Strange Apparel: The Parable Read Through

A companion to the breakdown Strange Apparel. The parable runs start to finish with the meaning of each image carried beside it. Nothing is argued here.

MATTHEW 22:1–14 — KJV

And Yahushua answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, [still answering the chief priests and elders, who asked by what authority He did these things and who gave Him that authority] The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, [Yahuah, whose house it is] which made a marriage for his son, [Yahushua; the wedding is His, and He needs no leave from the guests to be at it] And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: [the prophets, sent rising up early, to the house that held the temple and the law] and they would not come. [they would not hear] Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, [He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place, and sent again] Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. [Yahuah hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests] But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: [they despised His words and walked after their own] And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. [they mocked the messengers and misused His prophets, till there was no remedy] But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. [as the house of Yahuah was burned and the people carried to Babylon on the day Zephaniah warned of] Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. [the men who held the house refused the One whose house it is] Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. [the call goes out to all, freely; no one earns his seat] So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: [every kind of man, gathered on the same call] and the wedding was furnished with guests. [a spiritual house, a royal priesthood; Yahuah dwells in the people gathered] And when the king came in to see the guests, [Yahuah looks on those already inside] he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: [take away the filthy garments from him, I will clothe thee with change of raiment; if thou wilt walk in my ways and keep my charge] And he saith unto him, Friend, [he came in on the same call as all the rest] how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? [into My house, without My law upon thee] And he was speechless. [hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord Yahuah] Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, [I will punish all such as are clothed with strange apparel] and cast him into outer darkness; [the commandment is a lamp and the law is light; outside the hall there is none] there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen. [the call goes to all; the garment is looked for on each]

Put together, the parable says this. The house belongs to Yahuah, and the wedding is His Son’s. The prophets called the men who held the house, and they refused, mocked, and killed the messengers until the city burned. The call then went out to everyone, bad and good, and the hall filled. Inside, the king looked for one thing on every guest: the garment He puts on a man when He takes his sin away, His law worn in the man’s life. One man came in on the call and never put it on.

Being in the hall is not being clothed. A man who comes into Yahuah’s house and sets His law aside, whether for the traditions of men or for a teaching that says the law is gone, is wearing strange apparel. The king comes in to see the guests, and he looks for his law on each one.