Many Are Called but Few Are Chosen

¹¹And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:  ¹²And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
 ¹³Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
 ¹⁴For many are called, but few are chosen.  (Matthew 22:11-14)

These are puzzling Scripture verses.  In particular, the word “chosen” gives me pause.  Many commentators write that this parable refers to unbelievers.  But is Jesus calling upon many, but only choosing a few to believe in Him?

In reading the entire parable (Matthew 22:1-14), we know that Jesus first presented the offer of His kingdom to the Jews, but they refused (Matthew 22:3).  The king was angry, and sent his armies to destroy them and burn the city.  Here Jesus was prophesying about the city of Jerusalem, which was burned and destroyed by Titus in 70 A.D. (Smith). 

The king then his instructs the servants to go “into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.” (Matthew 22:10) 

In Jesus’ day, wedding garments were customarily offered to those who attended the wedding feast.  Interestingly, the man was not discovered to be without a wedding garment until the king himself came in to see the guests (Henry).  It also appears that the other guests were not aware that this guest was not properly clothed.  Once discovered, the man is speechless.  Does this mean that he also had no idea that he was not properly prepared?

We know from Matthew 21 that Jesus is addressing the chief priests and Pharisees in the temple in Jerusalem — who were unbelievers.  So it is probably safe to assume that he is still speaking to them.  But Revelation 19:8 tells us:

Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. 

Would an unbeliever be invited to this sacred wedding feast? 

The parable closes with the king calling upon his servants to “bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  If you read my earlier post about the outer darkness, you will see why this is not hell, as it is commonly assumed. Hell is reserved for unbelievers.  This is something different.

Matthew 24:14 only begins to makes sense to me when I associate “chosen” with the judgment seat of Christ, salvation of the soul, the bride of Christ, and the Millennial Kingdom.  

Because, once again, it does not fit that Jesus would call upon many, but only choose a few to believe in Him.  But it does make sense — and the types and parables in Scripture show us — that Christ Jesus will choose a few of the many who have been called out to rule and reign with Him in His Millennial Kingdom (Matthew 25:21;23, Romans 8:17, 1 Thessalonians 2:12, James 2:5, Revelation 20:4).