Our response to God’s command will always produce a lasting effect on us – it will never leave us unchanged. Obedience will bring us close to Him and all His blessings, while disobedience will do the opposite. The story of Adam and Eve bears eloquent testimony to this. When they disobeyed God regarding the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, they faced immediate repercussions. They first noticed that they were naked. Then God showed up and proclaimed a curse on the ground, turning what had been sweet labour into hard toil before they could eat. Also, the woman received her share of the punishment, bearing children in pain. The greater punishment was that they were both driven out of the garden of Eden without any chance of making it back there on their own.

Jesus is the gate to renewed fellowship with the Father… Those who put their faith in Him have unrestricted access to God and all He can offer.

That high treason in Eden set the stage for the Messiah. Jesus needed to come down to earth to redeem fallen man and restore him to what was once lost. This will help us to understand what Jesus meant when He said, “I am the gate”. He is the gate to all that the garden of Eden represented and more. Don’t forget that it was in the garden that God regularly fellowshipped with Adam and Eve. That was lost when they were driven out of it. So Jesus is the gate to renewed fellowship with the Father. He is the gate to peace, tranquility, and abundance which the garden life stood for. Those who put their faith in Him have unrestricted access to God and all He can offer. Jesus is the new and living way to the Father and all of the heavenly bounties.