Luke 13:22-30
The Narrow Door
22Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. 23Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?"
He said to them, 24"Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.'
"But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.'
26"Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.'
27"But he will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!'
28"There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. 29People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. 30Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last."
The crowds followed Jesus from town to town, village to village...People, no doubt, had many questions for Him...Jesus, being with God from the beginning, knew all things...He would have great answers for His followers, because of His great knowledge and experience...He is divine...
There is only One door (One gate) and it is narrow...The only way through the door is to the Father is the Son...No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6)...For those who believe in the Son and the Father, who sent Him, have access to the key...The door is narrow, but we can get the key...If we believe in the Father and Son, the golden key is ours to the door...It is narrow, because we must believe and have faith...Jesus is very clear that it is not easy to get through the door...We have to make every effort to get through the narrow door, because many will try to open the door, but will not be able to open the narrow door...We struggle to get through the door, mostly because of hectic lives...Our thoughts are not even on the door or the key, our thoughts are on what are we going to do today, what have I got to do at work today, what errands do I need to do today, do I need to get the kids today, etc...We don't have time for the door...We don't have time to seek and search for the key...
There will come a time in our lives when we need to get to the door and open it...If we haven't got the key then the Owner of the house is going to tell us that He doesn't know us...He won't even know where we are from...Some will say we laughed in the streets with You, and You taught in our streets...We were living our lives while You were in the house...Jesus makes it clear that just because we know who Jesus is and their is a Bible, does not get us through the door...Jesus will say I don't know you or where you come from...Away from Me you evildoers...We really never have searched for the key...We don't have a relationship with Him...We don't love Him, because we haven't taken the time to find Him or get to know Him...We never truly got to know Him in our hearts...How could we know Him, with our busy lives...Jesus is the golden key...He gives the key to us...It is up to us to use the golden key in our lives...We have the Golden Key to the narrow door...The Golden Key lies in what we believe and our faith...
Jesus here adds something interesting...We are all equal in the world...We are all His sheep...We all can have a relationship with Him...He is our shepherd....In John 10:7, He tells us He is the gate (the door) for His sheep...There will be surprises...The first will be last and the last will be first...Some nonbelievers, who have just converted will go through the door first...The Father calls His friends and neighbors to rejoice with Him, when He finds a lost sheep, after the sheep has been lost for a long time (Luke 15:6)...We will be surprised to see who we meet in heaven...We will not see many who we thought would be there...And we will not be able to disagree against His judgment...Judgment is perfect...One other surprise for the Jewish people of that time, is Gentiles will be in the kingdom of God...There will be other surprises, we just have not thought of, and can't even imagine...
In the end all people come...Time passes and they reach the door...Jesus tells us in the end, we will all get to the door...We will come from the north, south, east, and west...The door leads to only two places...One is with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Kingdom of God...The other place is where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth...We are to believe in Him and have a relationship with Him to get the door open with our golden key, so we can see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob...
The reason that the word few is used is from Jesus' perspective...Let's say you have ten children and eight are excellent and have good jobs and help others...Two do not work and are not good and have bad luck...The two children are few, but as a father you want all to do good, be good, and be successful...Jesus wants all of us to be saved to see Abraham...