SEPTEMBER 03 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#27 “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?” (Matthew 22:12)

 SEPTEMBER 03  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#27  “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?”  (Matthew 22:12)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord I pray that as I stand in the shadow of sickness that You will hold my tongue that I might not project anger or hurt to those around me, Your Salvation is so much greater than any sickness, Lord I pray that You will make Yourself manifest in my attitude with those around me, especially in this time of healing — anyone can praise You on the mountain top but Lord Jesus I know how important You are to my day-to-day life, sick or well, so Lord I am still Praising and Thanking You for this wonderful life You have provided for us, I just don’t want to blow my witness by showing others my “self-pity” because of any “physical ailment” or “temporary sickness”— instead I am going to keep Your Praise on my lips that is Due to the King of kings and Lord of lords, my Redeemer Jesus Christ and our Forever Father!!!   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus Teaches this all important 3rd Parable (Matthew 22:1-14) on the “Authority and Power of God Almighty” in two sections and again the order of these 2 sections teach us even more about the character of God. Section 1 of the 3rd Parable covers Matthew 22:1-4 and contains the introduction of God’s Invitation to the “arranged marriage” of His Son and all the many “preparations” God has made for this “wedding”. The fact that this wedding feast parable is the 3rd of 3 Parables that Jesus is Teaching the religious rulers (who were questioning Jesus’ “Authority”) is significant. After the discussion of the Baptism of John and the Lessons Jesus Taught with the first two parables, everyone must come to the conclusion that Jesus is using all the parables to Teach the Truth of God that God alone is the Supreme Power and Authority and that God’s Plan for His creation includes His Son ——— God has chosen to express its significance in common terms that everyone can understand — Marriage — but if we consider that it is the Supreme Power and Authority [OF ALL CREATION] that is “arranging” this “marriage of His [ONLY BEGOTTEN] Son”, then we do a great dishonor to both the Father and the Son if we reject the “Invitation” to the “marriage” — especially when it is so obvious that the Father has “prepared” the “wedding” in such great detail as we see in Section 1 of the 3rd Parable! However, the second section presents what is the major problem in the world today so Section 2 is a mirror for our modern society and our “rejection” of God’s “invitation”!!! We do not recognize God as the Supreme Authority and Power and we listen to the same lie Satan deceived Adam and Eve with in the Garden of Eden when Satan gave them this line which I will paraphrase here; “Adam and Eve, it’s your life and you can choose for yourself (Pro-Choice), I know God told you that if you eat of the fruit you will die but you won’t (satan literally called God [the original Pro-Lifer] a liar). In fact, if you choose for yourself to eat of the fruit then you will be like God and there will be no penalty to pay.” Genesis 3:1-6   A close reading of the “Fall of Man” shows that Eve misquoted God even before Satan called God a liar and in the end it was Eve who made the decision based upon her observation that “the tree was good for food (lust of the flesh), that it was pleasant to the eyes (lust of the eyes), and a tree desirable to make one wise (the boastful pride of life), so she took of its fruit and ate.” (Genesis 3:6/1 John 2:16) So in the 3rd Parable, Section 2 shows God has not changed a single bit from His Character that was revealed in the Garden of Eden, God said that Adam and Eve would die and the Bible records that they did not die physically but they did die spiritually “the day they ate of the forbidden fruit”. Here in Section 2 of the 3rd Parable we read that all those that reject God’s invitation are going to have to pay the penalty for not accepting God’s Invitation and questioning the Power and Authority of God Almighty — like Adam and Eve paid for their disobedience to God in the Garden when they rejected God’s Authority as they disobeyed God’s Single Command to “not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil”, for after the king had prepared the “wedding” and said “All things are ready. Come to the wedding” (Mathew 22:4)  that we read about the people’s rejection of God’s Authority: “But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business {Parable 1}. And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully and killed them {Parable 2}.” (Matthew 22:5-6) God has proven over and over that His Word will stand and everyone that is so proud of themselves that they think that they do not have to listen to God, will be in for a Great Fall themselves! If Jesus is Teaching that God is the Supreme Power and Authority, do you not think that God will show His True Character and administer punishment for those that reject God’s commands? God is Merciful and He is Gracious but if we forget that He will hold us accountable and that GOD HAS THE SUPREME POWER AND AUTHORITY and WHAT GOD SAYS  WILL HAPPEN WILL COME ABOUT, we will be making the same mistake that everyone who questions God makes!!!!  So we should read Section 2 of this 3rd Parable to see the character of God that everyone thinks can be ignored by establishing “popular traditions” and legislating by man-made rules the moral standards of a society by the “doctrines of men” — the Commands of God are as valid today as they were the day they were Spoken by God the first time! Before you decide that this “wedding” is not worth attending you might want to read in Matthew 22:5-14 and see what happened to those that did not accept the “Wedding Invitation” in Section 2 of this 3rd Parable on True Power and Authority!?!?!?!?!?

