Two Ways

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Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglica...Image via Wikipedia"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." (Matthew 7:13-14)
 
It is sobering to realize that the multitudes who believe that all people are "going to the same place" actually are all going to the same place, for they are all traveling the broad way to destruction. It was God Himself, through Jesus Christ, who said that few (few!) ever find the way to eternal life. That narrow way to life is only through Christ, who said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6).
 
The word for "way" in both Old and New Testaments means a road, or journey. Figuratively, it is often used for a lifestyle. The Bible makes it plain, again and again, that there are two ways and two destinies: "The LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish" (Psalm 1:6).
 
The first "way" mentioned in Scripture is "the way of the tree of life," guarded by mighty cherubim and a flaming sword (Genesis 3:24) after Adam and Eve had rejected the authority of their Creator. The second "way" mentioned is when "all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth" and God had to decree "the end of all flesh" (Genesis 6:12-13).
 
The great tragedy is that while there are relatively few who "do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life" (Revelation 22:14), the way is freely open, through Christ, to all who will come to Him. Therefore, each sincere soul should pray, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalm 139:23-24).
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