Right at the tail-end of his manifesto – the Sermon on the Mount spanning Matthew 5 to 7 in which he explains the ethics of the kingdom he has come to inaugurate and which will be consummated at his return – Jesus wants to set the record straight about what is fake and what is genuine when it comes to our eternal destinies. He says there are simply two gates and nothing in between and we are all called to make our choice. Bear in mind here that gates are points of access and, in this context, point to the eternal destinies of our souls.
The first gate is the popular one: it’s broad, it’s easy, and many enter into it. Here is easy-believism where God exists to bless you with health and wealth. God is like Aladdin’s genie that you simply rub the right way with your tithes and offerings (of course, these go to the “man/woman of God” or your “papa”) and, “Abracadabra!”, in comes your blessings. Sure it does sound like magic but isn’t it really? Money from nowhere landing into your account or your pocket? Anyway, needless to say, that is where most of us want to be at. We want the money to flow and to be younger and healthier with each passing day. It’s an easy gate to get into because it just doesn’t make demands on you like asking you to stop stealing/cashgating, lying, fornicating, or taking God’s name in vain. You don’t have to change. You remain your sinful racist, tribalistic, gossiping self and you are okay. And nobody will keep you accountable about your so-called faith. No wonder this gate is so popular. But, here is the problem: it ends in destruction. It’s a really nice screen-saver but behind it are horrors unimaginable that endure for eternity.
Then there is the second gate: it’s narrow, it’s hard, and you have to seek it to find it. Here is the school of hard-knocks where you follow Jesus not for the blessings he brings into your life but even when he allows you to suffer and die for his glory. This is the faith of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abedneggo that answers King Nebuchadnezzar’s threat to worship the king’s idol or burn: “O Nebuchadnezzer, we have no need to answer you on this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. BUT IF NOT, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (Daniel 3:17-18 – emphasis mine). In other words, “If you don’t positively answer our prayers, Lord, it’s okay. We will gladly die for you and your kingdom”. This way is really hard. Not only that but to get to the gate, you must seek it so you can find it. Contrast that with the broad gate that is so easily accessed you don’t even have to seek it. This is where you pray with Jesus in the face of an excruciating and humiliating death, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done” (Matthew 26:42). No wonder few find it.
So there you have it, there are two gates to eternity. One leads to eternal destruction; the other leads to eternal life. One can’t sit on the fence of either because there really is no middle way or middle gate. These are mutually exclusive paths that lead to different gates. And it doesn’t take a psycho-analysis PhD to know where exactly you stand. You know if you are on the popular, easy, happy-go-lucky, double-double way that everybody you know is on; on the other hand, you know the heartbreaks and loneliness that assail you because you are living for a kingdom and a day that has not fully dawned yet. So, my friend, stop and look again at the way you have taken. Will it take you to the narrow gate or the broad gate? May you to enter by the narrow gate.
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