2014.05.18_The Narrow Gate Leading to Life

Life and Eternal Life Given Through the Son

            God has prepared a gate and path so that man is able to enter His kingdom. It is truly remarkable that man could go to the Kingdom of God. How can man, being the flesh, enter the spiritual Kingdom of God? From man’s perspective, there is nothing more perfect than to be able to go to God’s kingdom, much like a pleasant scenario from a fairytale.

            However, going into the kingdom of God is not such an easy matter. In God’s eyes man is cunning and has many sins. Man does not only sin every day, he also carries an infinite potential to sin. Man’s flesh is constantly mass-producing sin. It is quite ambitious for a creature with such flesh to desire to go to Heaven, but also impossible to even get ready to go into Heaven without having resolved such oppressive sin.

            But God has given His Son to the world and these problems have all been resolved. A dream we might only see in fairytales has become a reality. God has afforded us with life by giving His Son, and from then on, He allows us to have eternal life through the Son.

            Concerning the life given through the Son, 1 John 5:11-12 says, “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” God has made His Son to be a sacrificial offering in order to give us life. Philippians 2:8 says, “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” First John 2:2 says, “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” Jesus died for the will of God, which is to give life to man. Having given us life, God’s next task is to give us eternal life through His Son. For this, God gave the authority to His Son. John 17:2 says, “as You (the Father) have given Him (the Son) authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him,” and Matthew 28:18 says, “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.’”

            The notion of life and eternal life is not always distinguished in the Scripture. Many times the word ‘life’ encompasses the meaning of ‘eternal life.’ Yet ‘life’ and ‘eternal life’ must not be considered as the same. We have already received ‘life.’ Of course the force of life continues unto eternity, but taking possession of life is fully achieved in a single event. On the other hand, ‘eternal life’ can be described as a journey to perpetuating life. People who cannot differentiate ‘life’ from ‘eternal life’ are quick to conclude, ‘I have been saved. So even if I might live like an unbeliever it shouldn’t be a big problem since I have eternal life.’ It is one thing to be saved and receive life, and another to obtain eternal life. Although life and eternal life are closely related, the two must not be equated.

The Gate of Life

            We need to know that there is a gate to obtaining life and a path that sustains that life forever, that is, a path to having eternal life. Let’s take worship for an instance. Can we really say, “I worshipped well”, just because we performed the act of worship by following the order of service in the church on the Lord’s Day? How can you guarantee that that worship is delivered to God? Is it the case where you have been merely repeating the act of worship habitually without any interest in whether or not your worship is delivered to God?

            When Jesus was on the earth He said, “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him” (John 4:23). This was Him showing that the worship done in the past was not that which God was seeking, as well as declaring that a new generation of worship was coming.

            The congregation shares a joint responsibility in delivering the worship to God. However, every worshipper needs to ask themselves the question, ‘is God pleased with my worship?’ What we must be clear about is that the worship could never be delivered unless the worshiper enters through the narrow gate called Jesus Christ. People had worshipped God even before Jesus came. However, Jesus firmly stated that such was not the worship God was seeking. As Jesus declared, God seeks ‘the worship done in spirit and truth,’ which means to worship through Jesus Christ.

            Failing to deliver the worship to God is like a person going to the palace to present an offering to the king, only to be left stamping his feet and weeping outside because he could not find the gate or did not have the right to enter through the gate. Jesus Christ is the gate through which a person must go if he desires to meet and present his offering to God. Hence now, we must not stay relaxed and ease off our minds for simply having performed the act of worship. We first need to have Jesus receive our worship. Unless Jesus has accepted the worship, it cannot be delivered to God.

            Inside the Old Testament temple were the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place divided by a veil. The Holy Place was where the priest served God but the most Holy Place was the place of God, forbidden for man. Thankfully however, an opportunity was given once a year so that the high priest could go through the veil into the Most Holy Place. This was a type of what would only ever happen once in eternity. Man could never meet God due to the wall of sin but God had shown in advance that at one time, the gate to God would be opened. Jesus Christ died on the cross like a sinner. He demolished the wall of sin between God and man, taking the place Himself. The Scripture says the veil inside the Jerusalem temple was torn from top to bottom the moment Jesus breathed His last (Mark 15:38). The torn veil signifies the gate to God being opened through the tearing of the body of Jesus Christ (Heb. 10:20).

