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Nehemiah 3 - The 10 Gates Symbolic of the Christian's Life · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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Speaker 1: Life Audio. How do you. Good morning, friends and faith listeners,
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Speaker 1: and welcome to the Bible Explained podcast. On this lovely morning,
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Speaker 1: We're going to be in nei Amiah chapter three today
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Speaker 1: and I'm very excited to talk about this chapter because
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Speaker 1: we're going to be going through all of the different
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Speaker 1: gates that were in Jerusalem's walls. And you might be like,
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Speaker 1: what does this matter? Why should I learn about the gates?
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Speaker 1: Is there any necessity to knowing this? This episode might
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Speaker 1: be more interesting to you than you think it's going
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Speaker 1: to be because the Jerusalem gates are actually symbolic for
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Speaker 1: the Christian life. And I'm not even reaching when I
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Speaker 1: say that. I promise you these things correlate to like
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Speaker 1: the walk of the Christian almost perfectly. So I'm really
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Speaker 1: excited to get into all of these different gates and
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Speaker 1: talk to you about how they symbolically represent Jesus and
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Speaker 1: the Christian life. But before we get into this fascinating subject,
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Speaker 1: please take a listen to the sponsor who has a
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Speaker 1: message for all of you guys. Okay, I apologize if
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Speaker 1: you can hear the lawn being mowed right now, I
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Speaker 1: swear when my husband is home, he like waits to
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Speaker 1: start mowing when I'm recording, or maybe I start maybe
1:20
Speaker 1: I wait to start recording when he's mowing. I don't
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Speaker 1: know what is happening, but it seems like every time
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Speaker 1: my husband's home, he's like mowing the lawn while I'm
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Speaker 1: recording an episode, and it gets really loud sometimes, so
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Speaker 1: I apologize for that. We're gonna read Niamiah three today,
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Speaker 1: but it's gonna be a little bit different because I'm
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Speaker 1: not going to be reading the entire chapter, but rather
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Speaker 1: talking about individual elements of the chapter that relate to
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Speaker 1: our topic for today. Now. Of course, just because I'm
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Speaker 1: not reading it, I always highly recommend that all of
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Speaker 1: you faithful listeners go back and read it for yourselves,
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Speaker 1: because I think it's going to open up some new
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Speaker 1: things for you. Now, before we dive in, though, we
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Speaker 1: got to remember what's going on. Niamayah came back to
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Speaker 1: Jerusalem to help build the wall that had been torn
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Speaker 1: down for around two hundred years. At this point, It's
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Speaker 1: been a very long time since the Babylonians went in
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Speaker 1: and destroyed the walls, and this was really bad for Jerusalem,
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Speaker 1: especially anybody that wanted to come back and live in
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Speaker 1: that city and repopulate it, because a torn down wall
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Speaker 1: was a security risk, And we talked about the other
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Speaker 1: day how some parts of the wall were torn down,
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Speaker 1: other parts were completely blocked off. So that was a
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Speaker 1: huge risk for anybody that lived in the city, especially
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Speaker 1: if you know, the enemies figured out what parts of
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Speaker 1: the wall were blocked off and which parts were open,
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Speaker 1: they could go in and potentially corner the people. Really
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Speaker 1: caused them to get stuck in the city at certain places.
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Speaker 1: It was just really bad for anybody that wanted to
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Speaker 1: live in Jerusalem. So when Niemiah finds out that the
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Speaker 1: walls in Jerusalem are still torn down, he feels this
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Speaker 1: urgency is a believing Jewish man to go to Jerusalem
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Speaker 1: and help build these walls. Even though he had never
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Speaker 1: been to Jerusalem before most likely and he had never
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Speaker 1: lived there, he still felt an urgent, see because Jerusalem
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Speaker 1: was the place of his ancestors. So he presents his
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Speaker 1: case to the Persian king, because Persia had control over
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Speaker 1: Israel at this point. He presents his case and art
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Speaker 1: Exerxes actually allows him to go to Jerusalem and rebuild
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Speaker 1: these walls. And it's actually kind of crazy that art
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Speaker 1: Exerxes allowed this because you know, Jerusalem had a history
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Speaker 1: of rebelling against kings, and if Jerusalem was allowed to
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Speaker 1: rebuild their walls once again, that would show that they're
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Speaker 1: beginning to become an independent city that can protect themselves.
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Speaker 1: So it's kind of crazy that art Exerxes allowed this,
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Speaker 1: but he probably allowed it because he was in a
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Speaker 1: conflict with Egypt at this point, and Jerusalem was not
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Speaker 1: too far from Egypt, so he could potentially use the
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Speaker 1: security of Jerusalem, especially if he maintained good relations with Jerusalem.
