Mat 8:11-12 | PNT | STEP | Many shall come from the east and west . The terms "the east and the west", the extreme points of the compass, are taken to indicate the regions that are far away, the whole world. The Lord means not only those who are geographically far away from Israel, but those who have been far away spiritually, Gentiles as well as Jews. Shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob . The Jews were accustomed to speak to the delights of the Messiah's kingdom as a feast with the patriarchs. The language implies intimate domestic intercourse and fellowship. The kingdom of heaven refers, here, rather to the eternal blessed state than to the church on earth.

Matthew 8:11-12

Many shall come from the east and west. The terms "the east and the west", the extreme points of the compass, are taken to indicate the regions that are far away, the whole world. The Lord means not only those who are geographically far away from Israel, but those who have been far away spiritually, Gentiles as well as Jews.

Shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. The Jews were accustomed to speak to the delights of the Messiah's kingdom as a feast with the patriarchs. The language implies intimate domestic intercourse and fellowship.

The kingdom of heaven refers, here, rather to the eternal blessed state than to the church on earth. But the children of the kingdom. The Jews, the natural children of Abraham, the "Father of the faithful", heirs of the promises made to him.

Cast out. Because they rejected the Messiah, in whom all the promises center.

Into outer darkness. The history of the Jews for 1,800 years has been a fulfillment of this passage.

There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. There is a hint at the wretchedness of a future state of punishment.