The East Gate

This gate is possible the most spoken of gate in Jerusalem, and it has been walled shut for the last 400 years. Different maps place this gate in different places, however I have placed it in the outer temple walls for good reason, based on scripture as we shall see.

Nehemiah 3:29

29. After them repaired Zadok the son of Immer over against his house. After him repaired also Shemaiah the son of Shechaniah, the keeper of the east gate.

The keeper of the East Gate repaired this next section of the walls, and we assume that this part was therefore close enough to the East Gate for him to do his job as well. What is clear from this passage is that the gate itself was not in the wall repaired in Nehemiah’s time.
This Gate, as we shall see is a picture of the second coming of Christ, and is the first of a series of gates that focus on God rather than on us. No surprise therefore that these gates are part of the temple walls rather than the walls of Jerusalem.

There are many pointers to the East Gate in references to the second coming of Christ, beginning with the fact that in Acts 1 the disciples were on the Mount of Olives, to the East of Jerusalem when they were told Jesus would return in the same manner, and one assumes, in the same place. The clearest reference is in Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 43:1-2, 4

Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east:
1. And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.
2. And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.

This was the gate that Jesus rode in through on a donkey, two thousand years ago, and at the end of this age he will re-open the gate, which was closed by a Muslim specifically to stop Christ coming back that way, and he shall ride in in victory to begin his reign.
Why does this make a difference to our lives?
Firstly our attitude toward life and death is turned upside down by the knowledge that Christ is coming back.
Secondly, knowledge of the return of Christ revolutionises the way we live our lives.
Finally, knowledge of the imminent return of Christ galvanises us into action reaching the lost.

On that day it will be too late to change your mind. Every knee will bow, but not all willingly. Are there people you do not want to leave behind? Tell them of Christ now before it is to late.

Matthew 24:37-41

37. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39. And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

The time is coming fast.