The Narrow and Broad Ways

Greetings Brethren,

Toward the end of His Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus set forth the two destinies of mankind, eternal life and eternal damnation. Jesus used the metaphor of two gates and two roadways on which all people travel that would bring them to their final destination. The road most traveled is the broad way, which is perceived by all to be the easy and the best way, but the end of this road is "destruction", in other words, damnation. The Lord described the other road, which is least traveled, as more "difficult" than the broad way, but it leads its travelers unto "life", that is, eternal life. A gate stands at the head of each road. The broad roadway has a "wide" gate, to allow for many to enter. The difficult roadway has but a small ("strait") gate at its entrance, a gate that is not easily discovered, even for the few that do find it. The Lord urged His hearers to enter this narrow gate. It is not easy to enter, for the Lord Himself must open this gate to them who would enter, and the Lord does not open this gate to everyone. Jesus is quite selective whom He enlists to be His followers. But for those who truly desire to go through this strait gate and who are importunate in asking, seeking, and knocking at this gate, Jesus promised that He would open this gate to admit their entrance (Matt. 7:7). Last week we gave attention to the meaning of the narrow gate itself. This week we will consider the difficult roadway to which the gate opens. But first we will review a few details about entering this gate.