The Heavenly Banqueting House

And those servants went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. – Matthew 22:10

The gospel fills the whole capacity of our manhood. There is not a faculty of our nature which is not made to feel its need supplied when the soul accepts the provisions of mercy; our whole manhood is satisfied with good things and our youth is renewed like the eagles. “For I have satisfied the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.” To crown all, the gospel brings us into fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. In Christ Jesus we commune with the sacred Trinity. God becomes our Father and reveals His paternal heart. Jesus manifests Himself unto us as He doth not unto the world, and the communion of the Holy Ghost abides with us. Our fellowship is like that of Jonathan with David, or Jesus with John. We feast on the bread of heaven, and drink wines on the lees well refined. We are brought into the heavenly banqueting house where the secret of the Lord is revealed to us, and our heart pours itself out before the Lord Very near is our communion with God; most intimate love and condescension does He show to us. What say you to this? Is there not here a rich repast worthy of Him who prepares it. Here all your capacious powers can wish, O sinner, shall be given to you; all you want for time and for eternity God prepares in the person of His dear Son, and bids you receive it without money and without price…all the expense lies with Him…The gospel is an expensive business; the very heart of Christ was drained to find the price for this great festival; but it costs the sinner nothing, nothing of money, nothing of merit, nothing of preparation. You may come as you are to the gospel feast, for the only wedding dress required is freely provided for you. Just as you are, you are bidden to believe in Jesus. – C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0975.cfm

A Feast for Love

And the wedding hall was filled with guests. – Matthew 22:10

A king’s son is to be honored on the day of his marriage, in what way shall it be done? Barbarous nations have their great festivals, and alas, that men should have sunk so low; on such occasions rivers of human blood are made to flow. To this very day, on the borders of civilisation, there is found a wretched tyrant whose infernal customs, for I dare not call them by a less severe term, command the murder of hundreds of his fellow creatures in cold blood, on certain high days and festivals. Thus, would the monster honor his son by acting like a fiend. No blood is poured forth to honor the Son of heaven’s great King…Jesus the Savior, on His wedding-day with manhood, is glorified by mercy, not by wrath. If blood be mentioned on such a day, it is His own by which He is glorified…It has been the custom of most kings to signalise a princely wedding by levying a fresh tax or demanding an increased subsidy from their subjects…but the King of kings deals with us not after the manner of man. He asks no dowry for His Son; He makes the marriage memorable not by demands but by gifts. Nothing is sought for from the people, but much is prepared for them, gifts are lavishly bestowed, and all that is requested of the subjects is, that they for a while merge the subject in the more honorable character of the guest, and willingly come to the palace, not to labor or serve at the table, but to feast and to rejoice. Matthew Henry says, “A feast is for love and for laughter, for fullness and for fellowship.” It is even so with the gospel. It is for love; in the gospel, sinner, you are invited to be reconciled to God, you are assured that God forgives your sins, ceases to be angry, and would have you reconciled to Him through His Son. Thus, love is established between God and the soul. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0975.cfm

The Hero of Heaven

Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His Bride has made herself ready. – Revelation 19:7

We take into reckoning whenever we do honor to a prince all that he may have done for the nation over which he rules. What, then, has Jesus done for us? Rather let me say what has He not done? Upon His shoulders were laid our sins; He carried them into the wilderness, and they are gone for ever. Against Him came forth our foes; He met them in shock of battle, and where are they now? They are cast into the depths of the sea. As for death itself, that last of foes, He has virtually overcome it, and ere long the weakest of us through Him shall say “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” He is the hero of heaven. He returned to His Father’s throne amidst the acclamations of the universe. Do we not, for whom He fought, for whom He conquered, do we not desire to honor Him? I feel I speak with bated breath upon a theme where all our powers of speech should be let loose. Bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him! Is it not the universal verdict of all who know Him? Ought it not to be the cry of all the sons of men? East and west, and north and south, ought they not to ring the joy bells and hang out streamers on His marriage day, for joy of Him? Is the King’s Son to be married, is there a festival in His honor? O then let Him be great, let Him be glorious! Long live the King! Let the maidens go forth with their timbrels, and the sons of music make sweet melody-yea, let all creatures that have breath break forth with His praises. “Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0975.cfm

We Must Praise Him!

Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His Bride has made herself ready. – Revelation 19:7

This glorious Son, whose fame is to be spread abroad, is most certainly God-of that we have spoken, but He is also most assuredly man, our brother, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh. Do we not delight to believe that He, tempted in all points as we are, has never yet submitted to be stained by sin? Never such a man as He, head of the race, the second Adam, the everlasting Father-who among us would not do Him reverence? Will we not seek His honor, seeing that now He lifts our race to be next to the throne of God.

Was there ever such a life as His? O beloved, what tenderness, what compassion, yet what holy boldness; what love for sinners, and yet what love for truth! Men who have not loved Him have nevertheless admired Him, and hearts in which we least expected to see such recognition of His excellence have nevertheless been deeply affected as they have studied His life. We must praise Him, for He is “chief among ten thousand, and altogether lovely.” It were treason to be silent when the hour has come to speak of Him who is peerless among men and matchless among angels. Clap, clap your hands at the thought of the marriage of the King’s Son, for whom His bride hath made herself ready. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0975.cfm

The Gospel Feast

The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son… – Matthew 22:2

The Son of God has graciously been pleased to stand towards us. He has undertaken to be a Savior, in order that He might be a bridegroom. He had enough glory before, but in the greatness of His heart, He would magnify His compassion even above His power, and He therefore condescended to take into union with Himself the nature of man, in order that He might redeem the beloved objects of His choice from the penalty due to their sins and might enter into the nearest conceivable union with them. It is as Savior that the Father seeks to honor the Son, and the gospel feast is not for the honor of His person merely, but for the honor of His person in this new, yet anciently purposed relationship.

The marriage is with whom? With angels? He took not up angels. It is a marriage with our own nature, “He took up the seed of Abraham.” Shall we not rejoice when heaven’s great Lord is incarnate as a man, and stoops to redeem humanity from the ruin of the fall? Arise ye who slumber! If there was ever an occasion when ye should bestir your spirits and cry “wake up my glory, awake psaltery and harp” it is now, when Jesus comes to be affianced to His Church, to make Himself of one flesh with her, that He may redeem her, and afterwards exalt her to sit with Him upon His throne. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0975.cfm

The Great Object of the Father

“The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son..” – Matthew 22:2

A certain king of wide dominions and great power designed to give a magnificent banquet, with a grand object in view. The crown prince, his well-beloved heir, was about to take to himself a fair bride, and therefore the royal father desired to celebrate the event with extraordinary honors. From earth, look up to heaven. The great object of God the Father is to glorify His Son. It is His will “that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.” Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is glorious already in His divine person. He is ineffably blessed, and infinitely beyond needing honor. All the angels of God worship Him, and His glory fills all heaven. He has appeared on the stage of action as the Creator and as such His glory is perfect, “For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him.” Nothing is lacking to the glory of the Word of God, who was in the beginning with God, who spake and it was done, who commanded, and it stood forth. He is highly exalted also as the preserver, for He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. He is that nail fastened in a sure place, upon which all things hang. The keys of heaven, and death, and hell, are fastened to His girdle, and the government shall be upon His shoulders, and His name shall be called Wonderful…He is God over all. He is blessed for ever. To Him that is, and was, and is to come, the universal song goeth up. He hath a name which is above every name, before which all things shall bow, in heaven, and earth, and under the earth. He is God over all. He is blessed for ever. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0975.cfm

Our Sacred Praise When a Sinner is Saved

And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day. – Luke 5:26

The disciples who were around the Savior, glorified God. They rejoiced, and said one to another, “We have seen strange things to-day.” The whole Christian church is full of sacred praise when a sinner is saved; even heaven itself is glad.

But there was glory brought to God, even by the common people who stood around. They had not yet entered into that sympathy with Christ which the disciples felt, but they were struck by the sight of this great wonder, and they, too, could not help saying that God had wrought great marvels. I pray that onlookers, strangers from the commonwealth of Israel, when they see the desponding comforted, and lost ones brought in, may be compelled to bear their witness to the power of divine grace, and be led themselves to be partakers in it. There is “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will towards men,” when a paralysed soul is filled with gracious strength.

If you are indeed what you profess to be, to glorify God must be the fondest wish and the loftiest ambition of your souls. Unless ye be traitors to my Lord as well as inhumane to your fellowmen, you will seek out some fellow Christians, and say, “Come, let us pray together, for such an one,” and if you know a desperate case you will make up a sacred quaternion, to resolve upon his salvation. May the power of the Highest abide upon you, and who knoweth what glory the Lord may gain through you? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0981.cfm