High Voltage Shareware/high1.zip/high1/DIR46/ALPHON_2.ZIP/NEH-NO2.018

Text File | 1992-11-11 | 6KB | 145 lines

                    NEHEMIAH.   PART TWO

In Nehemiah 3, we have an illustration of the order of spiritual
truths in the city of God through the order of the restoration of
the gates of Jerusalem.
Let us see how this order can apply to the Church.

The Sheep Gate  (v.1)

The sheep gate speaks to us of the necessity in the Church of
first ministering to the needs of God's people, who are referred
to as His sheep (Psalm 100:3). The sheep need feeding not
evangelizing. Merely preaching repentance, faith, salvation, and
deliverance to the sheep is not feeding them.

Sheep feed the best when they feel that their shepherd is near
to feed them. This gives them a feeling of security (John 10:2-
3), without which they will not be able to lie down. The word
ruling actually means feeding.

The Fish Gate  (v.3)

This gate was built after the sheep gate was constructed.  The
spiritual principle here is that it is only after the people of
God are strong and mature that souls can be properly brought into
the kingdom.  Sheep bear lambs. The shepherd does not,  he only
tends and guides the lambs that the sheep naturally bear!

One of the five-fold ministries in Ephesians  4:11-12 is the
evangelist. In verse 12 it says that all  of  the  five-fold
ministries are  for the "equipping of the saints for the work of
their ministries".  The evangelist's ministry is not just to  go
out and attempt to win the world for Christ  on  his  own.   The
evangelist's ministry must include the function of training and
equipping the saints so that they can go out and win the lost for
Christ!

The Old Gate  (v.6)

The old  gate speaks to us of the foundational principles of the
Church found in Hebrews 6:1-3 and Acts 2:41-42.  These
foundational principles are the (old) truths (as it were)
deposited by Jesus Christ and the Apostles in the early Church
that never change from generation to generation. The principles
of repentance,  faith,  baptism, the Apostles' doctrine,
fellowship and prayer never change.

New truths will never directly contradict these old truths. As a
matter of fact, for the Church to be rightly balanced, she must
be able to hold the former truths which receiving new truths (not
`new' to the Bible,  but `new' to her experience and
understanding).  As Matthew 13:52 parabolically states,
"Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of
heaven is like unto a man that is an householder,  which bringeth
forth out of his treasure things new and old".

The Valley Gate  (v.13)

The  valley gate can speak to us of the experience of meeting one
another's needs. The  meaning  of the name of Hanun,  one of the
men  who helped to rebuild this gate,  very significantly
illustrates this. Hanun means,  "to bend or stoop in kindness to
another".  It takes a ministry of kindness and compassion to
build the  valley  gate.


The Dung Gate  (v.14)

The purpose of the dung gate was to provide the inhabitants of
the city a  means through which they could  dispose of all of
their waste and garbage.

This gate can speak to us of the purging and refining  ministry
of the Holy Spirit (that is also presently happening in the
Church today).  The Holy Spirit is cleansing the Church today of
sin and corruption.  Consequently, the church must rebuild this
gate and allow all of the cleansing ministries of the Holy Spirit
(eg. the preaching of the Word and the counseling ministry) to
take full sway in her midst.

The Fountain Gate  (v.15)

The fountain gate can speak to us of the ministry of the Holy
Spirit to our lives in spiritual refreshing and restoration.
After people come through the dung gate and throw out all of the
garbage from their lives,  they must come through the fountain
gate where the Word and Spirit can change them.
The following is a list of scriptures which illustrate that God
is interested in a flowing of His Spirit in the life of every
believer:

1. "Out of your belly shall flow rivers of living  water.  This
spoke He concerning the Spirit..." (John 7:37-39).

2. "...when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence
of the Lord..." (Acts 3:19-21).

3. "And he showed me a pure river of the water of life, clear as
crystal proceeding out of the throne of God..." (Rev. 22:1,2).

4. "And ye shall ask for rain in the time of the latter rain"
(Zechariah 10:1).

5. "And He will come unto us like the rain" (Hosea 6:3)

The Water Gate  (v.26)

This gate can speak to us of the restoration of the ministry of
the water of the Word. Ephesians 5:26 states that the Lord will
cleanse  the Church  through "the washing of water by the Word".
Just as Numbers  8:7 refers to the "water of purifying" for the
cleansing of the Old Testament Levitical priesthood.

The Horse Gate  (v.28)

The horse gate can speak to us of two main truths.

First, is the truth of the restoration of burden bearers to the
House of the Lord.  Horses bear heavy burdens too heavy for men to
carry.

Second, the horse gate can speak to us of the restoration  of
holiness and death to the self-life that the Spirit is  doing
today.  In Scripture, the horse was many times a representation of
the carnal life and strength of man (Exodus 15:1,21; Psalm
147:10; Jeremiah 51:21).

The East Gate  (v.29)

The east gate can speak to us of the final restoration of the
Church and the return of Jesus Christ to the earth for His
perfected  bride.

Just as the three wise men came from the east to worship the baby
Jesus (Matthew 2:1-29), so shall The Wise Man,  Jesus,  come from
the east.  As Matthew 24:27 states, "For as he lightning cometh
out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall the
coming of the Son of man be" (cf. Revelation 7:2; 16:12).

As the Church allows God to rebuild all of these gates, in their
spiritual sense, to the Church, he can be assured that Jesus
Christ will come back for a "glorious Church without spot or
wrinkle" (Ephesians 5:27).