THE SHEEP GATE OF JERUSALEM!

The gates of Jerusalem

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it"( Matt 7:13-14).

"Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep" (John 10:7

The  effective gates of spiritual life of a believer!

In the Bible we see Nehemiah 3^rd chapter consists of the plan of the construction of  Jerusalem city walls and gates.The city exclusively consists of 10 gates which symbolizes the perfection of the  life of a christian believer 10 various experiences in his life time on earth.These gates are the portion of  10 ways that God allows his children to walk through effective christian living to glorify Christ on earth.

Many say there are 10 gates in the old Jerusalem but there are 12 gates in the old and new Jerusalem in the Nehemiah’s time.The ten gates were mentioned in the Nehemiah chapter 3 and the 11^th and 12^th gates were mentioned in Nehemiah 12:39 about the Ephraim gate and the prison gate.

However the location of the Ephraim & Prison gate has no certainty to the actual locality.

We are going to study about these ten gates which reflects the story of the gospel and the Christian life. 

God loves the gates of Zion more than dwellings of Jacob

"That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation"(Psalm 9:14).

 "The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob"(Psalm 87:2).

The sheep gate entrance

All these gates symbolizes us to praise God in the christian way of salvation to bless us.Even though these mentioning of gates are written in the Old testament they have a very spiritual meaning in the New testament life of a Christian believer.Moreover the Lord our God loves the gates of Zion means he loves our spiritual walk advancing in His grace and truth growing day by day our walk with Him.He loves us so much when we really walk worthy of all these spiritual experiences in our christian life.

1.Sheep gate: “And Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brothers the priests. And they built the Sheep Gate. They sanctified it and set up its doors. Even to the Tower of Meah they sanctified it, to the Tower of Hananeel”(Neh 3:1).

The pool of Bethesda at sheep gate

The sheep gate was built by the High priest Eliashib and his brethren along with other priests.Who worked hard to setup the doors. Nehemiah by the inspiration of the Holy spirit began to start with sheep gate and clearly ending the report with the sheep gate.

Near to the sheep gate we see there exists sheep market where there was the pool of Bethesda which means “House of Mercy” according to  John 5:2.

The pool was divided into two parts one for cleaning sheep

The Bethesda in the sheep market  was divided into  two parts one was the pool used for healing when the angel touches the water while  the people bath or wash themselves. The other part was used to wash the sheep before sacrifice.

We read that Eliashib the high priest did not build it with locks and bars and thus we see the wonderful truth that the work of Christ has no locks and bars. Salvation is for free to enter by everyone,all people,all religions,all races,all languages,all nations of the world.

 "All th at the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out"(John 6:37).

Jesus Christ our High Priest

God the Holy Spirit was doing everything in order the mentioning of the High priest here symbolizes the The Lord Jesus Christ our High Priest forever in the order of Melchizedek was offered for sins.Satan destroyed the gates of spiritual life of mankind but the High priest Jesus Christ restore the gates of spiritual life for dying in our place.The first mentioned gate is Sheep gate.It located at the north east corner where sheep are brought for the sacrifice in the temple. We see Jesus Christ is lamb of God taketh away the sins of the world.The reason of the good Friday remembers us that Christ died for our sins so that we may live in His righteousness and glory in this world.It remembers that unregenerate man experience starts with the remembrance of the sacrificial death of Christ on this earth.It remembers the Cross and substitutionary death of Christ for our redemption.Our spiritual life starts with the death of Christ who died as a lamb.

"He was oppressed and afflicted,
   yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
   and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
   so he did not open his mouth"(Isaiah 53:7)

Jesus our Lamb of God

"The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world"! (John 1:29).

The sheep gate

The sheep symbolizes the sacrifices it is the initial stage of a christian life and also as mentioned in 31 verse it is the final stage of the life of a believer.Every aspect of the christian life starts with the death of Christ and concludes with it.The incident of cross in the christian life is a key doctrine of the “Sheep gate”. Nehemiah could have begun his record with any of the gates, but he chose to start and end the report with the Sheep Gate.

We start our spiritual life withsheep gate and concludes by putting an end to our selfish life or the Life Of “Iam”.

"For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors,"(I Peter 1:18).

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal 2:20).

When we crucify ourselves to the importance of Iam in our lives we are going to practice the true meaning of Good Friday.Because the Good Friday will bring divine goodness in our lives.

Selected Bibliography:

1. - http://www.prophecyinthenews.com/articledetail.asp?Article_ID=176
2.- http://www.jesusplusnothing.com/studies/online/nehem3.htm

3.http://koti.phnet.fi/petripaavola/Jerusalemgatesspiritualmeaning.html 

4.http://www.bible-exposition.com/spiritual_truths_from_the_gates_of_jerusalem_by_n_patel.htm