Matthew records a parable of Jesus, which Jesus told in Jerusalem a few days before his death.  It is the story of a king holding a wedding banquet.

Matthew 22:1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: ² “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. ³ He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. ⁴ “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’ ⁵ “But they paid no attention and went off– one to his field, another to his business. ⁶ The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. ⁷ The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. ⁸ “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. ⁹ Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ ¹⁰ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. ¹¹ “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ¹² ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless. ¹³ “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴ “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

There are many things of interest in this story, but I am struck by the comment at the end about the man who came to the wedding without appropriate clothing.  He is thrown out into the darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.  This reaction by the king in the story is severe.  It has prompted me to enquire as to what are the appropriate wedding garments referred to here.  It should also prompt us to do whatever is necessary to put on those wedding clothes, because the absence of these results in exile from the kingdom of God, that is, an utter loss of the hope of salvation.

There is a scene depicted in the book of Revelation which seems to shed light on this story.

Revelation 19:6 Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) 9 Then the angel said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”

There are similarities between the passage in Matthew and the passage in Revelation.  The wedding feast is the feast of the Son as in the story in Matthew.  The feast takes place in the kingdom of God.  And there is appropriate clothing to wear.

The clothing which the bride wears to the wedding is fine linen, bright and clean.  It is interesting to note here that the clothing which the bride wears is something which is given to her to wear.  The fine linen is said to stand for the righteous acts of the saints.  At first glance, the idea that the saints will be clothed in their own righteous acts seems strange, because it is surely the righteousness of Christ which we will be covered with.  However, an examination of the NT is needed here.

Righteousness in the New Testament

Paul quotes the psalm declaring, “There is no one righteous, not even one.” (Rom 3:10).  In an absolute sense this is utterly true.  Human beings are all sinners, without exception.  Yet God has provided a way of righteousness which is by faith (Rom 1:17; Heb 10:38).  This righteousness is not attained by doing the works of the Law, because no one is able to keep the Law (Gal 2:16).  However, it is wrong to suppose that righteousness obtained by faith in Christ excludes works of righteousness (James 2:26).  On the contrary, those who are justified by Christ through faith are given the Holy Spirit and are thereby enabled to keep the Law.  “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Rom 8:3-4 NRSV).

So while the righteousness of the saints is not something which can be earned through works, those who are made righteous by the righteousness of Christ actually act like righteous people.  “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph 2:10).  This reality is borne out in many of the sayings of Jesus.

15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven (Matt 7:15-22)

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ (Matt 25:31-40)

In these sayings of Jesus is it evident that the righteous are not the ones who come to Jesus and say that they have faith, but those who act upon that faith and produce works of righteousness in keeping with that faith.  We must not simply be content with the doctrine of justification by faith.  No, we must understand that those who are made righteous in Christ are also those who act like righteous people.  I am not suggesting that are righteous acts are what brings about salvation for us.  Salvation is by grace and grace alone.  However, if there are no actions which demonstrate that a person has received the grace of God then we should have doubts that such a person is a true disciple of Christ.

Two sides to the wedding clothes

So there are two aspects to the wedding clothes.  The first is what Jesus has done for his people and the second is what his people are required to do.  The book of Revelation shows this two-fold aspect by the different ways in which it speaks of the bride.  There are two passages which refer to the bride of Christ prepared for the wedding feast.

Revelation 19:7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.

Revelation 21:2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

Let us examine the second passage first.  The bride is (passively) made ready for her husband.  She is made the bride of Christ by the blood of the Lamb, who is clothed in a robe dipped in blood (Rev 19:13).  The armies of heaven follow the Lamb in robes of fine linen, white and clean (19:14), the same clothing which the bride wears.  This is not surprising as the armies of heaven are in fact the bride, but given a different title in this passage.  The robes of the saints are made white in the blood of the Lamb (7:14).  It is clear that the bride can only be dressed in fine linen, white and clean, because she has had her clothes washed by the blood of Christ.  In this sense the bride is prepared fully by grace.  There is no question that she is able to be clothed by her own deeds.

The clothing of the bride is given to her because of the cross.  When Jesus was led out to be crucified they took away his clothes and gambled for them (Matt 27:35).  Although pictures of the crucifixion generally show Jesus dressed in a loincloth, most commonly people were hung upon the cross naked to maximise the humiliation in their deaths.[1]  Jesus was thus crucified naked in order that his bride might be clothed in splendour.  His shame was for our glory.  Jesus endured the shame of the cross, having nothing with which to cover himself, in order to gain the reward, which is being seated at the right hand of the Father (Heb 12:2).  He is now robed with garments of glory (Rev 1:13) and those who trust in him can never be put to shame (Rom 9:33; 10:11; 1 Pet 2:6).

While the second passage emphasises what has been done for the bride, the first Revelation passage about the bride involves some action on the part of the bride to be prepared for the wedding.  Being a disciple of Christ is the result of his gracious work, but it is not a passive life in which we let things merely happen and do not actively seek to serve and obey him.  Jesus exhorted us to be dressed and ready.

Luke 12:35 “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; 36 be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. 38 If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. 39 “But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.” (NRSV)

We must put on Christ.  This is something deliberate.  Paul tells us that we have both been clothed with Christ through baptism (Gal 3:27) and must actively clothe ourselves with Christ (Rom 13:14).  We are to take off the old self and put on the new self (Eph 4:22-24).  This involves an ethical response to the gospel (Col 3:10-17).  Taking off and putting on are actions which must be intentional and require a decision.  Taking off the old self will require repentance, a change of mind, heart and actions.  Putting on the new self involves participating with the Holy Spirit as he seeks to transform us into the likeness of Christ.  I am in no way suggesting that it is possible to put on Christ in the flesh.  However, God has given us his Holy Spirit so that we might no longer walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Gal 5:16).  It is possible to resist the Holy Spirit’s work (Acts 7:51); therefore we must actively seek to cooperate with him.

Conclusion

Without being clothed with Christ and walking in the Spirit we will be found naked on the Day of Judgment and be thrown out of the wedding banquet.  There is no recourse when it comes to that decision.  The only opportunity to put on Christ and to live a life of true discipleship in obedience to the commands of Jesus is now.  Now is the day of salvation.  Now is the acceptable time.  So as long as it is called Today (Heb 3:13), listen to the call to repentance.  The Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night (1 Thess 5:2; 2 Pet 3:10) and it will then be too late for repentance.  The man without his wedding clothes was content in believing that having been invited to the feast was enough.  Yet he was thrown out into the outer darkness.  Let us not grow complacent in the Christian life, abusing the grace of God.  Instead, let us be people who are quick to repent and eager to please our God and Father, because he is slow to anger and willing to forgive.