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Speaker 1: He could use that city to protect himself from the
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Speaker 1: Egyptians if he was fighting a battle with the Egyptians
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Speaker 1: in that general area. So that's probably why he allowed
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Speaker 1: Niemiah to go back home, and he trusted Nihemiah. He
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Speaker 1: knew that Niamiah was not going to rebel against him,
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Speaker 1: because who knows how long Niamiah was the king's cup bearer.
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Speaker 1: But he trusted Nehemiah and knew that Niamiah would not
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Speaker 1: allow Jerusalem to rebel against him as it had done
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Speaker 1: with previous kings. So Niamiyah, with the king's permission and
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Speaker 1: with a grant from the king to help rebuild these walls,
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Speaker 1: goes to Jerusalem and begins the work very rapidly. And
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Speaker 1: so now the people begin the work of rebuilding these walls.
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Speaker 1: Each man would do the work of rebuilding the wall
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Speaker 1: that was in front of his own house, So pretty
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Speaker 1: cool thing. Each person just kind of worked right in
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Speaker 1: front of their house to rebuild these walls. So here's
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Speaker 1: what it says in verse one of Namiah three. Then Eliashib,
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Speaker 1: the high priest, rose up with his brothers, the priests,
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Speaker 1: and they built the sheep gate. They sanctified it and
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Speaker 1: set up its doors. They sanctified it even to the
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Speaker 1: tower of Hemea, to the tower of Hananel. Next to him,
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Speaker 1: the men of Jericho built, and next to them z
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Speaker 1: coor the son of Imri built, So you can see,
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Speaker 1: it's kind of like going down the line. And notice
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Speaker 1: that Neamiah starts with the sheep gate. Now, if you're
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Speaker 1: looking at a map of all of the gates of Jerusalem,
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Speaker 1: which you can do very easily by just typing in
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Speaker 1: gates of Jerusalem Niamiyah. That's all you have to do,
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Speaker 1: and you'll find a picture of the layout of Jerusalem
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Speaker 1: with all of its gates. It kind of looks like
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Speaker 1: a foot without toes. That's the best way I can describe,
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Speaker 1: like the shape of it. So the sheep gate would
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Speaker 1: be the northeast most corner of that foot. It was
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Speaker 1: right in front of the temple. The sheepgate was called
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Speaker 1: the sheepgate because it was where the priests would bring
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Speaker 1: in the sheep for the sacrifices to Yahweh in the
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Speaker 1: morning and in the evening. So the sheep gate was
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Speaker 1: a very significant gate, and it's the first gate that
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Speaker 1: Niamiah mentions. And like I said in the intro of
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Speaker 1: this episode, each individual gate, interestingly enough, actually correlates to
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Speaker 1: a different part of the Christian's walk, and in this case,
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Speaker 1: the sheepgate represents our first meeting with Jesus. When Jesus
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Speaker 1: first entered into Jerusalem at the beginning of his ministry
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Speaker 1: in John chapter five, he actually entered through the sheep gate.
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Speaker 1: Interestingly enough, here's what it says, John five one and two.
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Speaker 1: After these things, there is a feast of the Jews,
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Speaker 1: and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by
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Speaker 1: the sheep gate, there is a pool which is in
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Speaker 1: Hebrew called Bethesda, having five porches. So when Jesus first
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Speaker 1: entered into Jerusalem after he started his public ministry, he
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Speaker 1: entered through the sheep gate, so it's significant in that way.
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Speaker 1: But then Jesus also calls himself the sheep's gate in
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Speaker 1: John ten seven through ten. Jesus therefore said to them again,
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Speaker 1: most certainly, I tell you, I am the sheep's door.
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Speaker 1: All who come before me are thieves and robbers. But
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Speaker 1: the sheep didn't listen to them. I am the door.
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Speaker 1: If anyone enters in by me, he will be saved.
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Speaker 1: The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I
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Speaker 1: came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.
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Speaker 1: And depending on the version that you read, it might
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Speaker 1: not say sheep's door, but sheep's gate. So it's significant
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Speaker 1: because in the days of Namiah, the sheep's gate was
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Speaker 1: named that because of the sin offerings that would come in.
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Speaker 1: And Jesus entered through the sheep's gate when he first
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Speaker 1: started his ministry and actually called himself the sheep's gate.
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Speaker 1: And why is that well, because he was the sin sacrifice.
