Revelation 21:13
There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west.
There were three gates
The number "three" in biblical numerology often signifies completeness or divine perfection. In the context of Revelation, the use of three gates on each side of the New Jerusalem symbolizes the perfect and complete access to God's eternal city. The gates are a reminder of the Holy Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—through whom believers gain entry into eternal life. The gates also reflect the inclusivity of God's kingdom, open to all who believe, regardless of their earthly origin.

on the east
The east holds significant biblical symbolism, often representing the direction of God's glory and the coming of the Messiah. In Ezekiel 43:2, the glory of the God of Israel comes from the east. The placement of gates on the east side of the New Jerusalem may symbolize the anticipation of Christ's return and the dawn of a new era in God's eternal plan. It is a reminder of the hope and expectation that believers hold for the fulfillment of God's promises.

three on the north
The north, in biblical terms, can represent both a place of blessing and a place of judgment. In Isaiah 14:13, the north is associated with the throne of God, while in Jeremiah 1:14, it is a direction from which disaster comes. The presence of gates on the north side of the New Jerusalem signifies that God's kingdom is open to all, transcending earthly associations of direction with either blessing or judgment. It emphasizes the universality of God's invitation to salvation.

three on the south
The south is often associated with warmth and light, as it is the direction of the sun's zenith in the northern hemisphere. In biblical history, the south is also the direction from which the Queen of Sheba came to visit Solomon, seeking wisdom (1 Kings 10:1-13). The gates on the south side of the New Jerusalem may symbolize the enlightenment and wisdom that come from entering God's presence. It is an invitation to all who seek truth and understanding to enter into the light of God's eternal city.

and three on the west
The west, in biblical symbolism, is often associated with the end of the day, sunset, and rest. In the context of the New Jerusalem, the gates on the west side may represent the completion of God's redemptive work and the eternal rest promised to believers. It is a reminder of the peace and fulfillment that await those who enter into God's presence, where there is no more night or darkness, only the eternal light of God's glory.

Persons / Places / Events
1. New Jerusalem
The holy city described in Revelation 21, representing the eternal dwelling place of God with His people. It is depicted as having perfect symmetry and divine order.

2. Gates
Symbolic of access and entry into the New Jerusalem. The twelve gates represent the twelve tribes of Israel, indicating the fulfillment of God's promises to His people.

3. Cardinal Directions (East, North, South, West)
These directions emphasize the universality and inclusivity of God's kingdom, open to all nations and peoples.
Teaching Points
Inclusivity of God's Kingdom
The gates on all four sides of the New Jerusalem signify that God's invitation is open to all people, regardless of their background or origin.

Fulfillment of God's Promises
The twelve gates named after the tribes of Israel remind us of God's faithfulness in fulfilling His promises to His people throughout history.

Symbol of Security and Peace
In ancient cities, gates were crucial for protection. The gates of the New Jerusalem symbolize eternal security and peace in God's presence.

Invitation to Enter
The open gates invite us to enter into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, who is the way to eternal life.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the description of the gates in Revelation 21:13 reflect God's promise to include all nations in His kingdom?

2. In what ways do the gates of the New Jerusalem symbolize both security and openness? How can this understanding impact our view of God's protection and invitation?

3. How does the fulfillment of God's promises to the twelve tribes of Israel encourage us in our faith journey today?

4. What practical steps can we take to ensure that we are living as citizens of God's kingdom, with open hearts to others?

5. How can the vision of the New Jerusalem inspire us to live with hope and anticipation for the future God has prepared for us?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Ezekiel 48:30-35
This passage describes the gates of the city in Ezekiel's vision, which also has twelve gates named after the tribes of Israel, showing a prophetic connection to Revelation 21.

Matthew 8:11
Jesus speaks of many coming from the east and west to sit with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, highlighting the inclusivity of God's kingdom.

