Dear Pastor John,
I was reading Luke 13 the other day and in verse 28 I’ve found this written: “You will see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God, but you will be thrown out.” On the other hand Jesus said: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” and “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
I believe that the born again experience was not available before the day of Pentecost after Jesus’ ascension, but I got confused by this verse. How will Abraham, Isaac and Jacob enter the Kingdom of God if they didn’t have the opportunity to be born again?
Also, in Luke 7:28 Jesus says: “For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
So, it seems as if Jesus in certain cases spoke of the “Kingdom of God” as something specifically for New Testament saints, but in Luke 13:28 the mention of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob seems to ruin that theory.
What do you think?
Zoli
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Greetings, Brother Zoli!
First of all, let me affirm that the salvation of every soul who has ever lived rests in Jesus and his sacrifice for our sin. Nobody will be saved in the end without believing in him and receiving the holy life that he died for us to have from God. Abraham (and probably many others in paradise) rejoiced to see Jesus’ day (Jn. 8:56) because he associated Jesus with his hope of eternal life and peace.
Jesus did teach that entrance into the kingdom of God was possible only for saints in this covenant, but in the coming resurrection, all the righteous from the beginning of the world will be raised into the kingdom of God and enter into this covenant. In other words, those who died before Jesus came will be born again when they are raised from the dead.
This might be easier to understand if we focus on the word “life”.
To be born again means to receive God’s kind of life (see the second chapter of my book, God Had a Son before Mary Did). The new birth is so great an experience that many terms are needed to described it, but it is actually just a matter of receiving God’s eternal, holy kind of life. Those who have received God’s kind of life are born again, and those who have not received it are not.
That the righteous of all ages will be raised in what John called “the first resurrection” (Rev. 20:5–6), and since Jesus described the first resurrection as “the resurrection of life” (Jn. 5:29), it seems clear that the righteous will receive (God’s) life when they are raised from the dead. Then will be fulfilled what Jesus said: “The first shall be last, and the last shall be first” (Mt. 20:16). Then, having received eternal life, those Old Testament saints will be in the kingdom of God together with New Testament saints – and everything Jesus said about the kingdom will fit and make perfect sense.
As for Luke 7:28, Jesus was saying that anybody with God’s kind of life is greater than John the Baptist because John died without it. John the Baptist was so great that he was prophesied about, just as Jesus was, but when believers in this covenant receive God’s kind of life, they are transformed into new creatures in Christ Jesus, the very least of whom is greater than John, Abraham, David, Noah, Elijah, Job, and Samuel – combined! That is how great a change is wrought in our souls by the baptism of the holy ghost. Understanding this, the apostle John could even dare to say, “As He is, so are we in this world.” Praise God for His unspeakable gift!
Thank you, Zoli, for writing us again. May God bless you and all the saints there with you! And if my answer is not clear, please let me know and I will try to make it clearer.
Your servant in Christ,
Pastor John