Matthew 22:7 – 10

Parable of Wedding Feast 2

7 But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.

9 Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’

10 So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.

While this is a parable, it was fulfilled like a prophecy. Verse seven was fulfilled when Rome destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Myers Ancient History, page 499 states that Titus, the son of Flavius Vespasian who began ruling Rome in 69 A.D., besieged Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, took all of the sacred utensils back to Rome, and killed more than a million Jews who were crowded into Jerusalem during the siege, and he then scattered the remnants of Judah all over the world. Titus was also accompanied by the Jewish historian Josephus back to Rome.

The Jews were invited to be the first members of the new kingdom, but their actions against Christ and his disciples made them unworthy as a nation, but many Jews did accept Jesus as their Savior.

After the Jews rejected the opportunity of accepting the Gospel the followers of Christ turned to the Gentiles.

(Acts 3:26[To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.” ])

(Acts 13:46[Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.])

(Acts 28:27 - 28[For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.” ’ 28 “Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!”])

Verse 10 means the entire world in general received the invitation to be part of the kingdom, after the Jews as a nation rejected the invitation. At first the invitation was restricted to the Jews.

(Matthew 10:5 - 6[5 These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.])

Would God have opened the kingdom to the Gentiles if the Jews had accepted their invitation?

Yes, the kingdom was intended for all of mankind to have salvation through it, but the Jews were being prepared to be the spiritual leaders of this new kingdom, because of the teaching of their scriptures which would help them follow the words of the Savior.

The promise made to Abraham and his followers show that all nations would be blessed by the Savior which was to come from the lineage of Abraham.

(Genesis 22:18[In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”])

The phrase in verse 10,”both bad and good,“ tells us no matter how evil a person is, if they repent, accept Jesus as their Savior, and follow His words, they can be saved.

This kingdom provides salvation to all who accept him, it doesn't matter if we are Jew or Gentile, black skinned,, white skinned, yellow skinned, red skinned, brown skinned, or of any color pigment. We are all children of God and brothers and sisters in Christ.

(Galatians 3:28[There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.])