Scripture Reading: Genesis 22:17; Psalms 127:5
Genesis 22:17 ‘That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.’
Psalms 127:5 ‘Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.’
The morning I want to talk about gates. I was surprised that the bible has much to say about gates. I mean there is Samson who took the doors of the gate of the city, there is Mordecai who was positioned in the King’s gate. It was at the gate of Sodom that Abraham’s nephew, Lot, greeted the angelic visitors to his city.
I have always felt my call has it origin from Abraham’s call. To Abraham, God says in Genesis 22:17 ‘That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.’ All these years I have always heard mention, the prosperity and the multiplication in Abraham’s call but unconsciously I left out the gate of the enemies which is part of the call. A part of the blessing of Abraham is not only that he would prosper and multiply but to also possess the gate of his enemies. To further strengthen this truth, let’s read about Isaac. The son of Abraham was Isaac; Abraham’s seed. Isaac married Rebecca who it was predicted would become the mother of ‘alfei revava’ or thousands of ten thousands and that her seed would possess the gate of those who hate them. Genesis 24:6 says, ‘AND THEY BLESSED REBEKAH, AND SAID UNTO HER, THOU ART OUR SISTER, BE THOU THE MOTHER OF THOUSANDS OF MILLIONS, AND LET THY SEED POSSESS THE GATE OF THOSE WHICH HATE THEM.’ Most speakers, when teaching on the blessing of Abraham they mostly discuss the multiplying of people; both physical children of Abraham and the Christians of the world as spiritual seed. Not too much is taught about possessing the gate of our enemies. When we talk about possessing a gate, the first thought is a physical gate of a walled city. This picture of a physical gate makes it more difficult to apply to our modern world as we live in open cities in this age. We have missed a great key with these gates. We apply the seed of Abraham to both the physical Jews and Christians as spiritual Jews. But we don’t decipher the meaning of possessing the gates. And as I preached last Sunday, Psalms 127 again reminded me of the gate. I read again Psalms 127:5 ‘Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them (full of children): they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.’ The word ‘speak’ here actually means they shall subdue or destroy. Let’s talk about gates.
1. The heavenly gate
In the book of Genesis we also get introduced to heavenly gate. Genesis 28 17 Jacob exclaimed, ‘How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’ Both Abraham and Jacob mentioned about gates, one, God’s gate and the other, the enemy’s gate. We must first understand the gate of heaven. The image of the heavenly gate in popular culture is a large, white or wrought-iron gate guarded by Saint Peter (the keeper of the “keys to the kingdom”). Those not fit to enter heaven are denied entrance at the gate, and descend into Hell. Jacob used the Hebrew word, ‘shaw-ar, which is translated into the English term “gate of heaven,” meaning a city, which is the reason that he renamed the city (formerly known as Luz) as Bethel, which means House of The Lord. A gate is the place where what is inside comes out and what is outside comes in (in this case heaven). What is in heaven flows from the gate. What Jacob experienced was what bible scholar commonly called it open heaven?
How to have open heaven? Gate of heaven represents open heaven (or opening heaven).
Firstly. open heaven is achieved through giving. Jacob immediately talks about tithing (giving) when he saw the gate of heavens. The promise of Malachi is one of the best examples. Malachi 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. Another is Cornelius in the book of Actus. Acts 10:4 says, ‘Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked. The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.’ I mentioned a few weeks ago that one of the most beautiful characteristics of a child of God is he is a person who does a lot of things to those who can give nothing for him. That is what happened to Cornelius. He had a vision of angels. He had open heaven. He has the key to opening heaven.
Secondly, open heaven is achieved through positioning at the king’s gate. Esther 2:21 ‘In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king’s gate, two of the king’s chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, of those which kept the door, were wroth, and sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus.’ Mordecai was positioned in the king’s gate which allowed him to overhear the plans of enemies of the king. The best and most blessed place to be is positioned where God has assigned you… and one place always stands out, in the gate of His presence, at the feet of Jesus. Mordecai was positioned to hear the plans of the enemy, similar to when Elisha would tell the King of Israel the plans of the king of Aram. “Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard…” (2 Kings 6:12). A king hold an audience at the gate. Daniel was at the King’s gate. Elisha and Daniel had open heavens; one saw the legions of angels surrounding the hills (the invisible army on his side) and another received end times visions. When we take the time to come into His presence, He will speak to us. At times that will include a “heads up” on the plans and strategy of the enemy. Mordecai sat by the King’s gate. ‘Sitting by’ means to dwell, to remain, and to abide. It speaks of intimate fellowship. There is something about being in His presence that changes everything! In like manner, when we live in open heavens we are in the gate of heaven and not only we hear the voice of the Lord clearer and more frequently but are able to hear and stop the works of the enemies as well. I want to be honest. There are times Pastor Lily and I knew what our enemies are talking about. We know their mind and their plan even though we are not near them and we don’t hear their conversation in their secret chamber. God told Pastor Lily about the whispering of the enemies concerning her. God told us what they said and what they planned. This is what happened to us when we have open heaven. Be encouraged, as Mordecai remained positioned at the king’s gate, he uncovered the strategy of the enemy, was instrumental in the deliverance of his people, and became all God intended him to be. We have been called for the same purpose, for such a time as this!
