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This article will discuss the narrow gate that leads to eternal life spoken of by Yeshua (Jesus) in Matthew 7:13-14, why it is difficult to enter through the narrow gate, and what a believer should do to ensure entrance through the narrow gate.

MATTHEW 7:13-14 (NKJV):
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

MATTHEW 11:30 (NKJV):
“For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

1 JOHN 5:3 (NKJV):
For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

Yeshua (Jesus) said that the way that leads to eternal life is difficult and few find it. He also said that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. 1 John 5:3 declares that His commandments are not burdensome.

How can it be that the way to eternal life is difficult to find, yet His yoke is light and His commandments are not a burden to keep?

ENTER THE DRAGON – SATAN

REVELATION 12:9 (NKJV):
The great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

The reason that the way that leads to eternal life is difficult and few find it, is because Satan has deceived the whole world, which includes every nation, every religious denomination, and every human being living on earth.

JOHN 8:44 (NASB):
“He (Satan – the Devil) was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks it from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Satan has influenced all the religious institutions of men. Many people faithfully go to churches, synagogues, and other places of worship seeking the truth of God’s word, but are often misled by teachers proclaiming and upholding false doctrines.

FALSE TEACHERS AND DEADLY DOCTRINES

MATTHEW 15:14 (NKJV) [WITH INTERPRETATION]:
“They are blind leaders [TEACHERS] of the blind [CONGREGANTS]. And if the blind [TEACHER] leads the blind [CONGREGANTS], both will fall into a ditch [GRAVE].”
*See also: Luke 6:39

Being misled by blind teachers with false doctrines is a path of destruction that makes finding the way to eternal life difficult. A ditch is something that people get temporarily stuck in and can usually get out of. When Yeshua (Jesus) spoke of blind teachers and their blind followers falling into a ditch, He meant that those teaching and believing false doctrines were in danger of remaining in the grave during the Millennial Kingdom reign of Yeshua Messiah (Jesus Christ).

How is a person to avoid being misled by blind teachers and false doctrines? By being a Berean as described in Acts 17:10-12, by testing all things, by knowing the Scriptures for yourself.

ACTS 17:11 (NKJV):
They (the Bereans) received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.

1 THESSALONIANS 5:21 (NKJV):
Test all things; hold fast what is good.

2 TIMOTHY 3:14-17 (NKJV):
You must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus).
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

THE DIFFICULT WAY FOR ALL PEOPLE TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE

JOHN 15:20 (NKJV):
“A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.”

FAMILY, PEER, AND SOCIETAL PRESSURE AND TRADITIONS

The family, peer, and societal pressure and cultural traditions that make the way difficult to eternal life is a uniquely different experience for everyone. When a person truly follows God he or she must believe in Yeshua (Jesus) for salvation, Worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24), and come out and be separate (2 Corinthians 6:17) and set apart (Psalm 4:3) from the common false religious practices and traditions (Matthew 5:3-6; Mark 7:9-13).

MATTHEW 10:32-39 (NKJV):
“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”

THE DIFFICULT WAY FOR THE RICH TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE

MATTHEW 19:24; MARK 10:25; LUKE 18:25 (NKJV):
“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

It is difficult for the rich to inherit eternal life, because the rich are often more concerned with their wealth and possessions than with the ways of God and have often acquired their wealth through sinful practices.

THE DIFFICULT WAY FOR THE JEWS TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE

JOHN 14:6 (NKJV) [WITH COMMENTARY AND INTERPRETATION]:
Yeshua (Jesus) said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one [INCLUDING THE JEW] comes to [GOD] the Father except through Me.”

For Jews, being raised in Judaism, the narrow gate and difficult way for them to receive salvation is to accept, acknowledge, and receive Yeshua (Jesus) as their Lord and Savior. When a Jewish person accepts Yeshua (Jesus), he or she often is accused of no longer being Jewish and receives the scorn and hatred of family, friends, and the larger Jewish community practicing Judaism.

THE DIFFICULT WAY FOR CHRISTIANS TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE

JOHN 14:15 (NKJV):
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.”

Catholics, Protestants, and other Christian denominations combined comprise over 3 billion members worldwide. Mainstream Christianity is a broad way and not a narrow gate. For Christians, the narrow gate and difficult way is to obey all of God’s commandments, observe His feast days, and stop partaking in pagan festivals. This includes, but is not limited to, observing the Seventh-day Sabbath and not Sunday, eating clean creatures and abstaining from unclean creatures, and observing God’s holy feast days and not honoring pagan holidays such as Christmas and Easter. When a person begins observing the Torah (God’s commandments), as commanded by God, the greater Christian community often asks the person doing so, “Are you Jewish?”THE FALSE DICHOTOMY BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY AND JUDAISM

Christians often ridicule Torah-observant, commandment-keeping believers as being Jewish and Jews often criticize Jews who have accepted Yeshua (Jesus) as their Messiah as no longer being Jewish. Both mainstream Christianity and Judaism propose a false either/or premise. Mainstream Christianity proposes that if Christians believe in Yeshua (Jesus) they are not required to obey His laws and if they do they reject His grace that was offered through Him dying on the cross. Judaism proposes that if Jews are practicing the law through Judaism they cannot accept Yeshua (Jesus) as the Messiah and if they do they are no longer Jewish.

Mainstream Christianity often presents a false premise that a person can choose either the law or Yeshua (Jesus), that the law was to lead us to Yeshua (Jesus), and now that we have Yeshua (Jesus) we do not need to keep the law. Furthermore, a believer cannot choose to keep the law and believe in Yeshua (Jesus). 33 The difficult way and narrow gate is to accept Yeshua (Jesus) as Messiah and Savior and obey all the commandments of God as best as humanly possible.

In the 2017 TV series, The Chosen, Yeshua (Jesus) said, “I am the law of Moses.” The Scriptures do not record Him saying those exact words, but He did say something similar in John 8:58.

JOHN 8:58 (NKJV):
Yeshua (Jesus) said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”

The so-called “law of Moses” is not Moses’ law, but God’s.

JOHN 1:17 (NKJV):
Torah (the law) was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ).

The law was given through Moses and then Moses declared it to the Hebrews. All of God’s laws were in existence before Moses, before Abraham, before Noah, and before Adam.

THE DIFFICULT WAY FOR ALL OTHER FAITHS TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE

All other faiths, likewise, have a difficult way to find the narrow gate to inherit eternal life. A person must first be seeking God, and when he or she has found Him, must reject the false religious faith and practices of his or her upbringing. Though difficult, the way is not impossible for those truly seeking God.

MATTHEW 7:7-8 (NIV):
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”

FINDING THE NARROW GATE THROUGH THE DIFFICULT WAY AND ENTERING IN BY IT IS RECEIVING THE KINGDOM OF GOD AS AN INHERITANCE

1 CORINTHIANS 6:9-10 (NKJV):
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous (greedy of gain), nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

GALATIANS 5:19-21 (NKJV):
Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

EPHESIANS 5:5 (NKJV):
For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Messiah (Christ) and God.

INHERITING THE KINGDOM OF GOD AS A FIRST FRUIT

REVELATION 20:4-5 (NKJV) [WITH INTERPRETATION]:
And they [THE FIRST FRUITS] lived and reigned with Messiah (Christ) for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Messiah (Christ), and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

REVELATION 21:7 (NKJV) [WITH INTERPRETATION]:
He who overcomes [SIN] shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.

REVELATION 22:14-15 (NKJV):
Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices a lie.

Yeshua (Jesus) is prophesied to rule the world with a rod of iron (Psalm 2:9; Revelation 2:27, 12:5, 19:5). Strive to be among the first-fruit saints who are given the kingdom of God as an inheritance, a reward, and not part of the second resurrection (Revelation 20:4-5). The rod of correction is for the disobedient of the second resurrection and not for His obedient first-fruit saints who believe in Yeshua (Jesus) for salvation, have overcome sin, obey His commandments, and have entered the kingdom of God by the difficult way and the narrow gate.