WHEN THE CHILDREN OF THE
KINGDOM ARE CAST OUT

As a rule, Jesus avoided Gentiles (non-Jews) during His earthly ministry. His outreach of love, healing and deliverance was restricted to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel".God's word clearly tells us that Jesus "came unto His own." (John 1:11). He came to fulfill the covenant promises God made to His chosen people in the Old Covenant.

It is, therefore, not surprising that when the disciples of Christ received the Great Commission, they were instructed not to reach out to the Gentiles.

"Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel". (Matthew 10:5f)

Very likely Jesus meant this exclusiveness to apply before His passion and prior to Pentecost. Such was the timing of the Lord. It was only right that His people of promise should first taste of His redeeming love. Then at the proper time, He commands His apostles to make disciples of all nations and to preach to every creature (Matthew 28:19). "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature". (Mark 16:15). After all, did not Jesus come to die and shed His blood for sinners of all nations and all races?

Limiting the Holy One of Israel

The Jewish multitudes followed Jesus and flocked eagerly wherever He happened to be ministering - in a synagogue, or walking the streets of a town, or out in the countryside. He saw them as being sheep not having a shepherd, hungering and thirsting for the word of eternal life.

The Jews, however, had a history of fickleness and unpredictability in their faithfulness to God. They had a record of murmuring and complaining about God on the slightest occasion. They were notorious when it came to stoning the prophets and killing the messengers God sent to His people in the Old Testament. Finally, "He came unto His own and His own received Him not". Their own religious leaders did not recognize their Messiah when they saw Him, but rather sentenced Him to die on the Cross of Calvary as a common criminal.

On the occasion of the healing of the epileptic young man, Jesus pronounced probably the severest indictment upon the Jews because of their unbelief, that is, their lack of trust in the providence and promises of God:

"O, unbelieving and perverse how long shall I be with you? How long shall I tolerate you?" (Matthew 17:17).

In the course of His earthly ministry, Jesus made some exceptions and did minister to Gentiles when they came to Him with a specific need. Usually, they approached Jesus somewhat gingerly, aware of the fact they were looked upon as unclean and not entitled to "the children's bread", that is, the blessings the Jews were promised by God according to the covenant He made with them.

A good illustration of Christ's attitude in this regard was the time the Roman centurion approached the Lord, trusting Him to heal his ailing, palsied slave without having to come to his home, but rather from the place He was standing. The centurion believed in the supernatural power of Jesus and that one word from His lips, even from a distance, would be sufficient to accomplish the healing.

Jesus was so deeply touched by the centurion's faith and trust in His divine power and authority that he censured His own people by giving the Roman centurion special credit for his trusting faith and contrasting it with the lack of faith among the Jews:

"Truly I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." (Matthew 8:11).

Though the Jews were the chosen people of God, they did not always prove themselves deserving of the honor and privileged position accorded to them. Their past is riddled with only sporadic faithfulness, mostly distrust and rebellion against the divine commandments, especially since their exodus from the bondage of Egypt. God expressed His displeasure with His people of promise, and repeatedly warns them of the consequences of their disobedience

"Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness. When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years" (Psalm 95:7, Hebrews 3:7f).

"Do not become a people of wrath. Refrain from repeating the mistakes of your forefathers and ancestors that left Egypt for the land of promise, journeyed forty years in the wilderness, always murmuring against Me and finally not permitted to step foot on what was supposed to be your new homeland, only because you departed from My ways. Do not fall into the sins that past generations committed and paid for their preferring their own ways and for violating their sacred covenant with Jehovah Jirah, their Provider"

"Wherefore, I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in their heart, and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest."

How tragic that the generation of Israelites that made the miraculous exodus out of Egypt with a burning desire to inherit the land promised to them by God came under the divine wrath and were banned from possessing their rightful inheritance. They were doomed to wander another forty years in the wilderness, and there to perish. Could there be anything more painful than that?

The voice of the Lord again speaks and gives a further word of sharp warning to His people: "So we see that they could not enter in because of disobedience (Greek, apeitheia)" (Hebrews 3:19)

When God's longsuffering does not sober up His people, then the time comes for His wrath to be unleashed upon them. It happened back then at the banks of the Jordan River, when they suffered a crushing disappointment and shattered dreams about enjoying the land flowing with milk and honey, and the same thing can happen in our own generation if we fail to meet His condition.

Speak your word again, Lord, to those who are children of Abraham in our day, either by seed or by promise: "As for you, your carcasses, they shall fall in the wilderness and your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years and bear your whoredoms, until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness" (Numbers 14:32)

When Jesus, therefore, embarked on His earthly ministry, He knew He was in the midst of a stiff-necked people who were prone to rebellious behavior, and who ultimately would slay the One Who came in His Father's name as their long-awaited Messiah and Deliverer.

At the time Jesus healed the Roman centurion's slave and commented with admiration on the remarkable faith he showed, Jesus also spoke prophetically about the day when other Gentiles, Romans and Greeks would follow suit with unconditional surrender to His lordship, accepting Him as their personal Savior.

"And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:11f).