SEPTEMBER 02 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#27 “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?” (Matthew 22:12)

 SEPTEMBER 02  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#27  “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?”  (Matthew 22:12)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer

JESUS, consume me, guide my every thought, may all that I do be done to glorify You and praise Your Name, the Matchless Name of Jesus. You Lord are the Great Teacher, in You is all Truth and Wisdom. Through You the Love of the Father is manifest, His Grace and Mercy given to a lost and dying world by His Only Begotten Son, for it is through Faith in God’s Son Jesus that we may have fellowship with the Most High God. Jesus, You are the Way, and every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess You. Lord, the world also will proclaim Your Glory as will the Heavens and every living thing under Heaven and in Heaven will worship the King! Praise be to Him who comes to set men free!   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus introduced in His 3rd Parable a list of 15 Phrases that makes us look at our daily lives and all the things that we accept in the way of the “traditions of men” and typical family values that do not require us to “figure-it-out” but these are the things we do day-in and day-out. Jesus is demonstrating that we can know God by looking at our daily lives, God has established the institution of family and has proven that He will provide everything we need if we will simply accept His “Invitation” to the marriage. The previous 4 Phrases - {Phrase 6-9} gave us great insight into how we typically respond to His “Invitation” and the next 6 Phrases demonstrate the great effort God has extended to us — {Phrase 10} “…[the certain king] prepared…” and beyond preparing everything needed for the “Wedding Supper” God has prepared in detail above and beyond anything we could prepare for ourselves as Jesus gives details of the “preparation” as He lists {Phrase 11} “…my dinner…” and {Phrase 12} “…my oxen…” {Phrase 13} “…and [the] fatted cattle are killed…” then He sums it all up with {Phrase 14} “…all things are ready…” When you look at these 5 Phrases together we see that God has provided not only for our physical needs with a “dinner” for food for our bodies but also the spiritual needs of our souls God provides the “oxen” and “the fatted cattle are killed” thereby providing sacrifices for our spiritual needs for the remission of sin ——— Friends, God has done everything necessary for our Eternal Joy and Salvation  but we must do our part and {Phrase 15} “…Come to the wedding…” !!! All preparations are made on God’s Part, all that’s left is for us to honor the King by wearing the “proper wedding garment” ——— Jesus has Taught that if we will “Accept” God’s Invitation that we will be clothed in His Righteousness which is just another thing God Provides for all who Repent and Believe that Jesus is God’s Son!!!!    Indeed, what is man that God would love us so much and sacrifice so much of Himself to insure our inheritance in the Kingdom of Heaven? The hardest thing for us to do is to admit to ourselves that we are not kings and queens — we are your average run-of-the-mill sinners — the really GOOD NEWS is that it is not because of our “merit” that we are invited to the “Wedding” — IT IS BY THE GRACE OF GOD WHO FORGIVES!!!

