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he man read it, and looking upon the Evangelist very carefully said, “Where
must I go?” Then said the Evangelist, (pointing with his finger
over a very wide field,) “Do you see yonder the very small gate?” The
man said, “No.” Then said the other, “You see yonder
shining light? Keep that light in your eye, and go up directly to it:
you will see the gate and when you knock, you will be told what you will
need to do.” So I saw in my dream that the man began to run. Now,
he did not run far from his own door, but his wife and children, perceiving
what he was doing, began to cry after him to return; but the man put
his fingers in his ears, and ran on, crying, “Life! life! eternal
life!” So he looked not behind but fled towards the middle of the
plain. The neighbors also came out to see him run; and, as he ran, some
mocked, others threatened, and some cried after him to return . . . (excerpt
from Pilgrims Progress). Pilgrim searched for the very small gate in
order to find eternal life! This famous story is based on Jesus’ next
words in the Sermon on the Mount,
Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it. For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it. (NASB) Matthew 7:13-14 Narrow or Wide Gate? Jesus is comparing two gates. His first gate is
narrow and the other one is wide. Each gate appears to open to a road
that is as narrow or as broad as the gate.
The Greek word Jesus uses to describe the width of the second
gate is PLATUS. This word has the idea of “wide, wide spread, diffuse,
and being spread over a wide area.” The road or “way” is
described as “broad.” This last word comes from the Greek
word EURYCHOROS which means “free, spacious, and roomy.” If
we put it all together, Jesus’ second road is very wide and uncrowded.
I used to live in Los Angeles, California, along with 6.5 million other
people. The streets, stores and roads are crowded. The highways are very
wide, but most people do not enjoy traveling on them because they are
so crowded. Traffic jams are normal and the flow of traffic can be very
slow. It was not a joy to travel the highways and streets of the Los
Angeles area. But Jesus’ wide gate and road are very wide with
lots of room, and there are no traffic jams. In fact, on the wide road
you can travel as fast as you want and go where you want. It is fun!
The Narrow Gate. But this is not true with Jesus’ narrow gate and
road. Jesus describes the narrow gate using two Greek words STEVOS and
THLIBO. STEVOS means “restricted, squeezed, pressed, confined,
and narrow” and THLIBO means “to press hard against, crush,
rub, affliction and persecution.” This sounds like a shopping experience
during the holiday season in Los Angeles - an unpleasant experience.
Jesus’ narrow gate and road is small and loaded with affliction.
The wide and roomy gate and road lead to destruction or hell. The constricted,
affliction filled gate and road lead to eternal life.
Pick your God. Recent surveys of Americans reveal that 84 percent call
themselves Christians. This is no surprise. Listen to a recent article
from Forbes ASAP magazine (October 2, 2000 ).
I believe that God remains conscious of his creation and interested in it. I believe that his interest may be described, intermittently at least, as love (and I say “his” with no strong suspicion that he shares qualities with the earthly male gender. |
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