Question:
What is Jesus like?

Answer: The Gate

Have you ever been outside when it has been so cold that even breathing hurt? On very cold days you will often see people moving quickly from their cars to their homes or businesses. People often are rushing to get inside where it is warm. In fact that is one of the great feelings. You rush and you get to a door and as you open it you feel the warmth greet you. And then you are inside safe and warm. Jesus once described himself in similar terms. He calls himself the gate. In the Holy Injil, John 10:7-10 Jesus says, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Jesus is describing something that was very common to agricultural communities. He is talking about sheep pens and where the sheep would spend the night. The sheep pen was a safe place where the sheep could be protected. Sometimes these sheep pens would not have a door and in that case the shepherd himself would lay down for the night in the pen’s opening and he would be the door. Anyone wanting to get to the sheep would have to get through him. At other times a sheep pen may have a gate. Jesus may be thinking of both. Either way the picture is clear—Jesus is the way to safety. There are others who want the sheep. They are thieves and their purpose is to kill. But Jesus says his purpose is to give life.

What is so great is that Jesus tells us that there is a way to be saved. In this life we live, we have many trials and they all end in the grave—we die. In this life we often disobey God and do what is not right. We deserve to face God’s punishment and to face death and hell. But Jesus says that there is a way to safety—it is through him. And he tells me that in him I will have life and have it to the full. It will not be a life that just ends in the graveyard but a life of Joy being in God’s presence. And this life will be full even now on earth. Even now the joy of God’s love and the salvation I have in Jesus fills me with a peace that cannot be taken away.

I don’t know where your life is at. I don’t know what burdens are on your heart. But I do know a place you can be safe. I know a place where you can get out of the cold. Jesus, right now, wants to give you life and salvation, safety and himself. He wants you to have life to the full.