Mar 12 Close the Gate

Mar 12

Close the Gate

Ezk 44:2 …This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened,…

The hand cut stones streamed into the temple area where men worked quickly to obey the order of Suleiman the Great. The year was 1541. What were they building? A stone wall. Why were they building a stone wall? To keep Christ from returning to Jerusalem. OK, I know that sounds weird so let me explain.

Nehemiah was in exile and got permission to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls. Daniel prophesied that 483 years after the decision to rebuild the wall, Christ would enter Jerusalem. When Christ entered Jerusalem for what we call Palm Sunday he did so by coming from the east and used the Eastern gate that is the only gate that goes directly to the temple. When Christ returns to Jerusalem in the future it will be from the east again and probably through the Eastern Gate. When Suleiman the Great heard from the Jews that Christ would return through that gate he made a military decision and had his men close the gate with a wall of hewn stone. The peculiar thing is that Ezekiel had prophesied about 2000 years earlier that the gate would be closed.  OK now for the details.       

In Nehemiah chapter 2 verse 1, Nehemiah is serving King Artaxerxes some wine. We know the date. It was in the month Nisan (April) and 20 years into the reign of Artaxerxes. The king Asked Nehemiah why he was sad. When the King learned it was because Jerusalem was not rebuilt, the king wrote letters of decree for Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls.

Daniel mentions it in his prophecy.

Da 9:25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

Daniel said from the decree it would be 7 weeks and 62 more weeks until the Messiah. So why did it take 483 years to fulfill a prophesy that said it would only take 69 weeks?  The Jews were required to let their land lie fallow every seven years. That seven year period eventually became a common expression. They referred to the 7 year period as a “week” which would mean 7 years. Some quick math explains how it actually meant 483 days.   69 “weeks” X 7 years = 483 years.  Daniel is prophesying that 483 years after the decree to rebuild the wall the Messiah would come. And He did! It was Palm Sunday, and he rode into Jerusalem by going through the Eastern Gate.

I have not done all the math involved, but some scholars tell us Christ’s triumphal entry into the city was 483 years to the day after the decree of Artaxerxes. But all Daniel prophesied was 483 years.  We know it must have been pretty close to the same time because the decree was given in “April” and that is about the same time as Christ rode into Jerusalem and entered the temple area by way of the Eastern gate. Each gate in Jerusalem may have many names for the same gate. The eastern gate is also called the Golden gate, the Merciful gate, the Temple gate and other less common names.

  The book of acts tells us Christ will return the same way he left Mt Olivet.

Ac 1:11 … this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. 12 ¶ Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet,…

When Christ ascended into heaven it was from the mount of Olives. His desciples had walked out from Jerusalem with Him. They would have come from Jerusalem by way of the Eastern Gate. The Jews believe He will come through the Eastern Gate as a military conqueror.



The eastern gate - shut!

      Now back to our opening question. Why were they building a stone wall to close the Eastern Gate? The Ottoman Empire, under Suleiman the Great rebuilt the present walls of Jerusalem from about 1537 to 1541. When Suleiman heard  the persisting Jewish tradition that Christ would come with His army and enter the city by that gate, Suleiman did two things. First he had the eastern gate closed with a heavy stone wall. Secondly, he knew that Jewish Rabbi’s were forbidden to be defiled by the bodies of dead people. so he put an Arab cemetery in front of the gate. And there it has remained, closed as in Ezekiel’s prophecy.

Eze 44:2 Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.



During the last nearly 500 years that gate has stayed shut. What a fantastic prophecy, given almost 2500 years ago. With all the turmoil and conflicts in the middle east, that gate has remained unchanged. It will not be opened again until Christ returns to reclaim the city.

I love to show Ezekiel 44 to scoffers. Here a prophet said something would happen 2000 years before it happened. The prophecy tells which gate and what would happen to it. It takes more faith to think it was all a coincidence than it does to accept the prophecy and the Bible as true.

Our devotional thought for today is  the Word of God is reliable. It is dependable, accurate, preserved and trustworthy.  The Bible is a great blessing.

 

Eze 12:25 For I am the LORD: I will speak,

and the word that I shall speak

shall come to pass