This evening we're looking at
Nehemiah chapter 3. I usually look for a verse or
phrase in a verse. to find a title for the message. But this evening I'm entitling
the message, The Gates in the Wall of Jerusalem. That's what
this chapter is about. The gates in the wall of Jerusalem. There are 10 gates that are mentioned
here in Nehemiah chapter three. Now we read earlier of the 12
gates in that new Jerusalem, the heavy heavenly city of God,
describing the glory of that city. The glory of that city
is Christ. That city was built by Christ,
purchased by Christ for His people. The Lord said, I will build my
church and the gates of hell will not prevail against my city,
my church. Now here in Nehemiah chapter
three, the Lord gives us the details of the building of the
gates around the wall of the city of Jerusalem. Now I find
it most interesting. There were 10 gates as we read
through this chapter. that are mentioned in this chapter,
each of them have a spiritual significance and a spiritual
meaning to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to
find out what that meaning is, don't you? I'm very interested
in what that meaning of those 10 different gates and even the
order in which they are given. Even the order in which they
are given tells us something about the gospel of Christ. All
Scripture we know is given to teach us, it's not given to entertain
us or to educate us in natural things or in science. The Word
of God is given to teach us and to show us and to reveal unto
us the Lord Jesus Christ. Whatsoever was written aforetime
was written for our learning. that we through the scriptures
might have, we through the scriptures might have comfort and hope. Now it's interesting, as I pointed
out in the reading, this chapter starts with the building of the
sheep gate and it ends, in the last verse of this chapter, it
ends with talking about the sheep gate. There's great importance that's
given to this one particular gate. Begins with the sheep gate
and ends with the sheep gate. The Lord had put in the heart
of Nehemiah this great work of the Lord. You remember back in
Nehemiah chapter two, verse 12. And I rose in the night, I and
some few men with me, neither told I any man what my God had
put in my heart to do at Jerusalem. God laid this burden upon his
heart. He wasn't even in Jerusalem when
God put that burden on him. You remember where he was? He
was down in Babylon, wasn't he? Serving a pagan king. The Lord
put it in the heart of Nehemiah for this great work. I tell you
what, my friend, if we ever believe the gospel of God concerning
Christ, it will be because God has put it in our heart to believe
the gospel. It's not there naturally. Naturally,
we love darkness, not light. The Lord also not only stirred
up the heart of Nehemiah, but he also stirred up the heart
of the people. Remember, we read over here in verse 18 of chapter
two, they said, let us rise up and build. When they heard the
word of the Lord and what the Lord had given Nehemiah to do,
they too were made willing in the day of God's power. They
said, well, Let's rise up and do it. It's a good work. It's
a work unto the Lord. And all of them participated.
All of them participated. Believers are laborers together
with God. Now listen to this verse, 1 Corinthians
3, 9. For we are laborers together
with God, ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. In the reading of this chapter,
remember we talked about, we read about the priests, they
were builders, the rulers, several rulers were builders, the goldsmiths,
The apothecaries, what are apothecaries? They're druggists, that's what
the apothecaries are, they're druggists. There were merchants
involved, there were sons involved, there were daughters involved.
The point I'm making is all were involved. Verse 12, I pointed
out to you that even the daughters of Shalem, The ruler of the high
part of Jerusalem, he and his daughters. Maybe he didn't have
any sons, so we put his daughters. They weren't excluded from the
work, were they? What does all that tell us and
teach us? The ministry that we have as God's people, God's church,
the ministry that we have right here in Zebulun, Zebulun Grace
Church. All believers are in the ministry. If you're a believer, you're
in the body of Christ, and you're in the ministry. One way or the
other, you serve His purpose. To promote the gospel of God,
we serve the Lord. Do you know how we serve the
Lord? by serving one another. That's how we serve the Lord.
And God's people are zealous toward the work of the Lord.
I didn't read this verse, but if you look at verse 20 of Nehemiah
3, and after him Barak the son of Zabiah, earnestly
repaired. I mean, he was earnestly about
this work, not lazily about it. He was earnest. He was zealous
of good works toward God. And God's people are. God's people
are, they're zealous for the glory of the Lord, and they're
zealous for the promotion of the gospel, aren't they? Now,
the Lord doesn't overlook the service of each of these that
He records for us. And He takes meticulous care
to record all these different names of these different men.
