The Outer Darkness - Matthew 22:8-14

Matthew 22:8-14 ESV 

Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Many are called to follow Jesus, but few will walk with Him and complete the journey. It is in walking with Him that we weave and prepare our wedding garments. Anyone who perseveres to the end will be chosen. This is the one who overcomes the world. 

The outer darkness may be outside the walls of the New Jerusalem. The presence of God gives light to the city. This is the city set on a hill in the gospel of Matthew. Those who remain in the darkness after the Bride is chosen from those who came to light will still have a home on the earth. The light will continue to shine in the darkness and illuminate the walk of the nations. 

The clean and unclean will inhabit the earth, but the unclean will not be able to enter the city. Just as there was no room in heaven for Satan and his angels, there will be no room in the city for the unclean, detestable, or false. 

Matthew 5:14

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

Revelation 21:23-27

And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.