I have been talking a lot about the characteristics of the kingdom and the importance of this one theme that seems to be throughout the entire Bible. Now I want to focus this article on the means by which a person can become a part of this kingdom. The parable of the wedding banquet found in Matthew 22 talks about the kingdom of heaven being like a wedding banquet, and the end of the parable leaves us with a question. The question is: “Friend…how did you get in here without wedding clothes?” Let us talk about the wedding clothes.
The first part of this parable talks about the people who were originally invited to come to the wedding banquet, made excuses and didn't bother coming. So, the king told his servants to go an invite others to come and fill his banquet hall. And the servants went and invited good people and bad people and they came to the wedding feast. When the king came into the banquet hall, he noticed one person who wasn't wearing the wedding clothes (most likely the king would have had clothes at the entry for people to put on). He told the servants to cast that man outside. Now I am thinking that I would want to make sure that I have on the wedding clothes. So what does Jesus want us to learn from this parable?
One of the main points we can gather from this parable is making sure we have been fitted with the right clothes to enter the kingdom. So let me describe what I believe are the four keys to entering the kingdom. The first one is faith. This is the foundation of a relationship with God. A person must come to the point that they believe that God exists. You don't have to know all the "facts" about God or even know much about the Bible to have faith. Without faith, the rest of this list doesn't even matter. But you do have to come to God believing He exists. This is the first key to unlocking the doors to the kingdom.
The second key is grace. Notice in the parable that Jesus said that there were good people and bad people at the banquet. The element of grace is an important one when one is seeking the kingdom of God. You see, many people try to get their life all straightened out before they pursue God. You don't have to wait that long. God's grace allows good people and bad people to come to Him on the same grounds: unmerited favor. There is not one person who is worthy of God's grace nor is there one person who can't receive God's grace. He can clean up anyone's life and allow them to enter His banquet hall dressed properly for the wedding. This key is given freely by God to those who come to Him by faith and are willing to use the third key of repentance.
Now this third key is important in that it is the recognition that the direction of your life prior to hearing about God's grace and His desire to have a relationship with you, probably was self-centered for the most part. God's kingdom is about two things: loving Him and loving others. Those two things require a shift or change in direction in our lives. We no longer live our lives for our own purpose but for the sake of God and His kingdom. This key is the hardest one to pick up and put into the lock because many of us may like some of the things we are doing in life. There may be a need to change some things in our life as we grow in our understanding of God and His kingdom. But once you taste the true life of the kingdom, you would be willing to give up anything.
Once you are willing to take up the first three keys, you are ready to receive the wedding clothes. Paul says in Galatians 3:26-27, "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." Our baptism, our immersion into Christ, is our Father's way of clothing us with His Son. He has given us this beautiful picture of baptism where we confess our need for grace, forgiveness, and our need to be cleansed, buried beneath the water putting to rest the old life that we were living, and then raised up from the water like Jesus was resurrected from the grave to live a new life in Christ. God takes care of it all. He invites us the banquet, he cleans us up, and then gives us the proper clothes to wear as enter the kingdom. This fourth key place alongside of the other three opens the door to a kingdom without walls, borders, or limits.
Enter into the kingdom by faith, through grace, and experience a life with God and others that is unmatched by anything you can find in this world. Pick up the keys today and begin your new life in the Kingdom!
