Commentary on the Four Gospel Books
The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
G100 Parable of the Narrow Gate,
King Herod Wants to Kill the Lord Jesus
Luke 13:22-35

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All New Testament verses quoted in this article are from the English Majority Text Version, and Old Testament verses are from the King James Version, unless otherwise noted.

Luke 13:22-35

22 And He was traveling through various cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem.

23 Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?” And He said to them,

24 Strive to enter through the narrow gate, because many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

25 When once the Master of the house has risen up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and answering He will say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from.’

26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’

27 But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’

28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being cast out.

29 And they will come from the east and the west, and the north and the south, and will recline to eat in the kingdom of God.

30 And behold, there are last who shall be first, and there are first who shall be last.”

31 On that very day some Pharisees came, saying to Him, “Get out and go from here, for Herod wants to kill You.”

32 And He said to them, “Go and say to that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.’

33 Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it is not possible for a prophet to perish outside of Jerusalem.

34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, like a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!

35 See! Your house is left to you desolate; and I say to you, you shall by no means see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ “

In this lesson, we will study together the parable of the narrow door and the account of King Herod wanting to kill the Lord Jesus.

Luke 13:22-24

22 And He was traveling through various cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem.

23 Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?” And He said to them,

24 Strive to enter through the narrow gate, because many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

When the events recorded by Luke in Luke 13:22 to 18:34 took place, it is likely that the Lord Jesus, together with His disciples, had crossed the Sea of Galilee and returned to the western bank of the Jordan River. Then, they walked through the towns and villages of Samaria to go back to Jerusalem to attend the Passover of the year 27.

As usual, large crowds from various parts of the land of Canaan followed the Lord Jesus. Among the crowds, someone spoke up and asked Him whether only a few would be saved.

We do not know why that person asked the Lord Jesus such a question, especially when perhaps never before had there been anyone who preached about God, about the Heavenly Kingdom, and about salvation who drew as many followers to listen as the Lord Jesus. At times, the number of people following the Lord reached over five thousand. The question also reminds us of the event when about 600,000 Israelite men came out of Egypt, yet only two of them entered the Promised Land of Canaan (Exodus 12:37; Numbers 11:21).

The Lord Jesus did not answer the question directly but instead gave advice to the whole crowd on how to be saved.

The verb “strive” (G75) literally means to compete for a prize or to struggle against an enemy. Figuratively, it means to contend with and endure all difficulties and hardships in order to attain what one desires.

The noun “narrow gate” (G4728) (G4439) literally refers to an entrance into an area, a residence, or a city, but the entrance is not wide. The striving and the image of the “narrow gate” were used by the Lord Jesus to symbolize the condition a person must meet in order to receive salvation. Anyone who wants to enter the “narrow gate” of the Heavenly Kingdom must deny themselves—that is, give up anything that is theirs when those things go against the commandments of God.

“…If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34).

“…If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23).

Among the things that belong to oneself, there are three that are extremely important: “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16).

Although salvation is the gift of God, not by human works—as the Holy Scriptures affirm many times—yet in order to receive salvation, a person must truly repent of their sins and wholeheartedly believe in the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ. To remain in salvation, a person must faithfully live according to the Word of the Lord and obey the commandments of God.

No one can keep the commandments of God in order to be saved, but a person who has been saved is someone who would rather die than violate the commandments of God. In other words, true repentance of sin and wholehearted faith in the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ are the conditions for receiving salvation. After being saved, one must wholeheartedly obey the commandments of God to remain in salvation.

Hebrews 6:1–8; 10:26–31; and 2 Peter 2:20–22 are three passages in the Holy Scriptures that affirm the perdition of those who have accepted the salvation of God but then return to living in sin.

It was the Lord Jesus Himself who used the verbs “take away” and “spew,” and the Holy Spirit used the phrase “fall from the grace of God” to refer to those who have accepted the salvation of God but do not live a holy life according to the Word of the Lord—they will be excluded from the Heavenly Kingdom.

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me which does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch which bears fruit He prunes, so that it may bear more fruit.” (John 15:1-2).

“Therefore, since you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth.” (Revelation 3:16).

