<p>13:24<i> Strive to enter in-</i> The idea of <i>striving</i> to enter the Kingdom, the need for such agonizing effort, meant an awful lot to Paul (1 Cor. 9:25; Col. 1:29; 1 Tim. 6:12; 2 Tim. 4:7). It's fashionable these days to focus upon the certainty of our redemption in Christ and to ignore the warnings about apostasy. In Paul we see a brother who brought these two strands together; because his mind was so Christ and Gospels-centred. He personalized those Gospels, he must have kept thinking to himself&nbsp;&rsquo;Now this applies to <i>me</i>... it really does...'. What a brother. What an active mind, a mind which he knew had Christ living in it. The Lord answers the question &ldquo;Are there few that be saved?&rdquo; by insisting that we personally strive to enter by the narrow door (Lk. 13:23,24).</p><p>Those who &quot;are first&quot; in their own eyes, those who think for sure they will be in the Kingdom, will seek to enter the Kingdom at the day of judgment, but be unable. Those who strive to enter the Kingdom <i>now</i> are &ldquo;last&quot; in their own spiritual assessment; and the first will be made last in the sense that they won't be in the Kingdom.&nbsp; Thus when those who will enter the Kingdom are described as thinking of themselves as &quot;last&quot;, this must mean that they think of themselves now as being unworthy of the Kingdom, but as &quot;striving&quot; to be there now, in their minds (Lk. 13:23,24). The likes of Samson died with a confession of unworthiness on their lips- in his case, that he deserved to die the death of a Philistine (Jud. 16:30)- but he will actually be in the Kingdom (Heb. 11:32).</p><p><i>By the narrow door. For I say to you, many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able</i>- &quot;Door&quot; here means specifically an entry to a house, not a gate. Entry to the Kingdom is entry to a household, a family, a home. Salvation is not to be enjoyed only by us on an individual level; rather is it about membership of the saved community. And we begin that experience now.The picture of many people striving unsuccessfully to enter in through a door recalls the picture of the Sodomites seeking to find the door of Lot's house and being smitten down in condemnation (Gen. 19:11). Those men represent those who outside a shut door shall be condemned at the Lord's return. So it's not at all that some want to find the way in this life, but can't. Those who wish to find it can find it. The picture here is rather of condemnation at the last day.</p><p><i>&ldquo;Many</i>&quot; of those who call Christ their Lord and who regularly break bread in his presence, where two or three others are gathered believing they are in his name, will find they are rejected, <i>and they just won't be able to understand why on earth they were rejected</i> (Lk. 13:24-27 cp. Mt. 18:20). Anyone who thinks the majority of believers must surely make it through to salvation needs to think again. Please God, we will- but &quot;many&quot; (the Greek can mean, but not always, 'the majority') will be in for this inexplicable (to them) rejection, when they were sure they'd lived a good Christian life. Those with spiritual problems are prone to reason that when judgment day comes, they will be able to just shrug their shoulders and walk away from their Lord to eventual death. However, there is every reason to think that the rejected will come to their spiritual senses then, and plead to be allowed to enter the Kingdom. Many will seek to enter into the Kingdom at the judgment but will not be able; and so we should strive now to enter into it. The implication is that if we strive to enter in now, we will enter in then. Everyone will so earnestly seek to enter the Kingdom in the last day, and the urgency of that coming day should be ours today. Ezekiel's prophecies so often make the point that experiencing God's judgments leads men to <i>know</i> Him; thus at the day of judgment, the rejected will knock at the door of the Kingdom, knowing that they know Christ- to be told that although they may now know him, he doesn't know them. Thus the pain of rejection will be acutely mental rather than physical. Ezekiel is told to judge Israel, i.e. &quot;cause them to know the abominations of their fathers&quot; (Ez. 20:4). This is what condemnation will result in- a recognition of sin for what it is. &quot;According to thy ways, and according to thy doings, shall they the ways and doings judge thee&quot; (Ez. 24:14). It will be self-condemnation, but they will then <i>realize</i> this in terrible detail.</p><p>The Greek for &quot;many&quot; often means 'the majority'. Here perhaps we have the clearest implication that only a minority of those who come to Christ shall ultimately be saved. Hebrews, Romans and 1 Cor. 10 suggest that if we think that natural Israel were far worse than spiritual Israel in terms of percentage coming to salvation- then we must take heed lest we fall.</p>