I tell you that many will come from east and west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 8:11-12 (CSB)
Jesus said this right after praising the faith of an army officer who was not Jewish. Many people in that day believed God’s great feast in His kingdom was only for those born into Israel.
Jesus said the opposite. People from every direction, like this officer, will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But some who assumed they belonged by birth will be shut out, in a place the Bible calls “outer darkness.” Jesus was not saying God had rejected the Jewish people. Abraham and Jesus’ first followers were Jewish, and so was Paul, who wrote that God has not rejected His people (Romans 11:1).
The Bible’s word for how God accepts us is justification, which means God declares us righteous, right with Him, because of what Jesus did, not because of our family or our good deeds. The Bible says, “a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law” (Romans 3:28). So we ought to trust Jesus alone, and not our family or how often we have been to church.
The good news is that God’s family is open to everyone who trusts Jesus. The Bible describes “a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language” standing before Jesus (Revelation 7:9). That seat at the table was paid for by Jesus, who died for our sins and rose again, and it is offered to everyone who trusts Him.