Episode 2262 - Lesson 1 - Wednesday - January 01 - Many are called, but few are chosen

God not only loves people of His own free will, but He also invites them to love Him in return. That God grants them the ability to freely choose whether they will accept or reject His love is apparent in (among other places) Christ’s parable of the wedding banquet. Read Matthew 22:1–14. What is the meaning of this parable? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ In Christ’s parable of the wedding banquet, a king arranges a marriage for his son and sends out his servants to “ ‘call those who were invited to the wedding,’ ” but “ ‘they were not willing to come’ ” (Matt. 22:2, 3, NKJV). More than once the king sent out his servants to call them, but they ignored his call and, even worse, seized his servants and killed them (Matt. 22:4–6). Later, after dealing with those who had murdered some of his servants, the king told his servants, “ ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding’ ” (Matt. 22:8, 9, NKJV). After another episode of a man without a wedding garment being cast out, signifying the need to receive a wedding garment from the king to attend the wedding banquet, Jesus closes the parable with the cryptic but highly meaningful phrase, “  ‘Many are called, but few are chosen’  ” (Matt. 22:14, NKJV). What does this mean? Those who are finally “chosen,” the “elect,” are those who have accepted the Lord’s invitation to the wedding. The term translated “call” and “invite” throughout the parable is the Greek term kaleo (to call, invite), and what determines who is finally “elect” (eklektos) is whether one has freely accepted the invitation. In fact, God calls (that is, invites) everyone to the wedding feast. However, any one of us can refuse God’s love. Freedom is essential to love. God will never force His love on anyone. Sad to say, we can reject having a love relationship with God. The “elect” are those who accept the invitation. For those who love God, God has prepared things more wonderful than anything that we could possibly imagine. Once again, it all comes down to the question of love and the freedom inherent in love. What about your life reveals that you have accepted the wedding invitation and have come appropriately clothed?