The Kingdom of Heaven

[Music] and in this case I think it's important to realize that based on our evidence from ancient Jewish writings like the Mishnah there is there appears to have been a debate over the number of the saved how many Israelites in particular is what the question was about how many of the people of Israel the twelve tribes of Israel will be saved is it going to be everyone who's descended from Jacob all 12 tribes of Israel or will it be a remnant a small portion of the people of Israel so this was a this was actually a debate that different Jews had different views about in the ancient world so let me give you this quote from the Mishnah I've quoted from the mission of a four it's a collection of ancient rabbinic traditions it isn't written down until about 200 AD but it contains traditions that are dated back to the time of Jesus so for example listen to this quotation from the tractate Sanhedrin chapter 10 verse 1 and following it says this all Israelites have a share in the world to come for it is written by people also shall be all righteous they shall inherit the land forever Isaiah 60 21 and these are they that have no share in the world to come and then the mission goes on the lists a number of different groups the generation of the flood have no share in the world to come the generation of the dispersion that means the Babylonian exile have no share in the world to come the men of Sodom have no share in the world to come the generation of the wilderness that means the exodus generation have no share in the world to come the ten tribes shall not return again so rabbi Akiba who is actually a first century rabbi a little bit ahead of Jesus so Jesus elder contemporary so to speak but rabbi eliezer says like as the day grows dark and then grows light so also after darkness is falling upon the ten tribes shall light here after shine upon them chapter 10 verses one through three that translation thereof the mission is from Herbert Dan V so notice what it's saying on the one hand some rabbis are saying all Israelites have a share in the world to come so if you're part of the Covenant people of God you're in you're going to enter into the world to come the ha Olam haba and what the world to come was in ancient Jewish eschatology was the new creation it was the expectation that when God sent the age of salvation he would take this fallen world of sin suffering and death and he would make it new he would renew it it would be a new world or a new age and so you'll sometimes see you know I facto frequently seen Jewish writings the the future age described as the world to come so what they're debating here is will all israelites be saved and the words enter into the world to come or will some not be saved and then he goes on to give a parable or an analogy to try to exemplify this and it's the parable of the householder and then of the banquet of the kingdom so there there are two kind of related parallels they blend into one another with similar imagery but let's just walk through them together so the first one he he gives is the image of a householder so he says when the householder is risen up and shut the door you're gonna stand outside and you're gonna knock and say Lord open to us and he's gonna say I don't know where you come from and then the people respond say wait what do you mean you don't know us we ate and drank in your presence you taught in our streets and so he repeats it again I tell you I don't know where you come from depart from me you workers of iniquity all right so what's going on here well the image Jesus is using here is that salvation the kingdom of God is like a feast that's taking place a banquet in somebody's house and you're trying to get into the banquet but the householder meaning the owner of the house the host of the banquet when he opens the door to you he says two things I don't know where you come from first of all and then second depart from me you workers of iniquity so let's look at the first one uh I don't know where you come from basically is a way of saying that you're strangers to the host right he doesn't know he doesn't know not just who you are but your origins where you're from that's the first point now what's interesting about that is the people trying to get in the house say well hold on we're acquaintances you know we've eaten in drunken your presence before we heard you preach on our streets so they it doesn't mean they're completely ignorant of the HOS they've heard him preach and they've actually sat at his table but for some reason he now says to them I don't know you write the aunt well why doesn't he know them that's the surprising part of the parable well it the answer that comes in the last line when he says depart from me you workers of iniquity right so why is it that the householder doesn't know them well obviously in this case it's not this is not an ordinary story of trying to go to someone's house for a banquet it's an allegorical parable the householder here represents either God or the Messiah as host of the banquet the house and the feast taking place inside represents the kingdom of God and then the the people who are knocking on the door but not getting in or represent the people Jesus just described who are trying to get into the kingdom of God but they're they can't so what's the problem well the last line tells you you're a worker of iniquity so what keeps them out of the kingdom of God it's their sin right it's that they are doers of evil which again think about this this parallels exactly what we just saw in that ancient Jewish tradition from the Mishnah what are the groups that are excluded from the world to come that the rabbis gave as examples well they were all sinners like grave sinners the generation the flood the sodomites the the wicked people who in Jerusalem who led to the temple being destroyed the ten northern tribes who worship the golden calf these are all people who committed grave sins workers of iniquity and therefore their sin kept them out of the world to come same things true here with Jesus it's their iniquity they're worker of doing of evil some out of the banquet of the kingdom of God now this is really crucial to grasp because what it shows here is something very important mere acquaintance with the Messiah or with God is not enough right listening to Jesus preach and teach in the streets of Galilee or Capernaum or Bethsaida isn't enough he has to know you right and you have to leave a life of sin behind right and enter into a real communion with him there's actually a parallel version of this that makes that clear in Matthew chapter 7 another sobering saying of Jesus but a little more famous than the Lucan version is Matthew 7:21 where Jesus says not everyone who says to me Lord Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven but only he who does the will of my father who is in heaven on that day many will say to me Lord Lord did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name and then I will declare to them I never knew you depart from me you evil doers so notice the two elements there when a person doesn't follow the will of the Lord and doesn't obey the teachings of Jesus it breaks communion with him and so what he says is I never knew you that's the real criterion for getting into the banquet of the kingdom of God to have a relationship with Jesus Christ right for him to know you that's why he uses the image of a householder you're not just gonna welcome anybody into your banquet in the middle of the night but if you know that person you're gonna say come on inside and so what Jesus is saying here is you thought you knew me because you'd heard me preach and we might even shared a table together but because you were a worker of iniquity I don't know where you come from right I don't really know you and therefore you can't enter into the glory of the kingdom very serious very somber very tough teachings of Jesus here he's not mincing any words about the necessity notice of obedience for salvation right this this parable here we're Luke really blows out of the water of the idea that faith alone in the sense that all I have to do is believe and it doesn't matter how I live and that's enough for me to be saved that's just not the teaching of Jesus in the Gospels he's very clear that you have to hear him preach you have to believe in him call him Lord but you also have to obey Him and you can't be a worker of iniquity and to press home the point Jesus then moves into even more explicit image of a banquet when he says there you will weep and gnash your teeth when you see Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom but you yourself thrust out so here the images of the kingdom as a banquet and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the prophets they're all sitting at table but you are gonna be cast out now notice what Jesus does they're very powerful [Music]

Channel: Catholic Productions

Views: 53,571

Rating: 4.9254923 out of 5

Keywords: Brant Pitre, Catholic Productions, Kingdom of heaven, will only a few be saved, faith and works, sin and salvation

Id: 57Yg_ZL_XoQ

Length: 9min 52sec (592 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 19 2019