Friday, February 01, 2013

Gates


                                                                         

“Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in” (Psalms 24:9).  Gates seem to be very important to YHVH, as He told Israel to write His commandments on the gates of their tents and houses: “Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, and thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates” (Deu. 11:8,20).  Every three years the Israelites were to bring in their tithes and place them in the gates (ref. Deut. 14:28).  The elders, judges and officers sat in the gates and conducted the affairs of the city.  Thus, whoever was in control of the gates commanded all that went on in the city or the country. These ‘gate sitters’ had dominion over all the affairs of the kingdom. Thus, in order to overcome a city, its gate had to be conquered first.

I have often wondered about the significance of the word that YHVH had spoken to Abraham after the latter returned with Isaac from Mount Moriah:  “That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies” (Gen. 22:17).  Before leaving her family to join Isaac, Rebekah’s relatives blessed her: “Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them” (Gen. 24:60). Isaac and his seed were given a double blessing; YHVH was giving them a prophetic mandate to possess, control or rule by force the gates of those who “hated them”.  

Hence, Isaac’s progeny was given a position of authority in the earth. Can this fact be detected in the words that YHVH used to describe the multitudes which would come from the forefathers: “stars” (designed to govern the night Gen.1:16), and “sand of the sea” (boundaries for the ‘waters of humanity’)? “When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel, for YHVH’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance” (Deut.32:8).

While YHVH speaks about His faithfulness to the covenant of multiplicity, He also points out that Isaac’s chosen seed (Jacob) would have a position of dominion and authority.  They were to be the head of nations, a boundary for the peoples and the spiritual gates that would either protect or allow the spiritual enemies of Elohim to enter and control the rest of humanity. YHVH had given them exclusive rights to His scepter when He called them after the order of Melchizedec; a nation of kings and priests.

When Israel relinquished the lordship of Elohim, and no longer regarded Him as their king, the prince of this world, Satan (the dragon), took over and entered in, giving his ruling power to the beast (the flesh of man): “And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority” (Rev. 13:2).  The worship of the beast (humanism) has become so prevalent that nothing may be compared to him: “who is like unto the beast?”  He has become so powerful that it is said of him: “who can make war with him?” (Rev. 13:3-4). Yet, right during this state of the beast’s dominion and control, a little stone appears strikes its clay feet and then grows into a huge mountain until it covers the whole earth (see Daniel 2:35).  We know that this little stone is YHVH’s ruling Son Yeshua, and that His coming and the giving up of His life released the power that overcomes the gates of hell, which therefore can prevail no longer. 

Gabriel, Elohim’s angel, said to Miriam when he appeared to her, that the one to be born of her would set up the kingdom of Elohim in the house of Jacob:  “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and YHVH shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end”(Luke 1:32-33).

Where the Messiah would set up his kingdom is very clear. Perhaps this is why the disciples of Yeshua, asked Him, just before he ascended to heaven to sit at His Father’s right hand, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6b).  

The word “restore” indicates that the kingdom must have been in Israel some time in the past. During the days of the prophet Samuel we hear the prophet complaining to YHVH that the people were not listening to him and that and they were seeking for a king to judge them, like the other nations
(1 Sam. 8:5).  YHVH’s answer was: “They have not rejected you, but they have rejected me as king over them” (1 Sam. 8:7; 1 Sam. 12:12).  Obviously the number one characteristic of a kingdom is that it is headed by a king. Thus, for YHVH’s kingdom to be restored to Israel, a king must be enthroned over the nation.  Gabriel’s message leaves no room for doubt as to whom that king is.    

Messiah responded to the disciples’ question by telling them that His intention was to make them witnesses to and of this kingdom. How? “When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you shall be my witness...” What is the kingdom of God? Paul tells us very clearly in his letter to the believers in Rome: “The kingdom of God is not meat or drink, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Spirit of Holiness” (Rom. 14:17).  In other words, the kingdom constitutes the nature of the Father in the life of the new-creation man.  The main reason for the power from on high to come into the life of the believer was in order to set up the dominion and lordship of the Messiah in and over the life of each redeemed person. But even more so, this lordship and dominion is to ultimately be seen in the corporate House of Jacob and in the twelve tribes of Israel. This is why the principalities and powers in heavenly places oppose so vehemently the restoration of all Israel as a single nation. These principalities have been controlling the gates (of the twelve tribes), but as the Holy One, through the power of the His Spirit, cleanses the gates and comes into them as the King of glory Satan’s rule on this earth will be cast down and the malenial reign of the Messiah will begin.  This is why Yeshua must restore those twelve gates. 

These “twelve gates” are also described as Yeshua’s shields in the earth: “The princes of the people are gathered together, the people of the God of Abraham: for the shields of the earth belong unto God: He is greatly exalted” (Ps  47:9).

Having been taken out of the kingdom of darkness and having been transferred to the kingdom of YHVH’s beloved Son (see Col. 1:13) is not a future event, it happens to every believer who has received the “Holy Spirit”, the power from on high. Thus resident in the life of the believing nation, the redeemed twelve tribes, is the authority to rule the nations with a rod of iron, but not only to rule, also to sit and to judge the sons of men with equity and to be the eternal light to these nations.   

Our warfare is not with flesh and blood nations, but with the principalities and powers of this evil world.  As redeemed Israelite believers we must become mature in holiness, even as our Heavenly Father is holy.  If we do not defeat this power of sin in our personal lives, how are we going to do it when it comes to nations? May those gates now say: But thou, O YHVH, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head” (Ps 3:3).

Ephraim   14/11/03