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Speaker 1: We talked about that exact topic yesterday in Hebrews, which
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Speaker 1: I highly recommend all of you guys go back and
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Speaker 1: listen to. So the sheep's Gate represents our first belief
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Speaker 1: in Jesus, our understanding of who he is, and the
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Speaker 1: salvation that he gives us. So now the second gate
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Speaker 1: that Niamiah mentions here is the fish gate in verse three.
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Speaker 1: The sons of Hassanah built the fish gate. They laid
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Speaker 1: its beams and set up its doors, its bolts, and
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Speaker 1: its bars. So now you guys might know where I'm
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Speaker 1: going with this one, because what did Jesus tell his
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Speaker 1: disciples right after they started to follow him. He told
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Speaker 1: them that they are fishers of men. Now, historically, in
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Speaker 1: Nehemiah's days, the fish gate would have been on the
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Speaker 1: northwest side of Jerusalem, and this is where the fishermen
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Speaker 1: from the Mediterranean Sea would bring all of their fish.
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Speaker 1: And there was a fish market there right inside of
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Speaker 1: the fish gate, which is why it was called the fishgate.
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Speaker 1: So after we believe in Jesus, after we understand that
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Speaker 1: he is the source of salvation, he is the gate,
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Speaker 1: the sheep's gate. We travel along that path and we
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Speaker 1: enter through the fish gate. We become fishers of men ourselves.
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Speaker 1: That is an evangelist. And you can start doing this
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Speaker 1: from the very first day that you believe in Jesus,
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Speaker 1: you can start evangelizing about what He has done in
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Speaker 1: your life, how you believe in him. It's kind of
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Speaker 1: the first step after becoming a Christian is you share
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Speaker 1: your testimony with other people and you start telling them, hey,
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Speaker 1: I believe in Jesus now, and maybe you should too.
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Speaker 1: So that is the first step after becoming a Christian
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Speaker 1: is kind of turing through that fish gate and becoming
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Speaker 1: a fisher of man. And now the next gate that
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Speaker 1: is mentioned in verse six, it says joy to the
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Speaker 1: son of Paesa, and Mischulam, the son of Bisoida, repaired
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Speaker 1: the old gate. They laid its beams and set up
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Speaker 1: its doors, its bolts, and its bars. So in the
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Speaker 1: days of Nhemiah, the Old Gate signified one of the
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Speaker 1: very first gates that was ever made. It was kind
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Speaker 1: of like the Ancient Gate. It was a gate that
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Speaker 1: had been there for a very very long period of time,
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Speaker 1: probably one of the first gates ever made in Jerusalem's history.
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Speaker 1: But for the Christian, once we believe that Jesus is
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Speaker 1: the Gate, we have to start understanding that the Bible
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Speaker 1: is completely the truth. Here's what Jeremiah six sixteen says
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Speaker 1: He always says, stand in the ways and see and
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Speaker 1: ask for the old paths. Where is the good way?
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Speaker 1: And walk in it, and you will find rest for
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Speaker 1: your souls. But they said we will not walk in it.
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Speaker 1: Funny enough, yesterday in Hebrews we talked about this as well,
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Speaker 1: how we as Christians are not supposed to be swayed
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Speaker 1: by every new theology that comes into the church. Here's
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Speaker 1: what it says in Hebrews thirteen, verse nine. Don't be
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Speaker 1: carried away by various and strange teachings, for it is
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Speaker 1: good that the heart to be established by grace. Don't
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Speaker 1: be carried away by strange teachings. Find the old ways.
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Speaker 1: You know, the Bible is not just an old book.
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Speaker 1: That's what a lot of people call it. They just say, oh,
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Speaker 1: it's just an ancient book. Maybe it's historical, maybe it's not.
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Speaker 1: It's not really relevant to today. When we become Christians,
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Speaker 1: we have to move past that mindset and understand that
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Speaker 1: the Bible is not just some old book, but it's
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Speaker 1: actually the truth straight from God. And it does take
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Speaker 1: a while to learn this. There were things that I
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Speaker 1: was questioning in the Bible well after I became a Christian,
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Speaker 1: sometimes there are still questions that pop up for me
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Speaker 1: and I'm just like, why does it say this? But
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Speaker 1: earlier on in my Christian days, there were things that
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Speaker 1: I just really didn't like about the Bible, if I'm
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Speaker 1: being one hundred percent honest. Specifically, you know, I was
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Speaker 1: kind of a feminist back in my day, and I
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Speaker 1: was very turned off by some of the rules for
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Speaker 1: women in the Old Testament until I realized the heart
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Speaker 1: of God and how much He loves women, and how
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Speaker 1: those laws were in place to condemn women or punish
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Speaker 1: them for being women, but actually protect them from a
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Speaker 1: violent culture who considered them to be just objects. God
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Speaker 1: was actually granting women so much respect and forcing these
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Speaker 1: men to respect these women as well in the Old Testament.
