FINDING THE NARROW GATE

Matthew 7:13-14 about the narrow and wide gates has always been a convicting passage for me. It says: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

When we look at the time of Jesus’ first coming we see that Jesus really was that narrow gate. John 10:1-18 talks about this, in verse 7 it says: “Therefore Jesus said again, ‘I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.’” In contrast we see in Matthew 23:13-14 that the Pharisees and teachers of the law are the wide gate. It says they “shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces.”

When Jesus, who had God’s spirit, came to the earth, he exposed all the words, ideals and orthodoxies of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and all other denominations of the Jews at that time, as garbage.

In 1 John 4:1 it says: “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” So, according to what John says here, we must test what people are saying and doing to know if they are truly from God. This, in turn, will save us from being deceived and will guide us through the narrow gate where we want to go.

How do we test a person’s words and actions? We test them according to the Bible. That is the only tool we have. But, we must test using the Bible accurately. In Matthew 4 Jesus is tempted by Satan. Satan tempts Jesus using the words of God (just like Satan tempted Adam and Eve in the garden by twisting God’s words), but Jesus is able to overcome Satan by using God’s words accurately to fight back.

It’s not easy testing if we don’t know or understand God’s words well enough. We must be always seeking and testing and growing in knowledge and understanding of the Bible so that we can find and go through the narrow gate which Jesus Christ promised us. ~