We are so prompt to find excuses, justifications, explanations to say something… at least something but certainly not anything whenever we are confronted for doing wrong. My brother, my sister, going back to Adam and Eve, it seems that we have taken over our ancestor Adam who answered to God when He was asked why he had eaten of the forbidden fruit, but he did not remain silent or apologise or repent, but tried to justify himself. Look at the question Adam was asked: “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” (Genesis 3:11). Now, let’s check at Adam’s answer and see if he even answered God’s questions at all: “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it” (Genesis 3:12). Yes, to the question, “have you eaten…”, Adam answered “it’s the woman you put here with me… to finally admit that he indeed ate at the end of his sentence. Yes, that’s our natural tendency to blame events or others before seeing what we have done wrong. Now this leads us to today’s passage. Now let’s look at what will happen when Jesus returns… But before that, let’s recall this:
Jesus said: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’” (Mathew 7:21-22). And the example of this is seen on the Parable of the Wedding Banquet: everyone is dressed for the wedding, but one man is not and he is confronted by the king, the same as Adam was confronted by God. The Bible says: “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless” (Matthew 22:11-12).
Yes, when the man could not hide from the king, despite the fact that he had been able to enter the place where the celebration was taking place, in the midst of other people who were not blamed by the King, unlike the rich man who went straight to hell (Luke 16: 19-31). But before the king, “the man was speechless” (verse 12)! That is, he could not make any excuse for his condition, he could not provide any justification. Basically, when he was confronted with the truth (the Lord is the Truth), there was nothing he could say about his condition. My friend, this is what will happen to all those who die without Jesus who alone can make us righteous before God. Before the Lord, at the time of judgment, there will be no way to plead our case before Him who knows all hearts! Before God, no excuse will suffice, no appeal will be heard, no promise will be heard, even the cry of repentance will fall on deaf ears at that time: the next thing the king did was to order his servants to “Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (verse 13). What a shock for this man to see that the One who could have saved him had now become his judge! The time to be saved is now! And salvation is a process that includes following the teachings and principles of Christ. Our faith must be based on the righteousness of Jesus for us to get properly dressed to the wedding feast or else we are exposing ourselves to His judgment while rejecting His salvation. Stay blessed in Jesus’ name.