“A man was spreading a grand evening meal, and he invited many. He sent his slave out . . . to say to the invited ones, ‘Come, because everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I bought a field and need to go out and see it; I ask you, have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I bought five yoke of cattle and am going to examine them; I ask you, have me excused.’ Still another said, ‘I just got married, and for this reason I cannot come.’”​—Luke 14:16-20.

What Jesus has just related well illustrates how Jehovah God had Jesus Christ extend an invitation to individuals to be in line for the Kingdom of the heavens. The Jews, especially the religious leaders, were the first to be invited. In the main, they rejected the invitation throughout Jesus’ ministry. But the invitation would not stop with them. Jesus clearly is suggesting that in the future a second invitation would be extended to lowly ones of the Jewish nation and to proselytes. Thereafter, there would be a third and final invitation to people whom the Jews viewed as unsuitable before God.​—Acts 10:28-48.