Luke 13:25

Luk_13:25-30

When once the Master of the house hath risen up

False dependence on Church privileges

In the eyes of Him who seeth not as man seeth, who readeth the heart and weigheth actions in the balances of the sanctuary, the worker of iniquity is not only the man who disregards religion and commits open wickedness; but also he who, if he avoid certain sins, avoids them not because he fears God or is constrained by Christs love, and who, if motives were analyzed, would be found to have regard to the good opinion of the world, rather than to the will and the glory of Him who called him into being.

You must search your hearts. You must see whether God be first in your hearts; whether your great fear be the fear of offending Him--your great desire, the desire of pleasing Him; whether old things have passed away, and new things--new tendencies, new upon outward privileges. The kingdom of God is within you. I do not depreciate the means of grace. The workers of iniquity may be those who delight in sermons and never miss a sacrament. This is not my assertion; I draw no picture from imagination; I ask you not to conjecture a case. But I may suppose the judgment past; the Son of Man hath appeared in the clouds of the heavens; He hath gathered to Himself a great company from the east and west, from the north and South; yea, with a multitude which no man can number, out of every people and tribe and tongue, He hath sat down to the banquet, to which, from the beginning, He had invited our race. And there are numbers excluded: some speechless, as though conscience-stricken, forced to own to themselves the justice of their exclusion. But there are others who press on with a bold front, as though they believed that the door had been closed by mistake, and would be opened to them so soon as they knocked. Who are these? Are these the open despisers of religion--the extortionate, the adulterer, the profane, the neglecter of ordinances, the scorner of mysteries, the scoffer at righteousness? Nay, not so. I never read of such as knocking for admission. Such may be of those who cry passionately to the rocks and to the hills to cover them; but not, so far as we are told, of those who expect entrance when the door has been closed. These are rather persons who lived in the profession of Christianity; whom the Sabbath saw regular in attendance on the ordinances of the Church; of whom ministers were hopeful, because they always found them using the means of grace; who, nevertheless, were uncircumcised at heart, and had not given themselves up for a habitation of God through the Spirit. Yes, ye diligent hearers, ye constant communicants l take ye this on the authority of the Judge Himself; ponder this when ye go hence; be heedful that ye rest not satisfied with your state if ye have no better evidence than is thus to prove worthless at the last. The parties who shall knock, and who shall then be rejected as workers of iniquity, shall be those who can say--and that too without being contradicted--We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets. (H. Melvill, B. D.)

Almost saved, yet rejected

There are multitudes who will go a long way towards heaven and then stop short. They will give up everything but one thing for Christ, and therefore are they near heaven; but they keep that one, and therefore must they be excluded at the last. And it will be their having been so near which shall give such terror and fearfulness to the final exclusion. Almost believers upon earth, they are almost guests at the marriage-supper above. Oh! that voice--the known voice of the Redeemer--the voice which had often been heard in the proclamations of the gospel--how thrillingly will it come from the midst of the rejoicing assembly! how terrible will be the utterance, I know you not, whence ye are I Any voice rather than that voice. It will remind the almost Christian of what had been once in his power. His very recognition of the voice will so force on him the conviction that he might have made a covenant with Christ, that perhaps the bitterest thing of all in his banishment from heaven will be that the sentence proceeds from such lips. He could bear it better if an angel or an archangel syllabled the decree--though the voice might be awful as that of many waters when the fierce storm has roused them. But the voice which he had been wont to hear in the sanctuary, the voice which had spoken to him of pardon, the voice which even from the Cross had breathed the touching words, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do --the voice which, as he was used to think, had addressed him in friendship, and promised him immortality--to hear this voice, too well remembered, bidding him depart when he knocks for admission--terror of terrors! keenest, hardest thing of all! What shall torment a man in hell like the consciousness that he had been almost in heaven? Thus it is to be. The men who have eaten and drunk in Christs presence are to go to the very gate, to see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob admitted to the banquet, to distinguish the voice of the Redeemer as answer is made to them from the celestial hall, and then they are themselves to go away into outer darkness! Well may our Lord add, as He does, There shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. I would that this might warn you; that this might startle you. If there are any of you who are resting on outward duties and privileges, and have not given your hearts to the Lord, oh! do not shrink from self-examination; be not afraid to know the worst. The Master of the house hath not yet risen up and shut to the door.

You may still secure for yourselves admission at the last. (H. Melvill, B. D. )

Depart from Me

Exile from God

This world basks in the sunshine of Deity, and it scarcely knows the genial summer which it thereby enjoys. We would attempt to measure the extent of the blessing by considering the consequences of its withdrawal. When the solemn words, Depart from Me, shall have died away upon the ears of the banished multitudes, in what state of being will they find themselves? What sort of existence will stretch out before them? Absence from God, this is their sentence. We would inquire into what that sentence carries with it. We may sometimes have fancied that the wicked will hurry from the Divine presence with a feeling of relief in escaping from the Omniscient eye. Such is the traditional representation, in painting, of the flight of the condemned from the face of the Judge; yet more true perhaps would be that which should depict them as standing without power of motion, struck and chilled to the very heart at the doom, the miserable consequences of which may then just begin to be foreboded, that they should henceforth see Him no more. Let us, then, endeavour to deduce some of these consequences, and hence argue back to the blessings which we now enjoy and so little appreciate.

I. THERE IS A SENSE IN WHICH GOD CANNOT BE SAID TO BE ABSENT FROM ANY PART OF HIS DOMINIONS. A being may be termed present in a place either by inclusion of person or by manifestation of his face. Now as God cannot be confined personally in any single locality, so therefore must He be present personally everywhere; there can be no spot from which He is essentially shut out. This is what is expressed by the Psalmist, If I ascend up into heaven Thou art there; if I go down to hell Thou art there also. He speaks, you observe, of a presence of God even in hell. Yet does the text make the doom of the impenitent a doom of exile from God. Depart from Me!: what a banishment is this I It tells of a land where the heavens are as brass, and the earth as iron; where the prospect is bound in on every side by adamantine rocks, which allow no sight of better things beyond, no voices from holier shores to penetrate; where, never for one single moment, may the spirits of the inhabitants escape beyond the barriers of what they see and touch and hear, to the imagination of beings more pure and gentle and powerful than themselves; where the idea of good can never arise; but within and without, above and around, evil continually shall be the one overwhelming vision. Depart from Me! Who can picture the loneliness and desolation of the soul thus cut off from God? We have heard how prolonged solitary confinement issues in the overthrow of reason, in the prostration of all mental and bodily powers. But if the absence of man, and the voice of man, and the companion ship of man, be so disastrous to his fellow-man, who shall measure the consequences of the entire withdrawal of God from His creature, who delineate the terrific desolation of that prison-house where God is not?

