Dressed for the Wedding

And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:

Matthew 22:11

In The Parable of the Marriage Feast we are reminded that there is a sense in which every sinner may be said to approach the judgment before God clothed in 1 of 2 ways.  Like the man who didn’t belong at the wedding feast, all of us by nature initially will dare to stand before a thrice holy God dressed in our own self-righteousness.  Sadly, most persist therein and plunge headlong into judgment thinking they will be just fine dressed in their robe of self-righteousness.

 I recognize that most so dressed don’t see it that way.  But do not be mistaken.  If by way of your thinking, that which distinguishes you from others as acceptable before God is anything other than (or in addition to) the one righteousness of God in Christ, and that made yours by God having freely and graciously imputed or accounted it unto you, then you will not be accepted. 

We may be dressed in our ‘Sunday’s best’ so to speak, but hear what God says about our natural attire in Isa. 64:6, “…all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags…”  All who dare approach God so attired shall be cast out from His presence for all eternity.  We must have a wedding garment that we can’t buy, earn, furnish, or acquire for ourselves.  And that garment is the righteousness of God that our Lord and Savior established for His wedding guests on the cross – the merit of His obedience unto death that God graciously has imputed or charged to the objects of His everlasting love, mercy, and grace in Christ.

Randy Wages