Strait and Narrow

Some have been distressed by this saying, as if it reduced hope to a very narrow channel. They have said to themselves, “What is the use of effort if many actually seeking to enter in shall not be able?” Perhaps they read the words of Christ otherwise than he intended. Did he mean, “Many shall seek to enter in by complying with the will of the Lord in faith and obedience, and will fail?” His whole teaching forbids this. He says, “Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out.” “Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.” What did he mean then by many seeking to enter and not being able? His own application, in the words immediately succeeding, seems to point to those who will unworthily apply to him in the day of his coming. The words are: “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. Then shall ye begin to say, we have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know not whence ye are: depart from me all ye workers of iniquity.” From this it would seem that many at Christ’s return will claim friendship with him on the score of acquaintance with him in the days of his sojourn in Judea when Herod reigned. Many, many thousands at that time “ate and drank in his presence,” as, for example, at the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, not to speak of the countless private occasions. Many more thousands could say “Thou hast taught in our streets”—multitudes, who paid no heed to his teaching beyond the idle interest of the village gossip. In the day of his glory, many of these think to be acceptable to him on this flimsy ground, like people of the same town who meet in a distant country. They “seek to enter in” then, but shall not be able, because their seeking is not in accordance with the appointed principle.
The striving to enter in that Jesus enjoins, consists of that doing of the will of the Father, which Peter, in harmony with Christ, says will ensure “an entrance abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. i. 11). The unacceptable claimants who in the day of Christ’s return “seek to enter in and shall not be able” are “workers of iniquity” who think to obtain favour by local partiality. The rejection of this class need be no discouragement to those who are sincerely and in the scriptural way “striving to enter in at the strait gate.” Such are exhorted by Paul to “Lift up the hands that hang down and to strengthen the feeble knees” (Heb. xii. 12). God Himself authorises this message to them by Isaiah: “Say to them that are of a fearful heart, be strong: fear not. Behold your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense. He will come and save you” (chap. xxxv. 4).

Roberts, R. (1983). Nazareth Revisted [computer files (electronic ed.) (247). Birmingham, UK: The Christadelphian.