At one time someone asked Jesus whether only a few people were going to be
saved. So rightfully does the Bible record these words in Luke 13:23- 27 :
‘Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” He said to them,
“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to
enter and will not be able to. 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!’”’
Let us strive to maintain our position of sonship, our inheritance. For failure to do
so could lead to dire and eternal consequences as Jesus says in this scripture.
Later in the lives of the Israelites and their Kingdom, many things happened to
separate rightful sons of Abraham from biological descendants of Abraham. In
Jacob, for the first time God included all the sons in the inheritance. It is through
the twelve tribes of Israel that God formed His prized possession, His inheritance,
the children of Israel. As a matter of fact, it is to Jacob that the name Israel was
given.
However, the history of the Israelites is full of incidents where they disobeyed God
and were punished in various and severe ways, including captivity. Each time this
happened, some of the Israelite children were lost to the nations, but God always
kept a remnant. Eventually, John the Baptist says to them in the New Testament
in Luke 3:8, ‘” Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to
yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God
can raise up children for Abraham.”’
And again in John 8:39 we see the Israelites saying to Jesus , ‘“Abraham is our father.”
But Jesus answered them, ‘“If you were Abraham’s children, then you would do what
Abraham did.”’
Paul in Romans 9:27- 29 writes, ‘Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number
of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved. For the Lord