Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                    Chapter Twenty One

                                                                                                                                              Verses 14-18 continued

Some explanation of Luke 12:35-37 and Matthew 22:1-14 should be given. In Luke 12:35-37, Christ returns from His wedding to His Church and Raptures His Tribulation saints who are still alive in the flesh on the earth, and He takes them to His wedding feast. In Matthew 22:1-14, this parable must be about the Tribulation period because it starts with the wedding of a man's son to his bride which symbolizes Christ's marriage to His Church. When Christ Raptures His Church, the Holy Spirit will go out of the world with the Church. II Thessalonians 2:7. Christ will replace the Holy Spirit with 144 thousand Jewish saints who will preach His gospel, and when they are all martyred, Christ will send an angel to preach His gospel. Revelation 14:1-7. The Devil will lead the murderers of God's saints to attack Heaven, but the angel Michael will lead God's angels to defeat the Devil and force his army back to the earth. Revelation 12:7-9; Matthew 22:3. Near the end of the Tribulation period, God will cause all of the cities of the unbelievers to be burned. Revelation 18:9; Matthew 22:7.

But God will not give up on preaching His gospel. God will send His angels to preach the gospel, and they will cause some people to believe in Christ even as their cities are burning, and their world has ended. Matthew 22:8-10; Revelation 18:4. God will furnish His wedding with guests who will be killed in the Tribulation, even some who were wicked. Matthew 22:9-11.

But when Christ comes in to see the guests, He will find some who will not be clothed in a wedding garment. Christ will have them cast out of Heaven and into outer darkness which happens to be one of the regions of death. Revelation 20:13. The Tribulation saints will not have the Holy Spirit to indwell them to give them eternal life. They will have to endure the Tribulation period on intellectual faith alone. No believer saved by grace can be saved forever until they become washed in the blood of the Lamb. Matthew 26:28. God will honor the intellectual faith of the Tribulation believers by bringing them to Heaven where some of them will be washed in the blood of Christ and receive white robes to signify their eternal salvation by grace. Revelation 7:9-17. For this reason, the Tribulation saints must endure to the end in order to be saved forever. Matthew 24:12-14. God will bring the Tribulation saints to a room next to Heaven where the Holy Spirit will call them out of this room to be washed in the blood of Jesus. But some of the wicked believers who professed faith to the angels just to get out of the horrors of the Tribulation will be afraid to follow the Holy Spirit who will invite them to leave this room to be washed in Christ's blood. When Jesus comes into this room to see the guests, He will have those without a wedding garment to be cast into the bottomless pit. Matthew 22:13.