Most are very hard for me to even pronounce, but the Lord
knows His sheep by name. The Lord doesn't overlook their
service. He records it for us. We are told exactly who set up
each gate. Most of them, not all of them,
most of them, remember we read repeatedly they had doors, locks,
and bars, right? God's people are zealous of good
works. We are His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained. Revelation 14 says, I heard,
verse 13, I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, blessed
are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth, yea, saith
the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their
works do follow them. They don't precede them or promote
them, but their works do follow them. God's people are zealous
of good works. Now, I want us to look at these
10 different gates, and I think I can get through it in a reasonable
amount of time, and see in each of these gates the spiritual
significance of each one and the meaning that it has for us.
All things we find in Scripture are given to teach us one lesson,
how God saves sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
what makes the book of God the children's bread. This is what
makes this book of God, it's a big book, a lot of words, 66
books, a lot of words. But what makes it a delight to
study and to read as we see the Lord Jesus Christ revealed in
the Word and that we feed upon Him. We are to desire the sin-seer
milk of the Word that we might grow thereby, grow thereby. Now, having said all that, let's
take a look at verse 1. Elisha, the high priest, rose
up with his brethren, the priests, The priests were given this detail
of building the sheep gate and they sanctified, they builded
the sheep gate, they sanctified it. That's the only gate we read
of here that was sanctified. None of the other gates were
sanctified. Now what does it mean to be sanctified? Set apart
for the purpose of God, for the holy purposes of God. And set
up the doors of it even unto the tower of Miah, which means
100, they sanctified it unto the tower of Hananiel. Now, the
priests were given this specific charge over building or reconstructing
this gate of the sheep. Now, The sheep gate was the place
where the priest brought the sacrifice into the temple to
be offered unto the Lord. That's how they worshiped the
Lord, around the blood offering, the blood upon the altar. God
said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. It is the only
gate that was sanctified, set apart for the holy purpose of
God in bringing in these sheep. Notice also that the other gates
all had locks and bars. The sheep gate, did you notice? No locks or bars. Isn't that
interesting? No locks or bars on the sheep
gate. Now, why? Well, the Lord Jesus
Christ at this gate represents Him Christ is an open door. There's no locks or bars. He
said, I am the way, the truth, the life. And then He said, come
unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you
rest. The Lord says in John 10, He said, I am the door. You remember? I am the door. By Me, if any
man enter in, he shall be saved. Christ is the door. It's always
open, never shut. Not in this day in which we live. Now one day it will be shut,
but the Lord, the Lord's door is always open. He ever lives
to intercede for us. He's able to save to the innermost
all that come to God by Him. He's that door. He is that gate. We know the Lord Jesus Christ
is called The Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away our sin. He's not only the Lamb of God,
but He's also called the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd who
laid down His life for the sheep. He is the Good Shepherd and He
is the Lamb. The Lamb of God. Because of His
sacrifice unto God for us, We are sanctified unto the holy,
our holy God. By the one offering, he has perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Christ is also not only the Lamb
of God, the chief shepherd of the sheep, the good shepherd
who laid down his life for the sheep, but he's also the great
high priest who intercedes unto us. You see how important this
sheep gate is? The Lord Jesus Christ obtained
eternal redemption for us with His own blood. He is our sheep
gate. He is the door of salvation. Now, the second gate we read
of is found in verse 3. It's called the fish gate. You
see that? The fish gate. Now, obviously,
so-called because the fish were brought in from the Mediterranean
Sea from the sea coast through it near unto the fish market
into the city. That's why it was called the
fish gate. Now, how can you get from there
to the gospel? Well, let's see if we can. This gate also teaches us about
the Lord's purpose in fishing for his people, how he calls
them out by the gospel, and how he catches and hooks them with
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember it, please?
to call out his people with the gospel, that people shall be
willing in the day of his power. You remember what he said to
those apostles who were That what were they? They were fishermen,
right? They were fishermen. You remember
what he said to them? Peter and Andrew, James and John,
follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. You see, even this fish
gate tells us about the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You
see, believers are very much interested in the work of what
we call evangelism. That is, spreading the good news
of the gospel. Our Lord, before He ascended
to glory, said to us, go into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature. He that believeth, what? The
gospel shall be saved. We go everywhere preaching the
word of the Lord. Paul said, for as much as in
me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you who are at Rome. And then he charged Timothy,
he said, I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus, who will
judge the living and the dead, preach the word, preach the word.
