The Wedding Feast (~19.49) - Moriel Ministries

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Feature Article – Continued These things happened in the first century in part. But how do we understand, “he sent his armies”? (Mt. 22:7) “His army” is not angelic; “His army” is human. But that does not mean they are good guys. On the contrary, “His army” means something very different. Going all the way back to the book of Judges and throughout the history of Israel, we see the same pattern. When God’s people broke the covenant and were unfaithful – when they went into idolatry and immorality and would not repent and began to persecute the prophets whom God sent to warn them to repent – He would get somebody, some nation, worse than they were to invade them. He would get somebody completely heathen. He would get the Philistines, He would get the Amalekites, He would later get the Assyrians to take the ten tribes into captivity in 721 B.C. He would get the Babylonians in 585 B.C., and prior to them He had the Assyrians. In A.D. 70 it was the Romans. God’s “army” is somebody worse than His people. He gets somebody worse than they are: Philistines, Assyrians, Babylonians, Romans – He always does that. However, look at what it says in Joel… “Then I will make up to you for the years That the swarming locust has eaten, The creeping locust, the stripping locust and the gnawing locust, My great army which I sent among you.” (Joel 2:25) There are four kinds of locusts, Joel says. The “swarming” ones, the “creeping” ones, the “stripping” ones and the “gnawing” ones. Joel uses insects the way that Daniel uses animals or monsters. He uses them as symbols or metaphors for political entities. The Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar would invade four times and he compares the four invasions and what the Babylonians would do to locusts that creep, locusts that strip, locusts that gnaw, and locusts that swarm. There were four invasions. Once the people repent, God destroys Babylon. Joel, Isaiah, and Jeremiah are all saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon” (Is. 21:9; Jer. 51:8; Rev. 14:8)! Before Babylon even rose on the scene, God predicted its destruction. In other words, when people would not repent, when they broke the covenant, when they persecuted the prophets, He might get the Philistines or the Assyrians or the Babylonians or the Romans. But once He used them for His purposes as an instrument of correction for His own people, then He would destroy the heathen. Their fate was sealed. They were very confident in all this, but their fate was sealed. God just raised them up expressly for a time and a purpose to deal with His own people. He is not concerned with the unbelievers, He is concerned with His own. This was Joel’s army. The King sends His army. He gets somebody worse than they are. The Jews could not believe that God was going to use the Babylonians. (This is the book of Jeremiah.) They could not believe that He would get somebody so heathen as they. In the same way they could not believe that God would use the Romans to destroy Jerusalem in A.D. 70. They could not believe He would do such a thing. “We’re not as bad as they are; they are not the people of the covenant.” But God would say, “You should know better. They are just being what they are – savages; you are supposed to be a holy people.” He gets somebody who is worse. Once they persecuted the prophets He would get somebody worse. This happens in 721 B.C. with the Assyrians in Samaria, it happens in 585 B.C. with the Babylonians in Jerusalem. The Jews persecute Jeremiah and so forth, and the Babylonians destroy the first temple in Jerusalem, the first temple built by Solomon. They destroy it on a day in August, “T’sha B’Av,” roughly the 9 th of August. The Romans destroy the second temple the same day of the year in A.D. 70 – the same, exact day of the year five centuries later, the Romans destroy the second temple. Once Jeremiah was rejected, the Babylonians destroyed the first temple; once Jesus was rejected, the Romans destroyed the second temple the same day of the year, “T’sha B’Av.” On this day the rabbis read the book of Lamentations to mourn the event. The mystery religions which began in Babylon with the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11) – which had their apex under the Babylonian Empire – these found their way into the Greco-Roman Empire via a city called “Pergamum” particularly (Rev. 2:12-17), and via Pergamum into the Greco-Roman world. So by the time of Jesus, the mystery religions of Babylon found a home in Rome. That is why Peter writes in his epistle, “She who is in Babylon…sends you greetings.” (1 Pe. 5:13) He is actually writing from Rome, but those same mystery religions come from Babylon. The early Christians identified Rome with Babylon. They destroyed the temple the same day. In other words, what happened n 585 B.C. happened again in A.D. 70 on the exact day. God’s people would not repent so He gets somebody worse than them. And so we see in the first century, when most Jews reject their Messiah and persecute the apostles, God gets His army and the Romans destroy the city. The Nuptial is at Hand ‘Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.’ (Matthew 22:9) God turns His grace to the Gentile nations. THAT happened in the first century, but that is not primarily what this parable is talking about. That is only PARTIALLY what this parable is talking about because the wedding feast is at hand. It happens at the end of the age. It is not only for the First Coming, it is recapitulated – it happens again for the Second Coming. The wedding is at hand. It is not the betrothal, it is the nuptial – the wedding feast, the banquet. Notice there are two groups of servants sent out to invite people in Matthew 22. The first go out, simply, with an ordinary wedding invitation. “Réspondez s’il vous plait” – RSVP. But the people were unwilling to come. He sends out OTHER servants, telling them, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen…my livestock…everything is ready…” The second group does not go out with a simple response of “s’il vous plait”; the second group goes out with the sense of urgency. “The wedding is at hand – the bridegroom cometh.” This is what we call, or what Matthew calls, “the Gospel of the Kingdom.” (Mt. 4:23; 9:35; 24:14) The Gospel of the Kingdom The Gospel is the Gospel. God becomes a man to take our sin in order to give us His righteousness, He raised us from the dead in order to give us eternal life. The Gospel is the Gospel. But there are different aspects to it, different characters in which it is preached. In Ephesians 6 and Isaiah 52 it is called the “Gospel of Peace.” (Is. 52:7; Eph. 6:15) Elsewhere it is called the “Gospel of Salvation.” (Ro. 1:16; Eph. 1:13) But here it is the “Gospel of the Kingdom.” What does that mean? Look to Matthew 24, the Olivet Discourse. They ask Jesus what is the sign of the end of the world and His coming, and He gives all these signs. And then He says… “This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached… (Mt. 24:14) The “Gospel of the Kingdom” is what we see in Matthew’s Gospel where we find the recurrent “kingdom” theme. The theme of the kingdom keeps coming up in Matthew more than in the other Gospels. In Matthew, in the “Gospel of the Kingdom,” Jesus speaks of hell three times as much as He does about heaven. John the Baptist preached the “Gospel of the Kingdom”: “Repent, the kingdom is at hand.” (Mt. 3:2) What is this “Gospel of the Kingdom” that is to be preached in the Last Days? “The Bridegroom cometh.” It is when we use End Times prophecy to engage people in evangelistic dialogue. Moriel Quarterly • December 2009
There was a book written in the 1970’s. (Tragically, its author is on his fifth marriage – I will not get on a platform with him.) Nonetheless, a lot of people – a LOT of people – were saved through a book called The Late, Great Planet Earth. The book was an over-simplification of End Times prophecy, but a lot of people were saved through it. What did he do? He used End Times prophecy to see people saved. In the Last Days the way we should be focusing our evangelism is by using the return of Christ – End Times prophecy – as a means of communicating the way of salvation. The first group of servants says, “You are invited to the wedding.” But the second group of servants, when the nuptial approaches, is sent out with this sense of urgency, “The Bridegroom is coming! Everything is ready! The marriage supper is at hand!” When I was first saved in the very early 1970’s, everybody was talking about the return of Jesus. EVERYBODY. Now we are 40 years closer to the return of Christ but there is far less interest in eschatology; there is far less interest in the Last Days. There is far less interest in the return of Jesus now than there was 40 years ago despite the fact that we are 40 years closer to Him coming back. THIS is a deception in itself. Almost every lie of the devil aimed at the body of Christ in the Western world today is designed to get us to focus on THIS life or this world. The Word-Faith/ Kingdom Prosperity gospel, the Kingdom Now stuff, the social gospel, the global P.E.A.C.E. plan – all of these things are designed to get us to set our hope in this world instead of in the return of Christ. But Jesus said, “When you see these events happening” – and we are SEEING them: The countries of the Roman Empire reconfederating into a non-democratic Europe; the Ecumenical Movement (coming under Rome, false religions of the world uniting); we are seeing the destruction of the environment – the book of Revelation, “Let us destroy those who destroy the earth” (Rev. 11:18); the countries that are at the center of world events in the Bible are at the center of world events again. These things all point to the return of Jesus. They have never happened before in this way ever. The Jews have not been in that land 2,000 years, nearly, but they are there now just as Jesus said they would be. And they are turning back to Christ again. These things have not happened before, but the Bible says they would happen in the Last Days. Why do people do the “Nancy Reagan” thing? She used to go Jeanne Dixon, to a fortune teller, then go tell her husband how to run the country when he was President. Why do people, like Nancy Reagan, go to fortune tellers? Why do people read horoscopes and tarot cards? Why do they do that? They want to know the future. Unsaved people have a curiosity about the future. They want to know the future. Well, we KNOW the future. We know how the church will end up, we know how the nations of the world will end up, we know how the situation in the Middle East will end up, we know how the planet will end up. We KNOW the future. And we will know it clearer and clearer – at least the faithful