| Chapter 13 The Allegory |
In these final chapters, the symbolic content and meaning of each verse
will be examined briefly. Many books could be written about the
interpretation of each symbol in this parable but my intent is simply to
inspire the reader toward further study and to keep this presentation
simple and informative.
This parable begins with a literary device called a simile. "The kingdom
of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his
son"...etc. Whenever "like" or "as" are used to introduce a symbolic
comparison, that comparison is called a simile. You could make the
conclusion that the entire parable then becomes a simple "extended
simile", but actually the simile in Matthew 22:2 expands itself into
another literary device called an allegory. Conclusively, this parable is
an allegory which is introduced by a simile.
An allegory is a narrative which utilizes symbols to parallel truth (Note
that a parable does not always have to be allegorical, neither is an
allegory always a parable. Bonafide allegories such as Bunyan's
PILGRIM'S PROGRESS are extensive symbolic works, while Jesus' s
parables are short and precise. Some are like fables and tend to have
but one specific point, while others have the symbolic depth of an
allegory. The meaning of some (like the Sower and the Seed) is
revealed later in the context but the meaning of others remain shrouded
in mystery to this day. This parable, in Matthew 22, does fit the
definition of an allegory and will be handled like one in this chapter.)
The question is posed by the simile in verse 2: Why is the kingdom of
heaven like a wedding? The answer expressed in verse 14 is "For
many are called, but few are chosen." This book, until now, has been
primarily concerned with that point. Now, however, a we examine the
parable as an allegory, more importance will be placed on the
interpretation of the symbols rather than on any conclusive point.
These symbols describe a prophetic scenario of rebellion and
judgement. Let us begin. Matthew 22:1,2:
And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a
marriage for his son.
We must conclude that the king represents God (The king
would be Jesus, himself, if there hadn't been a mention of the king's
son. For continuity's sake we will, therefore, call the king God and the
son of the king will be Jesus). To reinforce this interpretation, see how
God, Himself, was rejected as the king of Israel in I Samuel 8:7.
"And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people
[Israel] in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee,
but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them."
The marriage scenario is overtly identified within the parable
as the Kingdom of Heaven where Christ, the king from
heaven and of the heavenly domain, will reign on earth.
Before this can happen all opposition must be put down and his loyal
subjects must be rewarded. Much biblical prophecy is concerned with
these topics.
Verse 3. And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the
wedding: and they would not come.
As we've already discussed, those who were bidden are
Israel. The invitation is the gospel (the good news of God's blessing
toward man in the form of Jesus Christ). The servants, however, have
not yet been identified. See Revelation 11:18.
"And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the
dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward
unto THY SERVANTS THE PROPHETS, and to the saints, and them
that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which
destroy the earth."
Also see Revelation 10:7.
"But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin
to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to
his SERVANTS THE PROPHETS."
Here, God identifies His servants as the prophets. Like those
who selflessly represented God, the servants in the parable were
persecuted and some were finally slain. Both biblical and general history
attests to the fact that those who spoke forth the word of God were both
persecuted and slain by the thousands. God calls these His servants,
and unto their murderers will come the fullness of His wrath. See
Revelation 16:6, concerning those men in the final days who persecute
the prophets and follow after satan and his anti-Christ.
"For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast
given them blood to drink; for they are worthy."
Verse 4.
Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden,
Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my failings are killed,
and all is ready: come unto the marriage.
God, in his forbearance gave Israel every chance to receive the mercy
represented by the invitation to the feast. Here, the conditions are
ready for the marriage. The imminence of the eternal judgement is
always at, hand. To those who accept the invitation there will be great
blessing. See Revelation 19:9.
"And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto .
the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the
true sayings of God."
Those who refuse the invitation are in danger of wrath and eternal
destruction. See I Thessalonians 2:15.
"Who [the Jews of Paul's time] both killed the Lord Jesus Christ and
their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God,
and are contrary to all men: Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that
they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come
upon them to the uttermost."
At the time of the return of Christ in judgement, there will be another
banquet prepared. The entree here will not be fatlings and the diners
will not be the guests. The location will not be in a palace banquet hall
but in a great valley called Armageddon--the final battle where Christ will
defeat the armies of the anti-Christ. See Revelation 19:17 and 18.
"And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud
voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and
gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
That ye may eat the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and
the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all
men, both free and bond, both small and great."
These verses are relevant to the symbol of the prepared wedding feast
because they follow on the heels of the very distinct reference of the
marriage feast of Christ in Revelation 19:9 and identify the real nature of
that feast as one of vengeance. Those, in the days of wrath, who are in
opposition to the truth will find no victory against the overwhelming
power of Christ and his armies.
Verse 5.
But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another
to his merchandise:
Most of Israel, through ignorance, refused to give their king from heaven
the honor due him. Even as he died on the cross their leaders mocked
him. See Matthew 27:42 and 43.
"He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel,
let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.
He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he
said, I am the Son of God."
This cruel derision from the leaders is only one aspect of Israel's
rejection of their king. Many simply ignored him and went their way as if
he never existed. Peter, himself, was tempted to return to his fishing
nets. There was one man who, though his life had been full of mischief,
became a member of God's chosen in his final moments. This man was
one of the malefactors which hung next to the cross of Jesus. In his
repentance, he honored Jesus and said, "Lord, remember me when
thou comest into thy kingdom." See Luke 23:43.
"And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee [today, thou] shalt be
with me in Paradise" (Note: the brackets are utilized to show the proper
punctuation and positioning of words in this verse. Due to the traditional
thinking that there is a form of spiritual existence immediately after
death, the translators of the King James Version arranged these
elements to fit their theology. As shown earlier in the chapter on the
seven Dispensations, Paradise will not be available for thousands of
years after this exchange took place).
