I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart

I will enter His courts with praise

I will say this is the day that the Lord has made

I will rejoice for He has made me glad.

This is an old chorus based on the Psalm 100:4

It’s a very familiar verse to everyone who is part of an assembly of believers in Jesus Christ/Yeshua haMashiach. 

Most of us will identify the action of entering His gates, with going through the doors of the building where the meetings are held; and His courts with praise’ as moving into the sanctuary of the building.  That’s what most of us have been taught for years and we would probably not think it meant anything else.  

At the time this verse was written, there was only the Temple in Jerusalem/Yerushalayim. It was not considered the ‘church building’ of its day, although many people do think of it in that way. The Temple was the very dwelling place of our Heavenly Father however, as we know, He no longer dwells in a building. According to 1Cor. 6:19, The Temple containing the Holy Spirit of the Living God is now our bodies. The inner sanctuary, the Holy of Holies was where Gods presence dwelt and the sanctuary/holy of holies was inside the whole structure called the Temple. The innermost part of us, is the sanctuary for His Holy Spirit. He is residing in our born again from above spirit. Wherever a true believer is, that’s where the sanctuary of God’s presence is also.  

We also have to remember that the church or ecclesia is not a building. Ecclesia, the called apart, or called out ones, are the people. They the individuals that make up the body of Messiah in the earth. We are the living stones that make up His habitation on earth.

1Peter 2:5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

So if these gates are not the physical ‘church building’ or ‘gates to the temple’ what are they? 

Gates, as entrances and exits, have long captured our imagination. Many traditions are rich with gates and ours is no exception. Among others are:

Gates of Salvation,

Gates of Repentance,

Gates of Prayer,

Gates of Righteousness,

Gates of introspection and reflection,

Gates of Hell,

Gates of Glory,

Heavens gates.

In Hebrew the word gate is sha’ar.

שַׁ֫עַר

This word has many different meanings.  

As well as gate, sha’ar can mean, 

hair, a storm or tempest, a decision, to calculate,

a determination, a remnant or something horrible. 

The Hebrew word for gate, sha’ar and its variations, appears more than 350 times in scripture. In Hebrew culture the imagery of gates covers both historical and spiritual meanings, being symbolic on many levels.

 

Most commentators on scripture believe that the first time a word is mentioned in the Torah is significant and tells of its deepest meaning.

For example:

The first mention of sha’ar

is immediately after the binding of Isaac.

This is when Abraham is blessed and God promises him that “your descendants will inherit the gate of their enemies” Genesis 22:17.

The next mention of sha’ar is in Genesis 24:60 when Rebecca leaves her family to marry Isaac, she receives a similar blessing: “May your offspring take possession of the gate of those who hate them”.

Gates, then, are points of protection and power. To possess the gate of our enemies is to control the forces that want to harm us. In ancient Israel, gates were the stronghold protecting daily life within the safety of city walls and gates; and so much of that life took place at the gates of the city, where the elders would gather and prophets would speak.

An interesting point is that the word sha’ar comes from the same Hebrew root as shiur (measure). In one interpretation of the verse “Her husband is known in the gates” The Hebrew sages teach that the husband is a metaphor for God, whose understanding is only known in measures. Our Heavenly Father makes Himself known to each individual according to the measure of the understanding of his or her heart. 

It seems very strange that one word can mean so many different things and yet at the same time, be related?   

If we look at the word in the context of a doorway, especially a doorway to our Heavenly Father, these words are all related.

For a long time, Gates have been a symbol of a point of communication between worlds and realms. In Genesis 28:17 following Jacobs dream of the ladder, he says, “This is no other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven”.

The spiritual significance of gates became increasingly more emphasized after the gates of Jerusalem were broken down and the Holy Temple was destroyed, Hebrew sages teach that the gate of heaven is the place to which prayers ascend.

As we often do with Hebrew words lets break down to the individual letters which we know from previous studies that they all have their own meanings and are pictures telling a story in themselves. The word sha’ar is made up of the letters sh = shin a = ayin and r = resh.

שַׁ֫עַר

For example in the first letter of the word for gate and that is a

שַׁ֫

Shin by which we get the idea of a storm or tempest which is expressed as or represents the passionate love of Heavenly Father for His children. It is telling us that when we go through this gate we enter the stormy passionate love of God.

עַ

Ayin is the next letter which represents deep spiritual insight. It gives us a picture that when we pass through this gate/sha’ar into the presence of God you are immersed into deep spiritual insight and understanding where we discover something horrible!

What could it be that is horrible? That is our sinful nature and the darkness hidden in the deep recesses of our hearts, remnants of the old man, the carnal nature.

In studying the Hebrew scriptures and beginning to appreciate the Israelite culture and way of life, we see how they lived and what their customs were.

In those days before there were wooden doors in a home, hair from animals was woven together to make a kind of doorway covering the entrance.

This door was to keep the wind from blowing dust etc. into the house it was not meant to keep out strangers.

Many times it was the wool from a lamb which was used to make this doorway. 

We should not think this so strange because we know of course that it is the Lamb of God who cleanses us from our sin. He provides the doorway/gate to relationship with our Heavenly Father and He is able to protect us from spiritual contamination from the outside world, yet gives us a WAY to reach others and invite them into ‘His home.’

Furthermore we must make a decision as to whether or not to accept this gift of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God and to enter in through that provision.

ר

Resh is the final letter for the word door or gate/sha’ar and that is the letter r or Resh which represents repentance/teshuvah.

This could inspire a picture showing us that when we come together with other believers in Messiah, whether it is in a building we call a church or in a home; then together we find out the precious jewels to be unearthed in God’s Word. We will enter His gates where we will find deep insight into our sinful natures, leading us to repent of our sins and through the shed blood of the Lamb of God be cleansed so you can enter into the fiery, passionate and stormy love of God.

