There's Real Treasure Behind This Door

Yes, I am the gate (door). Those who come in through me will be saved. Wherever they go, they will find green pastures. John 10:9

For many years, one of the most popular television game shows allowed winning contestants to choose between Door Number One, Door Number Two and Door Number Three and then receive whatever treasures were hidden behind it.

The suspense and mystery of what might lay behind those doors was intriguing. Was it something exceeding expectations, like a car, cash or a dream vacation or was it a joke prize, something no one would want?

Closed doors, especially if unlocked, generally invite entry just by their being there. They provide access to the unknown. Some people can't pass one without looking inside, even if it's marked "Do not open" or "Employees only." The door of a medicine cabinet or a closet door in a friend's home often seem to say, 'Take a peek,' to the curious. Even in some fairy tales, heroes or heroines faced the choice of closed doors, not knowing beforehand which one concealed danger and which one held dreams come true.

Interestingly, in one passage of Scripture in John 10:1-18, Jesus describes Himself as a door. In a discourse about sheep, their safety in the sheep pen and the security they have with their shepherd, Jesus calls Himself both the good shepherd and the door or gate of the sheep pen. He says that anyone who doesn't enter the sheep pen by the gate is a robber or thief and has no legal right to what's inside.

The sheep He refers to are people. The sheep pen is a relationship with God and the eternal salvation and life that are part of being a member of God's family. In verses 7-9, Jesus says, "I am the door (gate) for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn't listen to them. I am the door (gate); whoever enters through me will be saved."

Most people think they have to wait until they die to taste heaven and eternal life. But Jesus said He came to open the Kingdom of Heaven to man while we're living here on earth. He came to bring man access to the riches and glory of heaven right now, right here, in the middle of the circumstances, situations and environment we're living in. And unlike human wealth, which can vanish in a downturn of the stock market or be obliterated by business failure or debt, heaven's riches are never depleted. And they have the power to turn a garage dump or a prison cell into streets of gold by putting us in touch with the King of Kings, the One who owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the One who made all things and to whom all the earth and its inhabitants belong.

When we let Jesus be our door -- our gate -- to God, our Father, and His Kingdom, we have access into the supernatural, where miracles happen and where even those things sent by evil to harm or destroy us are redeemed so that good is produced both for us and in us. When we enter the Kingdom of Heaven through Jesus, we become joint heirs with Christ to all that heaven contains and to the power, authority and security afforded to all of God's adopted children (Romans 8:14-17). Jesus provides us access to the Father, because He is the One through whom the Father pours out forgiveness for sins to us. He paid the penalty for our sins by dying on the cross for us. He is our door to all that heaven has to offer and to living daily in the presence of God. He is our door to victory in all of life's unknown and our protection, even in the midst of the terror, evil and turmoil stalking this world.

Be a winner. Choose Jesus, and let Him open the way to all that makes life precious and to the eternal inheritance set aside for you.

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