Luke 13:28-30 "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. People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last."

Jesus had been teaching the crowds that just listening to Him was not enough to secure their place in His Kingdom (Luke 13:24-27). If they did not have a personal relationship with Him, He would disown them at the judgement. For such people, the scene will be dreadful. They will be able to see the prophets they claimed to admire, but never listened to; and they will be able to see the huge influx into God's kingdom of those who have put their faith in Jesus - while they will be excluded for ever.

The Children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (that is 'Israel') had the privileged position of having the first opportunity to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; but when many refused, the door to His kingdom was flung open to anybody who would hear the Word of salvation and believe it. Among those are the millions around the world today who have no connection with Israel except through Jesus Christ: each of them is welcomed as a child of God because they believe that the blood sacrifice of the Saviour covers all of their sin and qualifies them to be children of God (see www.crosscheck.org.uk).

Many people have different ideas about who will be welcomed into God's heaven. However Jesus said that the only way is through Him (John 14:6). For those who think otherwise, today's words from Jesus must be taken very seriously: they are intended as a warning against complacency or continued resistance to repentance and faith in Christ. For those of us who do believe, these verses present an important challenge to inform and urge our friends to consider that there is a window of opportunity that must not be missed. Ignoring God's mercy through Christ will result in dreadful consequences. And for those who have been oppressed into thinking that they can never come to Christ or that they are too unworthy, or that they have left repentance too late ... please assure them that they can come to Him today, but tomorrow may be too late.