Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
Luke 13:24
What this is speaking about is Heaven. This is talking about entering into Heaven, of going into the Kingdom of God. This is what it is all about, right? The most important thing, for any person, is to enter into Heaven.
People think all kinds of other things are more important. They will spend their time on just about anything else but this if left to themselves and if God does not really begin giving them an interest in the things of God in the Bible. But, really, when you get down to it, the truth is, it is a fact, the most important thing, the absolutely most important thing for any person is not how much money they make, what kind of degree they have, what type of house they have, or what kind of car they have. It has nothing to do with your possessions: what you own or do not own. It has nothing to do with what kind of job you have or how intelligent you are.
The most important thing is eternity and living in the Kingdom of God, entering into Heaven. This is a fact because once God finishes His plan here on earth, once He completes it and His salvation plan is over and He destroys the world and wipes it out, then everything else is shown to be vanity at that point. “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” This is what Solomon was moved to write.
This proves that, really, what was always the most important thing was getting into Heaven—somehow, someway—and man has known this deep-down. Every person has known this.
The Muslim religion, some strive by going on their knees and making a way to Mecca. Or the Hindus, they make a pilgrimage. They take a journey to the Ganges River that they might wash themselves in that holy river; this is how they look at it. Then there are all kinds of Christians who think that the place where there is a portal, where there is a doorway, is church. Church is the place; that is how they can get into Heaven.
Actually, all of this is wrong because the entryway, the portal, is not a place. It has never been a place. It has never been a place where you go and if you go there and do certain things and follow certain religious rites or traditions or guidelines, then you can enter into Heaven. It has never been this way. No, God has really laid down in the Bible how we can enter into Heaven and what the “gate” is.
If we go to Genesis 28, this is Jacob who is in view, and it says in Genesis 28:12:
And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
A little later in Genesis 28:16-17:
And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I was wrong. There is a place! There is a place over in the Middle East somewhere. We have to find that spot. We have to find that spot where Jacob was dreaming and saw this ladder come down from Heaven and “angels…ascending and descending on it.” Well then, let us all make a pilgrimage.
No, that is not necessary. It is not necessary because Jesus fills us in on exactly what was happening here in Genesis, in the Gospel of John, where it says in John 1:51:
And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
You see, Jesus is giving us the picture, the complete picture, of what Jacob’s dream represented, what it meant, that it is Christ who is the gateway. Christ is that entrance into Heaven. Angels, or messengers, ascend via Christ and descend via Christ. It is all through Him, as it says in Acts 4, “There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
He is the only way. He is the only possible entrance into Heaven, into eternal life. There is not any other way, even though all kinds of gospels and religions try to convince people that there are other ways, that there are other things besides just Christ, besides the Gospel of the Bible, that you can get to Heaven many other different ways. No, God says that there is only One way, just One way. That is it.
Excerpt from Many Will Seek To Enter Into Heaven