Jesus: The Door To Salvation

The spiritual battle that rages must be fought not with physical strength or by weapons formed by man but with the weapons that God gives to us and one of the most important weapons we have been given is prayer. Many use the old cliché “the battle is won on our knees” and Jesus tells us from the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 7:7-8, ”Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”

Without question or doubt, Christ gives us many great things and many of the things that we ask for but one of the greatest lessons that I have learned is we should be thankful for many of the things that He does not give to us. Personally, as I think back to some of the things that I have prayed for and did not get, I am more than grateful that I did not get them and I love what Christ says in Matthew 7:13, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. “

While this concept is easy to understand, there is a bit of a problem: sin. Sin is missing the mark and the mark is Christ. The narrow gate or straight gate as other translations refer to is as in Matthew 7:13 is none other than Christ Himself. The way to heaven, the path to heaven, is narrow or strait and Christ is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). Further, in John 10:7, Jesus says that “Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.” Here, Christ is saying that He is the door is telling us that we are His sheep and He is the way to salvation.

While many celebrities, professors, philosophers and other professionals of the world will say that there are other ways into Paradise, we cannot forget that God has given us a guide, His holy word, and Acts 4:12 says “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” In other words, there is no name under Heaven that gives salvation than that of Jesus Christ and through Christ, we are saved so no other name, or way, amounts to anything.

While it’s important to read scripture, we must also understand scripture and it’s important to look at how verses are written. In John 10:7, for example, Christ says that He is the door rather than a door. This is important because changing just one word would completely change the way the scripture reads and its meaning. If a changed the to a then Christ would be just another way to Heaven but written as “the,” He is the only way to Heaven.

Furthermore, when we research scripture for understanding, we not only learn about the scripture but we also learn more about the scripture within context and John 10:7 is a perfect example. For example, when we think of sheep, we think of them as helpless and probably the most helpless of all domesticated animals as they wander all day long, eating, and never looking up which will get them lost and we the people are much like the sheep as we are His sheep and we go from place to place and often, do not look up and we become lost but it’s Jesus that brings us home to paradise.

Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. “

–Matthew 7:13