I was walking along the shore of Lake Michigan when I came across this door standing in the middle of the beach. Clearly this is simply a fun way of declaring the beach to be heavenly; the other side of the door says “Paradise”. It is a very nice stretch of shoreline to walk, and the great lake is beautiful, but the door got me thinking about Heaven, of course. Our little door on the shore seems an appropriate metaphor for the eternal realms in multiple ways.
First, this door is real and solid. But we are not used to hearing Heaven described with such words. Indeed, philosophical materialism is the default setting of the academy. Yet this same academy now tells us that 95% of the matter in the universe is undetected but must be there; they refer to this as “dark matter”. To believe that there is no reality beyond what we can observe and measure, while also holding that the overwhelming bulk of our reality cannot be observed or measured seems an untenable position to me. Perhaps this matter is of a different nature than the matter we observe. Perhaps Heaven is both real and solid, like our door.
Second, this door is on Earth. No kidding, right? But that is the point. This Earth is destined to be Heaven. We need to stop singing of Heaven as a place to escape to; I cringe when I hear believers speak that way. THIS is Heaven, or at least it will be. Our eternal home is here, though, I admit, there will be some major remodeling. That is why our hearts, and our heads need to be in the world to come, but our hands and our feet need to be here and now, doing what we can to make it smell like Heaven. Loving, serving, giving, and forgiving. Heaven and Earth are not divorced, they are merely separated, and at the end of the age there is going to be a renewal of vows that will blow our minds. We will be able to walk on the beach and be in Heaven, like our door.
Third, this door is narrow. You do not have to walk through it, you can ignore it, walk around it, which is what most people on the shore of Lake Michigan do. My favorite Galilean said. “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction…but the gate is narrow, and the way is hard that leads to life…”. We chafe at these words, we want to reverse them, but we cannot. We misunderstand grace. Heaven owes us nothing, not even an explanation; yet she has given us so many things, including a door.
Fourth, this door is open. (I know it is hard to tell from this angle, but it is) No one has to sneak in. We can walk right through it. We do not have to pay a bribe or hire a lawyer. The price has been paid for us. The way is open; it cost Heaven everything. We could never have afforded it.
Lastly, this door is beat up. It is not attractive. It is weathered and scarred. Like the King of Heaven himself. You would think the doorway to Heaven would be lined with roses and butterflies, and the song of birds. But Heaven, in its wisdom, chose differently. It chose humility and shame. It chose the darkness of a crucified man.
I know this is a lot to assume from a propped-up door on a beach in Michigan. But, trust me, I haven’t even touched on 95% of it.
“I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”