Recently The Lord has made the theme of Gates inescapably and a little inexplicably prominent. The Holy Spirit has shed light on how some of these pieces fit together.  In fact they’ve shown up meaningfully and tangibly in my own life, but I’m convinced I don’t have full revelation – yet, perhaps soon by His grace. And I’ll share the truth He weaves together at the appointed time. For now I’m also convinced that the elements here are to be shared such as they are, now. Perhaps those wiser among you, with superior anointing can shed more light. I’d luv to hear your thoughts. Please be sure to comment.

INSTRUCTION

“The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. Amend your ways and your doings and I will cause you to dwell in this place.” Trust ye not in lying words saying the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these. For if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye thoroughly execute judgement between a man and his neighbor. If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt, Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever. Jeremiah 7:1-7

One of the most striking things about this passage to me are these words ”…Trust yet not in lying words saying the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.” Riveting because of what precedes it: a command for correction in order to receive the blessing – the opportunity to dwell within the gates (of the temple).  For months we have been holding fast to God’s promises in in Psalm 91 and to these passages in Psalm 27 “One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. For in the day of trouble; he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock. Psalm 27:4-5

The command to self-correct above suggests that we are capable of extracting ourselves from the shelter of the secret place – even from the protection and blessing of The Kingdom, while still claiming and professing covering and sonship in our deception. Startling! It makes me think of this and other worst-case, false disciple scenarios:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”Matthew 7:21; and all of Matthew 25 for example.

SALVATION IN THE SABBATH

And then The Lord pronounces judgement upon the people for their disobedience for the next 16 Chapters of Jeremiah. But in Chapter 17:24-25 He grants a way of escape and says “And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith The Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of the City on the sabbath day, but hallow the sabbath day to do no work therein; then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain forever …”(Gates of the city representing commerce and trade, business, transactions, and kings and princes representing prosperity and properous associations).

SACRIFICE OUTSIDE THE GATE AND SALVATION IN THE SABBATH REST

“We have an altar from which those who serve in the Tent are not permitted to eat. For the High Priest brings the blood of animals into the Holiest Place as a sin offering, but their bodies are burned outside the camp. So too Yeshua suffered death outside the gate, in order to make the people holy through His own blood (He is our High Priest). Therefore, let us go out to him who is outside the camp and share his disgrace. For we have no permanent city here on the contrary, we seek the one to come. Through Him therefore, let us offer God a sacrifice of praise continually. For this is the natural product of lips that acknowledge His name.” Hebrews 13:10

On a recent Abundant Life 6:00am Prayer Call a minister relayed the following Elisha story, but the message The Lord had given her focused on The Leper’s decision to take action, to take their chances vs. waiting for death to overtake them at the gate. An encouragement relevant for these times when so many overwhelmed by the ferocity of recent events may be tempted to give up, but for me, there were other take aways …

DOUBT AT THE GATE

In 2 Kings 7:1 Elisha prophesies that the city will come into untold blessing, but one of the King’s men – a lord, close to the king doubts Elisha and scoffs at the prophesy. Meanwhile four lepers “at the entering of the gate” of Syria decide to take their chances and enter the enemy territory/city Syria [Hebrew name] to face possible death at the hand of their enemy vs. dying in their current position/state at the gate. But they enter the city to find it’s been abandoned by the enemy (at the Hand of the Lord). They begin to hoard discarded enemy possessions, but eventually reconsider and decide to inform the King of their discovery, lest they face some punishment for the cover up. As a result, the King ultimately takes possession of the enemy camp/the city and Elisha’s prophesy come to pass  “…Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of the fine flour for a shekel shall be tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria ..Behold thou shall see it with thine eyes, but shall not eat thereof.” 2 Kings 7:18-19

A couple of things stand out to me:

1. The King’s lord, who’s “hand the king leaned upon,” AND who had doubted Elisha’s prophecy, lived to see the prophecy fulfilled, but was trampled at the gate before he could partake of the blessing.”And so it fell unto him: for the people trode upon him in the gate (the gate being symbolic of the point of his prosperity), and he died.“ 2 Kings 7:20. God’s timing is everything, and we must be careful to avoid falling into doubt when we could be right on the verge of God’s tremendous outpouring. The Word of God warns of consequences. We may miss the blessing or suffer an even worse fate.
2. God’s blessing amplified the rate of exchange such that the people got tremendous value from the products or possessions with little expenditure – that’s typically the mark of God’s blessing: receiving more than we could’ve ever hoped for or imagined, often arriving suddenly and peacefully. When the opposite is true, when we find ourselves expending more than we’re receiving in peace – then we’d should have a care and take time to examine our circumstances and whether we truly are aligned with The Lord’s direction.

During this period, I recall being concerned about  possibly having stepped outside of God’s will for how He wanted me to handle the amount of time and resources I was investing in support of a local business leader and prominent figure in the community. My efforts though noble, were beginning to encroach upon other things I’d been instructed to do – even bleeding into my Sabbath on one occasion.  In fact the establishment happened to be located in business district at the center of town, and I would be engaging in activity that would involve local municipal leaders. The parallels seemed to too closely shadow those Jeremiah and 2nd King scenarios. Restless, unsettled and unable to go back to sleep even after spending time with The Lord in the wee hours one Sunday morning,  I decided to read a bit and my eyes fell upon this from Mike Murdock’s Book, The Three Most Important Things in Your Life: ”…He will rest in His love…” excerpt from Zephaniah 3;17.  I was struck by the power of the concept.– Somehow the thought of The Lord resting in His love for me had never occurred to me. This idea of Him being at peace in His love for me transcended my elusive quest to find rest in Him. I was so comforted by this new revelation that I was immediately overwhelmed by a rich such surpassing peace and I fell into one of those deep sweet blissful sleeps only The Holy Spirit can supply. It was a clear reminder that Yeshua is our Sabbath Rest, transcending  our shortcomings, failure, stumbling, doubt or confusion – a Sabbath Rest purchased by his sacrifice outside the gate – the ultimate transaction and Great Exchange. And He gently and sweetly became my sabbath’s rest early that wonderful Sunday morning. Amazing. Amen.