Isaiah 60:11
The gates of the city will always be open, symbolizing the constant access to God's presence and the gathering of nations.
A Sight of the BadeJ. Irons.Revelation 21:9-14
HeavenHomilistRevelation 21:9-14
The Bridal CityN. Curnock.Revelation 21:9-14
The BrideR A. Griffin.Revelation 21:9-14
The City of GodJohn Stoughton.Revelation 21:9-14
The Gates of HeavenT. De Witt Talmage.Revelation 21:9-14
The Gates of HeavenH. Macmillan, D. D. , LL. D.Revelation 21:9-14
The Gates of the CityJ. G. Greenhough, M. A.Revelation 21:9-14
The Glorious BrideH. Bonar, D. D.Revelation 21:9-14
The Heavenly JerusalemR. Winterbotham, M. A.Revelation 21:9-14
The Holy CityH. Bonar, D. D.Revelation 21:9-14
The Holy City, the Bride of the LambJohn Thomas, M. A.Revelation 21:9-14
The Manifold ChristC. H. Parkhurst, D. D.Revelation 21:9-14
The Many GatesLeon Walker, D. D.Revelation 21:9-14
The New JerusalemJ. A. Seiss, D. D.Revelation 21:9-14
The Spiritual Commonwealth of the GoodD. Thomas Revelation 21:9-21
The New JerusalemR. Green Revelation 21:9-27
People
John
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Doors, East, Gates, North, South, West
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Revelation 21:13

     4821   east
     4857   west

Revelation 21:9-14

     7266   tribes of Israel

Revelation 21:9-22

     5207   architecture

Revelation 21:9-27

     5659   bride
     7241   Jerusalem, significance

Revelation 21:12-15

     5323   gate

Revelation 21:12-19

     5604   walls

Library
November 18. "And He that Sat Upon the Throne Said, it is Done" (Rev. xxi. 5, 6).
"And He that sat upon the throne said, It is done" (Rev. xxi. 5, 6). Great is the difference between action and transaction. We may be constantly acting without accomplishing anything, but a transaction is action that passes beyond the point of return, and becomes a permanent committal. Salvation is a transaction between the soul and Christ in which the matter passes beyond recall. Sanctification is a great transaction in which we are utterly surrendered, irrevocably consecrated and wholly committed
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

July the Twenty-Fifth no Temple Therein
"And I saw no temple therein!" --REVELATION xxi. 22-27. And that because it was all temple! "Every place was hallowed ground." There was no merely localized Presence, because the Presence was universal. God was realized everywhere, and therefore the little meeting-tent had vanished, and in place of the measurable tabernacle there were the immeasurable and God-filled heavens. Even here on earth I can measure my spiritual growth by the corresponding enlargement of my temple. What is the size of
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

He that Overcometh.
"He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son."--REVELATION xxi. 7. Year by year as at this time, when the week of our Saviour's Passion and Death is just in front of us, and the shadow of His Cross is falling over us, one generation after another of the boys of this school gather here, and in the face of the congregation, young and old, they take upon them the vows of a Christian life. So we met last Thursday, and your vow is still fresh upon a great
John Percival—Sermons at Rugby

A New Creation
MEN GENERALLY venerate antiquity. It were hard to say which has the stronger power over the human mind--antiquity or novelty. While men will frequently dote upon the old, they are most easily dazzled by the new. Anything new has at least one attraction. Restless spirits consider that the new must be better than the old. Though often disappointed, they are still ready to be caught by the same bait, and, like the Athenians of Mars Hill, spend their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 61: 1915

29Th Day. A Nightless Heaven.
"He is Faithful that Promised." "There shall be no night there."--REV. xxi. 25. A Nightless Heaven. My soul! is it night with thee here? Art thou wearied with these midnight tossings on life's tumultuous sea? Be still! the day is breaking! soon shall thy Lord appear. "His going forth is prepared as the morning." That glorious appearing shall disperse every cloud, and usher in an eternal noontide which knows no twilight. "Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for
John Ross Macduff—The Faithful Promiser

