Luk 14:21-23 | KingComments | STEP | The slave reports the responses to the invitation to his master. When the master hears the reactions, he becomes angry. His grace is despised ( ). The privileged people are too busy and have indifferently refused the invitation. The slave gets another command. He must do this quickly because urgency is required. He has to get all kinds of people off the street, people who would never think they would get an invitation. They are not invited, they are not asked if they want to come, the slave has to pick them up. From now on it will be a matter of tax collectors and sinners and all those who are in a miserable state. The first to be forced to enter come from the city, from Israel. They are aware of their poverty and have no problem entering through the narrow door. They do not have pieces of land or oxen or a wife who are a restraint to enter. We see this happening at Pentecost ( ). Obedient the slave carries out this command. But the house is not yet full. There is still room, even though first three thousand and later another five thousand entered God’s house, the church ( ). God has so much that He wants to give away, that He will force others to come in. The master once again orders the slave to go out. He has to look everywhere where there might still be someone, and whoever he finds, he has to force to come in. This is another step forward because this is obviously the gospel for the nations. By God’s mercy, after the rejection of the gospel by Israel, the gospel is now also being preached to them with the greatest insistence. No one accepted the invitation of his own accord, but was forced to do so by God’s sovereign grace. God fills, so to speak, not only the table, but also the chairs. What a grace! Who has ever heard of the richest celebration ever, in which only people take part who have been forced to! The wonder becomes even greater, for all the glory of the dinner prepared by God, which we will soon enjoy in perfection in heaven, may already be enjoyed by us in the house of God on earth. It is the house where the prodigal son is brought in by the father ( ). The master determines that those who were originally invited but refused to come will never taste his dinner. Here the Lord Jesus states His judgment on the invited guests who rejected the invitation and that is especially the apostate Israel. They have consciously chosen for life on earth with all its pleasures. They repudiate eternal life ( ), for without having tasted it, they know that they would not like it anyway. They get what they have chosen: they will never taste the dinner.

‏ Luke 14:21-23

The House Must Be Filled.

The slave reports the responses to the invitation to his master. When the master hears the reactions, he becomes angry. His grace is despised (Heb 10:28-29). The privileged people are too busy and have indifferently refused the invitation. The slave gets another command. He must do this quickly because urgency is required. He has to get all kinds of people off the street, people who would never think they would get an invitation. They are not invited, they are not asked if they want to come, the slave has to pick them up. From now on it will be a matter of tax collectors and sinners and all those who are in a miserable state.

The first to be forced to enter come from the city, from Israel. They are aware of their poverty and have no problem entering through the narrow door. They do not have pieces of land or oxen or a wife who are a restraint to enter. We see this happening at Pentecost (Acts 2:40-41 ; Acts 4:4). Obedient the slave carries out this command.

But the house is not yet full. There is still room, even though first three thousand and later another five thousand entered God’s house, the church (Acts 2:41 ; Acts 4:4). God has so much that He wants to give away, that He will force others to come in. The master once again orders the slave to go out. He has to look everywhere where there might still be someone, and whoever he finds, he has to force to come in.

This is another step forward because this is obviously the gospel for the nations. By God’s mercy, after the rejection of the gospel by Israel, the gospel is now also being preached to them with the greatest insistence. No one accepted the invitation of his own accord, but was forced to do so by God’s sovereign grace. God fills, so to speak, not only the table, but also the chairs. What a grace! Who has ever heard of the richest celebration ever, in which only people take part who have been forced to!

The wonder becomes even greater, for all the glory of the dinner prepared by God, which we will soon enjoy in perfection in heaven, may already be enjoyed by us in the house of God on earth. It is the house where the prodigal son is brought in by the father (Lk 15:22-24).

The master determines that those who were originally invited but refused to come will never taste his dinner. Here the Lord Jesus states His judgment on the invited guests who rejected the invitation and that is especially the apostate Israel. They have consciously chosen for life on earth with all its pleasures. They repudiate eternal life (Acts 13:46), for without having tasted it, they know that they would not like it anyway. They get what they have chosen: they will never taste the dinner.