Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #25 of Revelation chapter 21 and we are looking at Revelation 21:12:

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:

Once again, we are looking at the heavenly city or holy city, new Jerusalem, which is a picture of all those that God has saved, so this entire description in Revelation 21 is a description of the elect.  God is using earthly language and types and figures to teach us various truths and aspects of His body of believers. 

We looked at the wall.  The Bible relates a “wall” to salvation.  Now we are going to look at the next part of the verse in Revelation 21:12:

…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:

We find twelve mentioned three times and we have learned from the Bible that the number “twelve” relates to the fullness of whatever is in view.  Fullness and completeness are very closely related, but “twelve,” in particular, points to “fullness.”  This is the city that is made up of all the elect and, therefore, God is talking about the fullness of the believers.  Everyone that was predestinated unto salvation has now been saved and is part of this spiritual city.  Christ indwells all those He had chosen before the foundation of the world.

God uses the number “twelve” not only here in this verse, but we are going to see this number greatly emphasized in the rest of the chapter.  For instance, in the next verse it breaks down the number twelve to mention “three” gates on the North, South, East and West.  That is four times three, which equals twelve.  It says in Revelation 21:13:

On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.

Then it says in the middle of the verse in Revelation 21:16:

… and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs…

Then it says in Revelation 21:17:

And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits…

How do you get 144 cubits?  It is “12” x “12.”  When we continue reading in this chapter, there are more “twelves” mentioned, so God wants to make the point that it is the fullness of everyone He had determined to save and whose names were written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  They are all present in the city.  None are missing.  None have fallen by the wayside.  None have been plucked out of God’s hand.  Everyone is accounted for, so it is the fullness of all the believers.

So, in this verse we see the number “12” mentioned three times, which indicates the purpose of God.  It is the fullness of believers, according to His purpose or we could say that it is His purpose that the fullness of the believers has finally been gathered into the completed city.

Now let us look at each of these statements in our verse, beginning with the statement: “and had twelve gates,”   What do the gates represent?  We know that a gate is basically a door.  It is a point of entry.  A house has a door.  A city has a gate.  A gate is typically larger than a door and many more individuals could enter in through it. People gain entry into the city through a gate.  A very big city has more than one gate.  Remember that the Bible gives us a number concerning all those God has saved.   It is 200 million and it is very possible this is an actual number of all the people God has saved, so this is an enormous city of God.  There are whole nations with vast areas of land that a number like 200 million might inhabit, so this city has numerous gates and God assigns the number “12” for the number of gates to city.  Every gate would grant access into the city.  In order to come into heavenly Jerusalem, you would have to come through one of the gates.  Therefore, each gate points to the Lord Jesus Christ because Christ is the “door,” according to John 10:7:

Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

The important statement is, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved,” and that is what the city in Revelation 21 is pointing to as the gates grant entry in through salvation.  Everything involved with this city points to God’s salvation program and, therefore, each of the twelve gates points to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember what we read previously in Bible studies regarding the present time in which we live and where God speaks of His wrath and how His people find safety and security while He is pouring out His wrath.  It says in Isaiah 26:20:

Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee…

Note that it is “doors,” in the plural tense.  When God gave the picture of the ark He spoke of the “door” (singular), but He is not bound by that.  He can speak of many doors or of many gates.  Even though Christ is the “door,” It is pointing to the same truth when He uses the plural tense.

Again, it says in Isaiah 26:20:

Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.

In the Book of Colossians God tells us what it means to be hidden.  It says in Colossians 3:3:

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

We are “dead” in Christ because when Christ saves an individual He likens it to being “dead in Him” or crucified in Him.  When He paid for our sins, God views it as the true believers being “dead in Him” and this is what “hides” our lives in Him.  That is what the nature of salvation is, as we have safety and security in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Then it goes on to say in Isaiah 26:21:

For, behold, JEHOVAH cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.

Very clearly, Judgment Day is in view.  The believers go into the chambers and the “doors” are shut.  It is a similar picture to the parable of the five wise virgins.  The cry was made, “The bridegroom cometh,” and they go out to meet Him.  They go in unto Him and the door is shut, while the remaining virgins say, “Lord, Lord, open to us!”  That is a picture of the judgment of God.  On May 21, 2011 all of the “wise virgins” (the whole company of the elect) gained entry into the kingdom of heaven or new Jerusalem and the door or the gates of that city were shut.  Now in this time period after that Tribulation, God is pouring out His indignation and He is dealing with those (unsaved) that come to the door, saying, “Lord, Lord, open to us,” but His reply is, “I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.”  There was no intimate relationship between Christ and those outside the door because they had never become saved and that is what the door represents.

Let us go to the Book of Proverbs, where we find the word “gates” in Proverbs 8:1-3:

Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice? She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths. She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors.

