The Parable of the Great Supper (Continued)

Notes

Those who refused the last call, "Come; for all things are now ready," were left to their own choice, but the feast was not thus deprived of its guests. Those whose outward circumstances caused them to be despised by the world, and those hidden from the observation of men, were most urgently invited, and they responded to the call. Thus it often happens that the very blessings bestowed upon men as a means of drawing them to the Lord are turned by them into a hindrance to spiritual life, while the absence of temporal comforts leads to a greater readiness to receive the "unspeakable gift." The rejection of the gospel call by those first invited, and the turning to others with the same invitation, foreshadowed the giving of the gospel to the Gentiles, and is the distinct call to us to send the last message "to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people."

The whole Bible is an invitation to come to the Lord for salvation. This was the Lord's call to Noah (Gen. 7:1); it was His invitation through Isaiah (Isa. 55:1); Jesus Himself repeated it (Matt. 11:28); and among the closing words of the Bible the call is thrice repeated (Rev. 22:17). On the other hand, the whole message of the Bible is concerning the coming of Christ to and for His people. The symbolic service foreshadowed it, the prophets foretold it, John the Baptist gave the message of His first coming (Luke 1:76), and his work finds its full completion in the last message before the second coming. And so the call to-day, "Come; for all things are now ready," is a call to prepare for the second coming of Christ and the marriage supper of the Lamb. By the winning power of love this message is to go forth to the world in this generation, to compel men to receive the gift of God's grace, to "eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood," that they may live forever. Through the neighborly ministry of the medical missionary work this message is to go to the suffering and the needy, and so, through the right use of all of God's appointed agencies, all classes are to be reached and the day of the Lord is to be hastened. Read Isa. 26:20, 21, and Rev. 22:20, for a combination of the Lord's call and our response.