In Matthew
chapter 22, Jesus gives the parable of a certain king who made a marriage for
his son and sent forth servants to “call them that were bidden to the wedding”
[verse 3]. They had already been invited and it was time for them to come. But they would not come [verse 3]. So the king sent other servants and they were
to tell the people that the king had prepared the dinner and all things are
ready, “Come unto the marriage”! [verse 4].
What was their response? “They
made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his
merchandise” [verse 5][i]. Some of the people slew the servants. Then the Lord sends other servants saying,
“Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the
marriage. So those servants went out
into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad
and good[ii]:
and the wedding was furnished with guests” [vs. 9-10]. Jesus concluded the parable with “For many
are called (or are invited), but few are chosen (or choose to attend)” [vs. 14,
inserts added].
It is
interesting that in order to furnish the wedding supper with guests, the
servants were sent out into the highways to find and gather the people. Isaiah also explained this marriage
celebration and the gathering of the righteous via highways. “Prepare ye the way of the people; cast up,
cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people”
[62:10] and those who were on the highway were called “The holy people, The
redeemed of the Lord” [vs.12]. Isaiah
also described this highway as “the way of holiness”.
“And an highway shall be there, and a way, and
it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it…but
the redeemed shall walk there”. --Isaiah
35:8-9
Anciently,
when it was known that a king would visit a city, the people would do
everything in their power to fix up the road he would be traveling on. Rocks and debris would be removed and holes
filled and the road made as smooth as possible.[iii]
Isaiah
exclaimed, “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way
of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted and every
mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight;
and the rough places plain”. [40:3-4]
In
constructing our highways, we likewise fill in the valleys and lower the hills
and make the road relatively straight and make them as smooth as possible for
the most direct, efficient and comfortable ride.
In describing
the defective spiritual roads ancient Israel was making, Isaiah said, “Their feet run to evil, and they make haste
to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and
destruction are in their paths. The way
of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their going; they have made
them crooked paths.” We know, however,
that the Lord “doth not walk in crooked paths…his paths are straight…” [Doc.
& Cov. 3:2]
In Proverbs
16:17 we read, “The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that
keepth his way preserveth his soul”.
Isaiah
prophesied about John the Baptist, who was the voice in the wilderness crying,
“Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” [Matt. 3:3]. John was instrumental in helping people
prepare to receive their Messiah by helping them prepare their personal
highways through teaching them about faith and repentance through the “one
mightier than I…the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose” [Luke
3:16].
In the early
days of the Church, the Lord told the missionaries that they were to preach the
Gospel to a “crooked (again the highway imagery) and perverse generation,
preparing the way of the Lord for his second coming” [Doc. & Cov.
34:6]. In bringing the Gospel to the
world, the missionaries, like John, are preparing a people to meet the Lord.
Simply
hearing the Gospel is not enough preparation, however. In Doctrine and Covenants 65:1 it states,
“Hearken, and lo, a voice as of one sent down from on high, who is mighty and
powerful, whose going forth is unto the ends of the earth, yea, whose voice is
unto men--Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight”. In Section 88:66 the Lord explains the voice,
“Behold, that which you hear is as the voice of one crying in the
wilderness--in the wilderness, because you cannot see him--my voice, because my
voice is Spirit”. It is the Spirit of
the Lord that is the great preparer of the way.
As Nephi said, the “Holy Ghost…will show unto you all things what ye
should do” [2 Nephi 32:5] in preparing our personal highway to receive the
Lord.
Moses plainly
taught the children of Israel in the wilderness that “in the ordinances the
power of godliness is manifest” [Doc. & Cov. 84:20] and sought diligently
to sanctify his people that they might behold the face of God [IBID, vs.
23]. But they hardened their hearts and
could not endure his presence; therefore, the Lord in his wrath…swore that they
should not enter into his rest while in the wilderness, which rest is the
fulness of his glory. Therefore, he took
Moses out of their midst and the Holy Priesthood also; and the lesser
priesthood continued, which priesthood holdeth the key…of the preparatory
gospel” [IBID vs.24-26]. We, as
latter-day Israel, however, hold the keys to the higher priesthood and have the
keys in the ordinances of the temple that prepare us to enter into the presence
of the Lord.
