Kingdom Ready.

Mat 22:1  And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, 

Mat 22:2  The KINGDOM OF HEAVEN is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, 

An arranged marriage for a king's son.

Mat 22:3  And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. 

Servants of the king are sent to call those who were asked to come to the king's son's wedding.  However, when they were called, they chose not to come.

Mat 22:4  Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. 

Mat 22:5  But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: 

Mat 22:6  And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. 

In shocked surprise that the guests did not readily desire to attend the wedding, the king told other servants to tell the invited guests just how important and special things were,  that everything was ready for their enjoyment. A wedding feast was prepared- oxen and fatlings were all killed and would be available for them to enjoy.

When the servants told this to the guests who already said they weren't going, they weren't enticed at all! They laughed to think the king thought his wedding feast preparations would change their minds. Instead of following the servants back to the king, one of them went back to his farm, and another to his wares he was selling. Those people who were left grabbed the servants of the king and ridiculed them, beat them and ultimately killed them.

Mat 22:7  But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 

The king was told what happened and he was furious! He had his armies go to those defiant, murdering invited wedding guests who refused to attend the wedding of the prince and enjoy the celebration, and he had them destroyed. Their entire city was burned to the ground for their evil.

Mat 22:8  Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. 

The king told his servants the wedding is still ready to be undertaken, but those he'd initially called to be wedding guests were not worthy to be called- which was proven by their actions.

Mat 22:9  Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. 

Because the wedding needed guests the servants were told to go into the highways to those who hadn't as yet been invited and as many as they could find there, tell them to come to the wedding feast.

Mat 22:10  So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. 

Not discriminating between any of the people, not caring who it was they asked- their backgrounds unchecked, the servants told all bad and good to follow them to the wedding feast and they did, the wedding feast was now filled with guests.

Mat 22:11  And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: 

Mat 22:12  And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. 

The king went out to look at the new guests, expecting all of them to be properly attired for the wedding. To not be properly attired meant they had no respect for where they were. So, even as they were gathered from all over to come to the wedding, they had to be prepared to attend the wedding. Bad or good they needed the wedding garments on, not their street clothes, not their everyday attire. So expecting to see the place filled with men and women all in their proper wedding attire, the king wasn't happy to see a guest without the proper wedding garment on. The king went to the man and even called him Friend, because his friendship that day had most obviously been extended to the man and to all the strangers from the highways there when they were invited to such a prestigious occasion. He asked the man why he'd come to the wedding if he weren't going to wear a proper wedding garment, the appropriate clothing that all should wear?  And the man had nothing to say, no answer to give, he couldn't give a reason why he'd decided he didn’t need to put on the proper clothing.

Mat 22:13  Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

Mat 22:14  For many are called, but few are chosen. 

The king realized the man had no excuse whatsoever for such disrespect, that he could not defend his actions so He told his servants to tie him up and take him away. To remove him from the wedding and cast him out into a most sorrowful, painful place.

The king said- many were called to come to the wedding, but ultimately only a few were accepted.  Obviously few were accepted because of their own choices. The many refused to come when called, they came and did not truly desire to be there because if they did then they'd have been properly readied for the occasion.

This PARABLE of the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN reveals that God has invited people to be with Him in His heavenly kingdom and those He invited refused the only way possible to obtain the heavenly kingdom. They instead chose to kill the One offering them entrance to the kingdom. Others were then offered the way to the Kingdom of Heaven and they eagerly accepted the way, yet even among those eager to be accepted as worthy of the Kingdom, there were those whose hearts aren't truly for the Kingdom. To be Kingdom worthy is to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ, to belong to Christ, to be known by Christ. So while many will refuse, and many will try to be there in their own righteousness, only those who are Christ's will ultimately belong in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Heaven is the place we long for, to be in the Kingdom that Jesus preached is what we desire above all. Make this our reality, our treasure right now, Heavenly Father. Make heaven our reality, our now, not some far off place that un-Biblically accepts only the dead spirit beings. Don't let heaven be thought of falsely as just a receptacle of the body-less dead, a place where generation after generation dead spirits of supposed good people keep embracing the newly dead relatives. Don't let heaven's truth be a lie to us that the Devil has concocted to deceive so many. We know Your word tells us that we are NOT heaven bound until the last trump is sounded, not until Christ comes to get us and bring us back to heaven with Him. Your word tells us these truths, let us holdfast to those truths. Let us belong truly to Christ Jesus in all sincerity, through HIS righteousness, please, Father. We would be Yours, we would see Jesus, we would be Heaven bound, Kingdom ready. All by the grace and mercy, the will of our Lord and Savior- Jesus Christ, now and forever!