Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #11 of Genesis, chapter 26, and we are reading Genesis 26:12-16:

Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and JEHOVAH blessed him. And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him. For all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth. And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we.

I will stop reading there.  In our last study, we saw that the Hebrew word translated as “hundredfold” is two Hebrew words.  The word “hundred” is correct, and the other word was translated as “fold,” which would mean “a hundred times,” but this word is Strong’s #8180 and Strong’s Concordance tells us that it comes from #8176.  And #8176 is also found just one time in the Bible, in Proverbs, where it is translated as “thinketh.”  It has the identical consonants as #8180, but it has slightly different vowel points.  When we look at #8179 (which is the word listed just before #8180), and if you compare #8179 and #8180, you will see the same consonants and same vowel points, which are those little lines underneath the consonants.  They are vowel points which were added later, but it helps us, in this case, when we find three words that have the same consonants.  Strong’s #8179 is used many times in the Bible, and, overwhelmingly, it is translated as “gate” or “gates.”  And here in Genesis 26:12, where it says, “hundredfold,” the word “fold” is plural, so we can understand that to mean a “hundred gates.”  Again, this Hebrew word, Strong’s #8179 is found many times, but we will go to several verses.  Let us start in Deuteronomy 11:18-21:

Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: hat your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which JEHOVAH sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.

In verse 20, you were to write the words of God upon thy “gates,” and that is the Hebrew word that is also found in Deuteronomy 24:14:

Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates:

That is a helpful statement because it is speaking of the land of Israel, so to be in the land would be to be within the gates.  We could probably understand this better if we look at a city like Jerusalem; to be within the city of Jerusalem would be to dwell within its gates.  The city had gates.

In Nehemiah 3, they were rebuilding that city, and we see in Nehemiah 3:1:

Then 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.

Then it says in Nehemiah 3:3:

But the fish gate did the sons of Hassenaah build…

Then it says in Nehemiah 3:6:

Moreover the old gate repaired Jehoiada the son of Paseah…

And it says in Nehemiah 3:13:

The valley gate repaired Hanun…

And verse 13 also mentions the dung gate.  It says in Nehemiah 3:15:

But the gate of the fountain repaired Shallun…

And it says in Nehemiah 3:26:

Moreover the Nethinims dwelt in Ophel, unto the place over against the water gate toward the east, and the tower that lieth out.

It says in Nehemiah 3:28:

From above the horse gate repaired the priests…

It says at the end of Nehemiah 3:29:

…the keeper of the east gate.

Also, it says in Nehemiah 3:31:

…over against the gate Miphkad, and to the going up of the corner.

So the number of gates that are mentioned in this chapter are ten gates, and the number “10” points to completeness, just as “100” points to completeness.  Isaac sowed in that land, and in that year, he found a “hundred gates.”  That is literally what this word means.  It is not that he received a “hundred times.”  Remember we talked about the fact that the word “received” should have been translated as “found.”  He found a hundred gates as he sowed in that land, the land of the Philistines.  God also gave a warning in Deuteronomy that if the people of Israel became disobedient and went astray from His word, He said in Deuteronomy 28:50-52:

A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young: And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee. And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which JEHOVAH thy God hath given thee.

Also, it says in Deuteronomy 28:55:

So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates.

Then it says in Deuteronomy 28:57:

And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.

That is exactly what an enemy army would do.  Actually, these verses were fulfilled when King Nebuchadnezzar and his army of Babylon came and besieged the city Jerusalem in her gates.  They encamped about the city, and if they camped around the city long enough, no supplies could get in, and no one could get out.  They would search to see if they could cut off the water supply, and oftentimes, they could cut off a stream or river that flowed into the city.  They would stop it up and cause it to no longer flow into the city.  Then they would wait, and as was the case when we read of Jerusalem’s destruction, the Israelites opened the gates and tried to flee.  They were literally eating their own children in the siege and in the straitness, due to lack of food.  And people are capable of the most terrible things when they are severely tried, and the true nature of their hearts come out as “desperately wicked.”  So, yes, they could do that, and they did do that.  And that is the spiritual picture pointing to what God did to the corporate church at the time of the end.  He loosed Satan out of his prison, and let us read about this in Revelation 20:8-9:

And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city…

That is a siege.  That is exactly what God had forewarned in the book of Deuteronomy.  You can read 2Chronicles 35 and 36 where you can read about the fall of Jerusalem and how that worked out, historically.  But Revelation 20 is not talking about that.  Revelation 20 was written in the first century A. D., and it is describing the spiritual reality of what the historical destruction of Jerusalem pointed to, as Satan was typified by King Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon represented the nations of the world – Gog and Magog.  He compassed the camp of the saints around about, which historically produced famine within the city.  And that is exactly what happened spiritually to the churches, as God defines a spiritual famine in Amos 8:11: “…not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of JEHOVAH.”  So this is how Satan conquered and overcame the camp of the saints, the churches and congregations, and he came “against the gates.”  So the gates are very important.  When they are open and there is access in and out, or when they are closed and access is taken away, the inhabitants and the city are destroyed.

