Luk 13:24 | KingComments | STEP | Luke mentions again in between that the Lord is proceeding on His way to Jerusalem and what He is doing on His way to that city. The Lord knows what awaits Him in Jerusalem, but He continues His service fearlessly. He must be killed in Jerusalem by the hand of the people. They will reject Him, but His words of grace continue to flow. While He is teaching somewhere on the way, someone has a question. Someone wants to know from Him whether there are just a few who are being saved. The question will have been provoked by His teaching. The Lord does not answer this question directly, but speaks in His answer to the conscience of the questioner. His concern is not with the question, but with the questioner. In His answer it does sound through that there are few because one has to enter through a narrow door. Nothing can go in there that makes man great. He must become small. The essence is that the questioner must ensure that he is in the right relationship to God. That does not mean that he has to accomplish anything for it, but it does mean that he has to look for it so diligently that it can be compared with a struggle. The point here is that one has to strive to enter through “the narrow door”. By ‘the narrow door’ is meant that one repents and converts to God in faith. That is simple, but it is also difficult, yes impossible for him who does not want to break with his old life. Nothing of the flesh and of the world can enter in. It is a struggle to get that far. The Lord speaks of those who understand that it is not enough to be among the chosen people. They realize that they have to be born again and therefore look up to God Who points to the Lord Jesus as the door ( ). Many will try to enter the kingdom, but do so on their own easy way, according to their own terms. They want to enter through the wide door, but they will not succeed. They try to get the blessing of the kingdom without being born of God. They want to have all the privileges promised to Israel, without being born of water and the Spirit ( ). That is impossible, however. They will try to enter and they cannot, because when they enter, they have to go through the narrow door, so repent and be born again, and they don’t want that. God has a house on earth where the door is open to anyone who wants to enter. That is only possible through that one door. In the following verses, the Lord shows that there will come a time when the Lord of the house will get up and close the door, or to say with words of the parable of the beginning of this chapter, that the tree will be cut down ( ). The time for Israel to enter into the blessing of the kingdom is then over. The invitees have begun to stand outside.

‏ Luke 13:24

Enter Through the Narrow Door

Luke mentions again in between that the Lord is proceeding on His way to Jerusalem and what He is doing on His way to that city. The Lord knows what awaits Him in Jerusalem, but He continues His service fearlessly. He must be killed in Jerusalem by the hand of the people. They will reject Him, but His words of grace continue to flow.

While He is teaching somewhere on the way, someone has a question. Someone wants to know from Him whether there are just a few who are being saved. The question will have been provoked by His teaching. The Lord does not answer this question directly, but speaks in His answer to the conscience of the questioner. His concern is not with the question, but with the questioner.

In His answer it does sound through that there are few because one has to enter through a narrow door. Nothing can go in there that makes man great. He must become small. The essence is that the questioner must ensure that he is in the right relationship to God. That does not mean that he has to accomplish anything for it, but it does mean that he has to look for it so diligently that it can be compared with a struggle.

The point here is that one has to strive to enter through “the narrow door”. By ‘the narrow door’ is meant that one repents and converts to God in faith. That is simple, but it is also difficult, yes impossible for him who does not want to break with his old life. Nothing of the flesh and of the world can enter in. It is a struggle to get that far.

The Lord speaks of those who understand that it is not enough to be among the chosen people. They realize that they have to be born again and therefore look up to God Who points to the Lord Jesus as the door (Jn 10:9). Many will try to enter the kingdom, but do so on their own easy way, according to their own terms. They want to enter through the wide door, but they will not succeed.

They try to get the blessing of the kingdom without being born of God. They want to have all the privileges promised to Israel, without being born of water and the Spirit (Jn 3:3 ; 5). That is impossible, however. They will try to enter and they cannot, because when they enter, they have to go through the narrow door, so repent and be born again, and they don’t want that. God has a house on earth where the door is open to anyone who wants to enter. That is only possible through that one door.

In the following verses, the Lord shows that there will come a time when the Lord of the house will get up and close the door, or to say with words of the parable of the beginning of this chapter, that the tree will be cut down (Lk 13:9). The time for Israel to enter into the blessing of the kingdom is then over. The invitees have begun to stand outside.