SEPTEMBER 01 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#27 “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?” (Matthew 22:12)

 SEPTEMBER 01  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#27  “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?”  (Matthew 22:12)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer   

JESUS, the world without You is a sad thing — my life without You is worthless and has no meaning — Lord I can see much clearer now how differently my day goes when I am letting You live through me than when I try to go through the world on my own strength and understanding — Lord it is becoming a “no brainer” for me and yesterday when I in my arrogance thought I would “go to war” with the worldly forces that I knew were going to attack, all I ended up with was “war”, but when I yielded my arrogance to Your Humility and let Your Peace enter into my dealings with the world and its war then the battlefield became a walk in the park and “Your Joy and Peace” returned to my daily walk and I knew You had returned my steps back to Your Path of Righteousness — Lord Jesus, all I can do is Praise and Thank You and pray that each encounter with the world will more quickly be resolved from “war with the world” into “peace with God”!!!  {{The Holy Spirit says to my soul—}}  “The world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:17)       AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is indeed “Masterful” in using circumstance to “Teach” and once Jesus begins a Lesson we must “hang on every word” for Jesus never used words or circumstances lightly and there never was a Teacher like Jesus and there never will be another Teacher that can Teach any truth greater than the “Truth of God” that Jesus literally Taught not only with His Words, but with His Perfect Life, and never will anyone ever match the Death, Burial, and Resurrection that Jesus used to “Teach God’s Truth” to a lost and dying world. Jesus had just put together a sequence of 4 phrases that has a huge message if the phrases had to stand alone by themselves as a separate Lesson as Jesus taught in the 3rd Parable ——— {Phrase 6} “…the invited were not willing to come…” {Phrase 7} [BUT] “…[the certain king] AGAIN…” {Phrase 8} “…sent out other servants…” [TO] {Phrase 9} “…tell the invited…” which these 4 phrases by themselves reveal God’s Merciful Character. The Holy Scriptures are full of example after example of God making provisions for His people and the people rejecting God (and His “abundant life”) [BUT GOD] after each “rejection” provides yet another opportunity for His people to “relent of their rejection” of God and REPENT — at which point God Proves He is Forgiving and Faithful as His Character of Mercy surfaces AGAIN and AGAIN! One can look at each Phrase and see the Truth of God such as {Phrase 6} “…the invited were not willing to come…” reveals to us that God has done His part for He has “invited” us to “Come” but we judge ourselves because we the “invited” pronounce our own sentence; we know we are “invited” [BUT] we are “not willing to come” !?! God has done His part in extending His “invitation” and we do not listen to God and choose to live our lives independent of God — How can we hope to be protected from the storms of life if we refuse to get under the umbrella provided for us by God to keep the world from raining down on us??? In {Phrase 7} “…again…” we cannot miss the fact God never gives up on us (we only give up on God) then {Phrase 8} + {Phrase 9} “…[the certain king after being rejected] sent out other servants [to] tell the invited…” What is interesting here looking at this sequence of phrases is that not only did God try “again” but He also sends out “other servants to tell the invited…[to COME]” and we will see by looking at the rest of the phrases that there is the same “invitation [from God] to come” but it is presented in a slightly different way ——— God is trying everything so that He can say when we stand face-to-face with God at the final judgement that we will hear God say in His “still small voice” — “I invited you AGAIN and AGAIN but you rejected My Invitation to “COME” as many times as I gave it — so you leave me no choice — if you don’t want Me in your life then I will let you spend your eternity without Me, if you don’t want to live My Way then it will now and forever be ‘your way’ and I will not bother you any more!” (Personally I find living without God for even part of my day is “hell”, I could not imagine what an eternity without Him would be like ?!?!?!?!?!) God is inviting you to a wedding feast and celebration, what better thing do you have to do — go get a wedding garment and “come” to the feast while the invitation is still being extended by the KING!!!  