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Speaker 1: But that was something I had a really hard time understanding.
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Speaker 1: So as Christians, we have to learn that the old ways,
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Speaker 1: the ways of God the Bible, are the good ways.
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Speaker 1: So we have to also walk through that old gait
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Speaker 1: that Niamiah talks about right here, and speaking of women,
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Speaker 1: by the way, going to Namiah chapter three, verse twelve,
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Speaker 1: it says some women actually helped repair the old gate.
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Speaker 1: It says next to him, Shaloom, the son of Hallohesh,
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Speaker 1: the ruler of half the district of Jerusalem. He and
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Speaker 1: his daughters made repairs. So there are some women that
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Speaker 1: actually worked on rebuilding this temple wall, which I actually
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Speaker 1: found really cute, especially considering the fact if you jump
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Speaker 1: back to verse five, it mentions that the nobles wouldn't
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Speaker 1: put their necks to the lord's work. That's what it
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Speaker 1: says in verse five, So the nobles of Israel would
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Speaker 1: not lift their finger to help make repairs on this wall.
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Speaker 1: But these women were actually more than happy to do
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Speaker 1: the hard work, the labor of a man to make
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Speaker 1: repairs to this wall, which I found kind of interesting. Here,
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Speaker 1: but after this, in verse thirteen of Neemiah III, it
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Speaker 1: mentions the Valley Gate. Now, the Valley Gate was called
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Speaker 1: that because it led out to a valley, specifically the
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Speaker 1: valley of Hinnham. You guys might remember me talking about
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Speaker 1: this valley in previous episodes, but this was the valley
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Speaker 1: where the Israelites actually sacrifice their children to Molik by
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Speaker 1: burning them alive with fire. So this was a very
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Speaker 1: dark place, and Jesus actually called it Gehenna, interestingly enough,
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Speaker 1: in the New Testament, so he referred to the Valley
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Speaker 1: of Hinnham as hell itself. This was a deep and
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Speaker 1: dark valley that the Valley Gate led out to. And
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Speaker 1: as Christians, things are not going to be easy, peasy,
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Speaker 1: lemon squeezy for us all the time. We are going
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Speaker 1: to go through very dark periods, which doesn't mean that
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Speaker 1: God isn't on our side. I mean, think about one
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Speaker 1: of the most famous psalms in the Bible, Psalm twenty three,
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Speaker 1: verse four. Here's what David says, even though I walk
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Speaker 1: through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil for
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Speaker 1: you or with me. Your rod and your staff they
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Speaker 1: comfort me. God is going to allow us to walk
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Speaker 1: through very dark valleys. Jesus says, in this world, you're
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Speaker 1: going to have trouble and tribulation. But take heart, because
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Speaker 1: I have overcome the world. That's why the prosperity gospel
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Speaker 1: just cannot exist. God does not shower us with money
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Speaker 1: and wealth, and he's not just some genie up in
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Speaker 1: the sky that we can order around. We follow God
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Speaker 1: because he is the Truth, because we have a promise
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Speaker 1: of something better than wealth and happiness here on earth.
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Speaker 1: We have the promise of eternal life, eternal comfort, paradise
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Speaker 1: with Jesus after we die. So we cannot expect as
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Speaker 1: Christians to not go through bad periods of life. We
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Speaker 1: are going to go through those valleys, but God is
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Speaker 1: going to be with us the entire time and a
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Speaker 1: lot of times. Unfortunately, this is where people's faith gets shaken,
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Speaker 1: where they start questioning God and questioning their faith, wondering
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Speaker 1: if they should become a Christian at all. But just
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Speaker 1: remember that God does not promise you in easy life
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Speaker 1: just because you become a Christian. You are going to
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Speaker 1: have to walk through that valley gate from time to time.
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Speaker 1: And now the next gate mention is called the dung gate.
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Speaker 1: It was called that because, as its name implies, it
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Speaker 1: was where the feces of the city would go, and
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Speaker 1: interestingly enough, it actually did go to the valley of Hinhim.
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Speaker 1: Before the valley of Hinham became a trash dump again,
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Speaker 1: it was the place of idolatry where the people would
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Speaker 1: sacrifice their children in the fire. When King Josiah of
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Speaker 1: Israel made his reform, he turned the valley of Hinnim
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Speaker 1: into a trash heap and also a lavatory as well.
