In the previous blog, we saw that the king’s servants were sent out to the roads to invite as many people as they could find to the wedding. They gathered both the bad and the good, and eventually, the wedding hall was filled.
This brings us to the wedding itself. The wedding hall represents the future Kingdom. The parable concerns the period when the Kingdom is still hidden, yet here we are given, as it were, a glimpse into the hall at the moment the Kingdom is revealed.
There, someone turns out to be present who does not belong.
The king surveys the guests
Matthew 22 (based on ISA)
11 And the king came in to observe those reclining at the table, and he saw a man there who was not wearing a wedding garment.
The hall was filled, and the guests were reclining at the table. Then the king enters and sees someone not wearing a wedding garment. The fact that this man is not wearing a wedding garment is evidently immediately apparent. Scripture shows in several places that, in that future time, it will be recognizable to whom a person belongs. The 144,000 are sealed, and the beast also gives a mark to those who belong to him (Rev. 7:1-4; 13:16-17).
Clothed with glory
Naturally, this parable deals with the figurative meaning of the wedding garment. In Scripture, clothing often represents the position and glory with which a person is clothed. We find a beautiful example of this in Isaiah 61, which speaks of the future restoration of Israel:
Isaiah 61 (based on ISA)
10 I rejoice greatly in YAHWEH,
my soul exults in my God,
for He clothes me with garments of salvation,
He wraps me in the mantle of righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns himself with a headdress,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
The One who clothes here is YAHWEH. He clothes with “garments of salvation” and a “mantle of righteousness.” It is noteworthy that, in the same verse, this attire is compared to the clothing and ornaments of a bridegroom and a bride. This aligns closely with the imagery found in our parable.
The wedding garment thus speaks of what God gives — and with which He clothes a person — to enable them to share in the glory of the Kingdom. The man in the parable is the very one who lacks that garment. When the king enters to observe the guests, it becomes evident that he does not belong among those who will share in the wedding. This naturally raises a question: how did this man get into the wedding hall in the first place?
how did you get in here?
Matthew 22 (based on ISA)
12 And he said to him: Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
The king asks precisely that question: “How did you get in here without a wedding garment?” The answer is actually simple: he was already there.
In this parable, we should not picture a wedding hall somewhere in heaven that someone somehow managed to enter unnoticed. The Kingdom of the heavens is established on earth. When that Kingdom begins, both believers and unbelievers are present on earth.
In the previous blog, we saw that prior to the coming of the Kingdom, the gospel of the Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the inhabited world (Matt. 24:14). There will be people who believe this message, but also many who do not. When the Kingdom subsequently begins, the unbelievers are removed from the earth. They do not share in the coming eon, and thus not in the wedding feast depicted in this parable.
The question, therefore, is not so much how this man entered the hall. The hall is a picture of the Kingdom being established on the very earth where he already was.
he was speechless
The man has no answer to the king’s question:
“And he was speechless.”
He makes no attempt to defend himself and offers no excuse. As the king observes him, it becomes clear that he does not belong among those who will participate in the wedding feast. His silence shows that nothing can be said against the king’s assessment. When the truth is brought to light, man has nothing to say in rebuttal.
taken away
13 Then the king said to the servants: Bind him hand and foot and cast him out into the outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The man is removed from the wedding hall. We will discuss the meaning of the “outer darkness” and “the weeping and gnashing of teeth” in greater detail in the next blog post. For now, the crucial point is simply that he is cast out.
We find this same principle in Matthew 24. There, the Lord compares the time of His coming to the days of Noah. The people in Noah’s day went about their daily lives as usual, until the flood came and swept them all away (Matt. 24:37–39). Jesus then says:
Matthew 24 (based on ISA)
40 Then there will be two in the field; one is taken away and one is left;
41 two women are grinding at the mill; one is taken away and one is left.
These verses are often linked to the snatching away of the ecclesia. However, the context reveals the exact opposite. Just as the unbelievers were swept away by the flood in the days of Noah, so too is the person who is “taken away” removed here. The one who is left remains behind to enter the Kingdom.
That is precisely what we see in the parable of the royal wedding feast. The man without a wedding garment is taken away. The others are left and remain in the wedding hall.
the weeds removed
We encountered this concept earlier in the parables of Matthew 13. In the parable of the weeds, the wheat and the weeds grow together until the harvest. When Jesus explains the parable, He says:
Matthew 13 (based on ISA)
40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so it will be at the consummation of the aeon.
41 The Son of Man will send His messengers, and they will gather out of His Kingdom all stumbling blocks and those who practice lawlessness.
The Kingdom begins, and those who have no part in it are removed from it. Thus, it is not the wheat that is taken away, but the weeds. casting out the bad
We saw the same thing in the parable of the dragnet:
Matthew 13 (based on ISA)
47 Again, the Kingdom of the heavens is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.
48 When it was full, they hauled it onto the beach; then they sat down and gathered the good ones into containers, but threw the bad ones away.
49 So it will be at the consummation of the eon. The messengers will go out and separate the wicked from among the righteous.
There, too, everyone is gathered first, and the separation takes place subsequently. It is not the righteous who are removed; rather, the wicked are separated from their midst.
We thus find the same pattern throughout. In the parable of the weeds, the weeds are removed. In the parable of the dragnet, the bad ones are cast out. In Matthew 24, one is taken away and the other is left behind. And in the parable of the royal wedding feast, the man without a wedding garment is cast out of the hall.
These are different images of the same event: at the inception of the Kingdom, unbelievers are removed, while those who enter the Kingdom are left on earth. In this parable, that is illustrated by the man who is not wearing a wedding garment.
But where is he taken to? Jesus says he is cast out into “the outer darkness.” And there, there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” These words are often interpreted as a description of torment in hell. But that is not what these images mean.
That is the subject of the next and final blog post about this parable