And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. Matthew 27:50-52.
After these things I looked, and behold, a door open in Heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.” Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne. Revelation 4:1-2.
Open to me the gates of righteousness; I shall enter through them. I shall give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous will enter through it. I shall give thanks to You, for You have answered me, and You have become my salvation. Psalm 118:19-21.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
I speak of gates, but ultimately there are two gates, the gate to Heaven and the gate to Hell.
There were three gates in My Tabernacle in the wilderness, the entrance to the outer court facing east, the gate to the Holy Place (inner court), and the gate to the Holy of Holies, which consisted of a wondrous veil.
I speak of a narrow gate to life and a wide gate to destruction.
When Jacob had the dream in which he saw the vision of the ladder to Heaven, he declared the place to be a house of God and a gate of Heaven.
I speak of the twelve gates to My Heavenly City that are pearls and I speak of gates in the earthly Jerusalem, gates in the wall and gates to the temple that were rebuilt by Nehemiah.
I also speak of the gates of Hell and that they will not prevail against the Church.
I tell you the way to enter My gates is with thanksgiving. Psalm 100:4. And you will call your walls salvation, and your gates praise. Isaiah 60:18.
Look again at the Tabernacle in the wilderness. I am always going back that that heavenly model. The first gate that you had to pass through to enter the Tabernacle court you could only enter one way—with the spotless, unblemished lamb which you brought to offer for your sins to be covered and forgiven—to save you from divine wrath and the wages of sin, which is death. And just as there was only one gate into the Tabernacle, so there is only one way into the gate that leads to Heaven and that way is Jesus. In fact, He tells you that He is the gate. There is no other way to Me because otherwise your sins will keep you out. But if you have Jesus, you have your sins all taken care of, just as the sinner coming to the tabernacle had his sin taken care of by being imputed to the lamb and the purity of the lamb imputed to his account. But that was a mere shadow, a payment on credit, which at one point had to be paid in full with the sinless blood of My Son.
And the next gate opened into a place of grace, the Holy Place, where you could walk the way that leads to abundant life in this world that My Son came to give you. Here you are in the world but not of the world. It is a place with the Menorah (fulfilled in Jesus, the Light of the world) and the Bread of My Presence (fulfilled in the Body and Blood of Jesus) with shining gold walls (wood boards covered with pure gold and resting on silver pedestals). And this gate is for your life now. It is the narrow gate that leads to life, the abundant life that is life indeed, walking with Me in the grace in which you now stand by faith in the Holy Place of redemption ground. But it is here that you must walk the narrow way and not the wide road that leads to destruction. And what is that narrow way? Rejoice always, pray without ceasing (represented by the golden altar of incense which the priests were to burn incense on morning and evening), and give constant thanks, for this is My Will for your life in Christ Jesus. The gates are praise! The narrow way is the way of thanksgiving and praise. The wide road to destruction is the way of strife, complaining, anger, fear, depression, gossip, ingratitude, rebellion, and malice. It is not a place of grace. It is what kept the Israelites out of the Promised Land and ultimately destroyed them (cut their lives short). It is not a place of faith (makes you rejoice), hope (keeps you praying) and love (love makes you thankful). It is the wide road of the destruction of your destiny. It is a path of darkness that ends in death to all I had planned for you. You can still be saved but it is not the good place in which you were to spend your days and years on earth.
Here, I want to pause a moment and say something to you. Let Me take you back to a scene in the life of My Son where He taught you a lesson you need to know to stay in the place of grace and in joy. One of the Pharisees requested Jesus to come dine with him, and Jesus went. He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. There was a woman in the city who was a known sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.” And Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he replied, “Say it, Teacher.” “A moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more?” Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” Luke:36-43.
And Jesus said to him, “You have judged correctly.” Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” Then He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.” Those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?” And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Luke 7:43-50.
The one who was forgiven much was more grateful and gratitude turned into love.
Now let Me share with you what I want to tell you now. There are many of you who regret the sins, lawless deeds, selfish things, and just foolish things you have done in the past and it makes you sad, shamed, and hanging your head before Me in regret, wishing you could go back and make things right for Me. Do not roll up in a ball in shame, instead expand, spread out your tent pegs, shout for joy you barren one! Be joyful in the love and mercy and propitiation you have found in Me in Jesus! Now you have attached to the vine and your life is fruitful. I have forgiven you much, but MUCH MORE than much, I have forgiven you EVERYTHING you ever did wrong. David sang of My mercy, knowing that his sins were too many to recount, more numerous than the hairs of his head, but he knew that I had wiped them all out. And his heart was overwhelmed with love as he ran the way of Salvation. “Because of the abundance of Your lovingkindness, I can enter your house,” he sang. Jesus, your forerunner, High Priest, Lamb and great good Shepherd has opened the Way, a new and living way to My throne.
Beautiful indeed is your inheritance. You are not just forgiven your sin is gone and it had to be that way or you could never enter the gate. “This is the gate of the LORD, the righteous shall enter through it, I shall give thanks to You , for You have answered me, and You have been my Salvation.” Psalm 118:19-20. And on each of you who have loved the appearing of My Son for all He has done for you I have bestowed the crown of righteousness. 2 Timothy 4:8.
The one who is forgiven much loves much. So what is your part? To retreat from Me in shame over all the wrong you have done? No, NEVER. In Jesus, your sins and offense I remember NO MORE. He took them and took care of them. I have given you the solution to your problems, your guilt and shame, over past sins you have done. And what is that answer? LOVE MUCH. You are forgiven ALL so give Me the love of ALL your heart, soul, mind and strength. That is the only response you are required to make. Owe no one a debt but to love them. So that now is your debt with Me, to love Me with all your heart. I ask no other payment from you for your sins, for the Blood of My Son has taken care of all that would divide us. He nailed your debts to the Cross that you owed Me for your sins and cancelled them all by paying them in full and then some. But only you can pay the debt to love. That no one else can pay for you. Jesus took your sins, but you must take hold of love. Pursue the spiritual gifts, but above all, pursue love. I have done My part in Jesus, I so loved you I gave you My only begotten Son so that all who believe in Him will never perish but have eternal life. All I ask in return is love. And the one who is forgiven MUCH loves MUCH.
And let Me go back to the third gate in the Tabernacle of Moses. It was the veil into the Holy of Holies. But do you recall what happened to that veil when Jesus was crucified and had finished the work I gave Him to do of your salvation? It ripped in two from top to bottom. Matthew 27:50-52; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45. Have you never read in the fourth chapter of the Book of Revelation what John saw? He saw a gate open in Heaven and I called to Him, “Come up here!” And suddenly without quite knowing how, he went through that door and was standing right before My heavenly throne in the very Holy of Holies, the true one that is in the Kingdom. And I have seated you there with Christ Jesus your Lord. And He is in the middle of the throne with Me. And so are you. Revelation 3:21. And you will note that gate is open. The veil is gone. But you had to be in the Holy Place of grace to go on to the Holy of Holies. Only the righteous enter it, that is, the ones who have taken Jesus as their Lord, for then My righteousness is theirs by the imputation of all their sins to My Son and His righteousness to them.
I love you. Make sure you owe Me no debt but to love Me. Jesus took the rest. All of it. Every evil work or careless lawless deed you have done is no longer yours if you have taken Jesus as Lord, it came on Him and I punished it. You are without blemish before Me, just like your spotless Lamb. You can be comfortable with Me. I am the God of all comfort. So stop crying and start singing songs of joyful praise for all your days. It will keep you in the abundance of grace.
Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” Revelation 5:11-13.