Luk 13:26 | KingComments | STEP | There comes a moment when God puts an end to the possibility of entering through the door He has appointed, that is His Son. It is like with the door of Noah’s ark. For a long time, the invitation was made to escape the announced judgment. Then comes the moment that God closes the door ( ). The door will not open again until the judgments have cleansed the earth. No matter how people banged on the ark when it started to rain and the water started to rise, or how they kept banging when it kept raining and the water kept rising, the door remained closed. Only those who went into the ark with Noah were safe and were saved. So it is with the people who stand outside the door when God has got up and closed the door of grace. They will knock and ask that it be opened, but they will receive the Lord’s answer that He does not know where they come from. The time of grace is over when the Lord Jesus has got up to bring His judgments on the world and on His people ( ). The Lord knows the reactions that come when the door is closed and the judgments come. They will want to remind Him that He must have seen them anyway. They ate and drank in His presence! They were there when He taught in their streets. In this way they appeal to external privileges of which they apparently suddenly understand the meaning. The tragedy is that in doing so they are also delivering the clear proof of their guilt. He was there, and they did not want Him. He has taught in their streets, but they have despised Him and rejected Him, even worse than the nations. They have not repented. The time of grace is definitely over. The verdict is final. No change is possible. The Lord emphasizes by saying “I tell you” that it will be so. He, the Omniscient, Who knows perfectly where they come from, says to them that He does not know where they are from. Wherever they come from, they are certainly not in connection with Him. Therefore He sends them away. They will never be in any connection with Him. The reason for this is that they are “evildoers“. They have always done their own will in all things and have not taken the law of God into account. They are sent away, away from the Lord, to a place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth“. There is ‘weeping’ because of the pain and sorrow. There is ‘gnashing of teeth‘ because of the anger that will continually control them ( ). The torments of hellish pains will be made worse when they see the men of whom they have always said that they descended from them. That only applied to their physical descent. They never took part in the faith of these men. Spiritually they are the offspring of the devil in whose fate they share. They did not want to enter through the narrow door into the kingdom of God. They have not obeyed the voices of the prophets who have called for repentance. Now they are cast out, out of the kingdom, out of the place of blessing. In their place there will be heathens from all corners of the world who will be reclining in the kingdom. They entered through the narrow door of repentance to God and faith in the Lord Jesus. The door is there not only for Israel but for all people from all over the world. God’s grace goes out to all. The Lord ends His answer with a special word which shows that there is still grace for Israel. The message of grace went first to Israel and later to the Gentiles. Israel has rejected grace, and so the Gentiles are the first to share in the grace. Later, Israel, that is to say, a remnant, will also share in the grace. God has not rejected His people forever.

‏ Luke 13:26

Outside the Door

There comes a moment when God puts an end to the possibility of entering through the door He has appointed, that is His Son. It is like with the door of Noah’s ark. For a long time, the invitation was made to escape the announced judgment. Then comes the moment that God closes the door (Gen 7:16). The door will not open again until the judgments have cleansed the earth. No matter how people banged on the ark when it started to rain and the water started to rise, or how they kept banging when it kept raining and the water kept rising, the door remained closed. Only those who went into the ark with Noah were safe and were saved.

So it is with the people who stand outside the door when God has got up and closed the door of grace. They will knock and ask that it be opened, but they will receive the Lord’s answer that He does not know where they come from. The time of grace is over when the Lord Jesus has got up to bring His judgments on the world and on His people (Isa 26:20-21).

The Lord knows the reactions that come when the door is closed and the judgments come. They will want to remind Him that He must have seen them anyway. They ate and drank in His presence! They were there when He taught in their streets. In this way they appeal to external privileges of which they apparently suddenly understand the meaning. The tragedy is that in doing so they are also delivering the clear proof of their guilt. He was there, and they did not want Him. He has taught in their streets, but they have despised Him and rejected Him, even worse than the nations. They have not repented. The time of grace is definitely over. The verdict is final. No change is possible.

The Lord emphasizes by saying “I tell you” that it will be so. He, the Omniscient, Who knows perfectly where they come from, says to them that He does not know where they are from. Wherever they come from, they are certainly not in connection with Him. Therefore He sends them away. They will never be in any connection with Him. The reason for this is that they are “evildoers“. They have always done their own will in all things and have not taken the law of God into account.

They are sent away, away from the Lord, to a place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth“. There is ‘weeping’ because of the pain and sorrow. There is ‘gnashing of teeth‘ because of the anger that will continually control them (Acts 7:54). The torments of hellish pains will be made worse when they see the men of whom they have always said that they descended from them. That only applied to their physical descent.

They never took part in the faith of these men. Spiritually they are the offspring of the devil in whose fate they share. They did not want to enter through the narrow door into the kingdom of God. They have not obeyed the voices of the prophets who have called for repentance. Now they are cast out, out of the kingdom, out of the place of blessing.

In their place there will be heathens from all corners of the world who will be reclining in the kingdom. They entered through the narrow door of repentance to God and faith in the Lord Jesus. The door is there not only for Israel but for all people from all over the world. God’s grace goes out to all.

The Lord ends His answer with a special word which shows that there is still grace for Israel. The message of grace went first to Israel and later to the Gentiles. Israel has rejected grace, and so the Gentiles are the first to share in the grace. Later, Israel, that is to say, a remnant, will also share in the grace. God has not rejected His people forever.