MANY OR FEW?

If you polled people in the religious world about eternal salvation, I believe many would say that many people will be saved as compared to the few that will be lost. That is not what Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14. “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. The Lord said only a few will be saved. We must take this warning seriously.

How few can few be?  In 1 Peter 3:20 we read, “(W)ho formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. The conservative estimate of the number of people on the face of the earth in the days of Noah is two hundred million people, but only eight out of the estimated two hundred million were saved.  This is not very good odds.  Even though the Bible says in 1 Peter 3:9 that the Lord is "not willing that any should perish", not all will be saved. Jesus says in Matthew 7:13-14 concerning eternal life in heaven that "there are few who find it". Contrary to popular opinion, the vast majority of people will spend forever and ever in the eternal fires of hell that will never be extinguished.

There are only two roads to eternity and every person is on one or the other. Every person who does not enjoy the bliss of heaven will be condemned to the torment of hell. The sad thing about one being cast into hell is that it could have been avoided. The majority of people will be lost in spite of what the Lord has done. He died and shed His blood for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). Why, then, will the majority be lost? Because they have refused to obey. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” Hell is not what God does to us, but what one does to himself. A person who ends up in hell has only himself to blame.

“You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice” (Exodus 23:2). Let’s make it our top priority not to be a part of the crowd. Make heaven your number one priority in life.

--Lamar