made do not detract from the huge amount of Scripture he did explain and reveal.

However, modern-day message churches are not keen on being strictly Scriptural. The leadership is threatened by the Bible in the same way that the Pharisees were threatened by Jesus.

 

“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” — 1 Corinthians 16:23