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Speaker 1: So yes, all of the poop of the city would
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Speaker 1: go through the dung gate and into the valley of Hinnam.
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Speaker 1: And what does that represent, Well, that represents that we
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Speaker 1: need to get the filth out of our lives. We
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Speaker 1: need to walk through that door. And we got to
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Speaker 1: get the junk that we used to do before we
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Speaker 1: became a Christian. We got to get that out of
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Speaker 1: our lives. Here's what Hebrews twelve one and two says. Therefore, let's, also,
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Speaker 1: seeing that we are surrounded by so great a cloud
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Speaker 1: of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which
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Speaker 1: so easily and hangles us. And let's run with perseverance
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Speaker 1: the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus,
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Speaker 1: the author and perfector of faith, who for the joy
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Speaker 1: that was set before him, endured the cross, despising its shame,
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Speaker 1: and is sat down at the right hand of the
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Speaker 1: throne of God. So we need to throw away all
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Speaker 1: the stuff that easily trips us up, the sin that
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Speaker 1: we might be struggling with the addictions that we had
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Speaker 1: before he became a Christian. And why is that well,
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Speaker 1: because God calls us to a better life. Who feels
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Speaker 1: happy after indulging in an addiction like pornography nobody feels
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Speaker 1: happy afterward. You feel kind of like depressed afterward. Whenever
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Speaker 1: you sin, it might be enjoyable in the moment that
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Speaker 1: you are sinning, but afterward you just get guilty and
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Speaker 1: stressed out. It is not a life worth living. God
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Speaker 1: calls us to something better, and I can attest to
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Speaker 1: this personally. When I was struggling through homosexuality, I was miserable.
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Speaker 1: I was so miserable, and I felt really guilty because
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Speaker 1: I was married to my husband. It wasn't until I
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Speaker 1: truly gave my life to Jesus and I finally came
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Speaker 1: clean with all this. And I can't you know, I
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Speaker 1: cannot tell you how terrified I was to tell my
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Speaker 1: husband about my sin. But I told him, and he
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Speaker 1: was so kind to me. He was so kind, like
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Speaker 1: his faith was so much stronger than mine was at
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Speaker 1: this point in time. He only been a Christian for
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Speaker 1: a couple years and I had been a supposed Christian
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Speaker 1: for my entire life. And his kindness was the Holy
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Speaker 1: Spirit working through him, showing me how loved I really
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Speaker 1: am in spite of the fact that I was struggling
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Speaker 1: through that. And once it finally just came off my chest,
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Speaker 1: and I told my husband about it. It did not
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Speaker 1: have the same power over me anymore. I can tell
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Speaker 1: you it was freeing. I was terrified in the moment
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Speaker 1: to tell my husband, but it was so freeing, and
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Speaker 1: it did not have the same power over me. And
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Speaker 1: I can honestly say now that I do not struggle
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Speaker 1: the way I used to struggle with it. I just don't.
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Speaker 1: It's really amazing what God will do when you find
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Speaker 1: finally give those sins to him and you finally want
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Speaker 1: to change your life. That's why it says in scripture
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Speaker 1: to confess your sins to one another. Especially if you've
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Speaker 1: hurt somebody, you need to confess that and say you're sorry.
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Speaker 1: But you confess your sins because when you finally stop
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Speaker 1: hiding them, that is when Satan can't use them against
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Speaker 1: you anymore. That's when they're not going to have the
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Speaker 1: same power over you. You may still struggle initially, but
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Speaker 1: I can promise you if there is a real heart
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Speaker 1: change there in yourself, it is not going to be
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Speaker 1: the same. So you get rid of this junk. You
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Speaker 1: got to go through that dung gate and get rid
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Speaker 1: of all of the crap in your life. That is
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Speaker 1: just holding you down from living a God honoring life.
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Speaker 1: Now that's not to say you're not going to still struggle.
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Speaker 1: We got to walk through that dung gate all the time,
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Speaker 1: don't we. But as Christians, we can't make a habit
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Speaker 1: of sinning. Otherwise we're not living in the light. We're
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Speaker 1: not living as Jesus calls us to live. So now,
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Speaker 1: going back to Nehemiah chapter three, the gate after the
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Speaker 1: dung gate is called the spring gate. So this is
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Speaker 1: the gate where a lot of the Israelites would enter
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Speaker 1: in if they were on a pilgrimage to the temple.