Thirdly, open heaven is achieved through thanksgiving. Psalms 100:4 says, ‘Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.’
The gate of heaven and the courts of heaven are entered with thanksgiving and praise. Even the giving of thanks and worship is a type of sacrifice as the writer of Hebrews tells us. Hebrews 13:15 says, ‘By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.’ Forty four times in the Old Testament is the phrase “Sweet Savour” used referring to the odour of the sacrifice or incense rising up to God. Well one of our favourite songs right now is ‘Day and Night, Night and Day, let incense arise. This tells us how important our offerings of value and of praise are to the Lord and why they open the heavens. The more the members of the local church is in order in their finances in tithes and offering, in sitting at the King’s gate, combined with an atmosphere of thanksgiving and praise, the greater the open heaven. The word tells us that one can put a thousand to flight and two ten thousand, telling us that anything we do as the body in unity exponentially increases the effectiveness of the church. So obviously when the church is in order in giving and worship the heavens are open and the sound of heaven is drowning out the gates of the enemy.
The church must come into order in its giving. Pastors can’t be afraid of the people, they must encourage accurate biblical giving of tithes and offerings. Churches and individuals must have regular serious times of praise and thanksgiving. As the church comes into order we will step into the blessing of open heavens with the angels of God ascending and descending into our lives and ministries like never before. With God’s heavens opened more and more, the communications and plans of the enemy will be shut down and God will prevail. God’s open heavens will bring the growth and we will possess the gates of the enemy and take our cities.
2. The gate of the enemies
How about the gate of our enemies? We have to get this! If we are the spiritual children of Abraham then we must be about the business of possessing the gates of our enemies. I had some interesting understanding on Psalms 127:5. It says, in Psalms 127:5 ‘Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.’ The gate is the place where judgment is given. The gate is the place of justice. It is a picture of a court room. It is at the gate that court was convened, and public announcements were heralded. It was at the city gate, where the elders would examine the evidence and pass judgment Accordingly, it is natural that the Bible frequently speaks of ‘sitting in the gate’; of activities that took place at the gate. Let me give the example of my children. You should also picture your children in Psalms 127 because they are your seeds. Personally to me God is saying my daughters shall speak with the enemies at the gate. They shall courageously plead their cause in courts of judicature (the administration of justice as by judges). They are not fearing the might of their adversaries as a weak and helpless person. Of course the adversaries and our seed (which is my daughter) will meet as they pushed their respective cases. They will be collision on such occasions. The sense here is that my children would stand and plead the cause of their parents against their adversaries in courts of judicature. The implication is that they are able to stop their adversaries’ mouths, when our godly lives are maliciously accused before judges. And they will speak with effect. To ‘speak’ means to ‘subdue and destroy’. They would be able to distinguish themselves and let their presence be known. The idea is that my children would do honour to the family, and gratify the hearts of the parents, by their defending of the city and the home. All this is possible because of their dependence on God for success in everything. I called up Jan after reading this portion of scripture. I said ‘Jan, I know you will complete your master’s degree by the end of June. I know that MOE will let you take another degree. I encourage you to take up law because of the God’s promise to Abraham’s seed and also because of Psalms 127. I think if possible Christian Pastors should let their children be lawyers.
Of course there is also a spiritual meaning. In II Corinthians 12:2 Paul says, ‘I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth; such an one caught up to the third heaven.’
The word of God tells us of a realm that Paul says is so holy and he calls it a third heaven. If there is a third heaven, then there must be a first and second heaven. What most believe is the physical world that we see touch and smell is the first heaven (the cloud, the sky). The second heaven is spiritual level which is mostly unseen by the human world but has a great effect on the human world. The second heaven is the go-between realm (between the first heaven and the third heaven) in which angels and demons operate and those with the “seer prophetic” gifting are able to see and hear as well. This is the spiritual gate of our enemy.
