Matthew 7 - Narrow But Wide!

Click Here To Read Matthew 7



The Narrow and Wide Gates
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.
The context of these verses is that they come at the end of the Sermon on the Mount.  In the next two sections of this chapter, Jesus will teach about the nature of true and false prophets, and true and false disciples.  He is warning the disciples that not everyone will be what they purport to be, which is why he uses the analogy of the tree and its fruit.  A bad tree cannot bear good fruit, and conversely a good tree cannot bear bad fruit.  Someone has said, "the fruits show the roots".  
So then what do verses 13 and 14 have to do with that?  Jesus is teaching that all ways are not the same or equally good.  Inspite of what universalism teaches, "All roads do not lead to God", Jesus is saying that not all roads lead to life.  In John 14:6, Jesus says there is a narrow way and that way is through him.  He says, "I am the way".  I think this is the context of what Jesus is saying here.  True prophets and true disciples have one thing in common, they have entered the gate through Jesus, the one and only way.  
Being a Christian is to humble ourselves and confess, my way will only lead to destruction, I need a better one. I can't save myself.  To say Jesus is the narrow way is not to insinuate that God is narrow minded. It is a way that God wants all people to enter in precisely because He wants people to know that He so loved world that He gave His one and only Son to make a way for us.   



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