The Robe of Righteousness

1And again Jesus^(A) spoke to them in parables, saying, 2^(B) "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave^(C) a wedding feast for his son, 3and^(D) sent his servants^[a] to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 4^(E) Again he sent other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, See, I have prepared my^(F) dinner,^(G) my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.' 5But^(H) they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6while the rest seized his servants,^(I) treated them shamefully, and^(J) killed them. 7The king was angry, and he sent his troops and^(K) destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not^(L) worthy. 9Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.' 10And those servants went out into the roads and^(M) gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

11"But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there^(N) a man who had no wedding garment. 12And he said to him,^(O) 'Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. 13Then the king said to the attendants, 'Bind him hand and foot and^(P) cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' 14For many are^(Q) called, but few are chosen."

I was going to write on being clothed with the righteousness of Christ, not knowing what I was going to type and flipped open my Bible and this is the first thing I saw. The beginning of Matthew chapter 22. I know I have mentioned this before on my blog, but I feel it worthy to mention again and love to remind myself and others.

Reading this, you must understand that the wedding garment is the robe of righteousness given to us by Christ. It's His own righteousness given to us. I think it's interesting there is a man who is in the wedding hall who got in, but apparently tried doing it by another way. Which of course reminds me of what Jesus said in the beginning of John chapter 10: "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the Door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber."

The man did not come with the robe of righteousness. He obviously tried to get in, but not according to the rules. He tried to sneak in without the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He tried to sneak in with his own righteousness and his own clothes and not the proper wedding garment. And so Jesus says, "How did you get in here?" And the guy was speechless. He had nothing to say for himself. There was nothing he could boast about when he saw the King Himself. He realized the futility of trying to get in his own way and how pitiful a plan it was.

There apparently will be people on judgment day who will stand before the King in their own rags, speechless, without a single thing to say. It will be plain to them then that, "through obedience to the law, no man shall be justified."