AUGUST 31 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#27 “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?” (Matthew 22:12)

 AUGUST 31  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#27  “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?”  (Matthew 22:12)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord I give You all Praise, Glory, and Honor for the Great Sacrifice that You Planned and Executed on my behalf, Lord Jesus I know that I am undeserving and that makes Your Sacrifice even greater still. Lord, add to the simple truth that we are underserving and that You were perfectly innocent and did not need us in any way, it is incomprehensible that You would become flesh and endure the temptations of the world to be our Savior?!? Jesus, help me Lord to be more like You in everything I do that my old selfish desires will be crucified with You and that I will be a new glorified creature in Your Resurrection.  {{In 2004 I wrote the following prayer which I think is very appropriate and relative to today: “Jesus, Jesus, Immanuel, God IS with us! You Lord are here and now, You hear me EVERY TIME I call Your Name from my heart, Your Holy Spirit indwells us and leads us through our daily lives. Take me and make me to conform to Thy Will. Lord, let my lips and my mind praise You continually for in our praise we are drawn nearer to You and the closer we can get t o You, the closer we are to one day leaving this sin-filled world and our sin-filled ways.You are the Way, the Truth and the Life — You are the Messiah, the Son of God Most High. Glory and Honor to Jesus the Christ, our Savior, our Lord and our friend.” }}   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is building His Lesson in this 3rd Parable on God’s Authority around a traditional “marriage” where the “father” arranges the “marriage for his son” and this Lesson is understood by all Israel. Jesus is able to hit at the core of the “traditions of men” by Teaching this “authority” issue because there is no questioning the “authority” of the “father”!!!. The accepted “tradition” in Israel of the father arranging marriages has literally been upheld by every Israelite for thousands of years. Jesus in using His 15 Phrases in His 3rd Parable to introduce the problem using the nations own “traditions” and once the problem is introduced, Jesus really drives the point home when He follows {Phrase 5} : “…[the certain king] sent out servants to call those who were invited to the wedding…” with {Phrase 6} “…the invited were not willing to come…”!!! Being invited to a marriage was understood on a very personal level by everyone listening to Jesus. It could also be for certain that everyone listening had been involved in a marriage, and many of the rulers had been in the position of arranging marriages for their own sons, and probably most everyone had at one time or another in their lifetime “excused” themselves from a wedding they had been invited to for some reason or another, so Jesus has again used a “Universal Experience” to Teach this most valuable of Lessons on “authority” in a way that could be understood by the entire nation of Israel using the “traditions of men” that all Israel had been living with for generations upon generations. Jesus places words in just the right order to Teach great Lessons with a single, perfectly placed word or phrase and {Phrase 7} “…again…” is one of those “Perfect” words for it Teaches the Truth of God that He is MERCIFUL, PATIENT, and GOES THE EXTRA MILE and will AGAIN and AGAIN do everything that He can to draw us to Himself!!! The word “…AGAIN…” placed at this point also points to the Message that John the Baptist and Jesus has been preaching and that is REPENT. By extending the invitation  “AGAIN”, God is saying that He is giving everyone a chance to “relent (repent)” from our unwillingness to accept His invitation as Jesus Taught in Parable 1 that “the son that had done the father’s will” was the one that “regretted [telling the father ‘no’] and went and worked [as the father had commanded]” (Matthew 21:29) Jesus is using all these 3 parables in a specific order and now He is using the 3rd Parable in a specific word/phrase order to Teach the Truth of God in a way that everyone can understand! {Phrase 8} “…sent out other servants…” and {Phrase 9} “…tell the invited…” makes me think of another description that Isaiah writes of God “…the LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth…His understanding is unsearchable…” (Isaiah 40:28) and if we think of all that God has done from Creation to the Crucifixion to “invite” everyone to the kingdom of God, we cannot deny that God has done more than any of us would have done to provide a Path of Repentance to Eternal Life — we are not able in the first place to “Provide” eternal life for ourself so how do we even consider we could be gracious enough to provide for those who reject our every invitation to “come”, we haven’t even “Prepared” a place for our guests — God continually proves Himself Faithful and Just, ——— why or why do we reject His Mercy and Grace?!?!?!?!