19:07
Speaker 1: And there was a spring right inside that gate where
19:10
Speaker 1: the people would wash themselves and make themselves clean before
19:14
Speaker 1: they went to the temple. And this, obviously in our
19:17
Speaker 1: own life signifies this time of healing and restoration that
19:22
Speaker 1: we get, this feeling of being clean that we get
19:26
Speaker 1: once we pass through that dung gate, which I probably
19:29
Speaker 1: should have saved that point for this particular gate. But
19:31
Speaker 1: once you finally get rid of all that junk in
19:33
Speaker 1: your life, you just feel like a weight is lifted
19:36
Speaker 1: off your shoulder. You feel just refreshed. And that was
19:41
Speaker 1: what the spring gate would do for all of these travelers.
19:44
Speaker 1: It would refresh them. It was the pool of Silo
19:48
Speaker 1: where the people could wash their hands and their feet
19:50
Speaker 1: after a long pilgrimage. So once we go through that
19:53
Speaker 1: dung gate, we got to go through the spring gate
19:56
Speaker 1: to feel that cleansing and that refreshing from God after
20:00
Speaker 1: a period of getting rid of all that crap in
20:03
Speaker 1: our lives. And now going back to Niemiah three. After
20:07
Speaker 1: the spring gate, was the watergate and the watergate. Yes,
20:13
Speaker 1: not watergate, you know the famous scandal. No, this was
20:17
Speaker 1: the gate that water would be brought up from. I
20:21
Speaker 1: believe it was the Gihan spring and the water would
20:25
Speaker 1: come through into Jerusalem. If I'm remembering correctly, I might
20:29
Speaker 1: be wrong about this. I think this was the gate
20:32
Speaker 1: in which King Hezekiah rerouted all of the water during
20:35
Speaker 1: that one siege that he knew was going to happen.
20:38
Speaker 1: I believe he used the watergate to get that water
20:41
Speaker 1: into the city when the invading forces tried to take
20:45
Speaker 1: Jerusalem captive. So the watergate signifies water being brought into
20:50
Speaker 1: the city, But in the Christian perspective, the water symbolizes
20:55
Speaker 1: Jesus himself. John chapter four thirteen and fourteen. Here's what
20:59
Speaker 1: Jesus says about it. Jesus answered her, everyone who drinks
21:03
Speaker 1: of this water will thirst again. But whoever drinks of
21:06
Speaker 1: the water that I will give him will never thirst again.
21:10
Speaker 1: But the water that I will give him will become
21:12
Speaker 1: in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.
21:16
Speaker 1: So as we become mature Christians, we have the refreshing
21:20
Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit of Jesus of the Bible. You know,
21:23
Speaker 1: I'm sure many of you faithful listeners listening to this
21:25
Speaker 1: podcast understand just how wonderful it is to sit down
21:28
Speaker 1: with the Bible when you are feeling so depressed. For me,
21:31
Speaker 1: it is like the one thing that always puts me
21:34
Speaker 1: in a good mood after I am done. Either worshiping
21:37
Speaker 1: God through music or reading His word. Those are the
21:40
Speaker 1: two things that just always put me in a better
21:42
Speaker 1: mood when I am stressed out about something. As Christians,
21:45
Speaker 1: we have this constant refreshing from Jesus when we ask
21:49
Speaker 1: for it, and that is what the watergate symbolizes in
21:52
Speaker 1: our own lives as Christians. Now there's two more gates left.
21:56
Speaker 1: The next gate is called the horse Gate. Amia's day.
22:00
Speaker 1: The horse Gate was located very close to the king's stables,
22:04
Speaker 1: and this is the gate that the horses would go
22:07
Speaker 1: in and out of. Now, how does the horse gate
22:10
Speaker 1: represent Christianity? You might ask. That's talked about in Revelation
22:14
Speaker 1: nineteen eleven through sixteen. I saw the heaven opened, and
22:18
Speaker 1: behold a white horse, And he who sat on it
22:20
Speaker 1: is called faithful and true in righteousness. He judges and
22:24
Speaker 1: makes war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and
22:27
Speaker 1: on his head are many crowns. He is names written
22:30
Speaker 1: in a name written which no one knows but he himself.
22:33
Speaker 1: He is clothed in a garment sprinkled with blood. His
22:36
Speaker 1: name is called the Word of God. The armies which
22:39
Speaker 1: are in heaven, clothed in white, pure fine linen, followed
22:43
Speaker 1: him on white horses. Out of his mouth precedes a sharp,
22:46
Speaker 1: double edged sword, that with it he should strike the nations.