            A worshiper of God ought to remember the voice of the Lord who, despite His suffering and solitude, exclaimed ‘Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani!’ in awe of God’s remarkable work. We need to consider the grace of the Lord who endured and remained on the cross to the end for us. The Lord has torn His own body as if tearing down the veil so that the gate leading to God will never be shut, and we must give thanks for the Lord’s merits. Only then can we deliver up our worship to God. We ought not to think that our own zeal, sincerity and godliness would please God in offering our praise and prayer. Many people disregard the death of Jesus Christ and try to seek God with simply their own sincerity and earnestness. Such things are possible for even people who are merely religious and do not know God. God desires spirituality. This is not godliness or mental concentration, but entering through the gate Jesus has opened by shedding His blood.

            Jesus wants the worship to be conducted through Him. The Father also desires to receive those who worship through His Son, who shed His blood and died. The Lord promised us saying, ‘if you worship relying on me, I will ensure your worship is accepted by the Father’. Therefore, every time we worship we need to remember and rely on the Lord who tore His flesh and opened the gate leading to God.

            It is not right to simplify the death of Jesus as creating a system that automatically connects us to God. Jesus Himself has become the sacrificial Lamb and purposely keeps hold of our relationship with God forever. We cannot go before God on our own by having been made righteous through the merits of Jesus. Rather, it is because Jesus is sustaining our relationship with God by His authority that we have the confidence to go before God. We need to surely understand that we cannot go to God with only our own sincerity, enter the gate of Jesus Christ and go before God to see His face and deliver our worship up to Him.

            This is the same with prayer. Regardless of how dire one’s personal circumstances may be, it would not be possible to deliver one’s prayers to God based on that. Jesus said, “If you askanything in My name, I will do it” (John 14:14). This is the absolute principle of prayer. If we pray in Jesus’ name, Jesus will deliver our prayer to the Father. Thus, the prayer that neglects Jesus Christ would never be delivered. Anyone that prays to God must enter through the gate of Jesus Christ.

            Jesus said, “Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:7-9). Jesus is the only gate through which we can deliver our faith to God. Without the help of Jesus, our prayers cannot be delivered to God. The kind of heart a person should have when praying is, “Jesus, help me to deliver my prayer for the Father to receive!”

The Path of Eternal Life

            Having gone through the gate of life, one must now walk the path of eternal life. That is the path of Truth and the way to be blessed. The blessings do not automatically come simply because we have been saved. Salvation and walking the path of eternal life are two separate matters. The joy and happiness to be enjoyed with Jesus Christ, as well as receiving His praise and reward in the future, are all for those who walk the path of eternal life.

            We give dedications and offerings in the church joyfully because there is the command from Jesus and the promise of a reward. When we consider the grace the Lord has bestowed on us, we should be glad to do these things even if there were no rewards. Yet, since He has even promised a rich reward, we have no reason to be miserly. As we offer what is ours to God we say, ‘Jesus, who has given life to me that I may go to the Father! Receive the offering I bring as the one saved by Your blood and living by Your life!’ and enter by the gate the Lord has opened. To do this we cut back on spending for ourselves. And when we offer to the church what we have saved in this way, we are laying them before Jesus with a longing for the Father’s will to be done through the church. We are also preparing for our life in eternity.

            Serving in the Church is when a person who has received the grace of Jesus Christ, determines himself and lives according to the Lord’s way and follows the Truth; it is about following the path of Jesus Christ now that he has entered through His gate. As the Lord has sacrificed Himself and given His help for us worthless beings, now we are to offer ourselves for the Lord’s kingdom. The Lord will say to such people, ‘You helped me when I was suffering on the earth for you’. And when they reply in bewilderment, ‘when did we do that?’ the Lord would answer, ‘I have always watched you and remember everything you did’ (Matt 25:31-40).