How tragic and how painful! Jesus predicts that men and women from all corners of the earth whom the Jews looked at as unclean, not having any favor with God, will enjoy places of honor in the kingdom of God, places initially reserved only for those of His own household. Indeed, the Lord utters the unthinkable, the most abhorrent prospect - that these who in the Old Covenant were outcasts and an abomination in the sight of God will sit eternally with the venerable, ancient patriarchs of Israel, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

We know about the apostle Paul's journeys to the Gentile world where he preached the gospel, made converts to Christ from among the Gentiles and established what were primarily Gentile Churches. The apostle Peter, who was an apostle primarily to the Jews, began to open up to the more perfect will of the Lord that Israel was to be a light to lighten the Gentiles and to bring them into the kingdom. Just before he ministered to another Roman centurion called Cornelius, he heard the Lord's message directly from heaven that corrected his reservation and hesitation regarding the Gentiles: "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common." (Acts 10:15)

Jesus not only predicted the admission of the Gentiles into the kingdom of God, but that "the children of the kingdom" those who comprise natural Israel and whom He adopted as His own chosen ones, "shall be cast out into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew. 8:11)

Think of it! Those who were natural heirs of the kingdom as children of Abraham and ready to possess the fulness of their inheritance are now outcasts and consigned to the flames of eternal Hell. On the other hand, the Gentiles, who were once outcasts, now take their place of honor and glory in the company of Israel's founding fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!

I believe Orthodoxy is the true Church, dear reader, but can you hear what I am hearing from heaven?

"I have favored you who are Orthodox, members of my historic Church, by adopting and birthing you as my children. You have duly preserved and guarded the purity of the Faith against the strange doctrines of the denominations that have been broken off from the trunk of the Mother Church. But your self-righteousness is what I have against you."

"You are neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm. My name is glorified and exalted only in your routine litanies you have inherited from past generations. Harden not your heart, as in the provocation ... when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. Walk not in the abominations of your forefathers who cleaved to the externals of religion while serving the lusts of the flesh in disobedience to the lordship of Christ."

"But even after the fall of Byzantium, during the Turkish Ottoman rule, you kept your hearts hardened. For this reason I did not shorten the 400-year subjugation under the Turks. You have become a people of wrath. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest. Baptists, Methodists and Pentecostals shall come and sit with St. John Chrysostom, St. Athanasius and St. Basil the Great in the Kingdom of God. But the children of the kingdom (Orthodox excluding the small remnant) will be cast out into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and grinding of teeth."

In the Gospel of Matthew we find the same mandate of Christ, but in its fuller expression that includes the element of impending judgment: "For the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

The inference is that there is a deadline and that it is perilous to put repenting off to a later time. Once the kingdom is upon us with the appearance of the King of kings, repentance will be of no avail. The timing is crucial. Repent now that the door of forgiveness is still open. On the day of the Lord's return, all sinners will repent with bent knees before His glory, but it will do them no good. In Hell, everybody repents but to no avail. The deadline has passed. The age of grace and mercy is followed by the age of judgment.

Nothing will save us from burning in Hell fire - neither our Church membership, nor our baptism, nor our Communions, nor any religious activity. If we rest on our goodness and personal righteousness and spend our lives serving our material needs and indulging our appetites with little, if any, concern about our relationship with Christ, then we are doomed to eternal perdition. If we have never had a heart experience of Christ, but have simply contented ourselves with keeping outward religious forms and practices, then what awaits us is "outer darkness where there is weeping and grinding of teeth."

Although the Jews had all the covenant promises from God, they ended up dying in the wilderness as outcasts. The Lord brought them miraculously out of Egyptian bondage and led them to the edge of the promised land. But they were kept out because their hearts were not right with God.

The Lord executed judgment upon His rebellious people: "So I said in my wrath, Thou shall not enter into my rest." In other words, they did not make it into the promised land flowing with milk and honey.They perished in the wilderness. (Numbers 14:32

Likewise, in the New Covenant, they who are members of God's household of faith, the Orthodox Church, are warned that they, too, can end up having the gates of Heaven closed to them, and instead be cast out into outer darkness where there is weeping and grinding of teeth.

Too many in the Orthodox Church walk in the ways of the children of Israel, who almost are in view of Heaven, their promised land, but we see that they could not enter because of disobedience (Greek, apeitheia). The land of promise is theirs legally, but not experientially, because of their imperfect obedience.

The end result is, they wander in a spiritual wilderness, never possessing their possessions. They are "children of the kingdom" who end up as "children of wrath" and God's word is crystal clear that warns us that "the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience." (Ephesians 5:6) What could possibly be a more frightful prospect than to expect to taste of God's wrath rather than Heaven's reward?

You may have been birthed by God, dear reader, when you were baptized and chrismated, but since then you could have effaced the sanctifying grace by your sins. You receive Communion possibly, but that could perhaps turn out for your greater condemnation, since you might live in the flesh, caring only for the things of the body, even engaging in illicit sexual activity.

Whatever communion you have with God is shallow and superficial. You keep the outward expressions of religion and have a head knowledge of God, but Jesus Christ is not your "first love". You pay lip service to Him. Your heart is possibly absorbed with the material things of this world, on pleasure, entertainment, making and spending money, pursuing the goals of our hedonistic society.

You have not taken up your cross, as Jesus expects of His followers. You have not died to self and followed Him with an all-consuming love. You may be one more proof that the Church is full of baptized pagans. If we are not inflamed with "first love", we betray the fact that we are not the Bride of Christ that longs for His appearance and is ready for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

It might seem as a frightful thought to you, dear reader, but when the institutional Church turns into the Great Harlot Church that will in effect betray Christ, she will have plenty of active members engaged in many activities and programs "for the support of the Church." or "for the good of the Church".

Jesus, the Divine Spouse, gave His life as an atoning sacrifice for the Bride He loves with an everlasting love. In turn, He expects a corresponding nuptial love from His Bride, and a longing for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. When we let the Holy Spirit infuse a burning love in our hearts for Jesus, our divine Bridegroom, then the door of the Wedding Chamber will be opened unto us.

Then we shall be where our union with Christ will be consummated for an eternity. It will be a place of divine glory and supreme exaltation!

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