22:50
Speaker 1: He will rule them with an iron rod. He treads
22:52
Speaker 1: the wine press of fierceness, of the wrath of God
22:55
Speaker 1: the Almighty. He has on his garment and on his
22:58
Speaker 1: thigh a name written King of kings and Lord of lords.
23:02
Speaker 1: So the horse gate in Neamia's day was for the
23:04
Speaker 1: warrior horses, you know, the horses for battle, when Jesus returns,
23:09
Speaker 1: he is going to return on a battle stallion, and
23:12
Speaker 1: he is going to come as the King of kings
23:15
Speaker 1: and the Lord of lords, and that's something that all
23:19
Speaker 1: of us Christians can obviously look forward to. And actually, sorry,
23:22
Speaker 1: there's two maregates. Now. The next gate is called the
23:26
Speaker 1: East Gate, and the East Gate was the gate where
23:29
Speaker 1: Jesus entered into Jerusalem on the donkey back right before
23:33
Speaker 1: he died, like on Passion week. That was the gate
23:36
Speaker 1: he entered through. Now there's an interesting thing that happened
23:39
Speaker 1: with the Eastgate though, actually it was closed off completely
23:43
Speaker 1: back in eighty fifteen hundred by the Muslims, specifically Suliman
23:49
Speaker 1: the Magnificent, who was a sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
23:53
Speaker 1: And the reason he blocked off this gate was to
23:56
Speaker 1: prevent the Jewish Messiah from gaining entrance to Jerusalem, because
24:01
Speaker 1: Jewish tradition states that the Messiah will pass through the
24:03
Speaker 1: Eastern Gate. But of course the Jews don't understand that
24:06
Speaker 1: Jesus already went through the Eastern Gate. They just reject Jesus.
24:11
Speaker 1: And still the tradition for the Jewish people is that
24:13
Speaker 1: the Messiah will pass through the Eastern gate, but it
24:17
Speaker 1: was blocked off in the fifteen hundreds. And here's where
24:20
Speaker 1: this gets really spicy. The book of Ezekiel actually prophesied this,
24:27
Speaker 1: that the eastern gate would be completely blocked off. Here
24:32
Speaker 1: is what Ezekiel forty four one and two says. Then
24:38
Speaker 1: he brought me back by the way of the outer
24:40
Speaker 1: gate of the sanctuary, which looks toward the east, and
24:43
Speaker 1: it was shut. Yahweh said to me, this gate shall
24:46
Speaker 1: be shut. It shall not be opened. No man shall
24:50
Speaker 1: enter in by it. For Yahweh, the God of Israel,
24:52
Speaker 1: has entered in by it. Therefore it shall be shut.
24:56
Speaker 1: If that is not prophecy coming to fruition, I don't
24:59
Speaker 1: know what is. Because because that eastern gate is shut,
25:02
Speaker 1: because Jesus went through it, as was Jewish tradition, and
25:06
Speaker 1: then about fifteen hundred years later it was completely sealed
25:08
Speaker 1: off and remains that way to this day. That gate
25:12
Speaker 1: is shut. And God told us that that was exactly
25:15
Speaker 1: what was going to happen to that gate. The gate
25:18
Speaker 1: shall be shut, it shall not be opened, No man
25:21
Speaker 1: shall enter in by it, for Yahweh, the God of Israel,
25:24
Speaker 1: has entered in by it. Interesting that God, the Father
25:28
Speaker 1: calls Jesus Yahweh, the God of Israel. I love that,
25:32
Speaker 1: just absolutely love that. Now does this relate to the
25:35
Speaker 1: Christian walk? Jesus came for us before, He's going to
25:39
Speaker 1: come for us again. If a prophecy from Ezekiel came
25:43
Speaker 1: true thousands of years after Ezekiel was written, and it
25:47
Speaker 1: prophesied that Jesus was going to enter through that gate
25:50
Speaker 1: and that the gate was going to be sealed off,
25:51
Speaker 1: then we can have assurance though when Jesus says he's
25:54
Speaker 1: going to come back again, that he surely is going
25:57
Speaker 1: to come back again. You know, sometimes us Christians it
26:00
Speaker 1: feels like we're waiting in just like misery, like where
26:04
Speaker 1: is Jesus? When is he going to come back again?
26:06
Speaker 1: Is he being slow on his promise? Did he forget
26:09
Speaker 1: his promise? Is he just not doing it? Was it
26:10
Speaker 1: a fake promise? No, Jesus is going to come back again,
26:15
Speaker 1: and he's coming back on that white horse, something that
26:18
Speaker 1: we can look forward to and not grow depressed or weary.