II. We have reasoned that the absence of God from the future world of the lost will be a source of infinite sorrow, as being the immediate destruction of religion; AND TO WITHDRAW RELIGION FROM A WORLD IS TO WITHDRAW A MAIN ELEMENT OF HAPPINESS. We would add that in departing from God we shall leave behind all that is beautiful in art or ennobling in knowledge. Now it is very observable in the history of mankind how the arts and sciences have been connected in their origin and growth with religion. Astronomy was early mixed up with the worship of the sun and stars. The colossal remains of ancient days are, in almost all cases, those of fabrics designed for purposes of religion. Similarly, since the Incarnation of Christ, it has been the Church of Christ which has been the mother and fosterer of learning. Poetry, music, sculpture, painting, architecture, have been inspired in their loftiest efforts by religion. Again, the history of civilization is the history of Christianity; where ever true religion prevails, wherever the Church of Christ is planted, there do you find human life in its most secure and refined state. We owe whatever is noble in literature, or beautiful in painting, or sublime in science, not to the natural development of our secret powers unassisted by Divine grace, but all these things are the result of a working of the Spirit of God in the spirit of man. It is not unaided human intellect which has produced those glorious works which are the heirlooms of the world, but human intellect, warmed, quickened, supported--in a word, inspired by the great God Himself. Thus God is to mans mind what the sun is to the physical world. It is the bright shining of the sun which draws out the vegetation of the ground, which ripens the fruit, and paints the flower. The more potent the rays of the sun, as in tropical climates, the more gigantic are the products of the soil, the more luscious the fruit, the more gorgeous the plumage. Even so with the world of mind. The more clear the vision of God, the more exalted is the development of the creature. Hence the angels are more excellent than man, because they see more of God. Hence the purer our religion, the less clouded our knowledge of God, the more rapid will be the growth of our own mental powers. It is the presence of God which educates the soul of man, ennobles its conceptions, enlightens its understanding, inflames its imagination, directs its judgment. You may call it the religious sentiment. But what is a religious feeling but the presence of God felt sensibly in the depths of our nature? And, if so, you will at once perceive another dread result of mans banishment from God. To command the wicked to depart from God is to command all the powers of mans mind to stand still for ever. Away from God men will be able neither to think or to do ought that is excellent or attractive. To send him away from God is to freeze all the currents of mans soul. No goodly invention, no sound of melody, no line of beauty can ever be known in that world where God is not. Who has not felt how a cloud passing athwart the sun upon a summer day takes all the loveliness from the landscape, all radiance from the sky, all sparkling from the waters, all balm from the air, and causes a chill to run through the limbs, which a moment before exulted in the sensation of life? And even such a coldness is that which will pervade the whole moral being of those from whose world God shall in His wrath withdraw Himself. Conclusion: The doctrine which we would enforce is, that religion is to be looked at and represented as a joy and solace, not as a yoke of bondage. Our great fault is that we do not sufficiently strive to render our most holy faith attractive. Surely it has in it the capacity to vanquish opposition by its very sympathies with our common requirement. Let us then, one and all, cast away the idea of religion as a yoke, a bondage, a work, and take it to ourselves as (what God intended it) a foretaste of the pleasures at His own right hand. (Bishop Woodford.)

The sinner in presence of the judgment

I. THE SINNER WILL BE ENCOMPASSED BY THE MULTITUDE OF HIS SINS. If, during this earthly life, an evil conscience is the most cruel tormentor, a two-edged sword for the sinner, he will feel its stings the most--

1. At his departure from this life.

(I) All self-delusions will vanish when the fragile body breaks down, the world with its possessions disappears, and time will be no more.

(2) All terrors attack the soul of the sinner--his sinful past, his helpless present, and an inevitable and hopeless eternity.

2. At the approach of judgment, when the sinners conscience will be--

(1) Its own witness, because in the presence of Divine omniscience it will understand how useless it is to tell a false hood, or to bring forth excuses, and how utterly impossible to conceal anything.

(2) Its own accuser, as it will be obliged to make a sincere self-accusation concerning many faults and heinous crimes which were concealed in life.

(3) Its own judge, as it will condemn the folly of its aberrations, the vanity of worldly attachment, the perversity of delaying conversion, &c., and it will itself approve the sentence pronounced by God.

II. THE SINNER WILL BE STRAITENED BY THE SEVERITY OF JUDGMENT.

1. Jesus Christ, to whom the Father has committed all judgment, will, as God, avenge the insulted Divine dignity because of contempt and ingratitude, and His grieved humanity, because the sinner refused to give alms, and committed so many unjust actions against his neighbour.

2. As Man. He who was before the mild Mediator and Intercessor in behalf of the sinner will be now the inexorable Judge.

3. As Redeemer He will demand an account, because the sinner has scorned His precious blood, and has slighted the graces offered to him; and because he has been the cause of the ruin of other souls.

4. As Model of a virtuous life, He will convict and confound the sinner.

III. THE SINNER WILL RE UTTERLY CONFOUNDED BY THE SENTENCE PRONOUNCED AGAINST HIM.

1. This sentence will be as dreadful as hell itself.

(1) Deprived for ever of the Beatific Vision.

(2) Condemned the creature by its Creator, man by his God, the Christian by his Redeemer.

(3) Cursed--the soul, the body, all the senses and faculties.

2. This sentence will be perfectly just, for the punishment will be--

(1) Proportionate to the multitude of sins, and to the wickedness, knowledge, and position of the sinner.

(2) The portion of the infidel and reprobate sinner only, who, as he was not willing to believe and repent in time, ought to suffer in eternity.

