Are YOU a watchman on the watchtower of Scripture given by God?
Does your Shepherd preach TRUE Scripture without distortion?
Note from Doctrine of the Bible:
Some contemporary ‘translations’ of the Bible are *biased against true Scripture and do NOT actually translate Scripture from the original Hebrew and Greek. *Examples of Anti-Trinitarian bias of the NWT (New World Translation) of the Jehovah Witnesses cult
(Don’t be misled by that Watchtower of the cult which denies Christ Jesus by twos and distorts Scripture.)
Is your Pastor a Gatekeeper of Scripture?
Scripture reveals TRUE identity of the approaching enemy as well as the True Shepherd and faithful shepherds of the sheep of the Lord.
The Gatekeeper Determines: ‘Who may enter the gate?’
Speaking of gates.. (see yesterday’s post) .. Last year in 2020 I wrote mostly from John’s Gospel. And from the scene of Jerusalem we took a look at gates and watchtowers. Today our examples teach from both Old Testament & New Testament Scripture. Apply the imagery of these gatekeepers and watchtowers to your church.
IF ANY may enter, expect wolves to be hidden among the flock which claims to be ‘the Lord’s.
It was common practice of the people, including shepherds leading sheep for the slaughter of the sacrifice, to travel here from far away hills and trade within Jerusalem’s walls. Then they worshiped within the courts of their Temple, surrounded by walls of watchmen.
The gatekeeper is much more than a ticket taker, so to speak, a man of authority.
After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing 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.”
The Revelation of Jesus Christ to the Apostle John – 4:1 NASB
Heaven’s door
Let’s not miss that the Pharisees’ debates with the Messiah question His authority from the Lord our God and Father. And Jesus’ signs and parables all point heavenward.
Do you desire eternal life?
It is a question of highest importance. And who may enter the gate or the door to eternal life in heaven?
How can we know? Who will unravel this great mystery of eternal life in heaven and the judgment of sins punished by a sentence to hell?
Does it help you to read this Hebrew scripture about Moshe (Moses)?
OR does the fact of the Hebrew language create a closed door to the Bible for you?
Then read translation into English about Moshe choosing who will enter the camp of the LORD and who Moses sentences to death.
Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD’S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.
Exodus 32:26 KJV
Sometimes the Lord places a Moses or David or Prophet at a gate or the door to guard the integrity of His Own Righteousness.
We addressed this first by our look at the gatekeeper and watchmen. But frequently religion’s wide door or misled path will turn the faithful away from Scripture.
Not really, if you have received the filtered view of religious teachers’ blind teaching of faith.
In fact many in Jerusalem’s crowds depended on the Pharisees or Rabbi’s to tell them what Scripture says. Even the literate often read their Empire-wide language of Greek, but not Hebrew.
So the symbols of Jesus’ parables create important universal pictures to those barred by the misleading of Israel’s shepherds of the gates and the door of worship of the Lord God our Father.
Religious leaders who manipulate Scripture become barriers to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and a closed door to repentance by sinners.
Roger Harned – talkofJesus.com
Symbolism of a gate or a door
Heaven must have a gate (of sorts), like a walled city.
Not everyone gets into the heavenly Jerusalem.
The LORD must have watchmen (perhaps angels – spirit beings who serve the King as messengers and guards in the glorious heavenly city of God).
Who does Almighty God anoint to sit in the gate as the door to enter eternal life?
David? Perhaps Moses? Even the great Prophet Elijah?
No, none of these.
And certainly not a false prophet after Jesus claiming light from the place of darkness. Not even leaders of angels such as Gabriel or Michael. And most certainly no idolatrous intercessors of mothers, antiquated saints leaving only dust in place, or Apostles long passed.
Who then sits at the door of heaven – the gate of eternal life?
The door IS the very Lamb of God, the Shepherd of shepherds, the Son of Man, Christ Jesus!
To Him and no other we sinners must appeal by His mercy to enter eternal life by the grace of His Own Blood of Perfect Sacrifice.
Are we blind too?
Jesus the Messiah, who healed not only this blind man but others as well, clearly sheds light on the judgment for which He is sent to the world.
But as the Lord points out, some shepherds like the Pharisees really don’t see. For the prophet Isaiah had accused:
And they are shepherds who have no understanding; They have all turned to their own way, Each one to his unjust gain, to the last one.
These pharisees, rabbis of Judah confront their Messiah time after time questioning and denying His authority. They attempt to discredit Him even after another sign of Jesus. For a man born blind received his sight from Jesus.
