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When I had finished speaking, the same angel that had been sent to me on the earlier nights appeared again.
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He said, "Stand up, Ezra, and listen to what I have come to tell you."
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"Go ahead, sir," I said. He continued, "Picture in your mind a broad, immense sea spreading over a vast area,
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but with an entrance no wider than a river.
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No one who wishes to enter that sea, whether to visit it or control it, can reach its broad expanse of water without passing through the narrow entrance.
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Or take another example: Picture a city built on a plain. The city is full of all kinds of good things,
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but the entrance to it is narrow and steep, with fire on one side and deep water on the other.
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The one path between the fire and the water is so narrow that only one person at a time may walk on it.
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If anyone inherits this city, he cannot take possession of his inheritance without passing through this dangerous entrance."
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"That is right, sir," I said. "That is how it is with the people of Israel," he added.
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"I made this world for their sake, but when Adam broke my commands, the world came under my judgment.
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