Brooklands Gospel Centre
Dundonald, Northern Ireland
Worthy is the LAMB that was slain
Revelation 5:12
Entry to the Kingdom
“And Jesus went through the cities and villages, teaching and journeying towards
Jerusalem. Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said
unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many I say unto you, will seek
to enter in, and shall not be able.” -
At this time the Lord Jesus is pressing on relentlessly to Jerusalem. The main purpose for his coming into the world was drawing closer. Despite the interventions and interruptions on the way, He does not allow Himself to be deviated from this. It was to save the lost, by giving His life a ransom.
In the course of events He is asked a curious question: “ARE THERE FEW THAT BE SAVED?”
The Lord appears to have ignored the question; but in reality He used it to spell out the issues of eternal life and death. He points out that people who think that they are certain of being saved because they are sons of Abraham, would be outside the Kingdom and outside for ever. There was no guarantee that Israel’s religious elite would be in the Kingdom either. They had their feet on the very threshold of the Kingdom of God, but were not disposed to enter on the conditions outlined by the young Rabbi from Galilee.
It reminds me of ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’. John Bunyan depicts Christian, as he approaches the Celestial City on his journey from the City of Destruction, seeing that near to its gates there is a way that leads down to the eternal abyss.
Why were these sons of Abraham in danger of exclusion? For the same reason that all
mankind, of every age -
In other words, entry into the Kingdom of God depends not on what we ARE or DO but on what He has DONE!
DREW CRAIG