Luke 13:26-30
Luke 13:26 (KJB)
Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou
hast taught in our streets.
Then Jesus tells them plainly that they will be arguing with Him that He had
visited their cities and that they had the privilege of eating and drinking with
Him plus they listened to Him as he taught in their streets. These people
thought that some type of association with Jesus automatically guaranteed them
salvation. This is just like today, those who go to church and hear sermons
preached and sing hymns will believe that they are good enough to be allowed
entry into Heaven. (Heb 6:5 KJV) And have tasted the good word of God, and
the powers of the world to come, It is like the unbelievers in Hebrews 6
who have tasted the word of God and experienced the powers of the world to come,
that is, they sang hymns, they did works, read their bibles, and did other
things their church told them to do except one thing, that a person is saved by
being born again and that no works will ever save.
Luke 13:27 (KJB)
But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all
ye workers of iniquity.
They will bring a total list of everything they did but since they were not
regenerated, they were still in an unsaved state and that is why Jesus is saying
He does not know where they come from. (Psa 5:5 KJV) The foolish shall not
stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Those who are
unsaved are considered workers of iniquity and they will be commanded to depart
from Jesus unto everlasting punishment. If one is not born again through the
grace of God, then they are still in their sins and no amount of works will ever
attain salvation.
Luke 13:28 (KJB)
There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and
Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you
yourselves thrust out.
Those who lived under the notion that they were good enough to get into heaven
will be shocked to find out that they were not. The false teachers of Israel,
the scribes and Pharisees, did not teach the truth nor did they teach the way of
salvation. Those people who followed their teachings, complete with all the
traditions of the elders, will now face an eternity in hell because they were
taught incorrectly and they did not heed the warning in the Hebrew Scripture.
(Isa 55:6 KJV) Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him
while he is near: The weeping and gnashing of teeth represents the grief
and anger they will have when the truth is given to them. They will be cognizant
of the fact that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, along with all the prophets will be
in the Kingdom of God but they, who are the physical descendants, will be cast
out of the Kingdom because they rejected the door into that kingdom, the Lord
Jesus Christ. They needed to seek salvation by grace and then they would be the
spiritual descendants of Abraham and qualified for Heaven. (Gal 3:16 KJV)
Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds,
as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
Luke 13:29 (KJB)
And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and
from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.
Jesus then gives them another piece of information which would be a blow to
their national pride. They believed that the Messiah was just for them alone and
not for the world. Here Jesus tells them that the true believers who are the
spiritual descendants of Abraham will come from all directions, in other words,
the Kingdom of God is going to be universal and people from every country in the
world will become saved and that will place them into the Kingdom of God.
(Rev 7:9 KJV) After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man
could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood
before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in
their hands;
Luke 13:30 (KJB)
And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which
shall be last.
The last ones to hear the Gospel would be the Gentiles as it is preached in all
the other countries and those who become saved in those countries will be the
first. Those who heard the Gospel first, those of Israel, will be last because
they heard the Gospel and rejected it. Our society always views those who are on
the top of the political or business or entertainment industries to be first
among all the people and will remain first. They look upon the poor people as
the dregs of society and that they will always remain last. Here Jesus tells the
people that in the kingdom of Heaven, the order is reversed. Those that are the
dregs of earthly society when they become saved will go into Heaven before all
those who are in the top echelon of earthly society of which the Pharisees and
Scribes thought they were members of. This includes the religious leaders who
think they are right with God and are not. (Mat 21:31-32 KJV) Whether of
them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith
unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the
kingdom of God before you. {32} For John came unto you in the way of
righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots
believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might
believe him. The Pharisees thought they should enter into the Kingdom of
Heaven based on their positions but they are the ones who will be last. Those
publicans and harlots which became saved in Christ, will be first. Look at the
twelve Apostles as they were all working men and they will all be in Heaven
except Judas. The Pharisees because of their hatred for Jesus will be in Hell.