Matthew 7:14 Way Which Leadeth Unto Life
Matthew 7:14 (KJV) Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
“Enter the Strait Gate” is God’s call to men throughout the ages to a life with God. The word “strait” means narrow, and restrictive, expressing the difficulty to enter. What is the strait gate? It is the gate of salvation. It is the gate of conversion and regeneration. This entrance through the strait gate describes the beginning of this blessed life.
And there is none more authoritative on earth and in heaven to represent God as His Son, Who is God, the second Person of the Godhead, coming in human flesh, possessing the faculty of human speech, “opened his mouth, taught” the multitudes. What is the message in the heart of God that He wants to convey to mankind? It is the truth that there is no life lived that is more abundant than the life of true godliness that Jesus has just painted to the multitudes in Matthew 5-7.
It is God’s desire that all be saved. All who will hear this message are urged to hearken to the command to enter. Jesus is bidding His listeners by a command and by a determinate action to make the entry. And the answer to the question — “where to enter?” — is given emphatically by the preposition “at”. It is through this gate, the strait gate.
The gate is strait because it also expresses the difficulty in finding it. Why is it difficult to find? Because only Jesus saves! There is no other gate to salvation except in Jesus. The Bible tells us in Acts 4:12, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Jesus Himself says in John 10:9, “I am the door: by me if any man enters in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” In John 11:25-26, Jesus says, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” Truly, the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness but unto us who are saved, it is the power of God. The message that only Jesus saves is a message that we have the great privilege to proclaim. Be warned that it is offensive to the world. Many will stumble at it and perish.
Jesus says in a parallel passage in Luke 13:24, “Strive (agonise, it speaks of a conflict, a struggle) to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” Why is this so? Because it will cost us our pride. Jesus tells us at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). We need to have a poverty of spirit as opposed to a proud spirit to enter this gate. This is the struggle against the “I”, “me”, and “mine”, the self in us which is self-seeking, selfish and self-righteous. We have to surrender our fallen self so that it may be crucified with Christ on the cross. All who stand tall and proud cannot enter. We need to be lowly bent in humbleness of heart to enter this narrow gate. Amen.