“Looking diligently lest anyone fall from the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness growing up cause trouble, and through this many be defiled.” (Hebrews 12:15).

One sorrowful reality is that many people who have known the Lord and accepted His salvation do not give up their love of money. They continue to crave wealth, pursue illusions of getting rich, fall into temptation, commit all kinds of sins, and, in the end, fall short of grace. The love of money and the desire to become rich stem from “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.”

The Word of the Lord, which has been spoken to the Church for nearly two thousand years, is never in error.

1 Timothy 6:6-10

6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.

7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that neither can we carry anything out!

8 But having food and clothing, with these things we shall be content.

9 But those desiring to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and many senseless and harmful lusts which sink men in destruction and perdition.

10 For the love of money is a root of all evils, of which some by aspiring have strayed away from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Let us examine our hearts to see whether we “love money” or “desire to be rich.” These two things are two sides of the same coin—they always go together. Anyone who has both will be plunged into destruction and eternal perdition.

Luke 13:25-27

25 When once the Master of the house has risen up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and answering He will say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from.’

26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’

27 But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’

Although salvation is given by God to mankind out of His love and mercy for humanity, the gift of God has a determined time frame. In God’s plan for mankind, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven,” as affirmed in Ecclesiastes 3:1–8.

The general time frame of salvation that God grants to mankind will end at the close of the Millennial Kingdom. The general time frame of salvation for those who are called into the Church will end on the day Christ comes to take the Church out of the world. That period has lasted about 2,000 years and is about to end at any moment. However, the individual time frame for each person varies greatly. It may span their entire lifetime, but each person’s life differs in length. Some live only a very short time, while others may live over a hundred years.

Yet, the time frame of salvation that God gives to a person does not necessarily last for their entire lifetime. Some may still be alive, but in their final days, the door of salvation has already been closed to them because they have hardened their hearts and refused to repent. God knows beforehand and knows fully the heart of each person, so according to His foreknowledge, He grants each person a different period of time to humble themselves, repent, and believe in salvation—some longer, some shorter.

There are two adverbs in the statement of the Lord Jesus that we need to pay attention to: “when” and “begin.”

“When” God shuts the door of the gate of salvation to anyone, that person will never again have the opportunity to be saved, even if they sincerely and earnestly plead. Their “beginning” of repentance to receive salvation is too late.

The statement: “I do not know you, where you are from” is a way of expressing the absence of any relationship or familiarity.

The response, “We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets,” shows that these people had knowledge of the Lord, heard His teaching, were close to Him, even ate with Him, and may have been healed or had demons cast out by Him. However, these things do not cause a person to receive salvation. The condition to receive the salvation of God is true repentance of sin and complete faith in Christ, which includes believing in His atoning death.

Today, many people regularly attend Church fellowship meetings, listen to the teaching of the Word of God, and participate in the Lord’s Supper, yet they do not repent of their sins and continue to live in sin. Their lives follow “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” Therefore, the Lord Jesus calls them “evildoers,” and He does not know them.

“To do evil” means to do anything that goes against the commandments of God. Many who claim to be God’s people do not understand that failing to keep the fourth commandment—failing to honor God’s Sabbath day—is doing evil. They do not take the time to read and meditate on the Word of God carefully to obey it but instead follow the commandments of men while rejecting the commandments of God (Matthew 15:6, 9; Mark 7:8, 9, 13–14; Titus 1:14).

Luke 13:28-29

28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being cast out.

29 And they will come from the east and the west, and the north and the south, and will recline to eat in the kingdom of God.

This statement of the Lord Jesus had also been spoken similarly by Him earlier, as recorded by Matthew in Matthew 8:11–12.

“Weeping and gnashing of teeth” is an idiom in the Scriptures that describes extreme sorrow, regret, anger, and despair. The sorrow is because one has fallen short of God’s grace and no longer enjoys His salvation. The regret is for failing to seize the opportunity to receive the salvation that the Lord had offered many times. The anger is directed at oneself for making a wrong decision and at the devil for deceiving them. The despair comes from knowing that one is eternally lost in hell.

