The Gate

In my Scripture studies I've about the places that mark the encounters of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob with God. 

Have you ever wondered where the tree of life was planted in the Garden of Eden? I have and perhaps the most likely location is Jerusalem, Israel.

Jerusalem is home of the Golden Gate, and the city's name means "Teaching of Peace, God shall Prevail".

The most famous place in Jerusalem is of course the Temple Mount. It is not only the location of the Holy of Holies with the two Cherubim guarding the Ark of the Covenant, but the home of the Golden Gate in which Messiah will enter.

Perhaps the Temple Mount could very well be where the "Tree of Life" stood.

The Bible tells us Mount Moriah is the location of Isaac's binding. Facing the Golden Gate, atop the mount of Olives is the very spot is where the Red Heifer Altar stood across the Kidron Valley (without the camp) facing the eastern entrance to the front door of The Temple.

The Temple Mount is where Abraham and Isaac sojourned to when Abraham was told by God to offer Isaac, but instead the Lord Himself provided a ram. The Temple Mount inside the gate is the place Abraham called Y-H-V-H Jireh (in Y-H-V-H's mountain it will be provided).

The Mount of Olives is famous and it's the most famous cemetery on the planet.

It's also the place is where Yeshua (aka Jesus) prayed.

Not only that it's the place He "ascended" in the cloud of glory to the right hand of The Father.

The Scriptures also tell us it is where Messiah will return to Jerusalem in that glory cloud as High Priest King.

If you've read the Passover story in Matthew's account consider the Roman Centurion's view of The Temple.

Think about it. How could that Roman Centurion have seen the graves break open and the curtain of the Holy of Holies tear while he was watching Yeshua's crucifixion unless he was facing The Temple?

Unless he could bend light with his eyes, he could have never been a witness to that curtain from a side view of the Temple Mount where Constantine's mother, Empress Helena declared Golgotha as the place of the crucifixion in 326AD?

Let's look at the Centurion's eye-witness account:

And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God. Matthew 27:51-54

It's tie to keep our eyes on the Temple Mount and that Golden Gate!

It may be closed now in an attempt to keep Messiah out, but it's an entrance. Take a look at these Scripture References:
First, there was the fall and man was put out away from Eden but there was a promise to return:

Genesis 3:13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What [is] this [that] thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.

Genesis 3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

The story of Abraham and Isaac provides a prophecy of the lamb:

Genesis 22:7-9 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here [am] I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where [is] the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

The place that they stood on is today's Temple Mount:

Genesis 22:13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind [him] a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

Messiah came to the same place Abraham saw the ram caught in the thorns:

John 19:5 Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And [Pilate] saith unto them, Behold the man!

The Father sent His spirit to the same place:

Acts 2:3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

We see the promise of a gate:

Genesis 24:60 And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou [art] our sister, be thou [the mother] of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.

Today, the radical Muslim world hates the Jewish people and they claim the exclusive right to pray in the gates of the Temple Mount.

Psalms 127:1-5 [[A Song of degrees for Solomon.]] Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh [but] in vain. [It is] vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: [for] so he giveth his beloved sleep. Lo, children [are] an heritage of the LORD: [and] the fruit of the womb [is his] reward. As arrows [are] in the hand of a mighty man; so [are] children of the youth. Happy [is] the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

The Temple Mount is where Jacob saw the ladder, the shadow picture of Messiah:

Genesis 28:10-22 And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put [them for] his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. 

And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I [am] the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 

And, behold, I [am] with thee, and will keep thee in all [places] whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done [that] which I have spoken to thee of. 

And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew [it] not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful [is] this place! this [is] none other but the house of God, and this [is] the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put [for] his pillows, and set it up [for] a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. 

And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city [was called] Luz at the first. And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God: And this stone, which I have set [for] a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

Proverbs 30:4 Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what [is] his name, and what [is] his son's name, if thou canst tell?

John 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, [even] the Son of man which is in heaven.

The Temple Mount has the gate of the camp of God, the gate of His place:

Exodus 32:26 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who [is] on the LORD'S side? [let him come] unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.

Ruth 4:10 Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye [are] witnesses this day.

2Samuel 19:8 Then the king arose, and sat in the gate. And they told unto all the people, saying, Behold, the king doth sit in the gate. And all the people came before the king: for Israel had fled every man to his tent.

