II. Chro. 36:15. (2) He yearns over them, "How can I give thee up, O Ephraim," Hos. 11:2; "Oh that thou hadst known," Luke 19:41, 42; " H e should have fed them with the finest of the wheat," Psa. 81:16. 3. The Re- jection. To their cold refusal they now (1) wickedly reject the call. They turn their backs on it. They go their ways, not His, the one to his farm (his possessions) the other to his merchan- dise (his getting). Their affections were set on things on earth, not on things above," Col. 3:1. (2) Others abused and killed the bearers of the King's message. "Th ey mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His servants," II Chro. 36:16. 4. The Vengeance. Such an instance of rebellion merited condign punishment. It was not a slight offered to an equal, it was rebel- lion against the King; it was the mur- der of just men, and loyal servants. (1) " H e sent His armies," He is " t h e Lord of Hosts." a. Of the heavenly hosts, I Chro. 21:16; Mt. 26:53; b. Of the armies of the nations, the Chal- deans, II Chro. 36:17; the Babylonians, II Kings, 25:1—; the Romans, Lk. 21: 20-22. (2) "Destroyed those murder- e r s ," millions of them fell before their enemies, in the Roman war under Titus probably 2,000,000 were destroyed. ' ' Burned up their city,'' Titus, the general, did his best to save at least the temple from the flames, but it went with the rest. Again they sigh, "Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised Thee, is burned up with fire," Isa. 64:11. III. THE WEDDING GUESTS. The wedding will have its company and heaven its population. Whoever re- fuses to come. 1. "Whosoever." " A s many as ye shall find bid to the wed- ding." "Whosoever will let him come." Rev. 22:17. (1) Whoever you are you are invited. " Ho! every one that thirsteth come y e ," Isa. 55:1. (2) Whoever you meet you may invite him. " L et him that heareth say, come!" Rev. 22:17; "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature," Matt. 28:19. 2. Whereso- ever. (1) So those servants went out into the highways, "They that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word," Acts. 8:4. "Go ye into all the world." (2) So today the call should be carried into the streets, the slums, the jails, the hos-, pitals, the missions, and from bouse to
house. S. Whatsoever. All kinds of people in all kinds of places. (1) Take the message to " t h e bad and the good.'' There are none spiritually, di- vinely good, Rom. 3:12. But relatively, morally, there are better and worse, good and bad. But it says, " b a d and good." We are inclined to put the good first. To think that there is more hope for the decent member of society. Not so the Lord. He is always revers- ing our order and He does so here. Be- cause He would not have us overlook " t h e b a d ," because there is more hope of " t h e b a d ." But (2) apart from moral consideration, we are prone to neglect the black man, the red man, the yellow man. We must call all classes, people of every origin; every order; all degrees of decency; all na- tionalities, all colors, and of all social standings; and all occupations. This is to be a cosmopolitan gathering, and the gates of the city are open on all sides that the guests may come from all quarters, Rev. 21:13. Observe the three dimensions, Whosoever, Whereso- ever, Whatsoever, so the wedding may be furnished with guests. IV. THE WEDDING GARMENT. 1. The Guests Inspected. (1) "When the King came." The King is coming, a. When the message has been fully proclaimed, for " t h is gospel must first be published among all nations, "Mar., 13:10. b. When the guests are ail gathered, when " t h e fulness of the Gentiles is come i n ," Rom. 11:25. (2) ' ' To see the g u e s t s . T h a t is to in- spect them; not only to welcome and fellowship them, but first to criticise, to judge them, for he is a King, and we know how it is that dangerous char- acters often intrude themselves under cover of the multitude. "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ," II Cor. 5:10. " W e , " that is His professed followers, not the out- side world, it has its judgment. But those who have embraced the invita- tion. So it is said, " L e t a man ex- amine himself and so let him e a t ." I Cor. 11:28. " Be ye therefore ready for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh." Luke 12:40. 2. The Fraud Detected. (1) What the King saw. ' ' He saw there a man that had not on a wedding garment." What is the wedding garment? Opinions dif- fer. Some say, justification, some faith, some charity. Some say all that "ac- companies salvation." But may we not
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