The sum and substance of the heavenly supper.

A heaping dose of good news from J. C. Ryle.

Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash

Perhaps the most formative image of the glory of heaven is expressed by the prophet Isaiah when he refers to “a feast of rich food” and “well-aged wine” that the Lord of hosts is preparing for his people on his holy mountain (Isa. 25:6–9). This feast, of course, finds further expression in John’s Apocalypse, in which his eyes behold “the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:9). The contours of this scene begin to fill in even more once we examine Jesus’s parables concerning feasting and partying in Chapter 14 of Luke’s Gospel. This gives us the quintessential illustration of what the heavenly banquet is going to look like — namely, an endless feast at which “the poor, the crippled, the lame, [and] the blind” partake of the Master’s abundant generosity (Luke 14:13, 21). Even if they don’t have a dinner jacket to wear at this feast, it doesn’t matter since the Master of the House has plenty of robes to spare that have been washed “white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:14).

This heavenly feast is a powerful lens through which to understand the gospel. The good news, of course, is an announcement and an invitation. It announces what has been accomplished and invites everyone to believe and relish in that accomplishment. Evangelism, therefore, is an invitation to a feast that has been arranged and prepared beforehand. In the words of Isaiah, it is the ringing cry, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Isa. 55:1). The feast of heaven, you see, is on the Master’s dime — and he invites everyone to have a seat as his table. “The word ‘Come,’” notes 19th-century Anglican minister J. C. Ryle, “is addressed to all without exception” (2.2.161). Commenting on Jesus’s parable in Luke 14, Ryle proceeds to explain how this feast that has been prepared parallels the gospel of God. He writes:

The Gospel contains a full supply of everything that sinners need in order to be saved. We are all naturally starving, empty, helpless, and ready to perish. Forgiveness of all sin, and peace with God, — justification of the person, and sanctification of the heart, — grace by the way and glory in the end, — are the gracious provision which God has prepared for the wants of our souls. There is nothing that sin-laden hearts can wish, or weary consciences require, which is not spread before men in rich abundance in Christ. Christ, in one word, is the sum and substance of the ‘great supper.’ (2.2.160)

Nothing is left undone. Everything is taken care of by him. All that sinners could ever need in order to be made right with God has been finished on their behalf in the passion and death of the Christ of God. This, I think, is what Paul was getting after when he wrote in his first epistle to the Corinthians that Christ Jesus has become “to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30). He alone meets every need that we can never satisfy in and of ourselves. He does this because that’s who he is — he is the one who delights to have his table filled to the brim with guests, even if he has to go to “highways and hedges” (Luke 14:23) to find them.

Grace and peace to you.

Works cited:

J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Vols. 1–4 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2007).