We are to possess the gate of the enemies. First question is where are the enemies’ gates? To me this is fresh revelation and I believe that God is preparing his church to get busy learning how to then actually possessing the gate of the enemy. If the spiritual gate is where the enemy effects life on earth, possessing it is basically controlling the spiritual airways and shutting down the communication of the enemy. To possess the gate was to possess the city or the territories of the enemies. Samson was the perfect example of a man of God who literally possess the gate, implying he possess the territories the enemies.
Judges 16:1 ‘Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her. 2 And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him. 3 And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron.’
The story of Samson is the only case in the Bible where Samson physically took and possessed the enemy’s gate. Let’s study this miraculous event. Gaza was one of the five main cities of the Philistines, the pentapolis of Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, Gath and Gaza. By the way there is a Gaza today, occupied by the Palestianis who are continually a thorn in the flesh of the Jews. Gaza was a centre of power, a walled and heavily fortified city. We had a description of the Gaza’s gates. The doors were made of solid wood, impregnable to arrows and other weapons. The gates were attached to two pots, probably made of stone embedded into the ground and attached to the wall. The bar was perhaps made of metal to reinforce the gates. The gate of Gaza was opened to Samson. Clearly the gatekeeper did not attempt to keep Samson from entering. When Samson entered Gaza, the Philistines saw their chances. They closed the gates and surrounded Samson planning to kill him in the morning. Gates were always shut at night. However at midnight there was a crashing, crackling sound heard in the city of Gaza. It was the noise of crackling stone, splintering wood and breaking metal. It was the sound of Samson removing Gaza’s gates. Samson did not even bother to demolish the gate; he simply removed it intact in one piece. We are not told specifically that the Spirit came upon Samson but we know that this was the source of Samson’s strength: the Spirit of God. God gave Samson the power to do this out of love for Samson, out of love for Samson’s people, the Israelites and in order to glory His own name. It was to let both Israel and the Philistines know that there is a God in Israel and that He empowered His servant to do great deeds of supernatural strength. Having lifted the heavy gates of Gaza upon his shoulders, Samson began to walk away. This too was an amazing feat of supernatural strength. Samson carried the heavy load on his back from Gaza to the top of a hill which is before Hebron some 60 km away. A Professor of Old Testament studies, William Barrick gave a long and detailed description of the Gaza gate, backed up by archaeological data and mathematical calculation. It was at least 3 meters long and 3 meters wide and at least half a meter to one meter in thickness. It is said to weigh over 5000 lbs, more than 2000 kg. Consider the meaning of Gaza’s gate. The removal of Gaza gate was indeed a miracle of unparalleled proportion. Gaza’s gate was her glory and her protection. The event was very humiliating for the Palestinian. It was more humiliating for the Philistines because Samson turned the tables on them and overturned the plot they had made to capture and kill him. City gate here represents Satan’s gate; a place of central activities where the demonic powers plotted against mankind. To control the gates of one’s enemies was to conquer their city and its territories. Part of Abraham’s blessing from the Lord was the promise that “your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies” Samson is a judge; remember I said our seed shall speak to the enemies at the gate. To speak is to ‘subdue and destroy.’ This is a fulfilment of the covenant promise to Abraham; Samson is the seed of Abraham. Samson, a descendant of Abraham, possessed and spoiled the gates of his enemies. Samson is not afraid to enter the city of Gaza. Samson overcame an impossible obstacles in the strength of Jehovah’s Spirit. Gaza’s gate definitely represents the gate of the enemies, the gate of Satan and the Gate of Hell.