3. The sentence is irrevocable.

4. It will be forthwith executed. (De la Rue.)

The disappointments which will take place at the day of judgment

I. SOME OF THE HUMAN RACE WILL BE SHUT OUT OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD WHO HAVE CONFIDENTLY EXPECTED ADMISSION.

1. Of this number will be all those who, leave the world relying upon their own righteousness.

2. Of this number are all those persons who place their reliance on external religious services.

3. Of the same number is the enthusiast. Enthusiasm is a reliance for religious knowledge, dispositions, and duties on immediate and supernatural communications from God. No such communications exist in fact. Those which are mistaken for them are only the suggestions of a wild and heated imagination.

4. Of the same number also are those persons who rely upon a decent and amiable behaviour.

5. Of the same number also are they who rely upon what are called the moral duties of life.

6. Another class of men who will be exceedingly disappointed hereafter, will consist of those who rely on what may be called a religious character.

7. Persons who believe themselves to be religious because others believe them to be of this character constitute another class of those who will experience this dreadful disappointment.

8. Another class of these persons is composed of those who place their religion in the knowledge, and not in the obedience of Divine truth.

9. Another class of the same persons is formed of those who place their reliance upon their zeal. It is good, saith the Apostle Paul, to be zealously affected always in a good thing (Gal_4:18). A cold, stupid, heartless professor of religion, absorbed in the concerns of this world, gives little evidence that his profession is sincere; and, if he be a Christian, is a disgrace to the name, and a spot upon the character of religion. Yet there is a zeal which is not according to knowledge.

10. Another class of the persons under consideration is formed of those who place their hope in a faith which is without works.

II. OTHER PERSONS, WHOM THESE EXPECTED TO SEE SHUT OUT, WILL BE ACCEPTED.

1. Of this number there will be a multitude of such as, in this world, have lived in humble and despised circumstances.

2. In this number will be found great multitudes who have been our own friends, companions, and equals in the present world.

3. In this number will be included also a multitude of persons who, in this world, appear to be religious, and are, on that account, despised by others.

4. Of this number also will be found those whose acknowledged characters and opinions have, in many respects, been different from ours.

III. THAT THE DISTRESS OCCASIONED BY THIS DISAPPOINTMENT WILL BE VERY GREAT. Weeping and gnashing of teeth are glowing images of extreme anguish; and this anguish is, by our Saviour, attributed to the twofold disappointment mentioned in the text. What less can be believed from the nature of the subject? The disappointment will follow strong and high-raised expectations, and, in many instances, undoubting confidence. It will be a final disappointment. It will be a disappointment of every object for which we can hope, of every good which we are capable of enjoying. Concluding remarks: From these solemn and affecting considerations we can hardly fail to derive many, and those most important, practical lessons.

1. We are strongly urged by them to the most watchful care in determining what the genuine religion required by the gospel is.

2. With these solemn considerations in view, let me also urge every member of this assembly to examine the ground of his own hope of salvation.

3. These considerations strongly urge us to entertain very humble apprehensions of our own character.

4. These considerations powerfully compel us to exercise charitable thoughts towards others. (T. Dwight, D. D.)

The doom of self-deceivers

I. THE CHARACTERS SPOKEN OF. SELF-DECEIVERS.

II. THEIR CONDITION. Thrust out of the kingdom.

III. THE SIGHT THEY WILT, WITNESS. The joy of the redeemed.

IV. THE SORROW WITH WHICH THEY WILL BE OVERWHELMED, Weeping and gnashing of teeth. (A. F. Barfield.)

Thrust out of the kingdom of heaven

One day, says a lady, speaking of her early years, when I was returning home, I saw my dear mother sitting on a bank in the orchard weeping bitterly. I thought she was weeping on account of my fathers death. I went to her, and asked her why she wept so? Her answer was, I may well weep to see my children taking the kingdom of heaven by violence; while I myself shall be shut out. As well as I was able I pointed her to the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world; from that time the work of grace in her soul began.

The heathen entering the kingdom of God

An Indian chief who had aided in the missionary work in his own tribe, the Ojibwa tribe, related this incident:--An Indian boy of his tribe was taught to read, and presented with a New Testament, of which he became very fond. From that he learned to love the Saviour of whom he read such wonderful things in that wonderful book, and became a devout and sincere Christian. His chief passed many an hour with him in religious conversation. One day the boy sent for the chief who had instructed him, to come over to his fathers cabin, for he was sick. On going there he found him in bed, suffering under a burning fever. Taking out from under his blanket his New Testament, which he had loved to read, he gave it to the chief and said: Here, I want you to take this, and when they bury me, please put this under my head. Why, asked the chief, do you wish it put there? The dying lad replied: I want it there, so that as I rise in the resurrection I can give it to Jesus as I see Him come. Not long after the young Christian spirit left the fevered body, and the cabin in the wilderness, for a palace on the plains of glory. So dies many a missionary convert just learning the rudiments of the gospel.

There are last which shall be first.

Reversings

I. SOME WHO ARE FIRST IN NATURAL GIFTS ARE LAST IN SPIRITUAL GIFTS.

II. SOME WHO ARE FIRST IN OPPORTUNITY ARE LAST IN IMPROVEMENT.

III. SOME WHO ARE FIRST TO START IN THE RACE ARE LAST AT THE GOAL.

IV. SOME WHO ARE FIRST IN PRIVILEGE AT ONE TIME ARE LAST IN IT AT ANOTHER,

1. The fall of the race itself is a case in point.

2. The casting away of the Jews and the calling of the Gentiles is another case.

3. The extinction of the Christian Church in many Eastern lands is a fact of the same kind.

Concluding remarks:

1. These spiritual transpositions are the exception, not the rule. Other things being equal, the first will remain first. First in means, first in results; first in asking, first in receiving; first in faith, first in righteousness; first in self-culture, first in self-conquest; first in well-doing, first in well-being. When it is otherwise, something is wrong. The first place is not lost till it is abused.

2. Whilst this action of God is sovereign, it is never arbitrary. Men reap what they sow, and as they sow. (J. E. Henry,M. A.)

