St. Matthew, Chapter 22, verse: 7b; The King destroys the murderers.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The king's anger) Part 2.  

We continue with the parable of the kingdom of heaven compared with the king and the wedding feast.  The people of the town were tired of hearing about the king's wedding feast so they beat and killed the messengers.  When the king heard of it he was extremely angry.  Just as the king of heaven would be if his messengers were killed.

What would his judgement become?  What would he do to the people of the town who committed such a crime.  Well the king in the parable did this:   "And he sent his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burnt their city."  In the same way one can say that the king of heaven would do the same.  He would send out his angels and destroy the city and burn it to the ground.  This happened with Sodom and Gomorrah.

This is the message that Christ relates to the people so they can have a reference in their time.  They live in the time of their own king.  They also live in the time of the king of heaven our God.  So He wants the people to understand that the their God wants to have a party and he wants those invited to come.  But if they choose not to come, and if they choose to kill his messengers then there will be a price to pay.

Can we relate to this message today?  Can we find meaning in the message that comes down from heaven through Christ our Lord.  He wants us to understand.  He wants us to know.  He wants us to believe in the word, to trust in the word because the word comes down to us from God himself.  There will be a price to pay for those who seek to destroy and murder those who carry the word, his messengers.  

We talk about the word of God as though we understand all.  Yet there are mysteries that we do not comprehend.  There are hidden messages that do not reveal their meaning openly.  If we seek to know, if we seek to understand we must search within to find the secrets.  For God has given to us the ability to understand.  He has created us in his image and his likeness.  Yet God is not human.  God is not of flesh and blood.  God is not of this physical realm but we are.  And in that understanding comes the truth of who we are. 

We are of his image but he is not human.  We are of his image but we are human.  And in those statements lies the truth of who we are.  We are spiritual just as our Father is of a spiritual nature.  And within us is the truth of our spiritual nature.  Seek it and you shall find it.  Open the door and you shall see it.  Leap from the physical to the spiritual through belief and you shall know it.  For Christ came that we would have true life and have it more abundantly.  He came to be an example.  He came to lead the way.  He came to give us the truth of who we are.  He came to show us the love of our Father.  And most of all he came to free us from sin.  

We have a choice today, to believe or not to believe.  We have a choice today, to be human or to be spiritual.  We have a choice today, to know the truth of who we are in Christ or not to know.  And it is in that choice that we live.  For from the beginning the choice was made for us.  But through Christ the choice is given to each of us individually.  So choose where you will be.  Choose what you will believe.  Choose to know the truth and look within and find it.

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage nd then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ .   The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.  

St. Matthew, Chapter 22, verse: 7a; The King's anger.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The king's anger) Part 1.  

We continue the parable of the kingdom of heaven that Christ is relaying to the people so that they can have some understanding.  He tells the story in terms that the people can relate to because they have a king.  And often their king has celebrations that the entire population of that town knows about because he sends out messengers throughout the town to proclaim to the people the news of the celebration.  In this parable the king sends out messengers a second time because no one came when he sent the first message to those invited. 

The king was happy.  He wanted to celebrate with his subjects the marriage of his son and the new bride.  But no one came upon sending out the second messengers.  In fact he learned that his messengers had been beaten and killed.  "But when the king heard of it, he was angry." 

The people of the town can relate to an angry king because they have seen and lived through times when their own king is angry.  They know the consequences of his anger.  And this is an idea that Christ wants the people to know about when they think of the kingdom of heaven.  They killed and destroyed the king's messengers which is something that you did not do in those times. 

Can we relate today to this parable in the same way as the people in the time of Christ?  What would happen today if the word of God was destroyed?  What would God do?  Christ came that we would know of the Father.  He left us with the Church that we would have places to go, places of sanctuary.  And he proclaimed that the kingdom of hell shall not prevail against it. 

So we see today that even though there are instances of evil taking over portions of the church, in total the church still prevails and God watches over that which is his.  For if the church would fall God would become very angry and would seek his vengeance upon those who would seek to destroy that which Christ built.  We have a loving God, a God of peace.  But we also have a God that will anger against those that would seek to destroy that which is his.  Be happy.  Be thankful that wrongs committed against those who seek the righteousness of his word will rouse the anger of our God .  For he is judge and jury, and vengeance is his alone.

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage nd then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ .   The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in. 

St. Matthew, Chapter 22, verse: 6; And they killed the messengers.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The marriage feast) Part 5.  

No one showed.  No one came to the feast.  The invitations were sent out twice but no one came to the party.  Everyone was talking about it.  Everyone said that they were going.  But they were too busy to celebrate with the king and his son.  He sent out the invitations twice so no one could say that they did not get it.  They were complacent and had other more important things to do than to spend time with the king.

They were tired of hearing about the king's party.  The messengers had come around on several occasions talking about the celebration and everyone was talking about it.  But no one went when the time came.  So they were frustrated and wanted to stop the talk about this event.  And so: "The rest laid hold of his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them." 

They killed the messengers.  The king sent them out to remind those invited that the celebration was ready and they killed them.  They beat them, kicked them, spat on them, and then killed them.  Is that something that we would do today?  Would we kill the messengers if they came around talking about the kingdom of heaven and we did not want to hear them?  Would we treat them badly and kill them?  We often see them on the corners of our local streets, preaching hell and damnation.  Often we think of them as bible thumping preachers who have nothing else to do.  We see them and then we continue on about our business.  We believe that our message will be preached in the churches and not on the streets.  But this was the way it was in the time of Christ.  There were no churches, just the synagogue.

Today we don't kill them because it is against the law.  But we do kill them because we ignore them.  We see them but we do not.  We hear them but we do not hear them.  We believe what they are saying but we do not.  We live in two worlds.  We live in the physical world and we live in the spiritual world, if we believe.  We respond to the physical world because that is what we see and feel everyday.  But the spiritual world is within us.  The spiritual world requires something of us that the physical does not, that we believe.  We say that we believe but do we really.  

God, our Father, calls us to be his children, created in his image and likeness.  Our Father is a loving god and he would expect the same of us.  He is a god of provision and protection.  He would not allow anything to happen to his children just as we are parents and would not allow anything within our power to happen to our own children.  We love them and they give us love and happiness.  They are a part of us and we are a part of them.  So as we grow and become more a part of the physical world let us reflect back and think about the part where we were young and had parents to provide for us.  So today we are children of our God and he provides for and cares for us.  He is having a celebration and all are invited.  Come, join the party.

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage nd then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ .   The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.