Ezekiel saw the glory of God appear there at the same place Messiah gave His life as an offering, an atonement for the sin of man:

Ezekiel 11:22-23 Then did the cherubims lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel [was] over them above. And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain [Mount of Olives] which [is] on the east side of the city.

Ezekiel also gives us a prophecy of the gate:

Ezekiel 46:8-9 And when the prince shall enter, he shall go in by the way of the porch of [that] gate, and he shall go forth by the way thereof. But when the people of the land shall come before the LORD in the solemn feasts, he that entereth in by the way of the north gate to worship shall go out by the way of the south gate; and he that entereth by the way of the south gate shall go forth by the way of the north gate: he shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in, but shall go forth over against it.

Ezekiel 47:2 Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side.

The waters Ezekiel saw were seen by John:

Revelation 22:1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

Scripture has always referenced the gate:

2Samuel 23:15 And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which [is] by the gate!

2Kings 7:20 And so it fell out unto him: for the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died.

1Chronicles 11:17 And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, that [is] at the gate!

John 7:37 In the last day, that great [day] of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

John 19:28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.

Jeremiah 7:2 Stand in the gate of the LORD'S house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all [ye of] Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.

Micah 1:9 For her wound [is] incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, [even] to Jerusalem.

John records the promise of Messiah as the Son of man if we just believe on Him:

John 6:33-40 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Revelation 22:1-2 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, [was there] the tree of life, which bare twelve [manner of] fruits, [and] yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree [were] for the healing of the nations.

Revelation 21:21 And the twelve gates [were] twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city [was] pure gold, as it were transparent glass.

As does Luke and the Psalmist:

Luke 24:49-51 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.

Psalms 118:14-29 The LORD [is] my strength and song, and is become my salvation. The voice of rejoicing and salvation [is] in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly. The right hand of the LORD is exalted: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly. I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD. The LORD hath chastened me sore: but he hath not given me over unto death. Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, [and] I will praise the LORD: This gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter. I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. The stone [which] the builders refused is become the head [stone] of the corner. This is the LORD'S doing; it [is] marvelous in our eyes. This [is] the day [which] the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. Blessed [be] he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD. God [is] the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, [even] unto the horns of the altar. Thou [art] my God, and I will praise thee: [thou art] my God, I will exalt thee. O give thanks unto the LORD; for [he is] good: for his mercy [endureth] for ever.

Study the Scriptures, all of them and believe on Him:

John 5:46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.

Luke 24:44-46 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

Psalms 40:7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me.

That Psalm is a prophecy about the words of Yeshua:

John 5:39 You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me.

The Temple Mount is the gate of Heaven on Earth and it is misunderstood by many Christians. On example of this is the story of the money changers that is seen in Matthew, Mark and John. Take a look at John's account and take note of the conclusion:

John 2: 13-17 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there.  

And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.
And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”  

His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 

The disciples remembered the zeal described for the House of God in the Psalm of David:

Psalm 69:9 For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

Yeshua's zeal was for the consuming love of the House of God.

Not only that the money changers were never allow anywhere but in that court of the nations. They had come to disrespect the fact that the House of God was a House of Prayer for all people who join themselves to the LORD:

Isaiah 56: 6-8 “And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD,
to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD,
and to be his servants,
everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,
and holds fast my covenant—
these I will bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples.”
The Lord GOD,
who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,
“I will gather yet others to him
besides those already gathered.”

Yeshua's confrontation with the money changers was foretold by Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 7:11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the LORD. 

Matthew's account shows us the den of robbers key:

Matthew 21:12-13 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.

What was the robbery?

The defilement of the place called the Common Court was not the court of the Gentiles as we think of the word today. It was the nations that who joined themselves to the LORD. 

Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary sheds some light that's been lost saying: 

"GEN'TILE, noun [Latin gentilis; from Latin gens, nation, race; applied to pagans.]

In the scriptures, a pagan; a worshipper of false gods; any person not a Jew or a christian; a heathen."

Mr. Webster points to the issue of idol practices as being their character distinction. They were linked to the heathens, the image-worshippers according to the 1880 McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia:

"As to the religion of heathenism, it is "a wild growth on the soil of fallen human nature, a darkening of the original consciousness of God's deification of the rational and irrational creature, and a corresponding corruption of the moral sense, giving the sanction of religion to natural and unnatural vices."