Lessons

1. Let us mark the authority of this passage in favour of strictness in religion. There is, indeed a spurious strictness about trifles which neglects the weightier matters of the law, and which is worthless; but there is a proper and commendable strictness in adhering faithfully to all the duties of religion, which is required by the command to enter in by the strait gate. Let who may call it preciseness, but let us be steady to our principles and to our duty.

2. Let us neither over-rate nor under-rate the difficulties which lie in our way to heaven. But let us view them exactly as they are, that we may neither be inactive nor disheartened.

3. Let us remember, that whatever these difficulties may be, they must be overcome, else we are undone. Necessity will make the sluggard toil, and the coward fight; but what necessity is equal to this?

4. Let us carefully improve the present season. If we knock now, it shall be opened unto us; but we shall knock too late after the door is finally shut.

5. Let us not trust in Church privileges. Let us not say, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we; but let us so improve the means of grace here, that we may be prepared for glory hereafter.

6. Let us realize to our minds the separation which will take place when men shall either be admitted into heaven, or cast off for ever; and, in doing so, let us follow the one party in the path of faith and holiness to glory; and let us sedulously avoid the course of the other, saying, each of us, O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united.

7. As we are among the very first in point of privileges, let us not be the last in point of improvement. Much having been given to us, much will be required of us.

8. Finally, while we give ourselves diligently to the business o| salvation, let us look for success in the way of dependence on Divine grace implored by prayer. This alone can enable us to overcome the difficulties which lie in our way; and this will enable us to do so effectually. (James Foote, M. A.)

The reversal of ordinary judgments

Probably all thoughtful and religious people have often been disgusted at the readiness of the unthinking to pass judgment on their fellow-men, and to assign them their due praise or blame. And thoughtful spirits have longed for real justice, and have consoled themselves by thinking of that great reversal of human judgments which assuredly awaits us when we shall stand before the judgment-scat of the All-seeing and All-just. In order to bring home forcibly to our minds the full conviction that God will judge His creatures hereafter far differently from the way in which we commonly judge them now, it may be well for us to consider a few plain facts bearing on the case, facts which make it quite inevitable that God should set aside our hasty and ill-considered verdicts concerning good and bad people.

1. We forget that the sources or roots of holiness and of sin are often the same in great measure. Vices are often virtues run to seed. Prudence in its old age often turns into miserliness. Virtues, by their exuberant and luxuriant growth, men dig their own graves. Be not righteous over-much: why shouldest thou destroy thyself? seems often a very needful warning. And it very commonly happens that decayed virtues appear worse than born vices. Corruptio optimi est pessimum. For instance, scarcely any misanthropy is in a way so savage as that of disappointed faith in mankind.

Misanthropy, if it be chiefly discontent with the actual condition of men, and hopeless yearning for their improvement, is not altogether far from the kingdom of God. As it surveys the meanness and the paltriness of mankind, it may well exclaim in the language of Jesus, My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken us? In general it is perfectly plain that the sources of sanctity and sinfulness are often in great measure the same. This is the grain of truth in the common saying, The greater the sinner, the greater the saint. Force of character tells in either direction. A very vivid nature is the source of both good and evil. Depth of feeling gives a man a great tendency to go wrong in this bewildering world, and also a great recuperative power when he has gone wrong. At the final judgment we can well understand that there must be a great reversal of ordinary human judgments. God will look to the roots of character in us; and we shall then see that the foundations of heroic virtues have been laid is many a forlorn soul which we thought overpowered and slain by evil in this life. And perhaps they will rank higher in the celestial kingdom, who have thus in grief and shame laid the foundations of a glorious temple of God, than those who have, with but little trouble, built for God a poor, common, little meeting-house of decent respectability. Many that are first shall be last, and the last first. Perhaps the truest of the elect may be saved the last in point of time, the last to leave the wrecked ship of a storm-beaten humanity.

2. Further, we must remember that some sins which from an external point of view seem equally great, are in reality very different in their importance and significance. Of some sins we may say that they express the real and true nature of the man committing them. He is, as it were, terns in illis, wrapped up in them. They are the outcome of his truest and most permanent self; whereas, in other cases, like that of David, sins often seem quite transient phenomena, as it were eclipses of a mans real nature, hardly so much a mans own doing as that of some alien or hostile spirit which has seized him; instances of demoniacal possession, and not of natural or innate wickedness. Such assuredly was the sin of the minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, in Hawthornes Scarlet Letter. Such sinful actions form an exception to the general rule; they do not help to form a persistent habit of sinning. On the contrary, they are like the exacerbations and paroxysms which often precede recovery in the case of bodily maladies; they are the work of the evil spirit tearing the soul with especial fury just before it is cast out. Thus it sometimes happens that a mans whole after life is the better for a fall, which has shown him the hatefulness of sin, and also his own weakness.

3. Again, sins which admit of high aspirations are in reality far less dangerous than less gross Pharisaic sins, which are not clearly recognized as sins, and which in consequence do not seem to call for repentance. Publicans and harlots are more likely to repent and change than those Pharisees whose sins are so intensely respectable that they seem almost virtues. Baptized or consecrated selfishness is the greatest hindrance to true goodness.

4. Again, in trying to forecast the future judgment of God, we must take account of the terrible mystery of inherited evil tendencies--tendencies which are often much increased by bad education. Many people are born blind spiritually, because their parents have sinned. Just as Nature often produces bodily abortions, so no doubt does it often produce spiritual abortions. There are myriads of hapless souls which never had any real probation at all in this life.

