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mean to Israel, in forgiveness, cleansing, restoration and enjoyment of the promised land.
Yet verse 37 reads:
"I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them."
Israel must one day express their need for this to the Lord. Likewise, we must engage
in prayer constantly, but finally leave the answer to the Lord's will, for after all, He
knows best and must have the last word. If human parents though imperfect, give good
gifts to their children, will the heavenly Father do less? (Matt. 7: 9-11). Then follows
the Golden Rule:
"In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the
Law and the Prophets" (7: 12, N.I.V.).
Luke puts the Golden Rule in the same context as Matt. 5: 42, and this rule sums up a
large portion of the Sermon. It is of course a complete denial of one of the worst of sins,
namely selfishness. Instead, it has continual regard for one's neighbour and his needs.
Partial gleams of this golden maxim have been seen by many moralists and thinkers. It is
found in Isocrates, in Philo and in the Stoics; but none have expressed it so compactly
and clearly as the Lord Jesus has done. It is the golden rule of all social life, the family
life, commercial life, church life, national life. It is the rule of international prosperity.
The human expressions have mostly been in a negative way, what we should not do
to others. But the Saviour's maxim covers the whole breadth of our conscience, in a
man-ward direction. It is a summing up of the law of love expressing itself in sheer
unselfishness. The Lord continues:
"Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to
destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that
leads to life, and only a few find it" (7: 13, 14, N.I.V.).
A. Plummer's comment here is:
"The gate (Matthew) or door (Luke) is that which leads to the Kingdom, and we have
returned to the thought with which the sermon began--admission to the Kingdom" (5:3).
This is correct, and it fits the context perfectly, which is not dealing with heaven or
hell, but the all-important question as to the searching rules for admittance into the
Messianic Kingdom. The A.V. "at the strait gate" has misled some who do not
distinguish between "strait" and "straight". The narrow way is repeated in verse 14. It is
"compressed", and narrowed like a path between two almost adjoining rocks. The broad
way is popular because it requires no self-discipline, and seems to promise greater
freedom. The majority go this way because it appeals more to the senses. What they
cannot see is that the restrictions of the "narrow way" are not denials of liberty, but
protections against evil and the things that can never satisfy. Christ Himself is the Way,
and as the Reformers expressed it, "His service is perfect freedom".
The Lord Jesus goes on to teach that, if the right way is really desired, then false
guides must be avoided: