And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.
Christ spoke these words as part of His answer to the question of who will be saved, given while He was teaching through the cities and villages on His way toward Jerusalem. They come after the shutting of the door against those who plead that they ate and drank in His presence and heard Him teach in their streets, yet are rejected as workers of iniquity. They come after the weeping of those thrust out while seeing Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and after the coming of people from the east and west and north and south to sit down in the kingdom. They come before the Pharisees' warning that Herod would kill Him, and His reply about casting out devils and doing cures and being perfected and that a prophet cannot perish outside Jerusalem, followed by the lament over Jerusalem that kills the prophets and whose house is left desolate until the time of saying blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.
The saying teaches a reversal of status in God's kingdom, in which those regarded as first will be last, and those regarded as last will be first. It was spoken as a warning to the teachers in Israel. The Jews had been given every facility and great light and had been regarded as first, the only pious people on earth, but through gradual spiritual blindness by refusing to hear and yield to the Holy Spirit they would be thrust out. When they see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and themselves thrust out with weeping and gnashing of teeth, those counted last, coming from the east and west and north and south, shall sit down in the kingdom and be first. The scribes and Pharisees were amazed at these words and determined to get rid of Christ.
Standing first or last is not determined by apparent nearness to Christ. Entry requires personal salvation, and outward association with Him does not secure it, so some who expect to enter will be shut out. Those who claim religious privilege while practicing wrongdoing may be shut out, while people gathered from every direction will enter and sit down and share in the kingdom. Those who make themselves first through self-pleasing and pride will ultimately be last. Self-conceit blocks growth, because a person who thinks his ways are perfect cannot recognize his faults or be cleansed.
The verse belongs within Luke 13:25-35, where it stands without separate explanation and whose application calls for active, earnest work in God's service.
Christ spoke these words as part of His answer to the question of who will be saved, given while He was teaching through the cities and villages on His way toward Jerusalem. They come after the shutting of the door against those who plead that they ate and drank in His presence and heard Him teach in their streets, yet are rejected as workers of iniquity. They come after the weeping of those thrust out while seeing Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and after the coming of people from the east and west and north and south to sit down in the kingdom. They come before the Pharisees' warning that Herod would kill Him, and His reply about casting out devils and doing cures and being perfected and that a prophet cannot perish outside Jerusalem, followed by the lament over Jerusalem that kills the prophets and whose house is left desolate until the time of saying blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.
The saying teaches a reversal of status in God's kingdom, in which those regarded as first will be last, and those regarded as last will be first. It was spoken as a warning to the teachers in Israel. The Jews had been given every facility and great light and had been regarded as first, the only pious people on earth, but through gradual spiritual blindness by refusing to hear and yield to the Holy Spirit they would be thrust out. When they see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and themselves thrust out with weeping and gnashing of teeth, those counted last, coming from the east and west and north and south, shall sit down in the kingdom and be first. The scribes and Pharisees were amazed at these words and determined to get rid of Christ.
Standing first or last is not determined by apparent nearness to Christ. Entry requires personal salvation, and outward association with Him does not secure it, so some who expect to enter will be shut out. Those who claim religious privilege while practicing wrongdoing may be shut out, while people gathered from every direction will enter and sit down and share in the kingdom. Those who make themselves first through self-pleasing and pride will ultimately be last. Self-conceit blocks growth, because a person who thinks his ways are perfect cannot recognize his faults or be cleansed.
The verse belongs within Luke 13:25-35, where it stands without separate explanation and whose application calls for active, earnest work in God's service.