5. Lastly, in the case of the more strictly religious virtues our judgments are often glaringly false--e.g., concerning reverence and the merits of faith. Much that passes for reverence is merely irreligious indifference. Men do not wish to be troubled by religion in their daily life, so they erect for it a shrine far remote from all the feelings and actions of ordinary life. And this banishment of their Creator they call reverence for Him. To talk of God as if He were an unmeaning abstraction is often considered reverent; to talk of God as if He were our Father, our Guide, and our unfailing Friend, is often considered irreverent. Moreover, some men are so entirely reverent in heart, so utterly filled with an abiding sense of the reality of religion, that they are comparatively careless of their manner. Pierced through and through by a sense of Gods presence, it never strikes such men that they need prove their reverence. And so reverence itself sometimes causes apparent irreverence. Probably Elijah would be reproved for irreverence if he were to worship in a ritualistic church; for the true altar of the Eternal was deep down in the prophets awe-struck heart, and he would probably care but little for any external altar. Again, we err greatly in our ordinary judgments of doubters in religion. Doubt is often a really hopeful sign, just as pain of body is often a sign that paralysis is passing away. Doubt is often only a sort of moulting in the spiritual world, the moulting of the soaring eagle wings of faith. Hence it often has a very real value. (A. H. Craufurd, M. A.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 13:25-27. When once the master of the house is risen up — Christ is the master of the house, that will take cognizance of the character and conduct of all that belong to it, or occasionally have a place in it. It now seems as if he left things at large, and made no distinction between his faithful servants and those who falsely pretend to be such. But the time is coming when he will rise up and shut to the door — Namely, a door of distinction and separation between hypocrites and true believers; between formalists, who have only a name to live, and such as are truly alive to God. Now in the temple of the church there are carnal professors, who worship in the outer court, and spiritual worshippers, who worship within the veil; between these the door is now open, and they meet promiscuously in the same external performances; but when the master of the house is risen up, the door will be shut between them, and those who are in the outer court shall be kept out, and remain excluded for ever. Alas! how many that were very confident they should be saved, will be rejected in the day of trial! And ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door — Then, neither asking, nor seeking, nor knocking, nay, nor agonizing, will avail any thing. Let us now, therefore, strive and agonize, by faith, prayer, holiness, patience. Observe, reader, many are ruined by an ill-grounded hope of heaven, which they never once distrusted or called in question; and they conclude their state as good, because they never doubted the goodness of it. They call Christ, Lord, as if they were his servants; nay, in token of their confidence and importunity, they double the expression, Lord, Lord; and are now desirous to enter in by that door which they formerly slighted, and would now gladly have a place among those serious Christians whom they formerly despised! And he shall answer and say, I know you not, &c. — I know my sheep, and am known of mine; but I know not you; you do not belong to my family; you are neither my servants nor my subjects; I have neither employed nor governed you. Alas! how new, how late, how lasting will be the sense which they will now have of their misery! Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, &c. — Over and above the privileges which you have enjoyed by the Mosaic dispensation, you shall plead, on that occasion, the peculiar favour which I showed you in the days of my flesh, by exercising my ministry among you, and by conversing familiarly with you. But he shall say, &c. — He will persist in disowning you, whatever acquaintance with him you may pretend to; declaring again, I know you not whence ye are — All the former relations to which you refer, are, as it were, blotted from my remembrance, since your hearts were still insincere, or unchanged, and your lives unsuitable to your fair professions; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity — For none like you can ever be admitted here. In the character which he here gives them, we have the reason of their doom: they were, and continued to be, workers of iniquity, and under a pretence of piety, persisted, though perhaps secretly, in the practice of sin.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13:25 When the master of the house has locked the door: At a banquet, the master of the household locked the door after the invited guests had arrived. • I don’t know you: In Scripture, knowing often means being chosen by God for a special relationship (Isa 63:16; Jer 1:5; Amos 3:2). The people of Israel were God’s chosen people who had descended from Abraham (where you come from), but those who failed to respond to the invitation did not have a relationship with God. The same can be said of all who fail to respond to the Good News of the Kingdom.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk 13:25. Ἀφʼ οὗ, from the time that once [when once]) This being abruptly subjoined, has great force. The Apodosis is in τότε, then, in Luk 13:26: nor is the employment of the Indicative ἐρεῖ, shall say, an objection to this view of the construction. Comp. note on Mar 3:27.—ἐγέρθῃ, shall have risen up) from the banquet (supper) in order to shut the door. For He is not speaking concerning His advent: for at the Advent it is not the Lord that opens to the servants, but it is the servants who open unto their Lord: ch. Luk 12:36.—ἀποκλείσῃ) shall have shut, against strangers alien to Him. Now, now is the time for striving in the [good] contest.—τὴν θύραν, the door) What seems to those standing outside to be a gate, is a door to those who are within, as in a house (home).[131]—ΚΑῚ ἌΡΞΗΣΘΕ, and ye shall have begun) This too depends on ἀφʼ οὗ, from the time that once; for the ζητήσουσιν, shall seek, is handled (treated of) in Luk 13:26; and the οὐκ ἰσχύσουσιν, shall not be able, is handled (treated of) in Luk 13:27. Such persons had never thought so before. O how new [implied in τότε ἄρξεσθε] shall be their sense of misery then first realized, and how late, and how long-continuing! It is when his opportunity has passed by, that man begins to wish: Num 14:40. [The Israelites began thus to feel only when doomed to forty years wandering, whereas, had they believed in time, they would have entered the promised land at once: Too late “they rose up early, etc., and said, Lo we be here and will go up,” etc.]—ΚΡΟΎΕΙΝ ΤῊΝ ΘΎΡΑΝ, to knock at the door) which was now not merely στενὴ, as before, Luk 13:24, but by this time closed and shut to (ἀποκλείσῃ, Luk 13:25).—ΠΌΘΕΝ, whence) Herein is implied the point of view in which He refuses to know them. They are recognised by Him, in their character as workers of iniquity.

