(Neh. 3:)
In the New Jerusalem there are to be twelve gates (Rev. 21:12), and each several gate of one pearl; so that, look upon the city from whichever standpoint one may, he will be reminded of the precious truth that Christ "loved the Church, and gave Himself for it" (Eph. 5:25).He came from heaven asa merchant man seeking goodly pearls; and having found one pearl of great price, "though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor " by selling all that He had to buy it.
Jerusalem of old, as rebuilt in the revival days of Nehemiah, Ezra and Zerubbabel, had ten gates, the number that, it has well been said, sets forth responsibility towards God and man, of which the ten words in the law were the measure; while the twelve of the heavenly city (and note how many twelves there are in Rev. 21:), some have suggested, would set forth perfect administration, or governmental completeness, only to be known in the day that the kings of the earth bring the glory and the honor of the nations unto it.
I have thought there might be divine lessons for us in the names and order of the gates of the old city. That there is danger always of being fanciful, I realize, and would therefore seek to avoid letting an in subject imagination, which is only "evil continually " (Gen. 6:5), run riot in the holy things of the Lord.
But, in looking at these gates, it is not so much my thought to seek to give the interpretation of them as to make a practical application of truth which, I am convinced, is much needed in this Laodicean day. It is my thought, then, to look at the ten ports in order, just as we find them in the third of Nehemiah -an order which is, without doubt, divinely perfect.
We begin, then, with
THE SHEEP GATE,
of which we read in the first verse :" Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Meah they sanctified it, unto the tower of Hananeel." This was priestly work indeed, for through this gate the beasts were led whose death and blood-shedding were to picture the one Offering of the ninth of Hebrews. They pointed on to the perfect sacrifice of that unnamed One of Isaiah 53:, who was '' led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth."
Thankful we are that for us it is not necessary to ask, as did the eunuch, " Of whom speaketh the prophet this ? of himself, or of some other man ?" (Acts 8:34). The other Man is well known indeed to those of us who have been brought to trust the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all. In Him we have beheld the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world (John 1:29).
The Sheep Gate clearly speaks to us, then, of the Cross. Here the remnant of old began to build the wall, priestly hands piling stone upon stone, and setting up the beams and bars. And here every one must begin who has really to do with God other than in judgment. The wall speaks of holiness, which must shut out evil; but what evil is, we can never rightly know until we have understood in some measure the meaning of the Cross. It was there that all the iniquity of man's heart was fully revealed; there too that the absolute holiness of God's character was declared in an even more marked way than it will be made known in the lake of fire. In the Cross it was that mercy and truth met together, and that righteousness and peace kissed each other (Ps. 85:10).
" 'Tis in the cross of Christ we see
How God can save, yet righteous be."
The most important truth of Scripture is, that on the cross the judgment of a holy God against sin fell upon His spotless Son when He "suffered, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God" (i Pet. 3:18).There is nothing like the apprehension of this to give peace to a troubled soul. I have been awakened to see myself a lost, guilty sinner. Perhaps for years I have been going about to establish my own righteousness, and trusting that all would surely be well with me because of fancied merit in myself. I have deluded myself with the notion that God, who is love, must therefore allow sin to pass unpunished, or that my sin was, at any rate, of weight so light it would never sink me down to the pit of woe. But now all is changed. I have learned that I am a lost man! My sins, which once seemed like trifles, insignificant as molehills, now rise before my terrified vision as dark, shapeless mountains, which I fear will bury me beneath their awful weight in the nethermost depths of the abyss of divine wrath. I look on my right hand, but I find no helper. Refuge fails me. In my despair I cry out, " No man cares for my soul! " (Ps. 142:4); and in the hour of my deepest distress there comes to me one with feet beautiful upon the mountains, a messenger, one among a thousand, who tells me the good news that God, the God whom I have so grievously sinned against, and so flagrantly dishonored, has found a Ransom, and can thus deliver me from going down into the pit (Job 33:24).My sins and guilt have all been laid on Jesus. My judgment has fallen upon His holy head, and thus I can go righteously free.