And then Paul also says in that second epistle to Timothy, but
watch thou in all things, endure infliction, do the work of an
evangelist, make full proof, of your ministry. We all should
endeavor to be evangelists. That is spreading the good news
of the gospel to our friends, our families, our neighbors.
We all should be interested in doing that. This ministry right
here at Zebulun has been for the last 20 years or more preaching
the gospel in the pulpit, preaching the gospel by radio, by the internet
for the last 12 years. Our bulletins go out to many
by email and they're posted on sermon audio. We're evangelizing. through the radio, through the
newspaper, through the internet, all the different bulletins go
out, email. I was looking at the statement
that I get each month from Sermon Audio. You know how many sermons
went out of here last month all over the world? Just last month,
9,412 sermons. Last month, one month, one month. That's amazing. What is that?
That's evangelizing. That's the sheep gate. I mean
the fish gate. That's the word of the Lord going
out and the Lord uses that to fish out His people. I want to
be involved in that, don't you? 50 states, over 60 countries last
month. The Lord will prosper his word. I'm not bragging, I'm just stating
facts. These are facts. The Lord has
called us to go and preach the gospel. And I think the only
reason the internet was invented, and the only reason it exists,
even though many horrible things are done with it, I think the
only reason the internet exists is for the preaching of the gospel,
the sending out of the gospel. I know people misuse it, but
people misuse guns too, don't they? But I'm glad my police
officer, I'm glad he's got a gun to protect the community. So,
now here's the third gate we find out here in verse 3, or
rather verse 6. is called the Old Gate. You see
it in verse six, moreover the Old Gate repaired Jehoiada the
son of Pisaeah and Meshulam. Now the Old Gate, some think
this gate led to the older part of the city, the older part of
the city of Jerusalem. The older part of the city was
called Salem. Salem is part of Jerusalem. Salem of which Melchizedek remember
he was the king and priest of what? Salem wasn't he in Hebrews
6 and 7 he said we read about the priesthood of the Lord and
the order of Melchizedek where the forerunner is for us entered
even Jesus made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek
and For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most
High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the king,
and he blessed him." Of course, we know that Melchizedek is a
type and picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, of his eternal
priesthood. This old gate, I think, could
also be an emblem of the ancient gospel of God. You remember the
gospel that Paul writes about that he was separated unto, the
gospel of God is no new gospel. It's as old as God. The old gate
and the ancient gospel, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is as
old as God because it is the eternal gospel. We read about
the Lord Jesus Christ being slain in the purpose of God before
the foundation of the world. I thought of this verse found
in Jeremiah 6, 16. Thus saith the Lord, stand ye
in the ways and see and ask for the old paths. I don't want any
new doctrine. Don't bring any new doctrine.
I want the old doctrine. The old doctrine of God is the
ancient and eternal purpose. Stand and see. Stand ye in the
ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, wherein is a good
way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your soul
in those old ways, the ancient ways of God. The Lord's purpose
to save his people is an eternal purpose which he purposed in
Christ, Not just lately, before the foundation of the world,
before Adam ever sinned, before Adam ever fell, the Lord Jesus
Christ stood as a surety of the covenant people, didn't he? We
read in Ephesians 3, to make all men see what is the fellowship
of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world had been
hidden in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ, to the
intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places
might be known by the church a manifold wisdom of God, according
to the eternal purpose, which he purposed in Christ Jesus the
Lord. You see, it is an eternal purpose.