[131] Beng. thus reads, with Rec. Text, πύλης in Luk 13:24; and this reading is supported by Abc Vulg. (‘portam’), d (‘januam’). But θύρας, in Luk 13:24, is the reading of BDL, Origen 3,804a, who adds ὅτι ὀλίγοι εὑρίσκουσιν αὐτὴν (evidently inserted from the parallel, Mat 7:13, from which probably the πύλης also, in Luk 13:24, has come).—ED. and TRANSL.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk_13:25-27.[163] If you are excluded from the kingdom of Messiah, you shall then in vain urge your external connection with me! Πλάττει γὰρ οἰκοδεσπότην τινὰ καθήμενον κ. ὐποδεχόμενον (at the repast, Luk_13:29) τοὺς φίλους αὐτοῦ (rather his family; see subsequently on πόθεν), εἶτα ἐγειρόμενον κ. ἀποκλείοντα τὴν θύραν τοῦ οἴκου αὐτοῦ κ. μὴ συγχωροῦντα τοῖς ἄλλοις εἰσελθεῖν, Euthymius Zigabenus. The construction is such that the apodosis begins with τότε, Luk_13:26 (Bengel, Bornemann), and continues down to ἀδικίας, Luk_13:27, in accordance with which the punctuation should be adjusted. The apodosis does not begin as early as καὶ ἀποκριθείς, Luk_13:25 (the usual mode of punctuation), so that with Luk_13:26 a new sentence would begin; for the former καί, which would not be a sign of the apodosis (de Wette), but would mean also, would be superfluous and confusing, whereas τότε presents itself, according to a usage known to every one (Luk_5:35, Luk_21:20, and elsewhere), of itself, and according to the meaning, as the division of the sentence. It is according to the meaning, for thus the apodosis brings out the principal point, namely, the urging of the relation of external connection and (observe only the continuation of the apodosis through Luk_13:27) its fruitlessness. Lachmann (following Beza) connects ἀφʼ οὖ … ἄνοιξον ἡμῖν (after which he places a full stop) with καὶ οὐκ ἰσχύσουσιν, Luk_13:24. Schegg follows him. But opposed to this is the second person ἄρξησθε, which is not in accordance with ἰσχύσουσιν, but carries forward the address that began with ἀγωνίζεσθε. Ewald conceives the apodosis as beginning as early as καὶ ἄρξησθε, Luk_13:25, but in such a manner that this apodosis is transformed into a second protasis. The harshness of this supposition is increased still more by the fact that if we read ἄρξησθε, Luk_13:26, the force of the protasis must come up anew with the repetition of the sound.[164]

καὶ ἄρξησθε] can only arbitrarily be limited to κρούειν, as though it ran ἄρξ. ἔξω ἑστῶτες κρούειν (Fritzsche, ad Matth. p. 541). It refers to both the infinitives. The people have begun the persistent standing there and knocking, in respect of which they say: Lord, open to us; then the master of the house answers that he knows them not (Mat_25:12), etc.; next, they begin to say something else, to wit, their ἐφάγομεν κ.τ.λ. Thus there appears in ἄρξησθε and ἄρξεσθε, Luk_13:26, a very vivid representation of their several fruitless attempts.

ΚΑῚ ἈΠΟΚΡ. ἘΡΕῖ ὙΜ] a graphic transition to the future: after that … ye shall have begun … and he shall say. At the same time, however, it is a departure from the regular construction,[165] as though ἄν had not gone before (Klotz, ad Devar. p. 142).

οὐκ οἶδα ὑμᾶς πόθεν ἐστέ] Comp. Joh_7:27; Winer, p. 551 [E. T. 781].

ΠΌΘΕΝ] i.e. of what family (see on Joh_7:27); ye are not members of my house, but of another that is unknown to me.

Luk_13:26 f. ἐνώπιόν σου] before thine eyes, as thy guests, but corresponding in a more lively manner to the expression of the master of the house than the mere μετά σου.

ἐν ταῖς πλατ. ἡμ. ἐδίδαξ.] A divergence from the person describing to the person described, which occurs in Luk_13:27 in ἈΠΌΣΤΗΤΕ … ἈΔΙΚΊΑς,[166] and at Luk_13:28 f. Bengel aptly says on Luk_13:27 : Iterantur eadem verba; stat sententia; sed iterantur cum emphasi. For the rest, comp. on Mat_7:22 f. According to the tendency-critics, the doers of iniquity in Matthew must be Pauline-Christians, but in Luke Jewish-Christians; see Hilgenfeld, Krit. Unters. p. 184 f., Evang. p. 196, Zeitschr. 1865, p. 192. What crafty turns the evangelists have got credit for! Antinomians (Weizsäcker) are not meant at all, but immoral adherents.

[163] Down to ver. 29 we have a series of reminiscences of very varied discourses linked together in Lukes source of the journey, which are found in several portions of Matthew taken from the Logia.

[164] This reading, indeed, has in its favour A D K L M T5 X Γ Δ Π א and many min., but it is a mechanical repetition of the subjunctive from ver. 25. Yet it is now adopted by Tischendorf [Tisch. 8 has ἄρξεσθε].

[165] On the question discussed in so many ways whether in the classical writers (except Homer) ἄν stands with the future (Brunck, Heindorf, Hermann, Hartung, Stallbaum, Reisig, Kühner, Krüger, and many others) or not, see especially Hermann, de part, ἄν, p. 30 ff.; Hartung, Partikell. II. p. 282 ff. (both in favour of it); and Klotz, ad Devar. p. 118 ff. (against it).

[166] On ἐργάτης, a doer of good or evil (so only in this place in the New Testament), comp. Xen. Mem. ii. 1. 27: τῶν καλῶν καὶ σεμνῶν ἐργάτην; 1Ma_3:6.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 13:25-27 . Here begins a new parable and a new sentence, though some (Beza, Lachmann, W. and H [115] ) connect with what goes before, putting a comma after ἰσχύσουσιν . Against this is not only the change from the third person to the second ( ἄρξησθε ), but the fact that the cause of exclusion is different: not the narrowness of the door, but coming too late . The case put now is that of the master of a house who is giving an entertainment. He waits for a certain time to receive his guests. At length, deeming that all are, or ought to be, present, he rises and shuts the door, after which no one can be admitted. Some, however, come later, knock at the door, and are refused admission. The moral of this parable is distinct; of the former parable it was: be in earnest; of this it is: be not too late. ἑστάναι καὶ κρούειν : both verbs depend on ἄρξησθε : ye begin to stand without and to knock. Some take ἑστάναι as = a participle, but it is better to take it as denoting a first stage in the action of those arriving late. At first they expect that the door will be opened soon as a matter of course, and that they have nothing to do but to step in. By-and-by they find it will be necessary to knock, and finally, being refused admission even when the door is opened, they are fain to plead (Luk 13:26 ). καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς : the καὶ here has the force of then . The sense would have been clearer had it been omitted. Here properly begins the apodosis of the sentence and the close of the parable proper = then he answering will say: I do not know you. πόθεν ἐστέ : these added words rather weaken than strengthen the laconic οὐκ οἶδα ὑμᾶς of Mat 25:12 = you must be strangers, not of those invited.