AUGUST 30 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#27 “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?” (Matthew 22:12)

 AUGUST 30  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#27  “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?”  (Matthew 22:12)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord, Giver of all things good in my life, I can only give You praise for the change that Your Love has made in my life and I pray that because of Your Love that others will see the “change” and that Your Love will change them as well. Lord I know it was a small thing but I felt Your Grace so full with the opportunity You gave us with the McKenzie Acre boys and girls — Lord I pray for Your Love to be poured out on them and last night showed me that it will be through being obedient to Your command to “love one another” that we are indeed sharing You and Your Love with our world — Lord what a gift it is for “giving” and “forgiving” and to just see others through Your eyes, may I in the future let Your Love pour out of me into these kids and see that “change” that only Your Love can bring about in our lives.   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has placed this 3rd Parable at the end of 3 Parables on the “Authority of God” for a specific reason and it could be argued from the Book of Revelation that there is great significance in Jesus being the Lamb of God and in the End Time that all heaven will rejoice “…for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready…” (Revelation 19:6-9) Jesus has been Teaching about the problem of how “Israel” has treated “her God” ——— the prophet Isaiah after writing about the “Suffering Servant” in Isaiah 53 and continues in Isaiah 54 writing about Israel: “For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth.” (Isaiah 54:5)  Therefore all Israel understood Jesus Teaching about a “marriage” and soon they will see with their own eyes what John the Baptist had declared about Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God” (John 1:29) and all the pieces will fit as during this Special Passover when God will “provide Himself the lamb” as Abraham promised Isaac on Mount Moriah before Israel became a nation. Jesus Teaching this 3rd Parable about {Phrase 1} “The kingdom of heaven is like…” {Phrase 2} “…a certain king…” who {Phrase 3} “…arranged a marriage…” fits into the traditions and the Holy Scriptures that Israel has been living with since Abraham arranged a marriage for his “Promised Son” Isaac and the fulfilling of God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob pertaining to the nation of God’s chosen people, Israel. However, Israel had become so entrenched in her “traditions” and “doctrines of men” that they as a Holy Nation had been led away from the “command of God” which is the main problem Jesus introduces starting with {Phrase 4} “…for his son…” (which Jesus had already Taught about the chief cornerstone being “rejected by the builders” and had become the great “stumbling block” for God’s chosen nation) — Jesus never introduces a “problem” without immediately pointing to the solution which Jesus in His Divine Role as the Master Teacher, details the problem which illuminates the solution to the problem He details with {Phrase 5} “…[the certain king] sent out servants to call those who were invited to the wedding…”. Israel knows as a nation that God has been sending out His servants in the form of prophets, judges, kings, and even His enemies as servants to fulfill His covenant with the nation Israel whom God has called to be a “chosen peoples”. It is obvious that at this Passover that Jesus will fulfill His Divine Task of being the Passover Lamb and this is necessary because {Phrase 6} “…the invited were not willing to come…” This is a problem with our spiritual journey that each pilgrim takes to find our God and the Land of Promise that He has prepared for us. If we do not reach our destination it is not because of a shortcoming of God but because we have not followed His Path for our life — God has prepared and God has provided but we have strayed from His Plan and are “not willing to come” even though we have been “invited” by the King Himself — how long will you “make excuses” not to attend this Marriage Feast and the Wedding of the King’s Son? 