We have in the gospel, the ancient gospel, and that's what this
old gate represents. Now, look at verse 13. Look,
verse 13 now, we come down here to the valley gate. The valley
gate. The valley gate repaired Hanun. The valley gate. The valley gate
is kind of obvious. It led out of the city into the
valley below. Remember, Jerusalem was a city
set on a hill. And the valley gate led out of
that city down into, evidently there was a road or path down
into the valley below. Remember when Nehemiah went out
to survey the wall, he went out of the valley gate and then went
all the way around the wall and he came back in to the city into
the valley gate. This valley gate speaks of the
spiritual experience we have when we're convicted of our sins. Now, stay with me. This valley
gate, so you come out of the valley gate from a high place
down to a low place when you go through the valley gate. And
here's what happens when the Lord does the work of grace in
our heart. He brings us down from our high
horse of pride and self-righteousness, and He puts us down in the valley
of conviction, conviction of sin. He said, when the Holy Spirit
has come, he'll convict of sin, of righteousness, and of a judgment. Of sin, what we are, of righteousness,
what we need in Christ, and of judgment, what happened to Christ
upon Calvary. He would judge for our sin, and
thereby, through that sacrifice, God might be just, and the justifier
of them which believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. When we experience
salvation, and I'm not saying that an experience is salvation,
but salvation is something we certainly experience by His grace,
the Lord brings us down from the pride and self-righteousness
into the valley of humility to make us know that He saves sinners
by His grace alone. Alone. We say with Timothy, With
Paul, as he said to Timothy, it's God who saved us, it's God
who called us with a holy colleague, not according to our work, but
according to his own purpose and grace. The Lord is nigh them
of a broken heart, save us such as be of a contrite spirit. The
wise man Solomon said, before honor is humility. Humility. The Lord must humble
us. The Lord hates a proud religious
heart of self-righteousness. He brings us through this valley
gate. Down from this arrogance and
pride and self-righteousness. Proverbs 16, the Lord said, seven
things the Lord hates and the top of the list is pride. Pride. Pride. A proud man will
never seek salvation in Christ. He's got to be humbled. He's
got to be broken. He's got to be stripped. You
see, the way up is not up. The way up is down. The Lord
must empty us before He fills us. The Lord must strip us before
He clothes us. You see, everything we know He
taught us by revelation of His grace. Everything we have, He
gave us. I am what I am by the grace of
God. And everything we shall ever be is by His grace, is it
not? He's made us trophies of His
grace. Well, that brings us halfway
through to gate number five. Look at verse 14. This is most
interesting. But the dung gate repaired I
don't know if this guy volunteered to repair the Dung Gate, but
it must have been a smelly job. It must have been a rough job.
Malchiah, the son of Recab, the ruler of the part of Bath-Haxorin,
he built it, set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and
the bars thereof. The Dung Gate. The Dung Gate. What does that
represent? Well, the Dung Gate was the place
where the sewage and the waste was taken out of the city. in
every one of our houses we have a dungate, don't we? Aren't you
glad? You can flush that commode and
it goes out through the dungate. And think about this. Every one
of us personally, we have a dungate in our body, don't we? We have
a dungate. The Lord that created our body
has made for us, each one of us, a dung gate in our body to
remove the waste from our body. I mean, when the dung gate gets
plugged up, you're in trouble. If that dung gate doesn't work,
you're in trouble. That dung gate must work to remove
the waste and the bacteria that would harm you if it backs up
out of your body, right? Even so, spiritually, even so,
the Lord has created for His spiritual body the church of
the Lord Jesus Christ, has made a way to remove the dung of our
waste and our sin from us, and separate it from us forever,
as far as the east is from the west. by His glorious sacrifice. The Lord Jesus Christ, then,
is that dungate. He was made dung for us, sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made to righteousness
of God. And that dungate, and through
that dungate of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ being made
as sacrifice for us, it removes our sin from us as far as the
east is from the west. Thank God for the dungate. The
Lord Jesus Christ has taken away our sin. He appeared once in
the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And it's also interesting, the