Well does such a message deserve the name of '' gospel"! Good news indeed! more welcome than cold water to a thirsty soul.
As of old, when Noah took of every clean beast and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt-offerings upon the altar (Gen. 8:20), so now Jehovah has looked upon the work of His beloved Son and " smelled a sweet savor," which is truly a "savor of rest" (margin); for sin is thus canceled, and God can be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.
Of all this, and much more, may the Sheep Gate remind us. A gate of judgment it is too; for of judgment, in Scripture, the gate often speaks. But here it is judgment falling, not upon the guilty, but upon the guiltless One who voluntarily stood in the place of the sinner. " He was delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification; therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 4:25; 5:i).
Let me press it upon the reader-has all this been made good to your soul ? Is your confidence for eternity based upon the work of Christ ? Are you trusting alone in Jesus, who in those solemn hours of deeper than Egyptian darkness "fought the fight alone," vanquished Satan's power in resurrection, and is now exalted at God's right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour ?
O, be persuaded! If you are resting on anything short of this, your soul is in peril most grave and fearful; for it is only "the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, that cleanseth from all sin " (i John 1:7). If, however, this is the ground of your confidence, if you are saved and know it, if the lesson of the Sheep Gate has been truly learned in the presence of God, I ask you to pass on with me now to
THE FISH GATE
"But the Fish Gate did the sons of Hassenaah build, who also laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof" (ver. 3).
The name of this port at once brings to mind the word of the Lord addressed to Simon and Andrew when He found them "casting a net into the sea." "He saith unto them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." Precious it is to learn that, without a word as to delay, they "straightway left their nets and followed Him" (Matt. 4:17-20).
It is a weighty truth, often I fear forgotten in this pushing, restless age, that the great business of those already saved should be to bring others to Christ. Alas, alas, the indifference as to this among many of the people of God is most appalling.
The Fish Gate is tightly closed, or fallen in ruins, and there are no devoted "sons of Hassenaah " who are enough in earnest about the condition of the lost to built it up again.
Shame, a crying shame, that it should ever be true of saints going to heaven that they are unconcerned about sinners going to hell! And God has said, "He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him."
Oh, the heartlessness of it! Souls perishing under one's very eyes, and no hand stretched out to help, no voice raised to proclaim God's message of love to the lost!
Brothers ! sisters ! be honest with God! Face the question in His presence, What are you doing for souls ? Will friends, neighbors, relatives, rise up in that day and cry in their anguish and woe, " I lived beside him for years. He knew I was going to hell. He never warned me. I'm damned, and he never told me how I might have been saved! "
Don't, I beseech you-don't turn it aside by a lot of unholy cant about "so much fleshly energy," and " the need of building up the saints." In the mouths of men who lift not a finger to keep others from going down to eternal ruin, such language is positively disgusting; yea, it is worse; for it is actually wicked and abhorrent in the ears of Him who saith, "He that is wise winneth souls." (R. V.)
Build up the Fish Gate, brethren; go out after the lost, and bring them inside the wall, where, after having been saved, they will be cared for and helped in the things of God.
I know all have not the same gift. All cannot preach to thousands. But surely it is not gift that is lacking so much as grace. It takes no special gift to distribute gospel tracts, or speak a loving word in season to needy souls. If you have "gift" enough to spend hours talking about the weather, or the various questions of domestic, business, or political life, you have all the gift that is needed to drop a tender, warning message in the ear of a careless one, or to point an anxious person to Christ.
Let none shirk this work. On another part of the wall labored the Tekoites; and the Holy Ghost has noted that "their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord " (ver. 5). They will have to face this record at the judgment-seat of Christ; and I fear there are some God-made, and many self-made, "nobles" among the people of the Lord to-day who manifest as gross indifference to the work of God.
That, on the other hand, mere fleshly zeal will not be owned of God I quite admit; and this brings before us the need of enforcing the lessons suggested by the next five gates. H. A. I.
(To be continued.)