26:21
Speaker 1: You when Jesus does not return in our lifetimes potentially,
26:25
Speaker 1: and now the last gate that is mentioned here is
26:29
Speaker 1: the Gate of hamaf cad hammth CAD. I don't know
26:33
Speaker 1: how to pronounce this, but in English it is the
26:37
Speaker 1: gate of inspection. So historically the gate of inspection was
26:42
Speaker 1: where King David would review his troops before they went
26:46
Speaker 1: out in battle. And that is the last step in
26:50
Speaker 1: the Christian's life, and this is after Jesus returns. Jesus
26:54
Speaker 1: is going to review us. He is going to judge
26:58
Speaker 1: us for every single thing we did in our lives.
27:01
Speaker 1: If you go to Revelation twenty one five through eight,
27:03
Speaker 1: it says he who sits on the throne said, behold,
27:06
Speaker 1: I am making all things new. He said, right, for
27:10
Speaker 1: these words of God are faithful and true. He said
27:13
Speaker 1: to me, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the
27:15
Speaker 1: beginning and the end. I will give freely to him
27:17
Speaker 1: who is thirsty from the spring of the water of life.
27:21
Speaker 1: He who overcomes, I will give him these things. I
27:24
Speaker 1: will be his God, and he will be my son.
27:26
Speaker 1: But for the cowardly, the unbelieving, the sinners, abominable murders, sexually,
27:31
Speaker 1: immoral sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their part is in
27:35
Speaker 1: the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is
27:39
Speaker 1: the second death. So that is Jesus himself saying that
27:42
Speaker 1: he is going to review all people, whether they're Christian
27:46
Speaker 1: or whether they're Unchristian. He will review them all and
27:50
Speaker 1: decide their reward or their non reward, or their punishment.
27:53
Speaker 1: So that is what the last gait, the inspection gate signifies,
27:57
Speaker 1: and then Nehemiah wraps up this chapter by bringing it
28:00
Speaker 1: all back to the sheep gate in verse thirty two.
28:04
Speaker 1: And I doubt that Nehemiah knew that he was writing
28:06
Speaker 1: prophetically or that any of these gates symbolized anything. Really,
28:11
Speaker 1: he was just writing stuff down. But it's amazing that
28:14
Speaker 1: every single one of these gates correlates to something in
28:17
Speaker 1: our Christian walk. And to bring it all back to
28:19
Speaker 1: the sheep gate, that shows that for the Christian it
28:22
Speaker 1: starts with Jesus and it ends with Jesus. Well, thank
28:27
Speaker 1: you so much, faithful listeners for tuning into this podcast episode.
28:31
Speaker 1: I hope that you all loved it. Before I say
28:33
Speaker 1: happy listening and God bless, please take a listen to
28:36
Speaker 1: this last sponsored ad for today. Alrighty, faithful listeners, So
28:41
Speaker 1: I hope you all enjoyed today's episode. I thought it
28:44
Speaker 1: was a fascinating episode personally and maybe you guys did
28:47
Speaker 1: as well, and if you did, share it on your
28:49
Speaker 1: social media platforms tell people that the Bible Explained Podcast exists.
28:53
Speaker 1: Word of mouth is a great way to share this podcast,
28:55
Speaker 1: and it's also a great way to evangelize because we
28:58
Speaker 1: are talking about the Bible on this podcast and usually
29:01
Speaker 1: not much else, So just sharing the podcast or even
29:04
Speaker 1: writing a nice little review and giving it five stars
29:07
Speaker 1: brings it to more people. It's an easy way to
29:10
Speaker 1: evangelize the gospel message, So faithful listeners, I hope you
29:13
Speaker 1: all do that, and I hope to see all of
29:14
Speaker 1: you guys here tomorrow as we discuss the last chapter
29:17
Speaker 1: of Hebrews and finish up the Book of Hebrews tomorrow,
29:20
Speaker 1: and then next week we are going to be in
29:22
Speaker 1: the Book of James, one of my favorite New Testament books,
29:26
Speaker 1: which I'm excited to delve into that book with you guys.
29:28
Speaker 1: But anyway, I will see you guys tomorrow six am
29:31
Speaker 1: or whenever you choose to wake up and listen. Happy listening,
29:34
Speaker 1: and God bless. I just want to take a second
29:41
Speaker 1: to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership
29:43
Speaker 1: with me on the Bible Explain Podcast. In fact, if
29:45
Speaker 1: you go to lifeaudio dot com. You will find dozens
29:48
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