2 Nephi 9:41

Come unto the Lord, Jacob tells his people.  He might have been influenced by his brother, Nephi.  “For the fulness of mine intent is that I may persuade men to come unto the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and be saved”

(1 Nephi 6:4). 

Alma₂ desired to “declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth” (Alma 29:2).  The Savior told the Nephites,   “it shall come to pass, saith the Father, that at that day whosoever will not repent and come unto my Beloved Son, them will I cut off from among my people, O house of Israel” (3 Nephi 21:20).

As Moroni completed the Book of Mormon, among his lasts words were:

And again I would exhort you that ye would come unto Christ, and lay hold upon every good gift, and touch not the evil gift, nor the unclean thing.

And awake, and arise from the dust, O Jerusalem; yea, and put on thy beautiful garments, O daughter of Zion; and strengthen thy stakes and enlarge thy borders forever, that thou mayest no more be confounded, that the covenants of the Eternal Father which he hath made unto thee, O house of Israel, may be fulfilled.

Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

Moroni 10:30-32

The gate is narrow.  It is a straight course.  “Strive to enter in at the strait [GR narrow] gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able”

(Luke 13:24). 

When you arrive at the gate, you meet the keeper of the gate.  “There's that marvelous line in the Book of Mormon, ‘The keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there.’ (2 Nephi 9:41). He will personally talk with you and bring you in. You are just as important as anybody else in the kingdom of God, he says.”[1]

Truman Madsen writes:

As the "keeper of the gate" (2 Nephi 9:41), Jesus the Christ summons us, "Come unto me" in my holy sanctuary (Matthew 11:28; see 2 Chronicles 30:8; D&C 110:7–9), and he promises, "Whoso knocketh, to him will [I] open" (2 Nephi 9:42). He is in his sanctuary; "he employeth no servant there" (2 Nephi 9:41). We who put off our shoes to walk on holy ground need not be put off by the fact that mere mortals administer these divine ordinances. They may be familiar and ordinary persons from just around the corner. Yet they represent the Lord himself. Christ himself is blessing us, reaching down to us through those ordinances. The Lord himself is waiting for us beyond the veil. It is he who voices and magnifies and endows the temples with a summation of human experience that is a step-by-step ascent into his presence. May we go to him in his temple. May we serve as he served. May we live as he lived. I so pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.[2]

The only way we can enter heaven is through the gate.  The Lord cannot be deceived; only the righteous may enter.

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[1] Lecture 83: 3 Nephi 8-11, Hugh W. Nibley, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed September 12, 2013.

[2] The Temple and the Atonement, Truman G. Madsen, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed September 12, 2013.