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Luke 13 v 25. “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.”

 

In the next few chapters, Luke is going to confront us with the question that is permanently in the minds of people. Who gets to heaven and who does not. He sets the stage for us with the question quoted in our verse for today.

 

Jesus does not at this stage answer the question directly, but in the end it will be plain. At this point Jesus points them to the end of all opportunities and that happens when the door is shut. It is good for all of us to notice that the door of entry into the Kingdom of Heaven will indeed eventually be shut. We tend to have the view that God is so loving and gracious that we can all turn up at the door any old day we like and we will all be generously welcomed. For some people it is almost as if God Himself is very privileged to have them and that he will never turn them away.

 

What a shock then, it will be to many people who will discover they were shut out when they thought they were going to get in. They will then discover that all their presumptions about God were groundless. What they believed about God and about themselves will prove to be false. They have in fact missed salvation. What’s more they missed it unexpectedly, for they surely felt they would be at the great salvation feast. Furthermore they missed it unintentionally. They did not plan to miss it. It was just that they did not feel the urgency or the need when they heard Christ speak.

 

Now they are at the very entrance-way to Heaven, but the door is shut.