THE NARROW GATE.
Luke 13:22-30.
LUKE 13:22. Jesus was on a journey to Jerusalem. It was a journey with a particular purpose.
We are told back in Luke 9:51 that ‘when the time was come that He should be received up, He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.’
Jesus was steadfast in His purpose, but as He journeyed, He taught (Luke 13:22).
We too are on a journey. ‘This world is not my home,’ we sing, ‘I’m just a-passing through.’ But even as we pass through, we must so live as to bring glory to God. And we should so speak for God as to leave a testimony that would draw others to Him through our Lord Jesus Christ.
At such a time, and against such a background, someone asked:
LUKE 13:23. “Lord, are there few that be saved?”
This is symptomatic of an unhealthy fascination with numbers. But this is also a classic excuse why many will not come to Jesus. ‘There are just a few,’ they convince themselves, ‘so surely there will be no room for me.’
Or they say, ‘I am not one of the elect!’ To which I ask, ‘Who says so?’ God alone knows who the elect are. But, according to Jesus, our duty is to:
LUKE 13:24. “Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.”
Jesus turns a vague theological question about numbers into a personal challenge for each and all to hear. Instead of a treatise on the doctrines proposed, Jesus points us to a gate that is still open!
It is for us to “strive earnestly,” or “to agonise” (as the Greek word would transliterate) to enter in at that gate.
The “strait” or “narrow” way is that which is taken by those who have had the righteousness of Christ imputed to them (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21). They are called ‘the righteous’ in Psalm 1:6. We cannot take this way unless we are born again (cf. John 3:3), have our eyes set upon Jesus (cf. Hebrews 12:2), and are following after ‘holiness without which no man shall see God’ (cf. Hebrews 12:14).
The narrow way has a narrow gate. The narrow gate presents something of an obstacle: it is a turnstile too narrow for us to go forward with the baggage of the life we are supposedly leaving behind. We pass through as individuals, each with our own testimony.
The point is, that it is not a question of how many are saved, but whether we will “strive earnestly” to enter in.
LUKE 13:25. There will be those who will fail to enter, but it will not be because of numbers, but because they left it too late. In the following parable, the householder gets up and closes the door. This tells us that the door of mercy will not always be open.
There will be some, like the five foolish virgins in another of Jesus’ parables (cf. Matthew 25:11-12) who are still outside when the door is shut. They, like them, shall plead, “Lord, Lord, open unto us;” and He shall answer, “I know you not!”
LUKE 13:26. Then they will say, “We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets.” It is as absurd as saying, ‘I was at one of your meetings,’ or ‘I’ve read all your books,’ or some such thing.
There are those, indeed, who will say, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonders?’ (cf. Matthew 7:22). But church membership and outward ‘Christian’ service are no substitute for a living relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ.
LUKE 13:27. Jesus is resolute in His reply: “I tell you; I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity” (cf. Matthew 7:23).
These words are echoed by Jesus in the day of judgment: ‘Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels’ (cf. Matthew 25:41).
LUKE 13:28. “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” It will be especially galling for some who took it for granted that they would have their place in the kingdom of God, alongside “Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets” only to find themselves “thrust out.”
LUKE 13:29. And to see Gentiles, outsiders, sitting in their places!
LUKE 13:30. “And behold, there are last that shall be first, and there are first that shall be last.”
A proverb which goes on being fulfilled as the gospel wings its journey ‘unto the uttermost parts of the earth’ (cf. Acts 1:8), and ‘to the end of the age’ (cf. Matthew 28:20).