Paul agrees with Noah Webster, he called the Ephesian “former Gentiles”… you once were separate, excluded "strangers" from Messiah and the identity of none other than… Israel!

“Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles… remember that you were at that time separate from Messiah, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” Ephesians 2:11-12

The message from Yeshua: the nations that who joined themselves to the LORD, they are welcome too and must not be robbed of worship!

The Talmud tells us that the Temple was comprised of four courts and steps up through the gates: first the East Gate to the Court of the Gentiles, then the Court of the Women, next the Court of Israel and finally the Court of the Priests on which was a pulpit with three steps, each half a cubit in height above the Court of Israel where the choir of the Levites stood to sing. The Temple was higher than the floor of the east gate of the Court of the Gentiles, two and twenty cubits but the entire area was holy.

John Lightfoot writes and take note of the gate:

"In the Jewish writers, it is ordinarily called "The Mountain of the house"; or the "Common Court." Hence is it, that a gate, descending hither from the Court of the Women, is called "The gate whence they go out from the Court of the Women into the Common Court." Hence the author of Tosaphtoth, "They go out by the gate leading from the Court of the Women into the Common Court. And some vessels of stone were fastened to the wall of the steps going up into the Women's Court, and their covers are seen in the Common Court."

And that, because hither the heathen might come: "Rabban Gamaliel, walking in the Court of the Gentiles, saw a heathen woman, and blessed concerning her."

And those that were excommunicated and lamented. "All that entered into the mount of the Temple, enter the right-hand way, and go about: but they go out the left-hand way: except him, to whom any accident happens: for he goes about to the left hand. To him that asks, 'What is the matter with you, that you go about to the left hand?' -- he answers, 'Because I lament': and he replies to him, 'He that dwells in this temple comfort thee.' Or, 'Because I am excommunicated': and to him he replies, 'He that dwells in this house, put it into their heart to receive thee.'"

In The New Testament Commentary Vol. III: John — B.W. Johnson explains the money changers.

"No heathen coin could be put into the temple treasury because they usually had images upon them which the priests regarded idolatrous; the Jewish shekels were not in general circulation, and hence it was needful that the current coin be changed before the temple tax could be paid. This money brokerage had also installed itself in the temple and much gain was made by the commissions charged. (John 2:15)"

The key to understanding the volume of the book is to understand God gives us His teaching and instruction for living because He loves us, all of us and never forget Jesus is jealous for God's House, so if you want to be like Jesus, you now know a part of your new assignment.

Now you know the rest of the story. God never changes and He teaches us some very simple guidelines about how we are to live. It's the original message of the Deceiver to fall for the idea that God does not mean what He says or that He changes His mind. Don't listen to that message any longer.

What does this all mean?

Consider a prayer: Please, God, guide me as to what I should do.

It's time for you to repent and return to God's voice, return to hear and do His word and walk in the faith of His Kingdom path so that you can ready your lamp for your coming assignment. 

God is a sovereign God. He is a loving God and He has provided a gate to offer you His salvation. You can accept His gift of life. Do it now and keep you eye in zeal on the Temple Mount!

What does this all mean? 

It's time for you to repent and return to God's voice, return to hear and do His word and walk in the faith of His Kingdom path so that you can ready your lamp for your coming assignment. 

It means we need to know "Who is the One Called Jesus.

Consider a prayer: Please, God guide me by your Spirit as to what I should hear and do.

It's time to repent and return to God's voice, return to hear and do His words and walk in the faith of His Kingdom path so that you can ready your lamp for your assignment. 

Stretch out your hand, and take from the tree of life, and live forever.

Open a Bible, read it, listen to God's voice and do Yeshua's teaching about the forever jots and tittles. 

You can learn how the things which are written in the Torah, the Prophets, and the Psalms are concerning Messiah and you can teach others to live life like Jesus, it's love in God's way:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." John 3:16-17

Today is the time, open your eyes if you're dead in your own valley of dry bones.

Look up and you'll recognize Messiah from Abraham's promise passed on to Isaac and Jacob as written by Moses in the Torah. You can see Him too in the Prophets and the Writings.

Repent and walk your Emmaus Road with Messiah. Study the Scriptures He taught every Sabbath that are filled with doing life God's way in the Kingdom, and tell others about Him. Be a gatekeeper until the house is complete.

Shalom.