7 Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
In the highest sense of the Word, Jesus is the only True Gate as no one can come to the Father but through Him. He is our access to God. We are by nature separated from God – sin being the great barrier wall between mankind and a holy God. We are born with this enmity and the longer we live we become more and more proficient regarding this alienation with our constant practice of sin and rebellion. Hence the only way we are able to draw near to God is through the precious blood of our Lord Jesus. Christ is the Mediator between God and Man. He is the Way because He is the Truth and He is the Life:
6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6 (NIV)
Jesus is our clear Way of access into righteousness, communion, fellowship and communication with a holy God. This is why He commands us in the Sermon on the Mount:
13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matt 7:13-14 (NIV)
Contrary to popular opinion, salvation is not obtainable through a myriad of ways. There is only one way which exists and it being through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter states in Acts:
12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12 (NIV)
Paul writes to his beloved Timothy the following Truths regarding both God’s desire for all men to come to this knowledge of salvation and of Jesus as being our only access and mediator:
3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men--the testimony given in its proper time. 1 Tim 2:3-6 (NIV)
God, who is by nature a Savior, desires that none should perish but that the entire human race would come to a saving knowledge of the Truth through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ who is the Truth. God’s motivation towards mankind is and always has been love. There is but one God and there is but one way to approach Him – the Man who was God in the flesh – Jesus Christ. He willingly became the ransom for the entire human race, redeeming mankind through His blood which He shed on the cross. Jesus opened the way for sinful man to draw near to God with boldness and without fear. We must take heed to use the Gate and not merely stand outside gaping at it. It is a Gate that is available to the world and within which we find a full supply for every need of our souls. It is God’s desire for us to enter and be saved:
16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (NIV)
Jesus often taught regarding the reality and severity of Hell. He describes it as being a place of never ending blackest darkness, pain and fire using such terminology as “weeping and gnashing of teeth”. This is not a very popular message from modern day pulpits but Truth none the less. I wonder what the people would tell us from Noah’s day as the flooding began to cover their heads or Sodom and Gomorrah’s residents as the burning sulfur started to fall. Do you not think they would be shouting to us “Wake up!” “Wake up!”? It is God’s desire to awaken us up from our spiritual drowsiness to the reality of the Truth. Why should anyone perish when the Remedy has been so lovingly provided? I am reminded of God’s Words penned by the Prophet Ezekiel:
31 Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live! Ezek 18:31-32 (NIV)
“The best answer to fear is to have a firm grasp of what it means to be accepted by God.” John Gunstone
24 but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Heb 7:24-25 (NIV)