PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Luke 13:28-30
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth…” (Luke 13:28)
Jesus is talking about how some will be surprised on judgment day.
They will be surprised that their hollow religion didn’t count.
They pretended to know God, but Jesus shows how they didn’t.
The way they lived (doing evil) reveals their true heart.
I see “weeping and gnashing of teeth” as hyperbole to make a point.
Hyperbole is an extreme analogy to impress a truth on the audience.
Like ‘you’ll shoot your eye out’ or ‘you’ll burn your hand off’!
The point of these statements is ‘this is really serious!’
I don’t dwell on the imagery, I want to hear what Jesus’s point is.
‘Don’t just pretend to serve me, I can see through hypocrisy.’
Jesus knows whether our hearts desire goodness, justice and mercy.
Grace is for those who genuinely hunger and thirst for righteousness.
The future kingdom will be all about Jesus like love and goodness.
If we don’t want that now, what makes us think we’ll want it then?
PRAYER
Lord, those who resist love now will resist it then too. Strengthen my heart for love now, so that I will rejoice when I see it fully at the end!
I may have religion but not faith! Faith/believing comes first – not trusting on own merits – those who do may be last – those who base their hope on the law as the teachers of the law did in Jesus time – are the last. But those who simply believed – come first. If I serve its because I want to say thank you – that I am forgiven – that I may come into the Kingdom of God – whether first or last is not the important thing – being accepted by Jesus is – putting my faith in Him!
I am reminded of the man who die and asked the Lord if he could warn the family members about life after death. God’s kingdom is here and now in part and will come to completion. Our focus/my focus needs to be a living servant of that kingdom now, living for Jesus now and not someday in the future for that day will never come. Like the thief on the cross, come to the Saviour now. Serve Him today. Live for Jesus this day and all your days in this life and the next.
Come to the Savior now,
he gently calls to you;
in true repentance bow,
let him your heart renew.
Christ came that you may know
salvation, peace, and love,
true joy on earth below,
a home in heaven above.