31ST DAY. The Vision and Fruition of God.
"He is Faithful that Promised." "God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."--REV. xxi. 3, 4. The Vision and Fruition of God. Glorious consummation! All the other glories of Heaven are but emanations from this glory that excelleth. Here is the focus and centre to which every ray of light converges. God
John Ross Macduff—The Faithful Promiser

The Disciple, -- Master, it is Clear to Almost Everyone that to Disobey God And...
The Disciple,--Master, it is clear to almost everyone that to disobey God and to cease to worship Him is sin, and the deadly result is seen in the present state of the world. But what sin really is is not absolutely clear. In the very presence of Almighty God, and in opposition to His will, and in His own world, how did sin come to be? The Master,--1. Sin is to cast aside the will of God and to live according to one's own will, deserting that which is true and lawful in order to satisfy one's own
Sadhu Sundar Singh—At The Master's Feet

The Foundation of the Church among the Jews
A.D. 33-A.D. 38 Before entering upon an account of the Foundation and After-History of the Christian Church, it may be well to consider what that Church really is. Section 1. Definition of the Church. [Sidenote: Twofold nature of the Church.] The Church may be regarded in a twofold aspect, as an external Corporation, and as a spiritual Body. [Sidenote: 1. An external Kingdom.] In the first light it is a Kingdom, in the world, though not of the world, extending through different and widely-separated
John Henry Blunt—A Key to the Knowledge of Church History

The City that Hath Foundations
"I ... saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem."-- Rev. xxi. 2. J. M. Meyfart, 1642. tr., Emma Frances Bevan, 1899 Jerusalem! thou glorious City-height, Oh might I enter in! My spirit wearieth for thy love and light, Amidst this world of sin-- Far over the dark mountains, The moorlands cold and grey, She looketh with sad longing, And fain would flee away. O fair sweet day! and hour yet more fair When wilt thou come to me? My spirit, safe within my Saviour's care Made glad, and pure, and free-- And calmly,
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen and Others (Second Series)

The Land of Rest
Gerhard Ter Steegen Rev. xxi. 5 Wanderer, rest thy weary feet; Shapes and sounds forgotten now-- Close thine eyes in stillness sweet, With thy God alone art thou. In the deeps of silence rest, Let Him work His high behest. Silence! reasonings hard and keen, Still--O longings sad and deep-- Waken to the morn serene, Tangled dreams depart with sleep; In the calm eternal day Night's wild visions past away. In the silence of that dawn God shall speak His words of grace, Light that round thy waking
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

The Heritage of the Lord's People. --Rev. xxi. 5-7.
The Heritage of the Lord's People.--Rev. xxi. 5-7. "He that overcomes through me, Shall an heir of all things be, I his God, and he My Son," Saith the True and Holy One. What an heritage were this! An eternity of bliss, Heaven below and heaven above, O the miracle of love! "Abba! Father!" then might I Through the Holy Spirit cry; Heir of God, with Christ joint-heir, Grace and glory call'd to share. Can a worm such gifts receive? Fear not, faint not, but believe, He who gave His Son, shall He
James Montgomery—Sacred Poems and Hymns

Whether God Always Loves More the Better Things?
Objection 1: It seems that God does not always love more the better things. For it is manifest that Christ is better than the whole human race, being God and man. But God loved the human race more than He loved Christ; for it is said: "He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all" (Rom. 8:32). Therefore God does not always love more the better things. Objection 2: Further, an angel is better than a man. Hence it is said of man: "Thou hast made him a little less than the angels" (Ps.
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

The Impassibility and Immortality of the Risen Body.
Besides the attributes which immediately flow from the fact that our animal bodies will rise spiritualized, there are two more qualities, which we shall now consider; namely, the impassibility and immortality of our risen bodies. 1. Impassibility implies the total loss of the power of suffering. What an enormous capacity we have for suffering! The power of receiving pleasure through our senses is only as a drop in the ocean, when compared to our manifold capacities for suffering, in every faculty
F. J. Boudreaux—The Happiness of Heaven

