Not All Roads Lead to Heaven by Dr. Robert Jeffress

Author:Dr. Robert Jeffress [Jeffress, Dr. Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: REL067030, REL070000, Salvation—Christianity, Jesus Christ—Person and offices, Apologetics
ISBN: 9781493401468
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2017-01-12T00:00:00+00:00

6

Why New Testament Jews Were for Jesus

When my daughter Julia was eleven, she begged me to take her to see the blockbuster movie Titanic. To this day my wife has not forgiven me for allowing our now-grown daughter to be exposed to the steamy love scene between Leonardo DiCaprio (who was the reason for my daughter’s interest in the film) and Kate Winslet. But the movie did have some redeeming historical value as it recounted one of the greatest disasters in the twentieth century, in which more than fifteen hundred people lost their lives.

However, the screenwriter omitted one of the most dramatic scenes of the Titanic story that occurred in the days following its sinking. As the news of the ship’s fate spread throughout the world, the officials from the White Star Line had to determine how to inform relatives whether their loved ones had survived or perished. Accordingly, outside the White Star office in Liverpool, England, the company set up a large sign that was divided into two columns. The heading on the left side read, “Known to Be Saved” and the heading on the right side read, “Known to Be Lost.”

As the messenger would emerge from the office with the name of another passenger, the assembled crowd would wait anxiously to see on which side the name would be listed. While onboard the ship the passengers had experienced a variety of different categories of service—first class, second class, third class, and steerage. But after the sinking, passengers were placed in one of only two categories: saved or lost.1

The same is true of everyone who lives and dies. While there is great economic, geographic, religious, and ethnic diversity among the seven billion residents of planet Earth, when we die there are only two designations that matter: saved or lost. As we saw in the previous chapter, Jesus Christ affirmed that there are only two roads in life, which lead to two different destinies:

Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matt. 7:13–14)

The road that leads to destruction is deceptive because it is so wide and has so many people traveling on it. “How could so many people be wrong?” ask people who struggle with the idea of Christ offering the only way to heaven. After all, the vast majority of the world’s population are not Christian. All the people who are on this “highway to hell”—including Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Protestants, Catholics, and atheists—share one characteristic: although they may have embraced different lies, they have rejected the same truth.

What is that truth? It is that narrow belief that faith in Jesus is the only way a person can enter into heaven. And just in case anyone was confused about what that narrow gate is, Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6).

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