Why so few are loving in this world, according to what is written...

Quiet moments of reflection ... for sharing ...

Matt 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

So there are indeed only few follow Jesus and are taken by Jesus in this life ....Jesus says how many is a 'few' in Rev 7:3-8 and we know this is literal because Enoch says it is only tens of thousands of saints , confirmed as true by Jude :-

Jude 1:14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

[small point - Enoch wrote in Hebrew ,in which he uses the single word for 'ten thousand' , so this would more truly be translated as 'tens of thousands']

So the many [over twelve billion sinners that ever lived] go by the broad way through destruction in death , including all the sinners of the divided modern religion including any sect or denomination which ever had more than a few [144,000] followers !

mass religion of sinners thus has a very different role in God's plan than the few saints , Jesus confirms that he will not take anyone who has not stopped sinning by his return :-

Matthew 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Those that continue to sin may call Jesus lord and invite him in, but Jesus points out that he never knew them if they do not stop before his retur, and asks why they call him lord [meaning one that one obeys] if they do not obey him :-

Luke 6:46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

The foundation of following Jesus and naming the Christ, the strait and narrow way of the few saints is thus to depart from sinning any longer , to become all-loving in obedience to Jesus as lord, in his commandment to love, not sin.

2 Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

It is clear then both from Jesus own words and those of the saints , that no-one who is a sinner by Jesus return can be saved then from the broad way of the many billions of sinners that ever lived , destruction in death, the wages of sin.

BUT Jesus also says that uncountably many of all nations are saved afterward :-

Revelation 7:9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.

These all went by the broad way of sin in this life , yet they are eventually saved according to Jesus ... but contrary to almost all divided modern Christian doctrine of denominations and sects !

Now the first resurrection is for the just , the saints justified by the holy spirit to stop sinning :-

Revelation 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

so when are the many sinners resurrected from death and hell :-

Revelation 20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.

the second resurrection is of the sinners , the unjustified unjust , over 12 billion sinners that ever lived, many of them never having even heard of Jesus in their life, many tragically having the briefest of lives...

Who then do the priests of God minister to and how are uncountably many of these sinners saved , hell having given them up ? What does Jesus say :-

Revelation 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

So something over 12 billion sinners are resurrected after the millenium , freed from sin by death , to be ministered to by the saints and Jesus in the established kingdom of God with Jesus and the priests reigning over the many :-

Romans 6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

The many then are free from sin before death and judged by works in the kingdom where they have a perfect ministry by saints to rule and guide them into a loving righteous life of good works by which they will be judged...

Clearly then the many do not require grace, but are judged by works, so where does it say that only the few receive grace ? The answer is the new covenant of grace itself , it says explicitly that it is only with those whose ancestors broke the old covenant, and that the two rejected parts of Israel , the House of Judah ('Jews') and the lost people of the House of Israel are now forgiven...

Jesus confirms in Rev 7:3-8 that the few are indeed all descendants of Jacob , from the named tribes of Israel...

Thus the salvation of the many sinners of this world depends on the earlier salvation of a remnant few of the tribes of Israel at Jesus' return...

The few are first because they must be readied to rule and minister to billions , and God's promise handed down through the Hebrews to a remnant few [sometimes only one] in each generation is j=kept, according to Jesus' own revelation :-

Exodus 19:6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

The OT and NT are thus indeed one truth of God ... [but the story in scripture of the reason God gives for apostate modern religion of the many sinners of this world and their sinner priesthoods is large enough for a separate thread ]