[115] Westcott and Hort.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

master of the house is risen up and hath shut to the door--awfully sublime and vivid picture! At present he is represented as in a sitting posture, as if calmly looking on to see who will "strive," while entrance is practicable, and who will merely "seek" to enter in. But this is to have an end, by the great Master of the house Himself rising and shutting the door, after which there will be no admittance.

Lord, Lord--emphatic reduplication, expressive of the earnestness now felt, but too late. (See on Mat 7:21-22).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 25. And hath shut to the door] See the notes on Mt 7:22; Mt 7:23, and Mt 25:10-41.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(25) When once the master of the house . . .—The passage contains elements that are common at once to Mat_7:22-23; Mat_25:10-12, where see Notes.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

25. to stand without, and to knock at the door] Mat_25:10. That the first application of the warning was to Jews who relied on their privileges appears from the fact that the excluded class are not poor sinners, but self-righteous Pharisees who claim entrance as their right.

Lord, Lord, open unto us] Mat_7:22-23.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then shall ye begin to say,.... Or ye shall say; in favour of themselves, and in order to be admitted within, the following pleas will be made by them:

we have eaten and drank in thy presence: which may be understood both literally of many, who were miraculously led by Christ, or at whose tables he had ate and drank, and they with him; as did not only publicans and sinners, but some of the Pharisees, who invited him to their houses; and in a religious sense, of many who eat of the legal sacrifices; and of others, who eat the bread, and drink the wine at the Lord's table; all which will be insufficient to introduce men into the kingdom and glory of Christ: natural relation to Christ, which the Jews may claim, being born of them, and personal acquaintance with him, and a bare profession of him, will be of no avail another day:

and thou hast taught in our streets; in the streets of many cities in Galilee and Judea: it was customary with the Jewish doctors to teach in the streets:

"says Rabba, behold I am as Ben Azzai, in the streets of Tiberias (a);''

the gloss upon it is,

"who was , "expounding in the streets of Tiberias."''

And it is said (b) of Rabban Jochanan ben Zaccai,

"that he was sitting in the shade of the temple, and expounding all the whole day;''

the gloss on the place is,

"the temple being an hundred cubits high, its shade went very far "in the street", which is before the mountain of the house; and because "the street" was large, and held abundance of men, he was expounding there by reason of the heat, for no school could hold them:''

and it is also said of R. Chija (c), that

"he went out and taught his brother's two sons, "in the street".''

So that what our Lord did, was no other than what was usual with their doctors; nor is this contrary to what is said in See Gill on Mat 12:19, this is also a fruitless plea and which will be of no service; it will signify nothing, to have heard Christ preached, or Christ himself preach, unless there is faith in him, which works by love; for not hearers of the word only, but doers of it are regarded.

(a) T. Bab. Erubin, fol. 29. 1. (b) T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 26. 1. (c) T. Bab. Moed Katon, fol. 16. 2.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

25 When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:

Ver. 25. And hath shut to] God is not always with men in the opportunities of grace. He hath his season, his harvest for judgment, Mat 13:30, when troops of those that forget God are turned into hell, Psa 9:17.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

When once the master ... - The figure here used is taken from the conduct of a housekeeper, who is willing to see his friends, and who at the proper time keeps his doors open. But there is a proper time for closing them, when he will not see his guests. At night it would be improper and vain to seek an entrance - the house would be shut. So there is a proper time to seek an entrance into heaven; but there will be a time when it will be too late. At death the time will have passed by, and God will be no longer gracious to the sinner’s soul.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

When the Almighty casts any off, he is said not to know them: in the same manner as a lover of truth may be said not to know how to tell a falsehood, being withheld powerfully from it by his love of truth. (St. Gregory, mor. chap. 8.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Our Saviour in these verses doth represent himself by a man, who, having invited guests to his supper, stays till all those who were invited, and accepted the invitation, were Come in; then rising up, shuts the door; and after that is shut, turns a deaf ear to any that shall come knocking, let them plead for admittance what they can plead. By this parabolical expressing of himself, he both openeth in part what he meant by the foregoing words,

many will seek to enter in, and shall not be able, and also lets us know, that there is a determinate time, wherein souls must (if ever) accept of the offers of grace and salvation, when they are made to them, which if they slip, they will not be able to obtain of God an entrance into the kingdom of heaven. Seek the Lord while he may be found, saith the prophet, Isa 55:6. In an acceptable time have I heard thee, saith the prophet, Isa 49:8; which the apostle applies, 2Co 6:2, to persuade men that they should not receive the grace of God (in the gospel) in vain. What this determinate time is God hath hidden from us, and it is probable that it is not the same as to all persons; we know nothing to the contrary, but while there is life there is hope, which warrants us to preach truth and repentance to all. We are also further instructed, that no outward privileges though Christ hath taught in our streets; no external acts of communion with Christ, though we can say we have ate and drunk with him; will justify our hopes of entrance into heaven, if in the mean time we be workers of iniquity. We had much the same; See Poole on "Mat 7:21", and following verses to Mat 7:23.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

25-30. The exclusion of sinners from heaven is here compared to the exclusion of night wanderers from a hospitable house.

25. When once—Once for all and forever. The master of the house—The hospitable entertainer of his friends for the night.

Is risen up—From his evening divan to close the house for the night.

Hath shut to the door— Locked for the night’s safety and repose. Ye—Our Lord gives his reply to the question in the most admonitory form of the second person plural.

Lord, Lord, open—These are not members of his family. They only claim acquaintance Nor is there any intimation of its being a feast. On the contrary, all they ask is an open door and a refuge.

