Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 13:30

"And behold, there are last who shall be first, and there are first who shall be last." — Luke 13:30 (ASV)

And, behold, there are last . . .—See Note on Matthew 19:30. Chronologically, it should be noted, this is the first utterance of the great law that God’s judgment reverses man’s. When it was uttered in reference to the young ruler, it was merely a fresh application of the wider law.

Here the application is primarily national. Israel had been the first of nations, but it would become, in its outward fortunes, the last, and the Gentiles who had been without hope and without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12) would gain the high pre-eminence of being the heirs of the kingdom. The individual application of the words grows naturally, however, out of the national.