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Many
Christians are worried about who is going in the rapture, and who will YHVH allow into the Kingdom of
God. Jesus answered these doubts with parables, the usual way in which He
would teach.
An occasion presented itself on a Sabbath,
when Jesus was invited to eat at the house of one of
the leaders of the Pharisees.
Luke 14:1
It happened that when He went into the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching Him closely.
The house was filled with important people, many of them
lawyers and Pharisees.
Luke 14:3
And Jesus answered and spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?"
It was at this banquet where Jesus made the following comment:
Luke 14:13-14
But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the
blind. And you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the
righteous.
Luke 14:15
When one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, "Blessed is everyone who will
eat bread in the
kingdom of God!"
Jesus replied with the following parable:
Luke 14:16-17
But He said to him, "A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many;
and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, 'Come; for everything is ready now.'"
Everything must be ready by now, so the time for the
"dinner" must be very near.
Luke 14:18
But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, 'I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.'
Luke 14:19
Another one said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.'
Luke 14:20
Another one said, 'I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.'
Luke 14:21
And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, 'Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the
poor and crippled and blind and lame.'
The same statement is given as in
Luke 14:13. The master
(God) decides to gather instead the poor, crippled, blind, and lame. This
concept is stressed many times throughout the Bible. Please read the
parable of
Lazarus and the Rich
Man.
Luke 14:22
And the slave said, 'Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.'
Luke 14:23-24
And the master said to the slave, 'Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.
For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.'
The ones invited WERE NOT INTERESTED. THEY CHOSE
TO STAY BEHIND. God will NOT give them a second chance. See the
Parable of the 10 Virgins.
Matthew relates another parable about WHO is going
in the rapture, and who will be admitted into the Kingdom of God.
Matthew 22:1
Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying,
Matthew 22:2
The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.
Matthew 22:3
And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were
unwilling to come.
The idea is repeated again and again that the reason the invited guests are not going is that they
DO NOT want to go. They are more interested in the "things" provided on this
earth than in what YHVH offers in heaven/paradise. This is similar
to the future sons-in-law of Lot who did not want to leave Sodom. They had the
opportunity to be saved, but they did not believe. See
Newsletter.
Matthew 22:4
Again he sent out other slaves saying, 'Tell those who have been invited, "Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast."'
Matthew 22:5
But they paid NO attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business,
Matthew 22:6
and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them.
Matthew 22:7
But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire.
Matthew 22:8
Then he said to his slaves, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.'
Matthew 22:9
'Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.'
Matthew 22:10
Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and
good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests.
The slaves gathered both good and evil people. So it will be when God
takes people in the rapture.
The same thing happened in the time of Noah when God
saved eight people in the ark. Some of them were not worthy (Ham who later on
became father to Canaan Genesis 9:22).
The same
thing happened in the time of Lot (Lot's wife
was unworthy and his two daughters were also unworthy Genesis
19:36).
God will allow unworthy people to go in the
rapture, just for the fact that they are willing to go. But what happens
later on, when this type of people starts "acting up?"
Matthew 22:11
But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes,
The king (God) inspects the guests. He finds someone who is not
dressed appropriately.
Matthew 22:12
and he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?' And the man was speechless.
Matthew 22:13
Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
The unworthy ones are cast out.
Matthew 22:14
For many are called, but few are chosen.
God calls many...but only the worthy ones are
chosen.
That is why we are proclaiming this rapture alert. The time for His return is
near. Be ready to depart with Christ and do not stay behind. Be sure
you are worthy of this calling!
Luke 12:35
Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps lit.
Luke 12:36
Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks.
Luke 12:37
Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find ON THE ALERT when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them.
Luke 12:38
Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.
Luke 12:39
But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
Luke 12:40
You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not
expect.
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