In Luke 14:26, Jesus qualifies discipleship by saying:
"If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife,
and children, and brethren and sisters, yea and his own life also, he
cannot be my disciple."
Jesus Christ, not wishing that any man hate another, used this
exaggeration to make the austere point that absolutely nothing must
come between a man's heart and the lordship of Christ. Those who do
not wish to make him Lord will put off the eternal commitment with many
excuses — as shown in the parable.
For any man to come to Christ, he must approach him from the heart,
where faith resides. No outward show of religion or pretense will accom
plish acceptance by God, only heart believing in the Lordship of Christ.
It is the heart of man that God sees. See Samuel 16:7b.
"...for the Lord seeth not as a man seeth; for man looketh on outward
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."
When our heart becomes the heart of Christ, through faith, then we are
acceptable to God and we are among His chosen. Those, in the
parable, who were more concerned with making a living than living for
their king were not found to be acceptable. Those of Israel who make
light of Christ's life and sacrifice; those who commit wholly to their
"farms", or to their "merchandise" instead of committing their lives to
their Messiah will be rejected.
Verse 6.
And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and
slew them.
This verse is an extension of the previous verses where the invitation
was simply declined by Israel. Then, the message was made light of and
rejected. Finally, as evil showed it's ferocity, the prophets who spoke the
message were persecuted and slain. The perpetrator of these crimes
spiritually is the Devil himself. His purpose is exposed by Christ in
John 10:10a.
"The thief [devil] cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy..."
The human children of the devil are his instruments on earth. Their
hearts have become hardened against the truth and their consciences
are seared so that they are only able to think evil, similar to those in
Noah’s time who needed to be destroyed because there was no
reversing their wickedness.
The persecuting Pharisees accused Jesus of lying because he claimed
to be the Son of God. Jesus, in turn, told them that they are children of
the Father of Lies, the devil. See John 8:44.
"Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.
He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in truth, because
there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his
own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."
This evil remnant, symbolized in the parable, are those of Israel who,
rather than obeying God chose freely to obey Satan. In doing so they
have chosen death over life. These are described in Jude 4.
"For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old
ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our
God into lasciviousness [earthly lust], and denying the only Lord God,
and our Lord Jesus Christ."
Their punishment is recorded in Jude 13-15.
"Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering
stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying,
Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
To execute judgement upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly
among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly
committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have
spoken against him."
The murderous "remnant" symbolically are these sons of
the devil.
Verse 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.
The wrath of the king, of course, is the wrath of God. This has been
fore-announced since Enoch as the vengeance of the Lord and can be
studied in Isaiah 13:9-13, Daniel 7 and 12; Luke 17:24-33 and 21:20-36;
Matthew 24:27-51, 26:63,64; Mark 13:26-32 and many other places.
The agent of the king, who leads His armies is Christ. This reality is
described in Revelation 19:11-16.
"And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat
upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth
judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head
were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but
he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his
name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven
followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite
the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth
the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he
hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS,
AND LORD OF LORDS."
In the parable, the king not only destroyed the murderers
but, curiously enough, burned their city (not cities, but city).
Since space is given in the parable to mention a specific city of the
murderers, let us examine this to see if this symbol is of any
significance. A possible identity of the city is revealed as Jesus laments
Jerusalem in Luke 13:34.
"0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them
that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children
together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would
not."
The moral decline of Jerusalem after the rule of King David is spoken of
in Isaiah 1:21.
"How is the faithful city become an harlot! It was full of judgement;
righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers."
Also Jeremiah spoke of Jerusalem before the Babylonian captivity,
saying that it's murders were done openly, in Jeremiah 2:34.
"Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents:
I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these."
Because of it's iniquity, Jerusalem was besieged or destroyed numerous
times throughout history. Many theologians think that it's demolition by
the Romans around 70 AD was the fulfillment of all prophesies against
it. However, there is a final siege against it, by the armies of the
gentiles in the future. See Revelation 11:2.
"But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it
not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread
under foot forty and two months."
Why was this allowed to happen to Jerusalem again? Because earthly
Jerusalem will not change. It will always retain the nature of Sodom and
Egypt (two centers of spiritual abomination). See Revelation 11:8.
"And their [the two prophets] dead bodies shall lie in the street of the
great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our
Lord was crucified [Jerusalem]."
There is, however, another Jerusalem. A NEW Jerusalem which is not
of this earth. See Galatians 4:25 and 26. Note my annotations.
"For this Agar [Hager, the mother of Ishmael by Abraham] is mount
Sinai [the mountain of God from which Moses received the Law], and
answereth to Jerusalem which now is [Mount Zion, where Jerusalem is
had replaced Sinai as the mount of the Law. The law gives birth to
bondage when the heart of it is removed.] and is in bondage with her
children [because of the law] . But Jerusalem [the New Jerusalem
which has not appeared yet but is hoped for in the heart of all believers]
which is above is free, which is the mother [referring to Sarah, the wife
of Abraham and mother of Isaac, the promised offspring] of us all."
See Hebrews 11:16. The believer's hope has always been to have an
inheritance in the city of God.
"But now they desire a better [city], that is, an heavenly: wherefore God
is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a
city."
New Jerusalem, the city of God, will exist physically in Paradise at the
final dispensation. The old Jerusalem will be totally destroyed. For it is
the city of the murderers of the prophets and servants of God.
There is another figure used of the earthly Jerusalem, in the book of
Revelation, that is BABYLON. This will be discussed in the next chapter.
Copyright Pete Lounsbury 1994