Those Who Do Not Enter the Kingdomh

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Sorry about the lateness of this response, but it was unavoidable. You ask about the text at Luke 13:26-28. It says, "Then shall ye begin to say, 'We have eaten and have drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets.'

But he shall say, 'I tell you, I know you not from where you are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in

Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and have drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets.

But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not from where you are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets,..."

As he makes clear in the context, people who represent Christ are to be viewed as Christ Himself. So, those who teach the teachings of Christ are actually the same Holy Spirit acting through people as the very same Spirit (Christspirit, Holy Spirit) that acted through Jesus. So, they say, "Thou hast taught in our streets."

He mentions those specifically who have rejected him by rejecting workers and teachers of divine Love and grace-- the essence of the anti-materialistic message of Jesus. The part about "seeing" Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the "kingdom" seems to have been symbolic. Remember that he was speaking to Jews, and their sacred heroes were the founders of their nation-- these three men. So, these represented all people of honest goodness among the Jews, who truly tried to worship and serve God.

These, by grace, are permitted into the "kingdom" not because of personal righteousness, but because of God's Love (grace). So, the message was that good persons enter that kingdom, and others still have learning to do.

So, they are not permitted permanent entrance into the kingdom, because they still have things that they need to learn, and personality-components, such as Love, that they need to improve. Jesus does not say that these "workers of iniquity" will be forever banned from the kingdom, but that, at the end of a life, they might not get in. For their "schooling" has not yet been completed. For, in another place (Jn. 12:32), he predicts, "If I be lifted up, I shall draw all people to Myself."

So, at the end of this life, there will be people who have not learned much from this life, whose spiritual education will force an almost immediate return to the earth-school. They will gnash their teeth and mourn for the opportunity lost by their ignorance and/or deliberate misdeeds.
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