Repairing The Gate


Over the past couple of weeks I spent a lot of time building walls. A large wall behind my brother-in-law's home was leaning pretty bad. If not repaired it would eventually collapse. I'm no Nehemiah. Well, perhaps I have the cupbearer part down. I find that I'm often bearing a cup...it's filled with coffee though. My brother-in-law was ready for the challenge so, following his direction, we got the job done. There's an account in Nehemiah of a much larger wall needing repair. A significant part of the project included the city gates.

"Eliashib the high priest and his fellow priests went to work and rebuilt the Sheep Gate. They dedicated it and set its doors in place, building as far as the Tower of the Hundred, which they dedicated, and as far as the Tower of Hananel." Nehemiah 3:1.

Gates were pretty important in first century life. Cities were walled to protect you in the event of an attack. In Jerusalem there were 10 gates to enter and exit the city and each had a specific purpose. The entire wall had fallen into terrible condition and when Nehemiah showed up to rebuild the walls part of the project was to rebuild the gates. The first gate he listed in his repair log was the Sheep Gate. This was the gate where sheep were brought in for the sacrifices in the Temple. The Bible tells us there is no remission of sins without the shedding of blood. For Nehemiah, he knew this was the most important gate so they went to work on it first. He wasn't simply restoring a wall, he was restoring a nation's relationship with God.
When Jesus came he taught us this,
"I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved." John 10:9. We know that Jesus came as the lamb of God and laid his life down as a sacrifice for our sins. In Nehemiah's day the gate for remission from sin was the Sheep Gate. In our day Jesus is the gate. Relationship with our Heavenly Father had been broken and Jesus came to repair what was broken.
On this day let us give thanks for the price paid.  The gate is open and all who enter through it find life.

Following the Son,

James A Williams

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