Because the Lord Jesus was teaching the Israelites, who were proud of their lineage and boasted of being Abraham’s descendants, relying on the covenant God made with Abraham, He referred to their forefathers and their prophets.

The words spoken by the Lord Jesus are a prophecy. Many Israelites will be excluded from the Heavenly Kingdom, while many people from other nations will enter the Kingdom. The event where about 600,000 Israelite men left Egypt but only two entered the Promised Land of Canaan serves as a frightening example of God’s holiness and strictness—not only for the people of Israel but for all humanity. God’s people among the nations, who are not Israelites, need to remember the words spoken by the Holy Spirit in Romans 11:11–24 and carefully guard themselves.

Those who “will come from the east and the west, and the north and the south” are people from nations other than Israel.

“Recline to eat in the kingdom of God” literally means to sit at the banquet together with the saved Israelites, including Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Figuratively, it means to share in God’s inheritance together with the people of Israel.

Luke 13:30

30 And behold, there are last who shall be first, and there are first who shall be last.”

The last ones are both those from other nations who hear the Gospel after Israel and those who are accepted into the Church at the very end, before the Church is taken out of the world by Christ.

They will become the first, implies that they quickly grow strong in faith and increase in their understanding of the Lord and His Word because they zealously obey the Lord’s command in Joshua 1:8. They will become high-ranking rulers in the Kingdom of God.

The first ones are both the Israelites who had the privilege of receiving the Gospel first and those who believed in the Lord much earlier than many others in the Church.

They will become the last, implies that they will be those who are saved as through fire (1 Corinthians 3:15) without receiving any reward because they did not wholeheartedly live for the Lord. In fact, many even fall from grace because they return to live in sin.

In reality, some of the first remain first, like the original eleven apostles of the Lord Jesus. Some of the first become last, like Judas Iscariot. Some of the last become first, like the Apostle Paul.

Luke 13:31-32

31 On that very day some Pharisees came, saying to Him, “Get out and go from here, for Herod wants to kill You.”

32 And He said to them, “Go and say to that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.’

Among the crowds from all over who followed the Lord Jesus, there were also many Pharisees from those places who came to hear His teaching and to see the miracles He performed. Some Pharisees believed in the Lord Jesus, perhaps because they had a heart seeking the truth, like Professor Nicodemus and Councilor Joseph of the Sanhedrin. Perhaps they or their family members had been healed or delivered from demons by the Lord Jesus. Some openly invited Him into their homes and hosted Him.

We do not know whether the people who informed the Lord Jesus were believers who cared for His safety or if they were local Pharisees who did not want the arrest of the Lord Jesus to occur in their area and cause unrest among the people. The King Herod mentioned here is Herod Antipas, who beheaded John the Baptist.

The Lord Jesus asked the Pharisees who brought Him the news to deliver a message to King Herod. He called Herod a “fox” to reveal his cunning and evil nature. He wanted the Pharisees to confirm to King Herod that He cast out demons and healed diseases so that Herod would understand that He was indeed the Christ, the One who was to come to the people of Israel, according to the prophecy in the Old Testament.

The idiom “today and tomorrow” implies the amount of time needed to complete a task that is currently being done. The Lord Jesus needed to finish preaching the Gospel, teaching the Word of God, healing the sick, and casting out demons until the time allotted for these ministries was completed, according to God’s predetermined plan.

The idiom “the third day” signifies the time when one event is completed or a new event will occur. In the Old Testament, God appeared on Mount Sinai to the people of Israel on “the third day” (Exodus 19:11). The prophecy in Hosea 6:2 speaks of God spiritually resurrecting the people of Israel on “the third day” (Hosea 6:2) [1], [2], [3].

The Lord Jesus’ statement, “and the third day I shall be perfected,” implies that when the time for His preaching, healing, and casting out demons is completed, He will offer Himself as the atoning sacrifice for humanity. He is the perfect offering—without blemish or defect, pleasing to God—because He is a person who reverently trusted God and committed no sin. The phrase “I shall be perfected” also implies that He will have fulfilled the mission of the Messiah.

