The East Gate

Sunday we talked about the next to last gate in our journey to go around the gates of Jerusalem. It is the East Gate and it faces, well, you guess it, east. Directly east of Jerusalem is the Mount of Olives. It is referred in the Bible that when Jesus returns it will be on this mountain. This explains the large number of people (Jews) that want to be buried right in front of the East Gate.

We learned that word, Maranatha, which means Come, Lord Jesus. And how even in Paul and John's time, people were already scoffing about Jesus' return. They didn't believe that it was going to happen!! But Paul, Peter and John told them that it would happen. To expect it! To look forward to it!

My question is: What are you looking forward to? What is it that you want to happen so bad that you think about and dream about it and "yearn" for it? Followers of Christ yearn for his return!! More than anything else! I read a pastor that wrote, "If you don’t long for the King to get the honor He deserves, then maybe you haven’t really recognized Him as your king."

Wow. That is challenging! If we aren't looking forward to the end of evil and all that Jesus brings with him when he comes back then maybe we don't really see him as king of our lives.

The point? Christ's return brings judgment and joy.

There will be both when he returns. There will be the end of death and the end of evil's days. Those that are followers of Christ will recieve a Crown of Righteousness (1 Timothy 4:8). We will be judged worthy for that crown or unworthy for that crown. Judgment. Joy.

So, if you looked out your peephole tomorrow morning, and Jesus was on the other side, what would you feel? Joy? Or fear? Joy and judgment are coming whether we want them to or not. Knock. Knock.

 

Troubled Waters Reboot (Rebubble?)

On Sunday we talked about the Water Gate from Nehemiah's time. How Hezekiah ordered a tunnel dug so that Jerusalem would have water during times of siege. 

This tunnel and the water that flowed through it lasted for centuries and continues to bring water into the city. Ever heard of the Pool of Siloam? It was fed by this spring. The Spring of Gihon. 

People relied on this water and still do! This is a symbol of how we are to depend on God's Word to give us nourishment! It is there to fill us and prepare us for presentation to God. 

This was the purpose of the Pool of Siloam. To cleanse those that were going to hear the Word of God. People would be cleansed in the water so that they could be cleansed by the Word of God! It was a time of preparation for presentation!! 

We find in Ephesians 5:

"Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind—yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish."

The "word" referred to here is the Good News. The Gos Pel of Christ. Through the word of the Word Incarnate (That's Jesus!), we are made clean. We are made pure. We are made ready to be presented to the Holy God of Israel! 

Wow. That's amazing stuff. Did you know the Word does all that? That is why the Psalmist writes in 119:105:

"Your word is a light unto my feet and a light unto my path."

God's word gives us direction, cleansing and encouragement. 

And that is a promise from God.