AUGUST 29 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#27 “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?” (Matthew 22:12)

 AUGUST 29  THE JESUS QUESTIONS    JQ#27  “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?”  (Matthew 22:12)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

JESUS, my Lord and my Redeemer, my Rock and my Salvation, You are the Calm in my storms ——— Lord Jesus I can only give You Praise for You are Worthy!  Lord I wake each morning and my thoughts are again turned to Your Grace and Mercy because each day as I rise I know I am rising because You have been Gracious and Merciful to this sinner and were it not for Grace and Mercy to carry me through my guilt and shame, I simply would not make it through my days. Jesus I come and bow my heart, my head and my soul to You and place my worthless self at the foot of Your Cross and ask that You lead me down Your Paths of Righteousness through this Valley of the Shadow of Death just one more day, I know that I am lost without You. Lord Jesus, this I KNOW — You ARE MY LIGHT, MY HOPE, and MY JOY  which are my “Way”, my “Truth” and my “Life” on my “Journey to You”!!!   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus as the Master Teacher, Teaches using very specific “words” and “word order”. Jesus started this series of Lessons in the temple of God in this specific week leading up to the Passover where Jesus is going to fulfill the prophecy of the “Suffering Servant” written by the prophet Isaiah 800 years earlier about the Coming Messiah. The first thing Jesus did after entering Jerusalem was go to the temple and put God’s temple in order when He drove out all who were making it a “den of thieves” instead of “a house of prayer”.  Once in the temple, Jesus demonstrated the Power of God by doing the work of God as Jesus performed miracle after miracle for everyone that came to Him in the temple and made their requests and prayers known to the “Son of David”. Jesus left Jerusalem that evening to stay in Bethany but returned the next day and continued “driving out” all that was against the “commands of God” and had been defiled by the “doctrines of men”! These actions of Jesus had caused the “ruling authorities” in Jerusalem who had not been consulted by Jesus, to confront Jesus and since they could not deny the “works” that Jesus had been doing, the ruling authorities questioned Jesus as to His “authority”!? (Side note: It is this author’s opinion that these “ruling authorities” were proving Jesus right in exposing their “inadequacies” — I was taught at a very early age that you do not question the man doing the work, especially if he has a big stick in his hand and the work he is accomplishing is going to benefit everyone concerned.) Once Jesus had His “authority” questioned, He began a series of Lessons to not only prove His “authority”, He was Teaching in a way that He proved that those questioning His “authority” already knew where His “Authority” was coming from but simply refused to admit the Truth of God. Jesus accomplished this by first cursing the fig tree, then when first questioned about His “authority” Jesus asked about the “baptism of John” which had been a “hot topic” for the ruling authorities since the multitudes had been seeking out John the Baptist in the wilderness around the Jordan and were “Repenting” of their sins against God and were being baptized by John who witnessed that his calling was to be “…the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord…” (John 1:23). Once Jesus had everyone’s attention on the baptism of John, Jesus asked, “The baptism of John (which was now an accepted FACT by all Israel) — where was it from? From heaven or from men?” (Matthew 21:25) The answer was obvious so Jesus moved to the first of three parables to teach details of God’s Authority, Parable #1 (Matthew 21:28-32) Taught that God has called us to “obey” and we either choose to “obey” His commands or we choose to “disobey” God, and it is not what we say we do that God acknowledges, it is what our actions prove about us that God is going to fairly judge us by, therefore we learn the Truth of God that we condemn ourselves and God only passes judgement on our actions, we are either guilty of disobeying God and will be punished according to our choice or we will be rewarded for obeying God. Jesus then moved to Parable #2 (Matthew 21:33-46) where Jesus taught that God has a plan for mankind and God will provide all the tools and circumstances we need to accomplish the task God places before us, but if we take the “provisions” of God and try to take “possession” of God’s Authority for “personal gain”, once again our actions will determine our final judgement, God’s Authority is Supreme and we cannot alter or change in any way God’s commands or His Plan for mankind, even if we refuse God’s constant attempts at correcting our misguided course and poor life-choices, up to and including denying that He has no “authority” in our lives or even if we crucify His Son! Now Jesus is completing this series of Lessons on “authority” by Teaching the 3rd Parable (Matthew 22:1-14) about a “certain king” who “arranged a marriage for his son” and just like Jesus Taught these Lessons in a specific order to get us “on point”, Jesus is now Teaching the Truth of God in this 3rd Parable by a specific word order and selection of 15 phrases that we must look at each individually in the order in which Jesus gave them in order for us to see God Almighty. Jesus told Thomas, one of His disciples (also known as “doubting Thomas”) “…if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father…” (John 14:9) This would be a good time to look again at the 15 Phrases in this passage in Matthew 22:2-4 and then look at how Jesus reveals the “Father” to us through this passage in this 3rd Parable, unless of course you are not interested in knowing the answer to the Question that will determine where you will spend your “eternity”!?!?!?!  

