Who are the many who will come from east and west (Matthew 8:11)?

Such is our position. Jesus is away and unseen. We hear His word, lay hold of it, and are saved. This is the beautiful way in which we are here given the different bearing of the Lord on the Jew and on the Gentile; but we learn, moreover, that the blessing would be refused by Israel, and the Gentiles would become the objects of mercy, as it is said here, "Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. 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" (vers. 10, 11), that is, many Gentiles shall come. Neither is this all: "But the children of the kingdom" — the natural children that were the seed, but not the true children according to Abraham's faith, these should be "cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Rejecting their Messiah, the Jews as a nation were going to be rejected. There would only be a line of believing ones; but the mass of Israel should be rejected until the fulness of the Gentiles have come in.

The subject however would not be completely discussed, if we did not refer to some two or three passages which might, at first sight, seem to have an opposite bearing. The first of these is Matt. 8:11-12: "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. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness," etc. In the first place, if this did refer to the church, sitting down with the patriarchs in the kingdom of heaven does not prove that the patriarchs belonged to the church. No one, we suppose, doubts that believers will see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom; the only question is, Are they of the church? But it is evident that this passage says nothing of the church. If so, how could "the children of the kingdom" be cast out? No, Jesus speaks as the Messiah, and in this character He warns the unbelieving Jews, that their descent from the patriarchs will avail them nothing; that, though they were the children of those to whom the promises were made, they would, if they rejected Him, be cast out, and that, just as the centurion, whose servant He had healed, had pressed by faith into the possession of blessing, so should numbers from all quarters press into the kingdom when it should be set up, and should thus obtain, by faith, the blessed privilege which they were now despising.

At the man's words Jesus Himself marveled, for this was greatest faith compared to Israel's dullness of discernment as to the glory of this blessed Person. But He affirms also that many would evidence such faith, coming from the east and west to sit down with Israel's fathers of faith, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. On the other hand, the children of the kingdom (in this case Israelites who considered themselves entitled to the blessings of the kingdom) would be cast into the outer darkness of eternal torment. It is to be noted that when Matthew 13:38 speaks of the children of the kingdom, they are the good seed. But in Ch.8 the mere natural children of Israel are first set aside before (in Ch.13:1) the Lord goes forth as the Sower to begin a new crop in the field (the world), not simply in Israel. This good seed therefore of the new crop is the same as those coming from the east and the west to have part in the kingdom with Israel's fathers.

But in the next case we see a Gentile, who by faith enjoys the full effect of that power which his faith ascribed to Jesus giving the Lord occasion to bring out the solemn truth, that many of these poor Gentiles should come and sit down in the kingdom of heaven with the fathers who were honoured by the Jewish nation as the first parents of the heirs of promise, while the children of the kingdom should be in outer darkness. In fact the faith of this centurion acknowledged a divine power in Jesus, which, by the glory of Him that possessed it, would (not forsake Israel, but) open the door to the Gentiles, and graft into the olive-tree of promise branches of the wild olive-tree in the place of those which should be cut off. The manner in which this should take place in the assembly was not now the question.

In Matthew 8:11 the faith of the centurion, commended by Jesus as greater than any He had found in Israel, draws from His lips the announcement "that many [such as he] shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." This must have been a solemn and startling announcement to Jewish ears. It distinctly foretells the admission of Gentiles to the privileges of the kingdom, while the natural heirs are excluded. And while this passage evidently refers to the yet future millennial kingdom (there being a place in it for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), we have to bear in mind that the kingdom has its heavenly as well as its earthly department. Of this we find scarcely anything in the Old Testament; and it was, in fact, the rejection of Christ by Israel that made way for the development of this purpose of God. It is now, while the kingdom of heaven exists in mystery, that these Gentile strangers are being brought from the east and from the west. But by-and-by, when the great purpose of God is accomplished, and all things both in heaven and earth are gathered together in one, even in Christ, these strangers will be seen sitting down with the patriarchs in the heavenly department of that glorious kingdom; while Israel, pardoned and restored, shall, with the spared nations, occupy the earth. The children of the kingdom who are cast out are, of course, those generations of Israel who have lived during the whole period of their rejection of Jesus.