We can also look at this word “gates” in the New Testament, in Revelation 21:10-13:

And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.

This is new Jerusalem, and this is a look into the heavenlies in the spiritual realm, where God is picturing the salvation of all those He has saved as a “city,” this new Jerusalem.  And the earthly church and  Old Testament Israel or Judah (or the literal city of Jerusalem) were representatives of the kingdom of God.  They were an earthly representation or an earthly picture of God’s actual glorious (spiritual) kingdom.  And, yet, God had warned Israel, “If you are not faithful, I will come and cut you off,” and He did that.  He gave the same warning to the churches and, likewise, they were not faithful, so He cut off that relationship, but God has never cut off His people from the heavenly city of Jerusalem or from citizenship in the kingdom of God.  And this is demonstrated or illustrated in Zechariah 14, which is a chapter that begins by talking about the Great Tribulation and then transitions into the Day of Judgment.  We read in Zechariah 14:1-3:

Behold, the day of JEHOVAH cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall JEHOVAH go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle…

And “those nations” would be Gog and Magog, as we just read in Revelation 20.  He gathered the nations and they came against the camp of the saints, which is another name for “Jerusalem,” and, in turn, it is a word that points to the churches and congregations.

Again, it says in Zechariah 14:3:

…and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

Literally, this does not make sense, because the first part of the verse says the city will be taken, and the imagery is typical of when a city is sacked.  The city is taken, and the women are ravished, and so forth.  But, you see, God is teaching two important things in this verse.  He has both “Jerusalems” in view.  One is the Jerusalem that now is, the earthly Jerusalem, which typifies the corporate church. It has been taken.  It is done for.  It is over with, and it is destroyed, and the enemy’s army had its way with the inhabitants.  They are going to take their spoil.  However, even though that is the case, the remnant will not be cut off from the heavenly or spiritual city, and this is the reason God’s elect are able to look objectively at the Scriptural evidence that God brought forth concerning the judgment that began at the house of God, the corporate church, and the end of the church age, and the command to come out of the midst of (earthly) Jerusalem.  You see, God’s elect could look at that objectively because we had confidence and trust that even “if the earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved”…and by the way, where it says that in 2Corinthians 5:2, the word “dissolved” is the same Greek word that is translated as “thrown down,” in Matthew 24:2: “There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”  When the earthly house of our tabernacle is dissolved or thrown down, and that means that when God destroyed the entity of the corporate church, we could be grieved and sorrowful about it (and many were), we know and are thankful that we have our citizenship in heavenly Jerusalem, the eternal church, and we can not lose our citizenship there or be cut off from that heavenly city.  But for those that are not truly saved, all they have is their profession of faith and their outward identification with the earthly church or earthly city of Jerusalem, and they have no such confidence.  Deep down, they have no such assurance or trust, so their earthly outward identification with the church is everything to them.  They just cannot imagine not being associated with it.  It is what gives them their confidence that they are right with God, so they cannot imagine leaving the churches, and they dismiss this idea out of hand, but God’s people have entered into the “gates” of Jerusalem above.

Remember how the Lord Jesus spoke of salvation in Matthew 7:13-14:

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

We can understand that broad way that leads to destruction as all the multitudes of gospels in church, after church, after church, and people come into them by the hundreds of millions and, yet, those gospels lead to destruction.  Very few, even during the church age, were able to enter in by the “strait gate,” who is Christ, and the narrow way (the strait gate) is that which the Word of God prescribes.  It is the only pathway or entry point into the glorious kingdom of God in reality, and not just in word or profession, but in truth.  God has truly saved His people, and in saving them, He has brought them the right way and into the right gate, and we have entered in, and we are citizens within heavenly Jerusalem, even though the earthly Jerusalem has been utterly destroyed and is gone.  Well, yes, there are still churches on the street corners, and they still meet every Sunday, but from God’s vantage point and from the vantage point of the spiritual realm, they are “desolate.”  They are dead.  They are like a city or a temple that has not one stone left upon another.  It is such a tremendous desolation. 

And God’s people realize this, and it is why we do not go to a church.  Why would we want to see the rubble?  If you can imagine visiting a city that has been overcome and burnt with fire and its walls and gates have been knocked down and burned and whose buildings have been thrown down, it would be a desolate land, and who would go there to visit the living God?  God is not there.  It is a place for the “dead.”  It is the congregation of the dead.  It is no longer the congregation of the living.  God’s people were commanded to get out, and God’s people obeyed and did come out.   And outside of the churches, God worked to save that great multitude outside the congregations, and God completed that process.  And God’s people have been left on the earth for a short time while God completes His judgment plan for this world.  We wait patiently, and as it says in Revelation 22:11-15:

He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

Blessed are they that do His commandments, and the only ones able to do that are those that have been given a new heart and a new spirit that is perfect, and “to be perfect” means that we are perfectly doing the will of God and keeping His commandments from our hearts.  Therefore, we have a right to the tree of life, and we enter in through the gates into the city.