The Apostle John sums up Jesus’ prescription and His warning in Luke 13…
“Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
1 John 5:10-12 NIV
The crux of the matter is…
The Jews who heard Jesus had no guarantee that they would be a part of God’s kingdom. Despite the fact that Jesus was there, and that He was living and teaching in their neighbourhood, the door would be shut in their faces if…
“Once 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.’ “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’”
Luke 13:25-27 NIV
…they did not believe in Him.
Such people would have to face a closed door and hear the final words, “I don’t know you!” Why? They made no effort to do anything about Jesus’ words.
Jesus warned a group of religious leaders who refused to believe His words and their source…
“If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”
John 12:47-50 NIV
And after that?…
God’s realm is a protected place. It has boundaries that guard against intrusion from unwanted influences. There is an invisible wall between the righteous and the unrighteous.
“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.”
Revelation 22:14-15 NIV
“The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
Revelation 21:23-27 NIV
No only that but the ungodly have a place prepared for the devil and those who follow him…
“Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
Revelation 21:7-8 NIV
Nothing could be clearer. God shuts no one out who has embraced His way of entry into His kingdom…through faith in Jesus, His Son. All others are excluded forever and consigned to the place where they will never forgot what they chose and what they forfeited.
To be continued…