MATTHEW 8:11,12, C. H. Cayce “And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.” Verse 12, “But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
We think those who “shall come from the east and west”are children of God among the Gentiles. The benefits of the kingdom in a visible form, separate from other kingdoms, as a visible, organized body, had not then been extended to the Gentiles. They had not then been admitted into the kingdom. Under the law dispensation, or before the gospel dispensation, the kingdom was a natural one, and that kingdom was committed to the Jews. “What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.”— Rom. 3:1-2. The services, the ordinances, the divers washings and all the ceremonies were among the Jews. These things were all committed to them. That “many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven,” signifies, to our mind, that the privileges and benefits of the service of God will soon no longer be confined to the Jews. The privileges of this service is soon going to be extended to the Gentiles, or to the nations. Isaiah foretells the same, we think. “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”— Isa. 2:2-3.
“The law and the prophets were until John:” Luke 16:16. Until John’s day the service was law service, which was all confined to the Jews; but now gospel service is required, and the benefits and privileges of it are to be extended to the Gentiles. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob rendered service to the Lord. Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with them in the kingdom— that is, they shall come from the east and west and engage in the service of the Lord.
Luke 13:29 says, “And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.” The expression, “sit down in the kingdom,” does not mean that there is nothing for the child of God to do in the kingdom, for there is much to be engaged in; but it means that there is a sweet rest to be enjoyed by the child of God in the Lord’s kingdom in doing the things the Lord commands to be done there. As Abraham and Isaac and Jacob enjoyed the blessings of the Lord in obedience, and as the children of Israel (National Israel) enjoyed the blessings of the promised land (Canaan), so those who come from the east and from the west and sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom, the child of God who enters into and goes on in the service of the Lord, enjoys the blessings of the gospel Canaan (the church). As we have seen, this refers to the extending of the privileges of the service of the Lord to the Gentiles, as we understand it; then we think the “children of the kingdom” that “shall be cast out into outer darkness” refers to the Jews, as a nation. They refused to enter into the gospel service; they were enemies to that service. “As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes.”— Rom. 11:28. Because of their unbelief and wickedness they were cast out into outer darkness, and they remain there to this day, so far as gospel service or worship is concerned. Luke 13:28 says, “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.” The 29th verse was quoted above. The Jews were, therefore, thrust out, for He was talking to Jews when He used this language. We think the parable of the householder, as recorded in Matt. 21:33-43, teaches the same lesson. “The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.”
Oh, how thankful we, the Gentiles in nature, should be that the blessings and benefits of the gospel kingdom have been given to us. They were glad in the days of the apostles. “Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, it was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.”— Acts 13:46-48.
The salvation mentioned here cannot be the receiving of eternal life, for eternal life is not given through the instrumentality of preaching, but by a direct work of the Holy Spirit. Their judging themselves unworthy of everlasting life does not mean that they did not think they were good enough to have everlasting life, or that they felt to be too unworthy, too unrighteous, or too unholy for the Lord to bestow everlasting life upon them. The grace of God manifested in the bestowal of that life makes the poor sinner feel his unworthiness. It gives him to realize that he is unworthy and that be has no righteousness to plead. It causes him to realize that he is a poor sinner, and to pray like the poor publican, “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.” But they would not heed the teaching, they refused to enter into the gospel service, thus judging themselves unworthy of everlasting life. We repeat, we should be thankful for the glorious privileges which we enjoy— or rather, which we have vouchsafed to us. Many of us, perhaps, feel sometimes that the service of the Lord is a great burden, and that it is so grievous that we cannot engage in it. Oh, how cold and careless we are sometimes. Let us awake to our duties, and not consider the sweet service as a drudgery, but remember it is a sweet and blessed privilege of which many of the Lord’s dear children are deprived. Let us remember that some of the saints have endured severe persecutions for the service of our blessed Lord, and the time may come when some of us may be deprived of the glorious privileges which we now have. Let us show by our works that we appreciate the blessed privileges we have. May the Lord enable us and help us so to do, is our humble prayer. The Primitive Baptist, November 13, 1906.