Sons of the Kingdom Will Be Thrown Out

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

11 I tell you, many will come from the east and west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 but the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, (Matthew 8:11-12).

The statement above was made by Jesus and it was galling to the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. They prided themselves on the fact that they had Abraham as their “father.” Because they came from Abraham’s godly line (through Isaac and Jacob), they believed they were “entitled” to inherit the Kingdom of God, automatically.

Jesus deftly pointed out their failure to comprehend truth. During Jesus’ earthly sojourn, the religious leaders – the scribes, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees – to varying degrees, all believed that being Jewish was far better than being Gentile. The Jews were given the promises. They had the prophets, the Law, and the Messiah was promised to come through the nation of Israel. Oh, they were so much better than the Gentiles and they gloried in it.

But Jesus pulls them up short by telling them that the “sons of the kingdom” – those people who thought they would inherit the Kingdom of God simply by being Jewish were in for a real shock. Many of those same individuals would actually wind up being “thrown out into outer darkness.” In other words, they would be tossed into hell and eventually the Lake of Fire because they were counting on their own lineage to gain them entrance in God’s kingdom.

It’s easy to understand why these same religious leaders grew to hate Jesus as much as they did. In essence, Jesus was rejecting them and their worldview because it was 100% diametrically opposed to God’s plan of redemption. Being Jewish or Gentile ultimately means nothing. Faith in God’s redemptive work is all that matters and that has nothing to do with a person’s race or culture. It goes well beyond that.

Yes, certainly, God chose to create a unique nation of people, taken from among other Semitic people during Abraham’s day. He did so for His purposes, not because He thought Jews were better than anyone else. Jews who think like this are missing the point entirely. What God has chosen to do through the Jewish nation of Israel is totally based on His purposes and choices.

There are people today who teach that Jewish people do not need to receive Jesus as their personal Savior because they are supposedly under a special dispensation. First of all, this is not normative Dispensationalism. It is artificial and has no basis on Scriptural truth (though I realize some argue that Dispensationalism itself is artificial, an opinion from which I fully disagree, but that’s for another article).

The people who teach that Jews do not need to receive Jesus are guilty of sending the Jews who attend those particular churches (which teach that) to hell. Jews, like Gentiles, fully need Jesus and His redemptive work applied to their individual lives. All people – Jews and Gentiles – need Jesus. There is no salvation apart from Him. Jesus is not the Savior of Gentiles only. He is the Savior of Jews as well.

Jesus points out in the verses from Matthew 8 above that condemnation of Jewish people will occur when they believe they are living under a distinct dispensation where salvation applies to everyone else, but not to them because they ostensibly already have it. Sorry, that is not truth. It does not work that way and many of those same Jewish individuals will find themselves on the outside of God’s coming kingdom, looking at it from the outside. That will only add to their torment. They were thinking they were shoe-ins, but in reality, they were always on the outside looking in, but never realized it.

The “many” who come to banquet of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (in verse 11 above) refers to the Gentiles who are also invited to attend the banquet and actually receive salvation, which is the means to attending that banquet. It all boils down to the those who have salvation in Christ and those who do not. Culture means nothing. Beliefs means nothing. Salvation in Jesus is the only thing that provides us access.

As Christians, it is our job to make absolutely clear to all people – both Jews and Gentiles – that salvation is found in no other than Jesus Himself, (Acts 4:12). Jews are under no special distinction, though I also believe that God is not done with the nation of Israel. During the coming Tribulation, God will refine them with the fires of persecution and pull from that nation His final remnant. That final remnant will see their need for Jesus and receive Him as Savior and then go into the Millennial Kingdom where those Jews – making up the final version of the nation of Israel – will enjoy the full benefits of all the Land originally promised to Israel through Abraham (Genesis 12, 15, 17, etc.).

As Paul says, there is no longer slave nor free, Jew nor Gentile, male or female as far as salvation is concerned (Galatians 3:28). Jesus has destroyed the wall of partition that separated Jews from Gentiles in the Old Testament and He did so by fulfilling all aspects of the Law.

Those Jews who reject Jesus are rejecting His redemptive work on their behalf (and ultimately, they are rejecting salvation), because they wrongly believe they are “safe” because they have Abraham as their “father.” It is not Abraham who saves them. In fact, it is clear that Abraham also needed saving and God only counted Abraham as “righteous” because of the faith he exhibited in God (Romans 4:3; Galatians 3:6; Hebrews 11:8-12). That salvation that came to Abraham was not automatically passed down to Jews through Isaac and Jacob. Only the culture of being Jewish was passed, not the salvation.

Folks, do not grow weary of telling all people that they need Jesus. It is our calling.

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective