Jesus speaks of two gates, not just one!
Jesus spoke in Matthew chapter 7:
13 “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.
And He also spoke in Luke chapter 13:
24 “Strive (G75) to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
25 When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’
26 then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’
27 But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’
28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out.
There are two different gates for believers to enter the Kingdom! One gate is at the entrance to the Kingdom from God—justification. The other gate is at the end of our walk of sanctification spoken of in Luke 13:24. It’s called the “Bema Seat Judgment.”
The word strive (Strong’s #75) means “to give diligence to, to be in hot pursuit of, to earnestly fight for, to struggle, to agonize, to wrestle, to contend with an adversary and to put forth every effort (for a prize).” Striving for passage through that second gate means straining every muscle of our body, casting aside every weight and pressing toward the mark of the high calling of God.
Paul wrote by The Holy Spirit in Hebrews chapter 4:
11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.
12 For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
As a type and shadow, Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt (a form of justification), but Joshua by faith, led the overcomers into The Promised Land (a type of sanctification). They had to overcome the giants of the land (a form of striving), to reach their full inheritance.
Luke recorded by The Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 14:
21 After (Paul and Barnabas) preaching the wonderful news of the Gospel there and winning a large number of followers to Jesus, they retraced their steps and revisited Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch.
22 At each place they went, they strengthened the lives of the believers and encouraged them to go deeper in their faith. And they taught them, “It is necessary for us to enter into the realm of God’s Kingdom, because that’s the only way we will endure our many trials and persecutions.”
There’s one gate at the beginning of the road of faith (called “justification”) that allows believers to enter the Kingdom of God, (Matthew 7:14). And there’s another gate at the end of the road of faith (called “sanctification”) that allows believers to inherit the Millennial Kingdom by faithfulness, obedience, and endurance (Luke 13:34).
Paul summed up this second gate of sanctification when he wrote by The Holy Spirit in Philippians chapter 3:
8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for Whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,
14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Paul was saved yet he understood the opportunity and rewards that lie ahead for those who understood the Bema Seat of Christ.