Samson is a type of Christ. While doing some research on Samson I was surprised that there is so much similarity between what Samson did and what Jesus did. Samson’s event was a foreshadow of what Christ will do at Calvary. Jesus spoiled the gates of the enemies, the gate of hell in greater effect than Samson. Jesus overturned the plot of Lucifer and gave him a shocking and humiliating defeat. Jesus was unafraid, like Samson to enter Satan’s lair and the gates of hell did not prevail against Him. At midnight just as there was the crackling and splintering, crashing, breaking sounds, there was an earthquake at Calvary and the temple’s veil split, and tombs cracked open in the darkest moment of Jesus’ life. In entering into battle with Satan, Christ triumphed over him. He destroyed hell’s gates, freed hell’s captives and spoiled hell’s defences. In fact he made open show of hell’s forces, left the devil a laughing stock before heaven. Satan was totally defeated and humiliated. Today Jesus assure us that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church. Samson’s carrying the gates of Gaza reminds us of the awful burden of the cross; Jesus carrying the cross to Calvary and the weight of the sin’s world was upon him. Samson’s walk up the hill was also an accurate picture of how Christ walked up the hill of Calvary as He hung on the cross. If Samson overcame an impossible obstacle in the strength of YHWH’s Spirit, and if Jesus Christ overcame the powers of death, hell, the devil and sin, then we do we need to fear? As Samson was the seed of Abraham, we too are the spiritual seed of Abraham just as Christ was the seed of Abraham. Gaza’s gate, spiritually representing the principalities and powers in the second heaven, seem impregnable, but this gate has already been destroyed. There is a gaping hole in the enemies’ defences and we need to remind him and command him in the power of YHWH.
So the question is how do we do this in the spirit? Frankly I really believe God is just now revealing this truth to his church and this is the timing of the Lord.
3. Moving Closer to Possess the Gates
I really believe our first priority is to have the gate of heaven open in our personal life and at the local church. Jesus described something very similar to Jacob’s experience (to Nathanael) as Jesus said from that point forward the heavens would be open and angels would be ascending and descended on him during his life on earth. I have already described through obedience in the giving of things of financial value in tithes and offerings opens the heavens the next item is worship.
Acts 16:16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: 17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. 18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour. KJV
Just as we can become an open heaven or gate as Jesus declared, a person submitted to or possessed by the demonic realm is a gate of the enemy. This woman that Paul encountered was just that, a gate of the enemy. We are not told expressly that she became a Christian but when Paul cast the demon out of her she no longer was a gate into the second heaven of the enemy. In our world today people in occult dealings that get saved often learn to use their prophetic gifting for the kingdom of God and that is literally possessing the enemies gate and making that individual a gate of heaven.
Gates are being built and locked against the children of God by the activities of unfriendly friends and demonic powers in the second heavens. We thank God as we pray these prayers, and in authority, the gates of brass and bars of iron will be cut into pieces by the God that answereth by fire. What are our prayers? We can speak:
1. Lord I want to show forth your praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion, I will rejoice in thy salvation, I reject any other voice speaking the contrary in the name of Jesus.[Psalm 9;14]
2. Every gate of the enemy anchoring bondage in my life be uprooted mercilessly by the Holy Ghost fire in the name of Jesus.
3. Let the gate anchoring stubborn problems in my life loose their foundations in the name of Jesus.
4. Let all the unseen gates working mischief in my life, be revealed and uprooted by the Holy Ghost in the name of Jesus.
5. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors for the king of glory shall come in. [Psalm 24; 7]—Every gate challenging the entrance of the word of God in my life must now be lifted up in the name of Jesus.
6. I uproot and throw out of my life the gates promoting hell in my life, the gates of unforgiveness, the gates of prayerlessness, bitterness, anger, malice, lying, stealing, poverty, etc.
7. Oh Lord, I stand on the word of God to command the demolition of all the satanic gates. I embrace your gates which makes me inaccessible, untouchable and unpenetratable to both house hold wickedness and other forms of evil activities promoted by my evil foundation, altars and the gates
In conclusion
“Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.” Gal. 3:6-7
For Abraham, believing God was, without doubt, the most challenging time of his life. Yet, Abraham wasn’t able to read the rest of the story. He had to trust in a God he only knew on his own. Think about it; Abraham came before Moses, the Exodus and The Red Sea. He knew nothing of Joshua, of the Walls of Jericho, or of David and Goliath. This is a man who had to trust wholly in God’s communication with him. And he did.
We usually think of “believing” as a point of agreement or intellectual assent to an idea, as in “I believe you when you say you will be here at nine o’clock.” But for Abraham, believing meant he had to act. He had to take Isaac out of their home, on a journey that he believed could end the life of his precious first-born. Our “believing God” takes on the same characteristics as Abraham’s. If we walk through the Greek understanding of the word “Believe,” we will see that it means to “trust in, rely on, adhere to.” That’s what Abraham did. And God saw this as righteousness.
When we believe God in our work, in our families and in our everyday lives, we are saying in essence, “We trust in your ways, oh God, even when the lives we lead and the decisions we make aren’t understood by the world around us.”
Like Abraham, we believe. And when we do, God turns to His right hand and says to Jesus, “Now there is a righteous one.”
That’s something worth believing in.
