Gates

A gate is an opening. Normally this opening can be in a wall, fence, city, etc. More often than not, it has defensive structures such as iron bars, brass frames and wooden doors. Gates usually have gatekeepers, towers and security posts.

Gates form both entrance and exit points in a building. Buckingham Palace, Aso Rock and the White House all have gates. Those gates keep out some men while others gain access. Indeed, they are purposefully designed to admit certain people and keep certain others out.

Whatever functions gates serve in the physical realm can also be applied in the spiritual.

Gates Serve As Hindrances To Some Men
When a gate is closed against you, there can be no forward movement in your life. Everything stands still. “Now Jericho was straitly shut up…none went out and none came in”. Joshua 6 v 1. Nehemiah used the gates to stop trading in Is¬rael on the Sabbath and also restricted none – Jews. Nehemiah 13 v 14-22

The entrance of the Gospel into each city is de¬termined at the spiritual gate of the city. The en¬trance of new ungodly trends, pornographic materials and demonic occultic groups, etc., are all decided at the gates.

Gates Form Boundaries
Boundaries serve as demarcation points between nations, between the imprisoned and the free, between psychiatric patients and the sane, be¬tween the lions in the cages and human beings. There are also exclusive clubs whose gates are open only to those who are qualified to enter. All others are excluded.

Whatever you are today is dependent on which side of certain gates you are. People in the world can conveniently be divided into the married and unmarried, rich and poor, educated and unedu¬cated, employed and unemployed, barren and fruitful. Before you can advance from one zone to another, there is a gate you must go through.

Gates Offer Either Honour Or Shame
Have you ever had the experience of being turned away from a gate while others were per¬mitted to enter? It’s possible you have. It is al¬ways very shameful and humiliating. Have you ever been allowed to pass through a gate while others were turned away? Haman’s promotion, (Esther 3 v 2) his downfall and death all took place at the gate. While Haman was being defeated at the gate, that same gate promoted and advanced Mordecai (Esther 4 v 1- 4; 6 v 10)!!

Failure to be accepted at the gate of Heaven not only debars one from eternal honour but also sentences one to eternal shame.

Gates Are Places Where Justice And Judgment Are Administered
In ancient days, walls were built around cities. It was at the gates that the elders of those cities sat. There, all matters and cases pertaining to the inhabitants of the place were resolved. There, discipline was enforced and the oppressed re¬leased. Deuteronomy 21 v 18 & 19. Prosecution, convic¬tion, sentencing and legislation were done at the gates – Deuteronomy 22 v 23-27.

“Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with judgment.”- Deuteronomy 16 v 18 & Deuteronomy 21 v 18 – 21.

Satan, knowing the power of gates, has utilised them for his own nefarious designs by setting up spiritual gates of hell in every part of the world. From these gates of hell he is busy issu¬ing out diabolical decrees and legislation upon nations, cities, families, businesses and individu¬als.

Indeed, there is a battle and a contention over every city and community as to which type of judgment is to take the upper hand: the righ¬teous judgments of God, or the corrupt diabolic judgments of the devil.

Gates Are Places Of Fortification
The strength of every gate is determined by what it is protecting. The stronger the gate, the safer the occupants. The strength of any city depends largely on the gate. If a city gate is strong, entrance into that city will be very difficult. Jericho had a strong gate. Babylon had a strong gate. God had to open it by Himself – Isaiah 45 v 1 & 2.

Satan fortifies his gates with strong gatekeep¬ers, principalities and powers, rulers of darkness, spiritual wickedness in high places and human agents as well. The stronger and more difficult the gate, the greater the rewards on the other side.
Rev. Theodore Effiong, Assemblies of God Church, Calabar or Prayer To All Nations (PTAN), Prayer City, Calabar. CRS
Email: theoeffiong@yahoo.com
Phone – +234 9030012007, +234 7031921770