Day 2 of The Gates of The Believer's Heart & Walk
Nehemiah 3:3
God
Day two as promised Beloved of the Father and my brothers and sisters in Christ. As we looked at the Sheep Gate, we saw it was worked on first by Nehemiah and the returned children from bondage in Babylon. The gates were repaired in a purposeful order, prophetic order and Sheep Gate was first, because Jesus is the Good Shepherd, He is the door, the way into life ever lasting in the New Jerusalem to come in the eternal future. Without the Sheep Gate, there would be no need to restore the remnant of Babylonian exiles from BONDAGE. Just as the Good Shepherd freed us from BONDAGE to sin. So after the Sheep Gate, the next gate, the next truth in the Believers walk is the Fish Gate.
"3 But the fish gate did the sons of Hassenaah build, who also laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof."
Fish Gate you may be asking yourself, "What in the world does a Fish Gate have to do with my walk in Christ?" Why the importance of being the second gate repaired in Jerusalem after bondage? Let us go forward in time to Jesus, and the beginning and end of His ministry in the flesh here on Earth. After Jesus finished the forty days in the wilderness, led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness, He began His mission:
"17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them." Matthew 4:17-21
He announced His ministry in the Galilean country in the city Capernaum, to fulfill a prophecy of Isaiah, then He began to preach the Gospel [Good News!] to everyone the Messiah is here! He started in an obscure fishing village, not a seminary, not a synagogue, or a cathedral. He went to where the lost were, fishing for men! Selecting disciples, to teach, to train, and to show them where the Sheep Gate was, and Who the gatekeeper was. Capernaum was geographically close to the Fish Gate, where fishermen would bring their catch to Jerusalem for market. Okay so Jesus fished after men but why did He do so? Look at the text above, "...follow Me and I will make you fishers of men." Now let's fast forward to the moment in the scriptures and see the command to the disciples, and the command [Great Commission] to me and you, and all the true disciples before us:
" 16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.
18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen." Matthew 28:16-20
Notice where the eleven disciples were at, and what they were doing? They had went back to their old life, they had left the lost in Jerusalem and back out the Fish Gate to Galilee, and Jesus met them and gave them and us marching orders. Go be fishers of men! Bring them to the Good Shepherd, The Way, The Truth, and the Life. Go teach them what I [Jesus] taught you. A disciple of Christ and witnessing Christian is a non-falling away or backsliding Christian. He is in the Word (Logos-Jesus) and walking in Christ. This is recorded in Mark chapter 1 as well:
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16 Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.
18 And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.
19 And when he had gone a little farther thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets.
20 And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him." Mark 1:16-20
Outside the Fish Gate, in Galilee the call to salvation and discipleship. When Nehemiah returned to the city of Jerusalem and the Babylonian bondage, he had to do some fishing for men to rebuild the gates of Jerusalem. He recruited men to build a section of the wall, and a gate... a mission. Do you see the corollary? Nehemiah preached against the enemy to his recruits, work with one hand and a sword in the other. So the captives could be safe in Jerusalem, and Ezra could preach repentance, and the Temple rebuilt for worship and prayer for the people. So the Word [Logos-Jesus] could be read again amongst the nation.
"5 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up:
6 And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
7 Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place.
8 So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.
9 And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law.
10 Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength." Day two of the Gates of Jerusalem and the Gates of the Believer's heart we clearly see the interwoven fabric of the Whole Counsel of the Word of God. And it is beautiful. Friend, don't go back out the Fish Gate of your old life to you former self, go out the Fish Gate and follow the Lord's command, become Fisher's of men! Share this teaching with the beloved! Love in Christ Jason.
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