Matthew 22:2-7

Matthew 22:2: “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,
3 And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.”

This parable is widely misinterpreted, so let’s make a few things clear. First of all, the wedding is for the son, who would obviously be Jesus. So who is the Bride? Well, according to the Bible, the Bride of Christ is the Church. In this parable the servants are calling wedding guests, not the Bride! That means that the focus of this parable is not on the Church. Let me make this very clear: the Church is absolutely going to be at its own wedding! That is not in doubt. There is simply no way it can miss its own wedding.

So who are these wedding guests? Well, they can’t be the Old Testament saints because they are all dead. They can’t be the Church because the Church is the Bride. Since the guests can’t be the people who existed before the Church (since they’re all dead), and since they can’t be the Church, that means they have to be a post-Church people – in other words, people who are left behind after the Rapture. Logically, they are the only ones who could possibly be the wedding guests.

This means that after the Rapture happens, God will call on people to repent and be saved. When God does this there are some who will repent; that group will become the Tribulation saints. There are others, though, who will refuse. The Lord does not take this refusal lightly:

Matthew 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.
5 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:
6 And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.
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.”

Incidentally, this is exactly what will happen at the Second Coming: those who refused to repent and accept Christ will be killed. The Lord Jesus Christ will return with the armies of Heaven and fight against the armies of the antichrist, and He will kill them all. All those who rejected Him will be put to death. Plus, their capitol city – Babylon – will be burned with fire, as it says in the book of Revelation.

This parable, then, speaks of events that happen at the conclusion of the Tribulation. It is vital to understand this. It is not talking about becoming a Christian before the Rapture happens, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with the Church. This point gets misunderstood all the time.