Christ's Finished and Unfinished Work
'Jesus ... said, It is finished.'--JOHN xix. 30. 'He said unto me, It is done.'--REV. xxi. 6. One of these sayings was spoken from the Cross, the other from the Throne. The Speaker of both is the same. In the one, His voice 'then shook the earth,' as the rending rocks testified; in the other, His voice 'will shake not the earth only but also heaven'; for 'new heavens and a new earth' accompanied the proclamation. In the one, like some traveller ready to depart, who casts a final glance over his preparations,
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI

All Fulness in Christ
The text is a great deep, we cannot explore it, but we will voyage over its surface joyously, the Holy Spirit giving us a favorable wind. Here are plenteous provisions far exceeding, those of Solomon, though at the sight of that royal profusion, Sheba's queen felt that there was no more spirit in her, and declared that the half had not been told to her. It may give some sort of order to our thoughts if they fall under four heads. What is here spoken of--"all fullness." Where is it placed--"in him,"
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

A Word for the Persecuted
Remember that this supposition is a very likely one. There are a few Christians so favourably circumstanced that all their friends accompany them in the pilgrimage to heaven. What advances they ought to make in the sacred journey! What excellent Christians they ought to be! They are like plants in a conservatory--they ought to grow and bring forth the loveliest Bowers of divine grace. But there are not very many who are altogether in that case. The large proportion of Christians find themselves opposed
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 20: 1874

Why they Leave Us
"Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world."--John 17:24. THE PRAYER OF THE SAVIOR rises as it proceeds. He asked for his people that they might be preserved from the world, then that they might be sanctified, and then that they might be made manifestly one; and now he reaches his crowning point--that they may be with him where he is, and behold his
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 32: 1886

The Apostolate.
"That ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ."--1 John i. 3. The apostolate bears the character of an extraordinary manifestation, not seen before or after it, in which we discover a proper work of the Holy Spirit. The apostles were ambassadors extraordinary -- different from the prophets, different from the present ministers of the Word. In the history of the Church and the world they occupy a unique position and have a peculiar
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

An Impossibility Made Possible
'Can the Ethiopian change his skin?'--JER. xiii. 23. 'If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.'--2 COR. v. 17. 'Behold, I make all things new.'--REV. xxi. 5. Put these three texts together. The first is a despairing question to which experience gives only too sad and decisive a negative answer. It is the answer of many people who tell us that character must be eternal, and of many a baffled man who says, 'It is of no use--I have tried and can do nothing.' The second text is the grand Christian
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'Three Tabernacles'
'The Word ... dwelt among us.'--JOHN i. 14. '... He that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them.'--REV. vii. 15. '... Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them.'--REV. xxi. 3. The word rendered 'dwelt' in these three passages, is a peculiar one. It is only found in the New Testament--in this Gospel and in the Book of Revelation. That fact constitutes one of the many subtle threads of connection between these two books, which at first sight seem so extremely unlike
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Departed Saints Fellowservants with those yet on Earth.
"I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets." The revelation made to St. John in the isle of Patmos, was a comfort to the suffering apostle, and a blessing to the church. "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the word, of this prophecy." The beginning indeed was dark; the prophetic sketch, was for sometime, gloomy: It unfolded a strange scene of declensions and abominations, which were to disgrace the church of Christ and mar its beauty; and dismal series of woes on woes,
Andrew Lee et al—Sermons on Various Important Subjects

Greeks Seek Jesus. He Foretells that He Shall Draw all Men unto Him.
(in the Temple. Tuesday, April 4, a.d. 30.) ^D John XII. 20-50. ^d 20 Now there were certain Greeks among those that went up to worship at the feast [The language indicates that they were Greek converts to Judaism, such as were called proselytes of the gate. It is also noted that as Gentiles came from the east at the beginning of Jesus' life, so they also came from the west at the close of his ministry]: 21 these therefore came to Philip, who was of Bethsaida of Galilee [See p. 111. They were possibly
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

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