Devotional: Gates of Worship

Ezekiel 46

​How many gates are in Ezekiel's Temple? What do they mean? Read on to learn spiritual truths from the Temple gates.

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The courtyard of the future Temple will have three gates. One for the priests, one for the prince, and two for everyone else. The priests will use the north gate because the places to boil the sacrifices will be there located. The prince will use the east gate, but cannot pass through it, to bring his offerings. As the ruler of the people, he will use the privileged entrance through which Jesus will have entered, but, being lower in authority than Jesus, will not have the right to enter there. The south and north gates will be open to anyone. However, if a person enters by the south gate, he will have to leave through the north gate and vice versa. Curiously, the people and priests will share the north gate; the priests, although representing the people before God, are placed as equal with everyone else.

What can we learn from these gates?

​​First, our ministers walk the same path we do. While they have special duties assigned them from God, they are our fellow man. Governors (any government leader such as a representative, lawmaker, king, et cetera), however, are special before God. They receive special treatment. On the other hand, they also receive special judgment. If they fail to properly lead, they face severe punishment because they are responsible for the souls of those under them (2 Kings 17:21, 1 Kings 14:7-11; Isaiah 1:23-27; Jeremiah 5:28-29; Ezekiel 33:6). Leaders, in God’s eyes, should make decisions that are in the best interests of those they oversee; instead of being served, God wants leaders to serve (Mark 10:42-45). This privilege of serving others places them above the average citizen, giving them access to the special gate at the cost of receiving more severe judgment for the decisions they make as leaders.

The two gates for the people remind the author of something Jesus said. “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). An encounter with God moves you forward; you never turn back. How marvelous! When we worship God or when He receives our sacrifice and cleanses us, we don’t leave the same way we came and the encounter propels us forward. Paul echoes this sentiment in Philippians. “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14) The Christian life is meant to be one of growth with each encounter with God leading us deeper in our relationship with Him and encouraging us forward into the world to the calling wherein He has called us to serve in our daily lives, be it as a homemaker, craftsman, or corporate boss.