In Proverbs, chapter 8, “wisdom” is Christ, the personification of wisdom, according to 1Corinthians 1, verse 30.  Notice it says, “She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city.”  Do you see the interesting way God has said this?  The “gates” are plural, but the “entry” is singular and this is because God can express it this way because there really is only one way and that is through the Lord Jesus Christ.  However, He can also refer to these things in the plural tense.  If we look further on in this chapter, I think we will see why it is a single “entry point.”  Christ is the “door” and the only way to heaven.  Jesus said, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.”  It says in Proverbs 8:33-34:

Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.

Again, “wisdom” is speaking and she is Christ.  So the verse is saying, “Hear instruction, and be wise.”  Where do we hear instruction from God?  The answer is that we hear it through the Word of God, the Bible.  That is the voice of God and if we are to gain wisdom (Christ), it had to be the time when God was making people “wise” through salvation.  And what is the process for an individual becoming saved?  The Bible says, “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”  That is what these verses are saying: “Hear instruction,” and “Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my door.”  After reading this carefully, we can see that God’s “gates” in that holy city and the posts of His doors are the Bible.  We can see why that is and why it can be “gates” or “doors,” because you could be reading Proverbs, Revelation, Psalms or any place in the Bible and they are all potential “entry points” into the kingdom of heaven.  Every verse and every jot and tittle from Genesis through Revelation are the living words of God and the Bible says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God.”  It is profitable and one of the things that it does is to quicken the dead sinner and bring him to life. 

It would be a very interesting and curious thing if we could know…you know, today they keep statistics on just about everything and they keep records with all kinds of information.  Would it not be fascinating to know what Scriptures God used to save those millions of His elect?  How many times did He used John 3:16, for instance?  (It was probably not as often as we might think.)  How many times did He use Genesis 1:1 or this Proverb or that Proverb?  How often did He use a relatively obscure verse in the Book of Obadiah or Philemon?  I am sure God utilized all of His Word as a “gate” or “entry point” to salvation.  So here was a person that happened to be one of the elect and God used a particular verse that maybe most people would not think would be a verse to spark life in an individual.  Maybe it was a verse that was part of a genealogy and, yet, God gave that verse “power” and while that reader was reading that “So-and-So begat So-and-So,” suddenly that person was “begotten” anew himself by the beauty and power of the Word of God: “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit.”   The Bible is a big book, a great volume with a great many words in it and every single word is like a portal that could transport the “dead” to life.  It can transport someone who is bound in spiritual captivity to sin and Satan in the lowest dungeon and darkness of this life to the kingdom of God’s dear Son and make him a citizen of the heavenly kingdom seated in Christ Jesus.  It is all accomplished through the Word of God. 

So it is true that there are many “doors” and many “gates” and, yet, there is but one, because Christ is the Word made flesh: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.   And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”  This describes Christ in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily, so He is the door, but there are many doors.  He is the gate, but there are many gates.

I want to look at a verse in Proverbs 31 because I had never viewed it this way before, but when I was looking in the concordance to find out how God speaks of “gates” in His Word, this verse stood out for me.  In Proverbs 31 God is speaking of the “virtuous woman,” who is a type of the body of believers, so her husband would be the Lord Jesus Christ.  Referring to the husband of the virtuous woman, it says in Proverbs 31:23:

Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.

Her husband (the Lord Jesus) is “known in the gates.”  That is how we come to know Him through salvation through the Word of God.  He quickens whom He will.  Others may read the Bible, but they were not chosen to be saved, so they remain in their sins.  That is why Jesus says to them when they come to the door in the Day of Judgment: “Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.”  He never “knew” them because there is no more salvation.

The entry into the city that the gates once provided is closed.  At one time God, as it were, had flung the gates wide open, especially during the little season of the Great Tribulation.  His people proclaimed to the world, “Seek the Lord while He may be found!  It is the appointed Day of Judgment and it is time to turn to God and cry out for mercy.  It may be that since God is saving a great multitude, He may bring you, too, into the holy city through the gates.”  We directed people to go the Bible and if you were one of God’s elect, when you read and besought Him, He would bring you into the city. 

But all of that is changed.  The door (singular) is shut and so are the doors.  Referring to that verse in Isaiah 26, when the believers enter in, it says in Isaiah 26:20:

Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment…

What are the doors?  Again, it is the Word of God, the Bible.  How can the believers shut the doors?  Of course, God shut His believers in, but believers are participating in the Day of Judgment, as God came with ten thousand of His saints, the completeness of all those He had saved.  We judge the world with Him: “Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world?”  How do we do that?  Well, God shut the door, but we proclaim that the door is shut.  When we go to the Book of Isaiah, Revelation, Ezekiel, Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21 and Jeremiah, chapters 50 and 51, we are going to the “gates” of the Bible, the Word of God.  We show people that there is harmony and the verses are in agreement.  The door, who is Christ, has been shut and, therefore, all the gates of the city and all the doors that the Bible once opened are now closed.  God’s people are involved in the judgment process as we share these things from the Bible.