Jesus The Gate To God
The wide and narrow ways Photo: © Ronald Hudson - Fotolia.com
Two Gates, Two Roads
In JOHN Chapter 10 verse 9 Jesus says that he is the gate and that all who come in through him will be saved and find life in all its fulness. In comparison the enemy's aim is to steal, kill and destroy.
Jesus says there are TWO GATES and TWO ROADS in life:
• THE WIDE GATE & THE WIDE ROAD: most popular but leads to destruction
• THE NARROW GATE & THE NARROW ROAD: leading to salvation/eternal life
In MATTHEW 7:13 Jesus says: “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell (or to destruction) is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way."
There are echoes here of the choice God gave the children of Israel as they prepared to enter the Promised Land of Canaan - modern Israel.
In DEUTERONOMY 30:15-20 God offers them a choice - blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. And his heartfelt cry to his children is: CHOOSE LIFE!
Life Or Death: The Choice Is Ours
The choice however is ours; God never violates the free will he has given us to go his way or own way.
CS Lewis wrote that ultimately there are only two kinds of people:
"There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God 'Thy will be done', and those to whom God says in the end 'Thy will be done.' All that are in Hell choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell." (The Great Divorce pages 6-7)
Video of Charles Stanley on "The Two Paths of Life"
Watch and listen to Bible teacher Dr Charles Stanley speak about "The Two Paths of Life" by clicking on TWO PATHS.
Charles Spurgeon used the gate to illustrate the theological truth of election and predestination in relation to human choice. He likened our election and salvation to a gateway.
On the outside as we enter into our salvation are the words: TURN TO ME & BE SAVED, ALL YOU ENDS OF THE EARTH; FOR I AM GOD & THERE IS NO OTHER (ISAIAH 45:22).
Once safely inside, we look round and see inscribed across the gateway CHOSEN FROM BEFORE THE CREATION OF THE WORLD (EPHESIANS 1:4-5)
