I AM the Door (Gate)

Jesus said, I AM the Door (Gate). If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture (John 10:9).

 

There is a Gate.  Jesus Christ is that Gate.  What a dark world this would have been had there been no way of entrance into the knowledge of and into fellowship with God!  “Behold, I set before you an open door” (Revelation 3:8).  But note that there was but one gate. The Gate said, “I AM the Way” (John 14:6). There is no other name under heaven given by whereby you may be saved (Acts 4:12).

This was a wide Gate. What it lacked in height it had in width. Height means more or greater spiritual experience; breadth means great liberty of access. Whosoever will may come!  The Gate of atonement is as wide as the world (1John 2:2). The way of substitution is as straight as the new birth.  If few find it, it is because few there be that seek it (Matthew 7:7).  You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart, then I will be found by you, declares the LORD (Jeremiah 29:13).

This was a strongly-supported Gate. It hung on four pillars. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is supported by four infallible pillars.  Each holds up a different aspect of Him who is, “The Way, the Truth and the Life” (John 14:6). Their names are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

This Gate was the way into life. Immediately, in front of the Gate stood the altar of sacrifice. It was impossible to pass in without coming in sight of God’s provision for the sinner.  Passing through the Gate meant the acceptance of God’s Way of salvation.  What do we learn from this?  (Even though there are two steps before this, such as recognizing we are sinners in need of a Savior, and the humble, sincere willingness to turn from known sin and live for Christ). Salvation is but one step. When the sinner trusts the Lord Jesus Christ as the Way to the Father, at that moment he comes into personal contact with the atoning blood of the Lamb. Christ is both the Gate and the Altar. We decide at the Gate and are justified at the Altar.

The word “altar” simply means “high place” or that which lifts up. The altar with its sacrifice is profoundly significant of Christ on the Cross (John 14:6). At the Cross the sinner comes into contact with the goodness and the sincerity of God --- condemnation of the sin, but mercy for the sinner. This Altar of burnt offering ”lifted up” all that was laid upon it. The “burnt offering” represented Christ as the wholly devoted One.

The brazen altar standing at the Gate of entrance represented the claims of God.  As a holy and righteous God He had claims that must be satisfied before He could, in mercy, meet with man and bless him. The altar was filled, and all the demands of a holy God fully met when Christ cried on the Cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30).  Here the “sin- offering”  was  slain, then carried without the camp, but its blood was poured out at the “bottom of the altar.” The value of the sin-offering lay in the blood.  “The blood is the life,” or, “the life is in the blood.”  This was left at the foot of the altar.  Here we see Christ as the sinner’s  substitute, pouring out His soul unto death. “They overcame by ‘the blood of the Lamb’ and the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death” (Revelation 12:11).

The altar was positioned right in front of the Gate. This reminds us that atonement is the first necessity in our approach to God. The first blessing our God desires to give us is the forgiveness of our sins, but “without the shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). See also, Hebrews 9:12-14;  10:19-23).

Those who refuse “Christ Jesus and Him crucified” as their sin-atoning Substitute have no liberty of access to God. To approach God disregarding the altar meant death. Cain tried it; he ignored the blood, and brought the curse of God upon himself.  Cain knew it had to be a blood sacrifice, and God reminded him if he does it the right way he will be accepted. (Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Hebrews9:22). Cain was angry and did not repent. Therefore God warned Cain that if he doesn’t offer a blood offering, sin would be waiting at his door to have him, and that he must rule over it. Cain let his anger rule him and went out and killed his brother (Genesis 4:1-16).  “A sin-offering lies at the door” (Genesis 4:7). God has laid it there; it is there for us. It has a voice, “Look unto Me and be saved…for I am God” (Isaiah 45:22). Do not trample on it.
 

 This was taken from - Handfuls On Purpose - by James Smith

 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door (of your heart) I will come into him, and eat with him and he with Me (Revelation 3:20).
 

~Annie~