Holy Gates – Introduction
Holy Gates – Introduction.
“Open for me the gates of the righteous, the gates where the righteous enter, and I will go in and thank the Lord. These gates lead to the presence of Yahweh, and the godly enter there.” (Psalm 118:20).
A simple gate can be holy? Yes, if the gate opens the way to something that is set apart for sacred use. If the gate is a portal to the presence of God, or is a way of entering God’s will, or of a deepened understanding of God. A gate is holy if it opens the way to something that gives the Lord pleasure. But a gate can also be unholy, if it creates separation from God or an entrance into the world of sin. The gates of hell come to mind. (Matt. 16:18).
Gates have been around for thousands of years, so there’s nothing clever or novel about the idea of gates, unless you look closely at how important gates are in Scripture. It’s not surprising to discover that “gate” is one of the most common words in the Bible, used more than 375 times. Gates are so practical that they tend to be overlooked. They are used for protection and for welcome, to keep people out and to let people in. According to biblical scholars, gate and door use the same Hebrew and Greek words. So they tend to be used interchangeably. Sometimes the mere size of the thing is what determines if it’s a gate or a door. But it’s interesting that in some Bible translations, Jesus is the “gate,” and in others, Jesus is “the door.” No matter. We’ll get into this later in this series.
Gates were so important in a city that they became a symbol of the city itself, its well-being and identity. When Yahweh proclaimed that He “loves the gates of Zion” in Psalm 87, He was rejoicing in His love for Jerusalem as a whole. Most of the time when we read “gate” in Scripture the word is referring to a general public area inside the city gates, the large space just inside the gates that was so crucial to the city’s well-being and welfare. Everything happened at “the gates,” where the city was kept alive and functioning well. The gates were where:
(1.) the prophets went to cry out their word from the Lord;
(2.) the judges heard their cases and made their rulings;
(3.) the leading elders offered their counsel and advice;
(4.) the city’s residents went for their daily social interaction;
(5.) the political figures would consider important city matters;
(6.) the rabbis would read aloud the Scripture;
(7.) the needy begged for food and necessities;
(8.) the important news was announced;
(9.) the business leaders conducted their business and completed their transactions;
(10.) often the city wells were dug;
(11.) the boundary that meant sanctuary for needy outsiders, like widow and children;
(12.) the sellers would begin the marketplace activities.
(13.) the enemy would first attack at the gate.
Gates meant a lot literally and figuratively and was often used as a figure of speech, as a symbol to represent a moving from one reality to another, going from one place to another, of entering a new world of some sort. The gate was a point of access, an entrance. Back in the day, a biblical way of saying that someone repented of a wrongdoing was to say that this person entered the “gates of repentance.” When someone was mourning a loss, that person had entered the “gates of tears.” When someone was in deep conversation with God, they had entered the “gate of prayer.” When entering the Temple, the psalmist would often say that someone had entered the “gate of the righteous.” The Temple’s entrance was also known as “the Gate of the Lord.” Some of the more poetic believers then would even refer to God as the “Opener of the Gates,” lauding the Lord as the One who starts each new day, and everyone is privileged to enter another day as the sun rises in the morning.
As it turns out, gates are surprisingly significant in Scripture. They are an entrance to sacred places, they protect a city full of people, they are the backdrop to many noteworthy events, and many fascinating biblical characters had important events occur at the gates. We will discover in this series on “Holy Gates” that these ordinary entranceways are actually extraordinary in the life of the Bible. We will look closely at some of these gates in Scripture: the wondrous Tabernacle gate and the gigantic Temple gate; Jacob’s gate to heaven and the gate to Jerusalem; the Mercy Gate and the Beautiful Gate; the pearly gates and the gate to God’s Throne Room; the narrow gate and the wide gate. We also have the messianic gate to look at, and most importantly, we will consider Jesus Christ as The Gate, the only Gate to salvation and eternal life.
Hopefully, by the time this study of gates in Scripture is completed, we will agree with the sons of Korah: “A single day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a gatekeeper in the House of God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked.” (Ps. 84:10).