Luke 13:33

33 Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it is not possible for a prophet to perish outside of Jerusalem.

The Lord Jesus indicated that, starting from the present, He would continue His journey back to Jerusalem in time for His arrest, trial, and condemnation to death there. According to Judaism, prophets must be tried by the Great Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. Jesus is a prophet—the prophet of all prophets—because He is the Messiah. Therefore, He had to be tried and condemned in Jerusalem to fulfill the collective rejection of Him by the people of Israel.

In reality, Jesus was crucified outside the city gates of Jerusalem, on Golgotha Hill; however, the death sentence was pronounced within the city of Jerusalem. Thus, He was destroyed from within Jerusalem.

Luke 13:34-35

34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, like a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!

35 See! Your house is left to you desolate; and I say to you, you shall by no means see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ “

The name “Jerusalem” (G2419) means “foundation of peace” or “city of peace.” Jerusalem was chosen by God as His dwelling place on earth. Therefore, the Temple of God was built in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is also called the “Holy City” (Nehemiah 11:1) and the “City of God” (Psalm 87:3). However, Jerusalem was also the place where the Prophet Jeremiah was thrown into a cistern and mistreated, and according to tradition, the Prophet Isaiah was sawn in two during the reign of King Manasseh. The Lord Jesus Himself was repeatedly stoned by the people in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem symbolizes the people of Israel. The Lord Jesus wanted to protect and care for the people of Israel, bringing salvation to them, but they rejected Him and even condemned Him to death.

The phrase “Your house is left to you desolate” refers to the Temple of God, symbolizing the presence of God among the people of Israel. The Temple of God was destroyed by the Roman soldiers in the year 70 and has not been rebuilt since.

Currently, private organizations have united to procure all the materials and equipment needed to rebuild the Temple. When the time for reconstruction comes, it is likely that the building will be completed within six months to one year. All the instruments used in the Temple have been prepared; even the priests and Levites serving in the Temple have already been trained. Even the red heifer required for the purification sacrifice is available.

The Temple of God in Jerusalem must be rebuilt either before the Great Tribulation or within the first three and a half years of the Great Tribulation. Only then, in the middle of the Great Tribulation, can the Antichrist enter and sit in the Temple, claiming to be God, fulfilling the prophecy in the Scriptures. If the Temple of God is rebuilt before the Great Tribulation, it is very likely that the Church will witness this before being taken up by the Lord Jesus out of the world.

In the middle of the Great Tribulation, when the people of Israel recognize the Antichrist as the false Christ and believe in the Lord Jesus as the true Christ, God will bring them to take refuge in the wilderness east of the Jordan River to escape the persecution of the Antichrist. Three and a half years later, they will see Him descend with the Church on the Mount of Olives. At that time, they will together shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” Hosanna means: “Please save.”

We conclude this lesson here.

May the Holy Spirit guide us into all the truths of God’s Word (John 16:13). May the Word of God sanctify us (John 17:17). May the Faithful *God of Peace Himself sanctify our spirit, soul, and body entirely, without blame (1 Thessalonians 5:23), at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Beloved Savior. Amen!

Timothy Christian Huynh
Priscilla Christian Huynh
02/22/2025

Notes:

[1] https://preachingfromthebible.net/063-hosea-61-2-and-the-end-of-the-world/

[2] https://preachingfromthebible.net/065-hosea-61-2-and-the-end-of-the-world-part-2/

[3] https://preachingfromthebible.net/067-the-end-of-the-world-and-the-year-2027/

About Using “*God”, “the God” and “holy spirit”

Wherever the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts of the Bible use a definite article with a noun to denote GOD, we translate it into English as *God or “the God” to refer to God the Father. We understand that “God,” without a definite article, was used as a collective noun for all and any of the three Persons of the Godhead. And “God,” with a definite article, was used to refer to God the Father.

In the Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, the term “holy spirit” (πνευματι αγιω) without the definite article “the” (το) is used to denote the power of God, which is given by God the Holy Spirit. “The Holy Spirit” (το πνευματι το αγιω) is God, and “holy spirit” (πνευματι αγιω) is the power that comes from God.