Gate Keeper

John 10:9 -- "I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture."

Dust can be seen settling on a dirt and gravel road as a strange "futuristic" car pulls up to an electronic, blue-ish gel like structure that the good people of Defiance call a gate. It's for protection. It keeps the sci-fi "baddies" out. Nestled peacefully under what used to be the Gateway Arch of St. Louis, the new town of Defiance is what is left of an earth city after an alien race tried terra from our planet to meet the life requirements of it's own species. Sounds pretty cool. Inside the gate are remnants of old man made structures, pushed, nailed, glued or welded together in an eclectic collage of textures and colors. This is the new earth.

But I want to zero in on the gate. After all, it's only left standing for two episodes. It is then taken down by some of the most terrible and technologically advanced aliens ever to walk the earth. The city of Defiance, earns it's name by fighting off the horde and keeping the town safe. But now, life must resume without their magnificent blue gel gate. They FEEL exposed. I think I would, too.

In the time of the great Roman empire, many of our earth cities were fortified with great walls, and great gates. Much like the sci-fi town of Defiance, the gates were used for protection. But if you think about it, they were also a kind of boundary - all but sequestering the residence within it's protective barriers. You couldn't get inside unless you "were in the club". And most people didn't attempt to venture out. What if they left the safety of the gates and were somehow, not able to get back in? The people of Rome, just like the people of Defiance, allowed their fears to keep them inside their self-imposed prisons.

Safe? Maybe. But what would one do for food? How would somebody within the city walls get to "pasture"? Provide food for family and care for a home? And eventually, wouldn't the human DNA chains and physical biology bottle neck to a point that would prove difficult to perpetuate the human species? Sickness would soon become a huge issue.

I love this verse in John. We have been granted access through the gate. Into the blue gel boundaries that represent salvation and safety. We know this. Most of us cling to this verse because we DO have salvation through Jesus Christ. He is the ONLY safety and salvation. ...but take a peek at the rest of this verse. We can go in, yes, but God has also granted us access to go back out. We can go outside the city walls to find food, to find "pasture". To strengthen our families and our cities.

In fact. Aren't we told to do so?

I was asked recently by my niece, how people in far away lands and out-of-the-way places can be saved? What if they are never told about Christ? What if they are so remote, a tribe completely unto themselves - that they aren't told about the salvation in Jesus?  She said; don't they have some idea of a Higher power? A need to commune with their creator? Doesn't that count? If they never hear the Word of God, won't they be accepted into the gate because they are innocent and were never given the chance to obtain a key?

Sadly, the answer is no. No. There is ONLY ONE way in. Jesus is the Gate Keeper. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY is getting inside unless they go through Him.

That means.....we Saved Ones, HAVE to go back out. We have to pass through the giant blue gel Stasis Net to tell others how THEY can get inside. It's what we are called to do. In the icy ocean waters within which the giant Titanic is slipping toward a frozen tomb, we are called to share our life boats. Pack as many on as we possibly can. Step outside of our safety - our comfort zone - give those that need it, the password and access to the gate.

Share! Go out into the alien world beyond the blue gel Stasis Net and tell EVERYONE that there IS a way into the city. All they have to do, is accept it.