            Jesus warned, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matt. 7:21-23). And He continued, “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall” (Matt. 7:24-27).

            This was something that had been warned about long before Jesus came into the world. Proverbs 1:24-28 says, “Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, because you disdained all my counsel, and would have none of my rebuke, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, when your terror comes like a storm, and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.”

            It is the duty of holy saints to give dedication, service and offering. Saints are those who have gone into Jesus Christ and now, they must take the path Jesus has given. While it is up to the individual to decide whether or not they would follow that path, anyone that does not take that path will be devoid of blessings and grow weaker in his pursuit of eternal life. The Israelites in the past were compelled to serve and give offerings as instructed by Moses under the direction of the angel. They did that in order not to die, but we do so to gain eternal life according to the words of Jesus.

            Even after Jesus came, the Jews of the early church endeavored to keep a form of godliness as set out in the Law. They prided themselves on being superior to the Gentile Christians, and sought to receive God’s recognition through their holy and perfect deeds. They disdained the Gentiles who do not observe the Law while boasting that they were of the holy circumcision. To this Paul said, “For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Phil. 3:3).

            Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6), and again, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5). Therefore, we must never stray from the path of Jesus to follow whatever our own mind deems right.

The Narrow Gate, the Narrow Way

            God has already completed His great work by sending His Son. Judgment has been rendered already. Anyone wishing to have life must enter by the narrow gate. God would give him the Holy Spirit and make him walk the narrow way that Jesus has prepared. We need to obey the Truth in order to walk the path leading to eternal life.

            God said concerning Jesus Christ, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” (Matt 17:5). John 3:35-36 says, “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” John 5:22-23 says, “or the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.” Thus, the Son also determined Himself saying, “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:40).

            The people of the world are uninterested in the narrow gate called Jesus Christ; they desire the broad way. They enjoy having the freedom to act and like to regard themselves as righteous. There is no absolute standard in this world. In most cases, the opinion of the majority is treated as right. They remain fixed on the vague idea, ‘Why wouldn’t I be able to go to Heaven when I’ve never done anything bad?’ To them, Christians are simply people with a very uncompromising attitude. This is of no surprise at all. First Corinthians 1:18 says, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Christians are those who endeavor to enter the gate and follow the way Jesus has opened, by the power of God.

            The gate opened by Jesus is very narrow that only a few enter through it. Still fewer people walk the path that Jesus has opened. The reason why that gate and that way are so narrow is that there are many things to be given up in order to go through them. But far from giving up other things to follow that way, the worldly people crucified Jesus and completely abandoned Him. However, the One whom the world does not wish to remember, is the only way leading us to Heaven, the path on which we should be joyful and leaping like a calf, and our everlasting asset.

            We did not undergo any suffering in order for Jesus to give us life. Jesus alone bore the suffering and we basically got a free ride on His merits. Though He is God’s Son, He learned obedience through His suffering and was made perfect. Thus, He became the source of salvation that could save every single soul (Heb. 5:8-9). The path of eternal life is about following Christ – a path of suffering. That path is not new. We need to take that path with faith and perseverance. Jesus said, “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3). We must become those who successfully enter the eternal life of the Lord. We should be of one heart with the Lord who is preparing our place, and prepare the day of His return.

            Apostle Paul said to the saints in Thessalonica, “so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer; since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (2 Thess. 1:4-9). The Lord will surely reward those who suffer with Him on the earth.

            Jesus Christ is the gate of life and the way of eternal life. He is the gate that removed from us everything that brought frustration, sadness and darkness. He is the only way by which we may joyfully go towards eternal life. In everything we do whether it is worship, dedication, service or prayer, we must first enter by that gate, and follow that narrow yet holy way. When we do, God will give us the greatest honor. Though the way the Lord has taken may be rough, the one who follows the Lord on that path will later be able to share the joy and glory with the Lord.