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Luke 13:22-30: Knowing God is key to narrow door of Kingdom of Heaven

There are parallels between the “punch lines” of the parables of the narrow door, narrow gate and 10 virgins. Some think the key to the oil in the 10 virgins parable is the Spirit, and some say it’s the Torah. Rather, it’s knowing God, which involves equal measures of both Torah and God’s Spirit.

JeffThere are parallels between the “punch lines” of the parables of the narrow door (Luke 13:22-30), narrow gate (Matt. 7:13-23) and 10 virgins (Matt. 25:1-13). Some think the key to the oil in the 10 virgins parable is the Spirit, and some say it’s the Torah. Rather, it’s knowing God, which involves equal measures of both Torah and God’s Spirit.

PDFLuke 13 notes

We’ll work backwards this time, starting with the Parable of the 10 virgins as recorded in Matt. 25. There are several interpretations about what the oil represents. One common interpretation is that it represents the Holy Spirit and that one needs to receive more of God’s spirit. Others commonly interpret the oil as knowledge of the Torah and following God’s instructions.

Before “binding” or “loosening” those interpretations, let’s compare the narrow door parable of Luke 13 and its parallel narrow gate parable in Matthew 7.

The “many” and the five virgins without extra oil for their lamps seek to get into the Kingdom of God, aka “the wedding feast.” Both groups appeal to the master of the gate, door and the banquet hall as “Lord” or as one in authority. When they find themselves outside the door or the gate, they protest their exclusion by appealing to their relationship to the Lord. It’s interesting how they do that in these passages. They appeal to their prior associations with the Messiah, such as saying to Him that they “ate and drank in Your presence” (Luke 11:36) or that they welcomed Him in to teach to them. In Matt. 7:22, they appeal to the fact that they used the power of God by Messiah’s name and authority to perform great miracles, prophesy and exorcisms.

Yet there’s another parallel here, in that in all of them, the Lord denies knowing them. He calls them “evil doers” (Luke 13:27) or those who “practice lawlessness” (Matt.7:23).

The phrase “I never knew you” that Messiah uses in all these parables was not a phrase of drama, it was a common rabbinic expression for cutting off ties with a disciple as a persona non grata for a period of time. It was a way for the rabbi to send his disciple away for a period of time for him to think about the error of his teaching or behavior. It was a serious form of correction.

Yeshua is quoting from Psa. 6:8 in Luke’s record in Luke 13:27, “Depart from me, all you evildoers.” This follows the Masoretic Hebrew version, while the record of that quote in Matt. 5:23, “Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness,” follows the Septuagint (Greek) translation of Psalm 6.

Think about what was going on in David’s life at this time. David appeals to God with weeping because of the oppression of his adversaries, namely King Sha’ul. Sha’ul carried God’s anointing as leader of Israel but was no longer able to communicate with God. This is ironic for one whose name comes from the Hebrew word sha’al (Strongs H7592) means “to ask, inquire.”

Sha’ul’s jealously of David blinded him to God’s power displaced through David. Instead of repenting from his misuse of God’s anointing and acknowledging God’s anointing of David as his successor, Sha’ul fought against it.

Yeshua, as the messianic Son of David, carried the anointing of the ultimate leader of Israel, but a number of Israel’s leader at the time were so jealous of Yeshua’s words and deeds they rejected all the obvious signs of Yeshua’s anointing from Heaven.

The parable of the 10 virgins is followed by the parable of the talents. The Greek word for talents is talanton (Strongs G5007), which means “a balance for measuring” or a weighed amount of money. In the parable, the master of the house gives five, two and one talents to his servants as he leaves charge to them. The parable concludes in Matt. 25:29-30, “For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. Throw the worthless slave into the outer darkness in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 25 concludes with a longer parable of the sheep and the goats. The dividing lines between the sheep and goats is found in Matt. 25:35-36. This parable includes protests from those excluded from the King’s favor, which are similar to the protests found in the parables of the narrow door (Luke 13:22-30), narrow gate (Matt. 7:13-23) and 10 virgins (Matt. 25:1-13). They ask when did they see Him hungry, thirsty, in need of shelter or clothing, etc.? The King responds and says “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of the least of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to me.” (Matt. 25:40)  In other words, those barred from the kingdom didn’t recognize the name of the King in His disciples, thus the protestors didn’t really know the King at all. They didn’t really understand the King’s mission or goals.

