The Gate to Freedom

The words "door" and "gate" generate remarkable word studies in the bible. They are used separate from each other, as well as together, such as in the "door of the gate" in Numbers 4:26, Judges 16:13 & Ezekiel 8:14. Many times when the word "door" is used, such as in the door to the tabernacle in the wilderness (Exodus 26:36), we see prophetic symbolism of Jesus. The word door is used almost 200 times in the bible and the word gate is used even more. The righteous shall enter through the strait and narrow gate and way, while the unrighteous choose the wide and broad gate and way (Matthew 7:14). The elders often are found sitting in gates. (Deut. 22:15). Kings sit in some gates (2 Samuel 19:18). The poor and afflicted sit in other gates (Prov. 22:22). Some gates are closed (Ezekiel 44:2). There are eleven gates in the modern-day city of Jerusalem: seven open and four closed; there will be twelve gates in the future New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:21). Judgment and death are found in some gates (Deut. 22:24). Proclaiming and worshiping God is done in other gates (Jeremiah 7:2 & Ezekiel 40:44).

Jesus rode a donkey through the eastern gate of the walled city of Jerusalem of His time (inferred by location of Mount of Olives in Luke 19:28-36). The current-day eastern gate is the only gate that has ever been sealed shut by the Muslims (sealed in 1541 during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, 10^th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, in response to a Jewish prophecy that said the Messiah would one day walk through that gate** ).

Not everyone knows that buried deep beneath that sealed gate are the ruins of another gate called the Gate of Mercy. It was destroyed (along with the entire city of Jerusalem including the Temple) in 70 A.D. during the Roman siege of Jerusalem that Jesus prophesied would take place (Luke 21:6 & 21:20-24). Most of the Jews of Jesus' time rejected Jesus who is the Gate of Mercy to both the Jew and the Gentile. He was then and still is their only gate to freedom from the Law of Moses. But they were determined to find another way to freedom, one of their own making called self-righteousness. And so the Gate of Mercy was closed to the Jews and remains closed – for a season – a very long season (Romans 11:8).

Where there is a gate, there must also be a wall, or else there would be no need for a gate.

One such wall is located in the spiritual realm and it's the one that separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2). Some call that wall Sin, but since hearing of the stories of what it's like to live under communism from our house guests, and seeing the videos of people trying to climb over or topple the Berlin wall, I now see this spiritual wall a bit differently. The Bible does say that it is sin that separates us or keeps us from God, but I don't see sin as the dividing wall. I see sin as the guard keeping us from climbing over the wall.

I see the dividing wall as the Law of Moses. It is a wall that was established by God through which only the High Priest could fully get through as a representative of the people before God; only he was allowed to stand in the presence of God in the Holy of Holies; once a year only, and then, only after the animal sacrifice by which the sins of the priest and the people were atoned for (Lev. 16)

This wall is not a bad thing, for it is the law of God and therefore it is the justice and holiness that surrounds God in a sense (Romans 7:12). It is there to protect us, for if we were to enter into God's presence in our sinful state we would die (Lev. 16:2), not because of the law but because of our sin (Romans 7:13). God is holy and for us to enter God's presence we also must be holy; therefore we must pass through the wall of the Law in order to be holy, in order to stand in the presence of a holy God such as He. But we've already seen that he who breaks one law breaks all the Law (James 2:10); so we know that we are unable to keep the Law, and thus we know that we are unable to reach God….on our own.

And just as the East Germans had guards keeping them from crossing over to freedom; so do we have guards that keep us from crossing over to our spiritual freedom. Only, our guards are called sin and the flesh (or self). It is sin that keeps us from God, as the Bible says. And here's how.

In our own attempts to reach God, we struggle to go around the wall, or under the wall, or over the wall. And sometimes we seem to be getting closer, but as we are attempting to scale that wall, the guards (sin and the flesh) catch us by our feet and drag us back down; back into the land of bondage to self…. kept only by the width of a wall from the land of righteousness and holiness before God. It is indeed sin that keeps us from reaching God.

The Word tells us that the trouble is in our attempts to get through to the other side by any way other than the One that is provided:

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." (John 10:1

All of our efforts to scale the wall are just acts of self-righteousness, just as the Jews attempted to do, and they are futile. The Word tells us that there is only one way to God and that is through Jesus Christ, the Gate of Mercy; the door that the Father, because of His love for us, placed in the wall to provide a path through the Law for any who would diligently seek Him.

"I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." (John 10:9)

The gate is well-known now. Many know of its existence. But few seem to find it even so. There is such paranoia created amongst those living in the land of bondage to self that even an open door to freedom is viewed suspiciously and then rejected altogether. This paranoia that comes from knowing that they themselves cannot be trusted, transfers distrust even onto God, so that they don't believe that He has their best interests in His heart. They are convinced the door is a trap into some other worse bondage. And so they, as the Jews did, reject God's way of escape through the wall, and remain in this delusional state of still attempting in their own way to scale the wall in order to reach God; all the while denying that God is good and that His goodness towards us is displayed in that, along with the wall, He provided an open door, the gate of mercy, to the other side (Romans 5:20-21)

Jesus is the Gate of Mercy personified. Only Jesus has kept the law. Only Jesus is righteous. Only through Jesus (through the gate) can we enter into the presence of a Holy God.

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." (Matthew 7:7-8)

"And ye shall seek me and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the Lord: and I will turn away your captivity….." (Jeremiah 29:13-14)

**[Correction: I have since learned that the Golden Gate was sealed in 810 by Arabs, still for the same reason. Suleiman was responsible for rebuilding most of the walls of Jerusalem in 1539-41. The Golden Gate is a double gate, the northern door or portal of the gate was called the Gate of Judgement, and the southern portal was called the Gate of Mercy - apparently the originals of both are buried beneath this current gate; still very symbolic in that just as the Jews "shut out" Jesus who entered through this gate, the gate has then been "shut" to them. And while I was told by my Jewish guide in Israel that the cemeteries planted in front of the gate by the Muslims are an effort to prevent the Jewish Messiah from entering the city one day (as a cemetery would be considered an "unclean" area according to the Law of Moses), another source says the Arabs want to be the first to be raised from the dead and judged....somehow I doubt that they want that to come from the Jewish Messiah....therefore I accept my Jewish guide's version instead. On another note, some believe that the "Beautiful Gate" mentioned in Acts is this same gate as well...that the Latin Vulgate translation of the New Testament changed it into "Golden Gate" in error.]