Apostle Paul, when he talked about all of his religious so-called
pharisaical self-righteousness, he counted it all but dung that
I might win Christ and be found in Him." Thank God for the dung
gate. God has put away and taken away
our sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Now, look at verse 15, gate number
6 is found in verse 15, the gate of the fountain repaired Shalem,
the gate of the fountain, the fountain. This gate was the only
gate, if you notice, he built it and covered it. It was the
only gate that was covered, only gate that was covered to protect
the pool, the pool of water, the water that, it was very important
because the water was, watered the king's garden down by the
city of David. that was a very important fountain
to cover and to protect. Now, whenever we think about
the fountain, there is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from
Emmanuel's vein, the sinners plunge beneath that flood, lose
all their guilty stains. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ
is called the fountain of the water of life, right? Listen
to John 7, 37. In the last day, that great day
of the feast, the Lord Jesus stood and cried, If any man thirst,
let him come unto Me and drink. You see, He's the fountain of
the water of life. He that believeth on Me, as the
Scripture had said, out of his belly shall flow fountains of
living, living water. Whosoever the Lord said, and
the Spirit and the Bride say, Come, and let him that heareth
say, Come, and let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will
let him take of the water of life freely, that is the fountain
gate, the Lord Jesus Christ." You remember the Lord told the
woman at the well, you drink of that water. You remember that
woman in Samaria? You drink of that water, you'll
thirst again. Oh, but if you drink of that
water that I give you, you'll never thirst, that there'll be
in you a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Now, that brings us all the way
down to verse 26. Moreover, the Nethamins dwelt
in Ophel unto the place over against the water gate. You see
verse 26? Toward the east, and the tower that lieth out,
the Watergate. The Watergate. There was a famous
politician that got in trouble about that hotel that was called
the Watergate, remember? Some of you younger ones don't
remember. But some of the older ones remember Richard Nixon and
the Watergate. Whenever I think of the Watergate,
I think about that crime that carried on. But that's not what
this is talking about. The Nethamins were servant to
the priest and the Levites, and one of their job was to fetch
water for the temple. And notice it says they dwelt
there. The Nethamins, they were the
servant to the Levites and the priest. And they dwelled in Ophel
under the place over against the water gate. Their job was
to pack the water into the temple. Now, a lot of water was required
because those sacrifices, you remember, they all had to be
washed. Remember that big label. They had, I mean, there's a lot
of water involved, a lot of water. And these Nethemuns, they had,
they dwelt, they lived right there by the water gate. So they
could have access to pack the water into the temple. Now, this is exactly what the
servants of the Lord do when they take the water of the Word
of Life, the Word of God, called the Water of the Word, and the
servants of God, the servants of the Most High God, would show
it the way of salvation. They bring it into the house
of the Lord and give it to the saints of the Lord, and they
freely drink it. That's what we do when we preach
the Gospel. We bring The Nethemuns, the servants
of the Lord, ye servants of God, your master proclaim, and loudly
abroad, his wonderful name. We read in Ephesians chapter
5, that he might sanctify and cleanse his church with the washing
of water by the word. The word of God is called the
word of life. The Lord Jesus told the Pharisee
Nicodemus, verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born
of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God." Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of the
Lord. And notice also on this particular
water gate, there was no locks or bars on this water gate like
the sheep gate. Now, we're not to keep back any
part of the Word of God. We're not to lock it up. were
to preach all the Word all the time, as Paul said to Timothy,
preach the Word. I thought about this scripture
in Acts 20, 20, where Paul said to the elders of Ephesus, He
said, I kept back nothing profitable unto you, but have showed you
and have taught you publicly from house to house. I kept back
nothing, no locks or bars on this gate, this water gate, but
I have showed you and have taught you publicly from house to house,
testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greek, repentance
toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I kept back nothing
from you. I withheld nothing from you.