AUGUST 28 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#27 “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?” (Matthew 22:12)

 AUGUST 28  THE JESUS QUESTIONS    JQ#27  “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?”  (Matthew 22:12)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer   

JESUS, You Lord are the Faithful One, for each day, regardless of where I am or what ever-changing circumstance I may find myself in, You are always there, the Good Shepherd, and I can hear Your gentle voice beckoning me to the fold and once again my Faith belays my fears as Your Light dispels the darkness. Lord Jesus, Praise You for Your Great Sacrifice as the Lamb of God, giving Your Holy Divine Self for this lost sheep, O the Mystery of God! Lord let me hear nothing but Your Voice and know that green pastures, still waters, and Salvation have been secured by the One who needed no one but Sacrificed Himself  “Once-For-All”!!!       AMEN

 THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is Teaching this 3rd parable about what the kingdom of heaven is “like” while sitting in the temple of God in the City of David with just a few days left before He will be Sacrificed as the Lamb of God on the Passover!  With only days left in His earthly ministry there will not be a “jot or tittle” that will not bear Divine meaning — with that “importance” of detail in mind, there must be some significance that this 3rd parable is about a “wedding”?!?! If one looks at both “tradition” and “logic” there are several very important points that make “marriage” VERY relative for this 3rd parable. First let’s look at the words and the order Jesus presented them in this parable: {Phrase 1} “The kingdom of heaven is like” … {Phrase 2} “a certain king” … {Phrase 3} “arranged a marriage” … {Phrase 4} “for his son” … {Phrase 5} “sent out servants to call those who were invited to the wedding” … {Phrase 6} “[the invited] were not willing to come” … {Phrase 7} “again, [the certain king]” … {Phrase 8} “sent out other servants” … {Phrase 9} “tell the invited” … {Phrase 10} “I [the certain king] have prepared” … {Phrase 11} “my dinner” … {Phrase 12} “my oxen” … {Phrase 13} “and [the] fatted cattle are killed” … {Phrase 14} “all things are ready” … {Phrase 15} “Come to the wedding”. (Matthew 22:2-4)   These 15 Phrases are “loaded” with meaning and when put them together with the circumstance and the “Teacher”, then these 15 Phrases take on both “Divine” and “eternal” meaning for all who will “listen” … as it is said three times in the final book in the Holy Scriptures, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says…” (Revelation 2:29; 3:13; 3:22).  To stop and sit at the feet of Jesus and to hang on His every Word is the Way to heaven, the Truth of God, and Eternal Life — it is the way to wisdom — it is how we will “know God” for Jesus has been Teaching with every step, every word, every miracle, that if we know the Son, then we will know the Father! The Old Testament teaches about the Almighty God and the prophets who foretold of God’s Anointed, the Chosen One, the Messiah and the New Testament teaches that “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” that those that “Repent” and “believe on Him” will be “Forgiven” and that they “shall not perish but have everlasting life”!!! Jesus, the “Only Begotten Son” of “the Certain King” has been Teaching that God still cares and that God Almighty is “Abba Father” who is still standing with open arms calling out to His Creation — “COME” — “LISTEN” — “FOLLOW JESUS”, for God is calling, Jesus is calling, and the Spirit is calling in a “still, small voice”, to all who will “hear” and accept the “Wedding Supper” Invitation, “Come … all is prepared!!!”  “Don’t you think it is time to start choosing what you are going to wear to the wedding?!?!?!?”