It would automatically follow that having been cleansed of our sin and having had the privilege of experiencing the

שַׁ֫ shin/ stormy passionate love of God, our heart will be filled with thankfulness towards Him.

 

In Hebrew thankfulness is the word todah, and its spelled

T for Taw D for Daleth and H for Hei/Hay.

todah: thanksgiving:8426

Original Word: תּוֹדָה
Part of Speech: Noun Feminine
Transliteration: todah
Phonetic Spelling: (to-daw’)
Definition: thanksgiving

Word Origin
from yadah

תּ Taw gives the picture of expressing praise and thanksgiving,

דָ Daleth which is a door or portal to the last letter,

the ה Hei which speaks of  the presence of God. 

We learn that the behavior and lifestyle of the people in the assembly of Laodicea mentioned in Revelation 3:14-22 was not acceptable to the Lord. This made them neither hot nor cold in their relationship towards Him and this caused Him to say that He was ready to spew them out of His mouth. 

What were they doing that made our Heavenly Father say that? 

In verse 20 

Behold, I stand at the door and knock.”

Here is an answer, in order to fully comprehend what it means, we must take a look at the Hebraic use of language in that day. This expression is one that a Jewish person of that time would quickly understand. To them it was an indication that Messiah was seeking to make His presence known, so He was knocking at the todah /praise and thanksgiving which is the doorway to His presence. 

  If an individual opens that dalet/doorway, that gate, with praise and thanksgiving Messiah will enter and His presence will fill the sanctuary, which as we have seen in scripture is our bodies, and He will not only dine with us, He will abide with us.

Another interesting point that we miss in our western culture is that in Middle Eastern, Oriental or Semitic culture of that day, and incidentally it still is today, when someone wants to reconcile with an enemy they will have dinner together and discuss their differences. This explains why in Psalms 23:5 David writes that God prepares a table before him in the presence of his enemies. With an emphasis on cultural etiquette David is saying is that God lays the foundation or prepares the ground work for reconciliation with his enemies.  When we read Revelation 3:20 we know that the Blood of the Lamb cleanses us from our sin, however it is our thanksgiving and praise that ultimately brings reconciliation us to the loving, stormy filled passion and the presence of our heavenly Father.

It is also of interest to note that all we have to do is open the dalet/door and Messiah Yeshua passes through, it is not us that passes through. This is the big change in the order of things, the protocol of how to approach a Holy God has changed from the directions given to Moses. Whereas it used to be that the people passed through the gates of the temple to enter the place of God’s presence, and then only the priests could enter the holy place; and only the High Priest could go into the holy of holies once a year on Yom Kippur. All the rest of the people had to stay in the outer court. Today it is up to us to ask and invite Messiah into the sanctuary, our bodies, to bring His presence into us. In praise and thanksgiving, we are inviting Messiah to enter our sanctuary and let it become His holy of holies.

“Open for me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter and thank God. This is the gateway to the Lord; the righteous shall enter it” Psalm 118:19.

All are thresholds of revelation where His divine presence reaches into our human realm.

In Hebrew the Jewish synagogue service tells us that:

Every morning God is said to open the gates of the east and break open the windows of the heavens, bestowing light to the world and its inhabitants (Shabbat morning prayer).

Sunrise over Jerusalem from the Mt of Olives

 As the first light breaks through the darkness, it calls to us to wake up to the reality of His steadfast love and endless grace and mercy.

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22/3

Every day is a new beginning.

Ezekiel contains several references to a gate that faces east. In Ezekiel 10:18–19, the prophet sees the glory of the Lord leave the temple through 

the entrance of the east gate of the Lord’s house”;

the glory then moves east of the city to the Mount of Olives

Ezekiel 11:23 

Later, Ezekiel sees the glory of the Lord return to the temple via

“the gate facing east” Ezekiel 43:1–5.

Gates open and gates close, but, we are told, there is one gate that is never closed. In Matthew 7:13-14  In this context Matthew is discussing the narrow gate leading to salvation, eternal life & the broad gate which leads to destruction. Yeshua/Jesus made it clear, the path to eternal life is open to everyone who asks. However, the gate to heaven is “narrow” in the sense of having a particular requirement for entrance—faith faith in Jesus Christ/Yeshua haMashiach. Salvation is found only in the Person of Jesus Christ/ Yeshua haMashiach. The Bible tells us that He is the only Way John 14:6. The “wide” gate is non-exclusive; it allows for human effort and all other of the world’s religions.

God offers salvation to everyone who accepts it John 1:12; 3:16-18; Romans 10:9; 1 John 2:2. But it is on His terms. We must come the way He has provided. We cannot create our own paths or come to a holy God based on our own efforts. They choose temporary, earthly pleasure over the self-sacrifice required in following Jesus/Yeshua. Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23; Matthew 10:37. The narrow gate is ignored. Most people would rather create their own religions and design their own gods. So it was with sorrow, not as a discrimination, that Messiah declared that the road to eternal life is

“narrow, and only a few find it.“

When faced with the choice between a narrow, bumpy road and a wide, paved highway, most of us choose the easier road. Human nature gravitates toward comfort and pleasure. When faced with the reality of denying themselves to follow Jesus/Yeshua, most people turn away. John 6:66. Messiah never sugar-coated the truth, and the truth is that not many people are willing to pay the price to follow Him.

We are to choose which gates we will enter into, let’s make sure the sha’ar we choose are the ones that take us into the passionate love of our Heavenly Fathers presence.

Shalom mishpachah/family

and cheverim/friends!

It’s all about Life and Relationship,

NOT Religion.

You are greatly loved and precious in His sight.

NOT SURE?

YOU CAN BE..

SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…

Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.

I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name. Amen.