Christians will understand it clearer and clearer – the closer we get to Jesus’ coming. WE know what they want! We should be using End Times prophecy to evangelize people. “Look, do you see what is happening in the Middle East? You see what is happening in Iraq? That was Babylon in the Bible. Now American troops are there. Look what Jesus said: Jerusalem would be trampled down by the feet of the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles are completed. (Lk. 21:24) In Zechariah it says all the nations will come against Israel in the Last Days. (Zech. 12:3) Look at that!” Chinese – over 2 billion people – watched them kill 8,000 students at Tiananmen Square. Not one U.N. resolution was passed against China. The Muslims murdered over 3.3 million Christians in 11 years in Sudan and Darfur and not one U.N. resolution was passed against them, only for a boycott. But more than half of the boycotts are against Israel. There are even Christians like D. James Kennedy telling Christians to be against Israel. Do not be against the Muslim countries who persecute Arab Christians; be against Israel who protects the rights of Arab Christians. This is being taught in churches. These things fulfill prophecy. Get unsaved people to look at world events. Who is not concerned about Iraq? Who is not concerned about the Middle East? Who is not concerned about the environment? Who is not concerned about the globalization of the world economy? We use these things to evangelize people. A Sense of Urgency The second group has a different emphasis to its proclamation. It is the same wedding, the same invitation, but it is presented with a sense of urgency. When we see prophecy being fulfilled, that is what Jesus said to do – tell them it is imminent. Now if Jesus said to do something, we can be absolutely sure that Satan does not want Christians to do it. If Jesus said to do it, Satan will say, “Don’t do it.” There are some pretty good Baptist preachers in this country. Whether one might like him or not – I am not saying he is perfect, but he is a man of God – John MacArthur will tell you that contemporary Feature Article – Continued events in the Middle East fulfill prophecy. He knows that. Some other Baptists, people like John Piper, will say, “No they don’t.” These people are deluded. These are the signs of the return of Christ. But Satan does not want anyone to recognize them as signs of the return of Christ. He does not want Christians to recognize the signs. He does not want them to be ready for when the Bridegroom comes. And he certainly does not want them communicating the Gospel effectively. One of the things that scared me the most is this: there is a new form of exegesis, a new form of hermeneutics called “Highlight-and-Delete/Cut-and-Paste.” A Jehovah’s Witness would not have the audacity to do this, but Rick Warren, the guy who writes the Purpose Driven books, actually teaches this. It is amazing. When the Syrians assassinated the Christian leader of Lebanon, Pierre Gemayel, Rick Warren went to Syria and began singing the praises of this regime that sponsors Hezbollah to fire missiles into Israel and to murder Christians, saying how wonderful the Syrians were. That was Mr. Warren. And then he came back and said those who criticized him are people who want to have a political gospel. Well, he did not preach salvation in Jesus to the Syrians, he only preached politics when he was there himself. That was unbelievable. But he teaches – and it is in print, it is on his Web site – to keep away from End Times prophecy, that it is a diversion. End Times prophecy is a “diversion” to Rick Warren. And his proof-text was Acts 1:6. He said, and I am quoting him verbatim, “When they asked Jesus what will be the end of the age and what will be the sign of your coming, He said, ‘It’s not for you to know the times or seasons the Father’s fixed by His own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; you shall be My witnesses.’” Well, let’s see what it REALLY says. Turn to Acts… So when they had come together, they were asking Him… ….that is, Jesus… …saying “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; (Acts 1:6-7) They did not ask Jesus, “What would be the sign of the end of the age and Your coming?” as misquoted by Rick Warren. They asked Him, “When are you going to restore the kingdom.” December 2009 • Moriel Quarterly
Page 1 and 2: "MORIEL" GOD IS MY TEACHER December
Page 3 and 4: State of Moriel 2009 S T A T E O F
Page 5: of wedlock. How dishonoring to Jesu
Page 9 and 10: …they paid no attention and went
Page 11 and 12: dinner guests, he saw a man there w
Page 13 and 14: ‘For I will pour out water on the
Page 15 and 16: The third day always alludes to a r
Page 17 and 18: Danny Isom Guest Author M a t h e w
Page 19 and 20: Paul M c Guire Guest Author DEATH O
Page 21 and 22: FYI PERTINENT “ ” October 4, 20
Page 23 and 24: Hebrew Lesson The water of life is
Page 25 and 26: Hebrews 6:1-2. This week he was tea
Page 27 and 28: who does a good job with a lack of
Page 29 and 30: 68:6 tells us that God places the s
Page 31 and 32: culture, food and people - but she
Page 33 and 34: Ruth Nessim Israel Update from CJFM
Page 35 and 36: urgency? The news we get from Israe
Page 37 and 38: Hanukkah Story wikipedia.org The Fe
Page 39: The Town Halls: This is a Spiritual

The Wedding Feast (~19.49) - Moriel Ministries

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