Know you not whence—Ye are straggling night-walkers, from I know not what quarter. I cannot recognize you as part of my family or as guests.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and Co knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are . The great Teacher here slightly changes the imagery. The narrow door no longer is the centre of the picture; one, called the "master of the house," becomes the principal figure. The door now shut may still be, most probably is, the narrow fort or hill-city entrance, and the one called the master is the governor of the Place of Arms, into which the door or gate led. It is now too late even for the earnest striver to enter in. Sunset probably the shades of night, had the Divine Painter furnished the imagery would have been the signal for the final closing of the door of the fortress. Death is the period when the door of salvation is shut to the children of men. It has been asked To what time does the Master refer in the words" when once"? It cannot be the epoch of the ruin of Jerusalem and the breaking up of the Jewish nationality, for then there was nothing in the attitude of the doomed people to answer to the standing without, to the knocking at the door, and to the imploring cries, "Lord, Lord, open unto us," portrayed here. It cannot be the second coming of the Lord; surely then his people will not call on him in vain. It refers, without doubt, to the day of judgment, when the dread award will be pronounced upon the unbelieving, the selfish, and the evil-liver.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And even agonizing will not avail, after the door is shut. Agonize, therefore, now by faith, prayer, holiness, patience. And ye begin to stand without - Till then they had not thought of it! O how new will that sense of their misery be? How late? How lasting? I know not whence ye are - I know not, that is, I approve not of your ways.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Our Saviour having exhorted all his followers, in the foregoing verses, to make sure of heaven and salvation to themselves, while the door of hope and salvation is open to them, by this parable of a master of a family inviting guests to his table, waiting for their coming, and at last shutting the door against them, because they either denied or delayed coming, Christ hereby represented to the Jews the great danger they were in, if they neglected the present season of grace and salvation, which now they did enjoy; telling them farther how little it would profit them at the day of judgment, to allege that they had eaten and drank in his presence, and that they had heard him preach in their streets, if they did not forsake their sins, and obey his gospel.

Adding farther, that it would be an heart piercing sorrow, a soul rendering grief to them at the great day, to see not only the patriarchs and prophets, and other Jews, but even the despised Gentiles from all quarters and nations, whom they thought accursed, admitted into the kingdom of heaven, and themselves eternally shut out: For the last shall be first, and the first last: that is, the Gentiles who were afar off shall receive the gospel, when you for rejecting it shall be cast off.

From the whole note,

1. That there is a determined time when souls must (if ever) accept of the offers of grace and salvation, which are made unto them; now is the door open, and persons invited in.

2. That however long Jesus Christ, who now stands at every one of our doors waiting for our compliance with his gospel terms, will wait no longer upon us, nor strive any further by the motions of his Spirit with us: When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door.

3. That doleful is the condition of such miserable souls against whom the door is shut; the door of repentance, the door of hope, the door of salvation; all shut, eternally shut; and that by him who shuts, and none can open.

4. That all would be saved at last; all will cry for mercy when it is too late, even such as now sinfully undervalue, and scornfully despise it: Ye shall stand without and knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

5. That is no good plea for admittance into heaven, because we have been church members here on earth: no outward privileges, though Christ has taught in our streets; no external acts of communion, though we have eaten and drunk in his presence, and at his holy table; will justify our hopes of entering into heaven when we die, if we be workers of iniquity while we live: Lord, we have eaten and drunk in thy presence; but he shall say, I know ye not, ye workers of iniquity.

6. That as hell will be a second heaven to the glorified, so heaven will be a second hell to the damned. Hell will be second heaven to the glorified, that is, it will add exceedingly to the happiness of the saints in heaven, to see and be sensible of that misery which they escaped, and the damned endure; and on the other hand, heaven will be a second hell to the damned, that is, it will increase their torments, and add to the vexation of their spirits, to see some in heaven whom they little expected to see there; some that never saw nor heard, nor enjoyed what they have done; strangers, yea, heathens taken in, when the children of the kingdom, that is, the members of the visible church, are shut out: They shall come from the east, from the west, from the north, and from the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God, but the children of the kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

25. Hath shut the door. Even that narrow door shall be shut. The time of opportunity will pass by. Even here on earth, the heart hardens so that it will be impossible to stir it to repentance.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

Jesus continues to talk about entering into God's kingdom.

Once the owner

"After the owner"

the owner of the house

This refers to the owner of the house with the narrow door in the previous verses. This is a metaphor for God as the ruler of the kingdom. (See: Metaphor)

you will stand outside

Jesus was talking to a crowd. The form of "you" is plural. He is addressing them as if they will not enter through the narrow door into the kingdom. (See: Forms of You)

pound the door

"hit on the door." This is an attempt to gain the owner's attention.

Get away from me

"Go away from me"

translationWords

lord

evildoer

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

25. ἔξω ἑστάναι καὶ κρούειν τὴν θύραν. Mat 25:10. That the first application of the warning was to Jews who relied on their privileges appears from the fact that the excluded class are not poor sinners, but self-righteous Pharisees who claim entrance as their right.

Κύριε ἄνοιξον ἡμῖν. Mat 7:22-23.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

25.] A reason why this ἀγωνίζεσθαι is so important:—because there will be a day when the gate will be shut. The figure is the usual one,—of a feast, at which the householder entertains (in this case) the members of his family. These being assembled, he rises and shuts the door, and none are afterwards admitted.

The ἀφʼ οὗ extends to ἐστέ, end of ver. 25—and the second member of the sentence begins with τότε.

ἔξω ἑστάναι and κρούειν both depend on ἄρξησθε:—Hearing that the door is shut, ye begin to stand without and knock. On the spiritual import, see note on Mat 25:11.

οὐκ οἶδ. π. ἐστέ, ‘ye are none of my family—have no relationship with me.’

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

25. ἀφʼ οὖ ἅν ἐγερθῇ. Connect this closely with what precedes: “Shall not be able, when once the master of the house shall have risen up,” etc. With this arrangement a full stop is placed at πόθεν ἐστέ, and τότε begins a new sentence.

Those who place a full stop at ὶοχύσουσιν differ much as to the apodosis of ἀφʼοὖ. Some make it begin at καὶ ἄρξησθε, more at καὶ ἀποκριθείς, and others at τότε. Of these three the first is the worst, making ἄρξησθε = ἄρξεσθε, and the last is the best (AV. RV.).

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

When once [αφ ου] . Lit., from the time that. Compare ver. 7. Some editors connect this with the previous sentence : "Shall not be able when once," etc.

Whence [ποθεν] . Of what family. Ye do not belong to my household. See Joh 7:27 : "We know whence he (Jesus) is;" i e., we know his birthplace and family.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.