And then he says in Acts 20, 27, I've shunned not to declare
unto you all the counsel of God. What is all the counsel of God
that Paul declared? I determined not to do anything
among you, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Well, that gets
us all the way down to verse 28. Verse 28, from above the horse
gate repaired the priest, everyone over against his house. Now the
horse gate, the horse gate, obviously the horse gate is where the horses
were brought in and out of the city, near where they were fed
and cared for. And notice too that the priest,
the priest there, Verse 28, the priest repaired this horse gate,
the horse gate. Now, you can study about the
symbolic and typology of the horse throughout scripture, but
the horse is always used as a symbol of power and strength, power
and strength. You can read about that in Job
39 verse 19 through 25. Back in olden days when they
had those brutal, brutal wars, the cavalry upon horses were
feared, weren't they? I mean, you got a charging cavalry
and those horses going headlong, whether it be chariots or cavalry,
they were feared. They were used, horses were used
to fight battles, right? Proverbs 21 verse 3 said, The
horse is prepared against the day of battle. It was a symbol
of power and strength. In the Revelation picture, the
Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation is pictured riding a white horse
in absolute victory. You remember in Revelation 6
verse 2, He's sitting upon the white horse, and He went forth
conquering and to conquer. He's conquered sin, death, hell,
and the grave for us. And then over in Revelation 19,
don't turn, let me just read it for you. Revelation 19, the
Lord Jesus Christ is pictured this way. I saw heaven open,
and behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called
Faithful and True. And in righteousness he doth
judge, and he doth make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire,
on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written that
no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And
the armies which were in heaven followed him upon the white horses,
clothed in fine linen, white and clean, to have his mouth
go as a sharp sword, that with it he might smite the nations.
He shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the
winepress. the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God. And
He had on His vesture, on His thigh, a name written, King of
kings and Lord of lords. The Lord Jesus Christ is pictured
as the captain of our salvation who has won the victory for us. We are more than conquerors through
God who has given us the victory. Because the Lord has all power
over all things, and has won the victory for us. The church
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord has given his church strength
and courage to stand and fight the good fight of faith. And
that's what we do. We are to contend for the faith.
As Jude said, Beloved, I gave all diligence to write unto you
of the common salvation. It was needful for me to write
unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend
for the faith that was once delivered unto the saints. Now, gate number
nine in verse 29 is called Shechaniah was the keeper of
the east gate. Do you see that? The east gate,
the east gate. Now obviously the east gate was
facing toward the rising of the sun. You could look out that
east gate and you could watch the sun rise up. The Lord Jesus
Christ is called the S-U-N, Son. He is the Son of God, S-O-N,
but he's called Malachi chapter 4. He's called the S-U-N, the
Son of Righteousness with healing in his wing. Let me quote the
verse to you. But as you that fear my name
shall the son, S-U-N, of righteousness arise with healing in his wing,
and you shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall, well
fed, because of Christ who is our east gate. The Lord Jesus
Christ is called the light of the world, is he not? John 8,
12, Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light
of the world. He that follows me shall not walk in darkness,
but shall have the light of life. And in regeneration, what has
He done? He's commanded the light to shine in your heart, to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has delivered us out of darkness
in the kingdom of His dear Son. He is our east gate. He is our
son of righteousness. He is our light. He delivered
us out of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear son. And we show
forth praises unto his name. Number 10, you didn't think I
could do it, did you? Number 10, gate number 10 is
called, verse 31, after him repaired
Malachi, the goldsmith's son, unto the place of the Netherlands
and the merchants over against the gate Mithcad, to the going
up of the corner. Now, that word Mithcad or the
gate Mithcad, the word Mithcad means judgment. Judgments. What does it mean? Some think
this was the gate or the house of judgment where the Sanhedrin
court, the Jewish court, tried cases and exercised judgment. And we know the Lord Jesus Christ,
the scripture says, all judgments committed unto the Son. Hebrews
9 says, And it is appointed unto men once to die, and after that
judgment. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for Him shall
He appear the second time without sin unto salvation. And John
5, 22, The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment
unto the Son. Christ is our Gate Mifcad, our
sins were judged in Him. Acts 17, the time of the vigilance
God winked at, but now commanded all men everywhere to repent,
because He has appointed a day, He has appointed a day in which
He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained,
where He hath given assurance unto all men that he raised him
from the dead. Thank God our sin was judged
in Christ. Therefore, the believer resting
in Christ, there is no, therefore now, no condemnation to those
who were in Christ. One more verse, I'll let you
go. Verse 32. Between the going up of the corner
unto the sheep gate, we're right back around, all the way around
that city, right back to where we started, the sheep gate. We
started there and we ended there. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
beginning and He's the end. Revelation 21 we read, He said
to me, It is done, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and
the end. I will give unto Him that is
thirst a fountain of the water of life freely. Our salvation
begins in Him. and it ends in him. He is the
alpha and he is the omega of all our salvation. He's the A
to Z and everything in between in our salvation and in the way
that he saves sinners.