“And even so I have sent mine
everlasting covenant into the world, to be a light to the world and to be a
standard for my people…and to be a messenger before my face to prepare the way
before me [Doc. & Cov. 45:9].
Hence, the
missionaries, the Holy Spirit, the Priesthood and temple ordinances are the
preparers of the way. They are the
teachers, the foreman and the power equipment needed to help us clear and
construct our straight and level highways. We must remove debris of sin,
obstacles that are spiritual stumbling blocks our lives, level our hills of
pride and fill our valleys of selfishness.
It would be
extremely dangerous to travel our freeways at night if they were not lit. Likewise our spiritual highways must be
lit. Proverbs 4:19 states “The way of
the wicked is as darkness: they know not
at what they stumble”.
However, “The
path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the
perfect day”. [Proverbs 4:18] Likewise,
Jesus said, “If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the
light of this world. But if a man walk
in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him”. [John
11:10-11]. We are to be the light of the
world [Matt. 5:14]. Jesus said, “I am
the light of the world; he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but
shall have the light of life” [John 8:12].
In Philippians 2:15, we read that we must become “the sons of God, with
out rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine
as lights in the world”.
For the
wicked, the Lord will come as “a thief in the night”[iv] but for the righteous he will come as the
morning sun rises in the east [JST Matt. 25:26].
In Helaman,
chapter 7, Nephi’s tower upon which he prayed for his people was located near
the highway. “And behold, now it came to
pass that it was upon a tower, which was in the garden of Nephi, which was by
the highway which led to the chief market, which was in the city of Zarahemla”
[Helaman 7:10]. It is interesting that
he prayed vocally and loud enough for those who passed by on the highway to
hear him. In doing so, he was able to
preach to the people about their sins and encourage them to repentance.
Regarding the
second coming, Isaiah says that a highway will be built for the remnants of His
people like “as it was unto Israel in the day that he came up out of the land
of Egypt” [11:16] and that this highway would connect Israel’s enemies, Assyria
and Egypt, with Israel when the Lord has made these nations a blessing and has
healed them, symbolic of the millennial peace [19:22-24]. Isaiah also prophecies, “And I will make all
my mountains a way (He will turn the mountains into roads!), and my highways
shall be exalted. Behold, these shall
come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from
the land of Sinim” [49:11-12]. [v]
At the second
coming, the Lord will cause the lands to be reunited and it shall be like “it
was in the days before it was divided” [Doc. & Cov. 133:23-24] and cause
that a “highway shall be cast up in the midst of the great deep” [vs. 27] for
those in the north countries.
For there shall be a day, that
the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and
let us go up to Zion
unto the LORD our God. For thus saith
the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the
nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, save thy
people, the remnant of Israel. Behold, I will bring them from the north
country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and
with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth
with child together: a great company shall return thither.…for I am a father
to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
---Jeremiah
31:6 - 9
“Therefore,
behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD
liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But,
The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel
out of the north country, and from all countries whither I
had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land” [Jeremiah 23:7 - 8].
In
constructing and maintaining our spiritual highways, we are preparing the way
for the Lord in our lives. We need to
remember it was those who are in the highways, actively preparing the way, that
are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
“Set
up road signs; put up guideposts. Take
note of the highway, the road that you take.
Return, O virgin Israel, return…” [Jeremiah 31:21, NIV Bible
translation]
[i] Jesus gives the
same parable in Luke 14. The excuses
were, “I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it….I have
bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them, I pray thee have me
excused”. These two excuses were invalid
because no one would buy land or oxen without examining them first, showing
that our excuses for not responding to the Lord’s invitation really are not
justified.
[ii] I believe the
good and the bad could represent different degrees of personal righteousness,
just as our Church is filled with people at different levels. The words “great and small” would have been a
better translation. See Revelations 19:5
[iii] See Isaiah
57:14. The NIV Bible translates this
verse as “And it will be said: Build up,
build up, prepare the road! Remove the
obstacles out of the way …”
[iv] Doc. & Cov.
106:4, 2 Peter 3:10
[v] The NIV Bible translates Sinim as
Aswan, which was located in the most southern part of Egypt. The LDS Bible dictionary says, “It is
uncertain what country is meant, but must have been one of the most distant
lands known to the writer of the prophecy.”
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