Many of these precious psalms express the praise of millennial worship, and, no doubt, will be sung during the reign of Christ; such as 93, 94, and onwards. God will then fulfil every promise to the fathers. Yea, no doubt, when the Lord reigns, the fathers, raised from the dead, will appear in the kingdom; as it says, “Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them that call upon his name.” (Ps. 99:2-6.) Does not this answer to the vision of the transfiguration — Jesus the exalted One, and the risen saints glorified with Him? And to this agree those words of Jesus, “And I say to 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. But the children of the kingdom (that is, the unbelieving Jews) shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt. 8:11.) To apply this text to the Church would utterly overthrow the present gospel of the grace of God. But speaking, as the Lord does, about the kingdom, this text throws great light upon the reign. For thus we are left without doubt that the fathers of the Jews will be raised and connected with the kingdom of Christ.

The centurion answered, "Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof; but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed." I suppose he had a good dwelling, he seemed to be pretty wealthy; but there was the sense of his unworthiness, and of the Saviour's dignity. He recognised that here was an omnipotent One, and that no word of His could be void of power. He says, "I am a man" — not in but — under authority." A Roman captain over 200 men, he was a long way from being the head of the Imperial army; but even so he had this power to order the soldiers under him. There is something very sweet about that. His argument is that the Lord had all the authority in Himself. He had a glimpse of the Lord's glory such as Nebuchadnezzar had, when he said, "He does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, what doest thou?" (Daniel 4:35). This is a sample of what is to be. The blessing in the millennial earth will not be confined to Israel; Gentiles will be blessed too, though not as now with the middle wall of partition broken down. Then they will be blessed through Israel. But the Lord here had not found so great faith in Israel. Faith is the gift of God, but where it is found the Lord commends it. The Syro-phoenician woman's faith is called "great"; the disciples' "little." The only two cases of faith which the Lord commends are Gentiles! There are only two, also, to whom the Lord gives Himself away, so to speak the woman of Samaria and the blind man of John 9.

Now the Lord goes on to show (vers. 2 , 12) "that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness, etc." Of course the children of the kingdom were the Jews, and those cast out will be the unbelieving portion of them. When that kingdom comes, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will be in their glorified bodies, and in the heavenly department of it, though not forming the Bride. They will be included in the symbolic number of the twenty-four elders of the Revelation, and in "the spirits of just men made perfect," i.e., Old Testament saints. In Rev. 19 you have the marriage, but there are those "called to the supper," as well as the Bride. The Old Testament saints will have their joy in it, though they will not have her place and portion.

Thus, in the scene of the leper, we have Jesus presented as "Jehovah that healeth Israel," as man here below, and in Jewish relationships, still maintaining the law. Next, we find Him confessed by the centurion, no longer as the Messiah, when actually with them, confessed according to a faith which saw the deeper glory of His person as supreme, competent to heal, no matter where, or whom, or what, by a word; and this the Lord Himself hails as the foreshadowing of a rich incoming of many multitudes to the praise of His name, when the Jews should be cast out. Evidently it is the change of dispensation that is in question and at hand, the cutting off of the fleshly seed for their unbelief, and the bringing in of numerous believers in the name of the Lord from among the Gentiles.

There indeed shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth, when in the kingdom the unbelieving Jews see their boasted fathers and prophets, but themselves cast out. But there is deep cheer for the despised Gentiles. For the Lord adds, "And they shall come from the east and west and from the north and south, and they shall recline in the kingdom of God. And, behold, there are last who shall be first, and there are first who shall be last." Do you say, how terrible and true of unbelieving Israel, how blessedly true of the Gentiles who believe? What will it be for you who have heard the gospel, and neglected so great salvation? What possible hope can be in that day! But blessing in faith there is now and ever.

What humiliation for those who thought they could brazen their way through every obstacle into heaven! These Jewish leaders boasted in their natural fathers -- Abraham, Isaac and Jacob -- and in the prophets of Israel, but they would find they had no spiritual relationship with them at all. "Weeping and gnashing of teeth" would be theirs, while their fathers and the prophets would have the pure joys of the kingdom of God, from which they themselves would be thrust out. For the kingdom will be fully purified from the admixture of which we read in verses 19-21. They will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mt.13:41- 42). The weeping is only in self-pity, not in repentance. Wailing is the attitude of complaining, for faith is absent. Gnashing of teeth is a spirit of rebellion, not corrected even by the solemn judgment of God.

However, verse 29 shows that if Jews debar themselves by unbelief, God will yet bring others (Gentiles) from the east, west, north and south to sit down in the kingdom of God. Those whom men consider "last" -- of no importance -- (as Jews considered Gentiles), will be first because of the reality of faith. Those who are considered "first" (as Jews considered themselves because of their outward show of religion to impress others) will be last. God is a God of truth, and all will be brought to its proper level in the day of His judgment.