Ep. 238. Matthew 22 | She Had Seven Husbands
EPISODE 238
SHE HAD 7 HUSBANDS: MATTHEW 22
The beginning of this chapter shows us again that the "servants," the people of Israel, rejected the invitation to the wedding feast. God, the King, then extends the invitation to all those who might be found, wherever they might be found. Again, we see the servants of the Kingdom forsaking Jesus, the Son of the Kingdom, and then invitation to the Kingdom extended to the Gentiles. We have to quit reading "the kingdom of heaven" as heaven itself; otherwise, we end up saying that there are people in heaven who are then cast out of heaven. That is different from what the text is trying to convey. This is the same conversation that has happened since the prophets in the Old Testament. The Jews were invited to fellowship with the Father; they rejected that invitation, and the nations believed.
Consider, if you will, the last verse of Isaiah 52 and the first verse of Isaiah 53, "Kings shall shut their mouths because of him for that which had not been told them they see and that which they have not heard they understand. But who has believed our report?" Both the books of John and Romans indicate that the phrase, "But who has believed our report," relates to the disbelief of the Jews in the Savior, that is, Jesus Christ. But the "kings" of other nations, the Gentiles, believed in the Savior's coming. This might cause us to call to mind the wise men who brought gifts to Jesus in his childhood.
I also think it is of note that we are not married or given in marriage in heaven. My wife Michele is my favorite person on the planet. As of the writing of this post she and I are just a couple months away from celebrating 18 years of married life. But in the resurrection she will not be my wife nor I her husband. The most significant of earthly relationships will end because earthly marriage is not the height of marriage. Earthly marriage is just a picture of the marriage between Christ Jesus and his bride, the church. That is a marriage that reaches across the barrier of time and echoes through eternity. When we elevate those things in our lives that are temporary as equal to or superior to those that are eternal we can be sure that we've thought too lightly of the beauty and truth of the good news of Jesus.
ADDITIONAL READING: Job 16:9; Psalm 35:16; Psalm 37:12; Psalm 112:10; Lamentations 2:16; Acts 23:8; Isaiah 26:20-21; Exodus 3:6; Deuteronomy 6;5; Leviticus 19:18; Psalm 110:1
