(Pt.1)
“You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.”-Matthew 7:13-14
Somewhere along the way, it seems this passage was set aside and rather than hell being the default destination of all mankind (that is without some kind of divine intervention); society, however, has attempted to replace hell with heaven as the default destination for everyone, unless of course they are especially wicked and only then are they reserved a place in hell.
Christians, who disagree, are often accused of being narrow minded because of their unwillingness to bend on the idea that there are no other way of obtaining heaven beyond accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. We are bombarded with arguments designed to cast doubt on the idea that God would choose a single or narrow access point for entering His kingdom. These arguments are designed to make us think that God’s loving nature would never allow such a narrow approach.
Arguments like, how could a loving God send people to a place of such anguish and suffering? Or how could God send someone to hell when they had done so much good while here on earth? Or how about the question regarding muslims, atheists and buddhist that are all kind individuals, many who do good works in our society, are they condemned to hell simply because they have not received Jesus as their Savior?
Jesus, however, made it very clear that access to the Kingdom of God is restricted to a single gate. “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate.”-Matthew 7:13
Jesus validated this statement on other occasions like in John 14:5-6: “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way? Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
He elaborates even more in John 10:1-9: “I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber! But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.” Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn’t understand what he meant, so he explained it to them: “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved.They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.”
It was a truth that the early disciples understood plainly. Peter and John declared before the religious leaders of their day:
For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’ There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”-Acts 4:11-12
Later the Apostle Paul when writing to the believers in Rome the way to be saved wrote: “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”-Romans 10:9
Jesus nor the early disciples ever alluded to another way to make heaven apart from placing our faith in Jesus Christ. The gate is narrow in the sense that there is a particular requirement for entrance and that is faith in Christ.
Scott Burr
Dayspring Community Church
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