The marriage supper invitation was first extended to the Jews (Matthew 10:5-6). In His parable of the marriage feast, the king and Father is preparing a marriage feast for His son and sent servants to call them who had been invited to the feast but they did not come. He sent forth other servants to tell them, “Look, I have made ready my dinner, my oxen and fatlings are killed, and all things are ready; come to the marriage feast” (Matt. 22:4). They disregarded it and carried on with their own plans, one to his farm, another to his merchandise; and the rest took his servants and treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. The Jews were the persecutors of Christians in Acts 8. It was the Jews were killed James and imprisoned Peter with the intent of getting rid of him, too. They were shamefully treated (1 Cor. 4:11-13; 2 Cor. 11:26). In Matthew 23:34-38 reads, “Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” The king came and burned the city through the agency of Rome.
When the Jews refused to attend the feast, the invitation was extended to the Gentiles (Matthew 22:8-10; Acts 13:46, Rom. 1:16). The text tells of the king who came in to greet the guests, he saw a man who was not dressed in a wedding garment especially prepared for the guests. He was bound and cast into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 22:11-14). The message of the parable is that the blessings of participation in the marriage feast of the Lamb are not, necessarily, for those who had been invited, or called. The blessings are for those called and chosen and faithful. Revelation 17:14 reads, “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called and chosen, and faithful.”