JESUS CHRIST – THE GATE TO ETERNAL LIFE
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans: “Jesus Christus, die Poort na die Ewige Lewe”
Translator: Robin Barker
Someone wrote to me and asked, where we read about the gate, where we, the Christians will enter into Heaven.
He reads about the 12 gates for the tribes/lines of Israel but what about you and me who are not Israelites.
Read first Revelation 21:12 because I want to show you something.
REV 21:12 It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Do you see it?
No where do we read that only Israelites can go through the gates, or that there only are certain people that can go through certain gates.
It was only the names of the Gates.
I have seen this many times in my life from the time I started working for our Lord.
Sometimes we read something in the Word and then we make certain assumptions, but the assumptions we make at that time, are not what is written in the Word.
We read something and make incorrect assumptions and come to the wrong conclusions.
It just makes me think of the myth of the 3 wise men.
Nowhere in the Word do we read, for example, that there were 3 wise men who went to Jesus from the East, but because 3 gifts were brought namely “gold, frankincense and murr,” many people assume that there were 3 wise men.
I have even heard a service in which the minister speaks about the ‘three wise men’.
We read:
MATT 2:1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem
MATT 2:2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
In an earlier translation, KJV, we read this section as follows:
MATT 2:1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
MATT 2:2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him
For interest sake only, I share with you another example of where people have read something in the Word and then have incorrectly interpreted it.
Someone will quote for you and then simply say that it is written in the Word, namely:
“Money is the route of all evil.”
It may be what I understand when I read that verse from the Word, but that is not what is written.
We read and I quote first an older, KJV, translation:
1 TIM 6:10 “For the love of money is the root of all evil: …”
Do you see?
Love of money and not money is the route of all evil.
Money alone is not good or bad.
In the NLV this verse reads as follows:
1 TIM 6:10 “The love of money is the beginning of all kinds of sin. …”
I mention this only because people sometimes read something from the Word and then misunderstand and then may easily say, as they understand it; “so it is written in the Word”
I am now going to restrict myself, in this writing, to the verse and the question, which according to my understanding of the person’s question and summary thereof:
“Where can I read about the gate that you and I can go through to enter into heaven?”
As you have just seen – if you are looking for an example of a gate through which the Christian’s can go into Heaven, you can also use the 12 gates with their different names as an example, but we furthermore read:
MATT 7:13 Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
MATT 7:14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
In Luke we read:
LUKE 13:23-25
23 Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” He said to them,
24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door,(gate) because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.
25 Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ “But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’
Personally I do not wonder what the gate will look like through which I will go.
For me it is wonderful to know, that when I depart this life, I will be with Jesus:
I loudly rejoice like my great hero Paul:
PHIL1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Now and I want to encourage you to also reason this way:
I try my utmost to stay on the narrow path and allow Christ to lead me.
Because I know:
JOHN 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Therefore, if I believe what you have just read and accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour and follow Him through this life, I will eventually arrive by the Father and that are what I proclaim and try to do to the best of my abilities.
It is just essential; that I mention here to believe in God alone will not keep me out of hell – satan and all the evil spirits also believe in God:
JAMES 2:19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
You must accept Jesus Christ as your Lord, Redeemer and Saviour:
JOHN 1:12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—
Because you see, it does not matter about the appearance of the gate, or where the gate is located.
The lovely truth is this:
JOHN 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
JOHN 10:7 So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
JOHN 10:9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.
Greetings,
Sakkie