Anchor My Faith

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Author: Stephen Weller
751 words, 4 minutes read time

Last Before First

Scripture: Luke 13:28-30

In the previous lesson, Jesus made it very clear the importance of making sure you position yourself on the right side of the door to the kingdom before your physical death. If you do not you will find the door closed and your eternal destination sealed. In this lesson, we will finish the section by reviewing the two groups that appear before Jesus.

^{Lk 13:28} “In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. ²⁹ And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. ³⁰ And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”’

To those who were knocking at the door, Jesus tells them that he does not know them as they have not been his followers by faith. He then commands them to depart from him and refers to them as “workers of evil.” The place to which they will have to depart to is a place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” It will be a place of “outer darkness” (Matthew 8:12) where the light of God’s glory will never shine. That great sadness and anguish will result when these “see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God” and they realize that they are excluded; forbidden to enter.

Reference to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is used numerous times in Scripture in a reference to God. For example, in Acts 3:13 ESV: “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him.” This verse also refers to some of their evil deeds that prompted Jesus to refer to them as “workers of evil.”

“Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God” would represent believing Israel in the kingdom of God. Those who stand at the door and knock are those who during their lifetime rejected Jesus and will be case out or rejected from the kingdom of God. In addition to Jewish believers there will be gentile believers (“people [who] will come from east and west, and from north and south”) who will “recline at table in the kingdom of God.” Prophecy of this is found in Psalm 107:1 – 3 ESV: ¹ “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! ² Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble ³ and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.”

Those who believe “will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon [them], and [they] will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8 ESV).  The result is then shown in Revelation 7:9 – 10 ESV: ⁹ “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, ¹⁰ and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’”

The revelation of God and the gospel first came to the Jews, but they failed to proclaim it to those around them. The Messiah first comes to them, but they reject him, so God delivers the gospel to the Gentile and many embrace it. These are the “last” to hear but they become the “first” to believe. The Jews who were the “first” to hear will become the “last” to believe.

Conclusion

Narrow is the door and narrow is the gate and only a few seek to enter. How tragic that is as God is so amazing, loving and kind and living with him for an eternity is beyond comprehension in satisfaction. Don’t put off any longer obtaining entrance through the door of Jesus Christ by faith through grace.