Knowing the Messiah on a deep level is the key to the parables of the narrow door and gate in Luke 13 and Matthew 7 and the oil needed to be “ready” for entry to the wedding feast in Matthew 25. The key to understanding the “oil” and the readiness to enter the banquet in the parable of the 10 virgins is that you need both the Spirit of God and the Torah in full and equal measure. Receiving the spirit of God and trusting the words of God recorded in the Torah is really a big part of knowing who God is. It’s spelled out in Yeshua’s teaching and his final prayer in John 14-17.

Yeshua says in his prayer:

“If you love [Greek: agape, which means unselfish love] Me, you will keep My commandments. I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” (John 14:15-17)

Notice here that Yeshua tells us that the world can not receive Him because they don’t see him or know Him, but that He will know us when we allow Him to abide in us. This “knowing” shows up in all the parables we’ve discussed today.

Let’s look further into Yeshua’s prayer, when He says:

“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love [agape]; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:10–15)

Just as Yeshua has an agape connection with the Father, we have that connection with the Messiah. The Messiah is saying He has this agape connection because He follows God’s Torah or instruction. Where does Yeshua’s joy comes from? It comes from doing God’s will. When we have an agape love for the Messiah, we want to understand Him, copy Him and in a sense “fill in for Him” in this world. As a disciple improves in his understanding of his teacher’s message and mission, the teacher will give the disciple more responsibility and if the disciple becomes a very trusted disciple, the teacher may even allow the disciple to fill in for Him to teach the class to others. You see this in universities at the graduate level when graduate students of a professor in a doctoral program may be allowed by the professor to teach some of his classes for him because he knows the students and they know him well enough that the professor can trust them with his class.

Yeshua also brings in the language of friendship, which is way above the relationship of a master to a slave or a king to a commoner. Yeshua calls out for the kind of friendship that is so deep to the point of laying down your life for someone else. We are called to look out for each other, as Yeshua looks out for us. This a part of knowing who God is. God gave an example of this kind of friendship in Gen. 18-19 when He shared with Abraham His plans in dealing with Sodom and Gomorrah. You see Abraham interceding for Lot, who was living in the midst of Sodom at the time.

“When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.” (John 15:26–27)

Friends share everything, even their lives with other, even to the point of death. As a result, you pass along what you know to others.

We’ll also look at John 17:1–11, which is the culmination of Yeshua’s final prayer for His disciples and for those who would become His disciples because of the work of the original 12 disciples.

Coming from this, you see some very interesting points about knowing God. It’s about knowing who God is, knowing that Yeshua is a part of God and what God is doing. God is glorified in the world through Yeshua. John 17:6 is key. Yeshua says that He has “manifested Your name.” Manifested means “putting flesh to, to make come alive.” You see this at the beginning of John 1, where the apostle Yokhanan calls Yeshua “the word made flesh.” The reputation, authority and goals of God came forth through Yeshua the Messiah.

Knowing the Father and His Son Yeshua the Messiah involves:

  • Actively involved by trusting that Yeshua’s words are God’s words, and that God’s words in the Torah are “made flesh” and “glorified” in Yeshua.
  • Following the testimony of the Spirit of God about Yeshua.
  • Discovering the complete joy Yeshua has in following God’s commands.
  • Listening to the Spirit and remaining in the Name, the authority, reputation and goals of God, with the result of being echad or one with those who also trust in God.

We who bear the name of God must also seek to be peacemakers for divisions in the Body of Messiah. You can not give someone else your relationship with God. It can’t be inherited from parents or someone else. Each person must develop their relationship with God on their own. It involves a lot of trust between those involved to develop a deep relationship, a relationship so deep that you trust that person enough that you allow that person to act in your name to represent you to other people.

 Speaker: Jeff. Summary: Tammy. 

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