Luke 13:30

And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.

The final goal of Jesus was Jerusalem; thither He was making His way by easy stages. But, according to His plan, He stopped in the cities and villages along the way, continuing the work of His ministry with unabated faithfulness to the last. Teaching was the main occupation of Jesus at this time, the outstanding feature of His work. And His teaching doubtless touched again and again upon the admonition to be prepared for the last great day with its judgment. This fact caused some person in one of the places visited by Jesus to ask Him the half-idle, half-serious question, whether there would be only a few to be saved. He that is concerned seriously about his salvation does not put the question that way, but rather sets his mind upon the way of attaining salvation for himself. Jesus therefore does not answer the question directly, but addresses the questioner and all that share his curiosity in a serious admonition. Every person should strive earnestly, struggle as seriously, and exert himself as assiduously as an athlete coveting victory, to enter into heaven through the narrow gate. Heaven is here pictured as a house from which certain people exclude themselves. They strive to enter, they seek a way, but of their own choosing, and therefore their efforts are idle, their attempts futile: they are not able to accomplish their purpose. There is only one Way, and that is Jesus Christ, the Savior. Faith in His salvation will open the door; every other method is bound to fail. "Why, for what reason, can they not enter? For that reason that they do not know what the narrow gate is; for that is faith, which makes a person small, yea, altogether nothing, that he must despair of his own works and cling only to God's grace, forgetting all other things because of that. But the saints of Cain's kind think that good works are the narrow gate; therefore they do not become humble, do not despair of their works, yea, they gather them with great sacks, hang them around themselves, and thus endeavor to get through; but they have as little chance to go through as the camel with its great hump has to pass through the eye of a needle. " The hour is coming when the master of the house, God Himself, will arise from His throne. Jesus, sitting at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, through the Gospel is calling out to all men: Come, for all things are now ready. He is waiting for them to accept the invitation, He has set a certain time of grace. But when that time has elapsed, then He will close the door. He will return in heavenly glory before the whole world, and then the door to heaven will no longer be open. The time of the world and the time of grace will then be at an end. Then some will want to come to the closed door and rap and call to the Lord to open to them. But it will be too late. They have not heeded the invitation in time, and now the Lord gives them the terrible answer: I know you not. They do not belong to His own, they have not turned to Him in repentance and faith. Even if they insist upon it, as the Jews could do in the full sense of the word, that He had lived in their midst, had eaten and drunk before them, that He had taught them on their streets, they will receive the same answer, and they must stand back from Him and be condemned as workers of iniquity. Note: On the last day those that were Christians in name only will try to frame similar excuses, reminding the Lord of the fact that they heard the Word of God in a church where the pure doctrine was proclaimed, that they were baptized, that they were instructed in the Christian doctrine. And even those that merely lived in a Christian Community, and occasionally permitted Christian influence to graze them, will come and try to state this fact as an argument. But all arguing will be too late. The fact remains that all such people did not accept Jesus and His Word, but stubbornly remained in their sins, and therefore will die and be condemned in their sins. Then, when it is too late, remorse will come. Then there will be weeping in helpless fury and in delayed sorrow for sins; then there will be gnashing of teeth over a foolishness that has been recognized as such too late. And not the least part of damnation will consist in this, that these poor souls will see the blessedness of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in heaven, while they themselves will be rejected and condemned to the everlasting abyss of hell. And not only will the patriarchs and prophets enjoy the bliss of the kingdom of heaven, but there will be representatives from the East and from the West and from the North and from the South, all reclining at the feast of joy and happiness before the throne of God. And all this the unfortunate late-comers, that procrastinated once too often, will be able to see, Luke 16:23. The Lord here uses the same thoughts which He has employed also in other places where He has touched upon the necessity of being prepared. There are resemblances to the story of the ten virgins, to the rich man and poor Lazarus, to the Last Judgment, to the story of the centurion of Capernaum. And the gist of the warning is always the same, not to depend upon outward membership of the Church, not to delay real repentance until it is too late. For there are last that will be first, and there are first that will be last. Such as believe, by reason of the circumstances of their life, that they are members of God's kingdom, as the Jews did on account of their descent from Abraham, will find themselves last and excluded from the blessedness of heaven. But many that became members of the Church from conviction of their hearts, without having had the advantages which church members had from their youth, may become first, since they have repented truly and realized the things that pertain to their peace. All things being equal, the person that grows up in the midst of the Church, is baptized in infancy, learns the truth of Scriptures in a Christian school, and is always surrounded by the best conditions, should have the best knowledge and the soundest faith in Jesus, the Savior. But if such a person disregards these blessings and the greater responsibility resting upon him, his punishment will be all the greater, as one that despised the riches of the mercy and grace of God, not knowing that the goodness of God was calling him to repentance, Luke 12:47.