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马太福音22:8-14
8于是对仆人说：‘喜筵已经齐备，只是所召的人不配。9所以你们要往岔路口上去，凡遇见的，都召来赴席。’10那些仆人就出去到大路上，凡遇见的，不论善恶都召聚了来，筵席上就坐满了客。11王进来观看宾客，见那里有一个没有穿礼服的，12就对他说：‘朋友，你到这里来怎么不穿礼服呢？’那人无言可答。13于是王对使唤的人说：‘捆起他的手脚来，把他丢在外边的黑暗里，在那里必要哀哭切齿了。’14因为被召的人多，选上的人少。”
耶稣再一次用比喻来对那些拒绝他的犹太人说话，他们是神的选民，但是神邀请他们参加宴席他们却拒绝了，因为他们不相信耶稣，不相信他就是神差来的他们的救主。因此神的邀请转向了外邦人，“不论善恶都召聚了来”。这些外邦人正是犹太人所蔑视的，可是这些外邦人却要比他们先进神的国，因为他们相信耶稣。
可是比喻中那个不穿礼服的人又是什么意思呢？我曾看到有记载说，国王为参加宴席的宾客准备礼服是当时的习俗。现在我们在结婚典礼上也有同样习俗，伴娘和伴郎穿着同样的服装。但是在比喻中，有个人没有穿他的礼服，然后被赶出去了。我们的救恩是一幅多么美好的画面！神已经邀请我们参加婚宴，他已经为我们提供了公义的袍子，这是耶稣藉着他完美的生命和死亡为我们做的袍子，所有藉着相信他而穿着他义袍的人，都可以来参加神已经准备好的宴席。
在启示录第7章，约翰看到圣徒在天上穿着白衣站在宝座前，天上的长老告诉约翰这些衣着美丽的人是谁，“这些人是从大患难中出来的，曾用羔羊的血把衣裳洗白净了”。当我们想到天国是多么的喜乐，我们不再惧怕，因为我们已经穿上了耶稣公义的袍子！
祷告：主耶稣啊，如果我不曾相信你是我的救主，那我的生命将是令人害怕的，死亡更是恐惧的！感谢你藉着你在十字架上的死除去我的罪，感谢你赐给我你的公义，使我可以穿着站在神面前。藉着在你里面的信心，我已经是圣徒！求你帮助我在对你的感恩和赞美中，活出每一天的生命。阿们。
Matthew 22: 8-14:8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless. 13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
Once again Jesus directs this parable especially to the Jews who rejected him. They were God’s chosen people, but they rejected God’s invitation to his feast because they did not believe in Jesus, whom God sent to be their Savior. Therefore the invitation was sent to the Gentiles, to the “good and the bad.” The very Gentiles that the proud Jews despised would enter the kingdom of God before them, because they believed in Jesus.
But what about the man who didn’t have the wedding clothes? I’ve read that it was a custom for a king to cloth all of his guests. We do the same with our wedding parties, where the bridesmaids and groomsmen are dressed the same. But in the parable, one man didn’t wear his wedding clothes and he was cast out. What a beautiful picture of our salvation! God has invited us to the wedding feast, and he has even provided us with the robes of righteousness that Jesus made for us by his perfect life and death. Anyone who is wearing his robes of righteousness by faith in him is acceptable at the feast which God has prepared!
In Revelation 7, John saw the saints in heaven before the throne dressed in white. The elder in heaven explained to John who these beautifully dressed people were. “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” What a joy to think of heaven and not be afraid, because we are wearing the robes of Jesus’ righteousness!
Prayer: Lord Jesus, life would be fearful and death even more horrible if I didn’t believe in you as my Savior! Thank you for taking my sins away through your death on the cross, and for giving me your righteousness to wear before God. I am a saint by faith in you! Help me to live each day in thankfulness and praise to you. Amen.