John 9: 24-25 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
John 9:35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”
41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
Now this scene of controversy argued before the crowds of Jerusalem plays out in another parable of Jesus told against the pharisees just after the man born blind worships Jesus as Lord.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.
Gospel of John 10:1 NASB – Caution to believers from Christ Jesus
2 But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.
The LORD is my shepherd
מִזְמֹור לְדָוִד יְהוָה רֹעִי לֹא אֶחְסָֽר׃
You know the imagery of the Messiah and require no translation or interpretation of this parable connected to the sign of Jesus leading a blind man to worship Him.
Suppose heaven is so easy to enter as a wall without the door of the shepherd who gathers his sheep.
Can you climb over an unguarded wall?
Of course.
Could just any shepherd appear to lead the sheep anywhere, even to destruction?
Even in this day they often do.
If heaven’s chosen sheep gathered within the walls of the holy (separated) place cannot trust their shepherd as a door, will the wolves not enter and false shepherds lead them astray?
Are the sheep not destined for the slaughter of sacrifice if the Perfect Sacrifice has not already been made?
I AM the Good Shepherd – Jesus
3 “To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
The Messiah, the Shepherd of heaven, gathers them to a place where He IS the door.
Then He calls to all the sheep, even by name.
The Lord knows them personally. He makes no mistakes and they know His voice rather than that of a false teacher or shepherd who would lead them into the pit of destruction.
Jesus knows you. Do you know Him?
4 “And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
6 Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.
Will the blind shepherds hear?
Pharisees, rabbis who teach what they will, preachers who claim they can lead everybody to heaven – all these shepherds, Jesus says, are blind.
And clearly they do not see the Scripture before them, let alone share the Way, the Truth and the Life eternal of the Gospel Good News of our Savior from death, judgment and punishment.
All these believe that heaven has no door or they pretend to hold the only key to the gate (if indeed heaven had a golden locked gate).
After Jesus’ resurrection, clearly heaven’s gate is no guarded cemetery or grand golden cathedral depicting idols offering prayers for your admittance.
These false shepherds whitewash the entrance of hell with a hologram of heaven’s golden gate, through which they lead many sheep of the world to the slaughter of hell’s punishment!
The Good Shepherd
7 So Jesus said to them again,
“Truly, truly, I say to you,
I am the door of the sheep.
We are sheep in this world of darkness being led to the slaughter.
False teachers seek to sacrifice follower after follower into the fires of destruction!
The Messiah Jesus accuses these of the misleading the sheep. These self-appointed shepherds over our unrighteousness deceive and destroy.
8 All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
Jesus speaks of false messiahs, kings and leaders who only claim to follow the Lord, all who “do what is evil in the sight of the Lord.”
I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
John 10:9 NASB
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
Jesus reiterates the contrast between Pharisees and false leaders of God’s people and himself, the One Shepherd of the Lord our God.
The Sacrifice of the Good Shepherd
I have told you once that I AM the door.
When you did not understand I told the crowds my clear meaning and purpose of coming here to lead My sheep.
Now, those with ears to hear, in addition to the clear signs before your eyes here is how you can hear the Shepherd who knows you by name.
“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
John 10:11 NASB
What does this mean? (For it has not yet happened?)
Jesus gives the hearer of His voice no time to consider a wrong solution to our leading by God, but again shows the false leadership of the Pharisees who have redefined requirements for the flock to enter heaven.
12 “The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away…
Here into Jerusalem Rome has followed other conquerors and the hired hands of Herod abandon the faith of Abraham adding new requirements to the Law of Moses.
“… then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
I know My sheep
Who will lead the scattered sheep sent to Babylon and Persia and again to Egypt then conquered once more by a mighty Greece? And though only a remnant returns, who will go into all the world now conquered by Rome?
The shepherds have divided and run, returned and divided the flock.
14 “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. [KJV]
15 “As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. [NKJV]
Now Jesus again states His relationship to God the Father as the Messiah and Savior of Israel. The Lord also clearly states fulfillment of Scripture concerning the gentiles or nations.
A Savior of the Nations
I have other sheep, which are not of this fold;
I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice;
and they will become one flock with one shepherd.
The Good News of the Messiah Jesus to the gentiles – John 10:16 NASB
Three points here in the parable of the Good Shepherd:
The Messiah saves some who are not Jews.
Jesus will include the chosen of the nations to ‘follow Him’ as the Good Shepherd of all sheep and they too will hear His call to the promise of eternal life.
Jews who follow the Messiah and Gentiles will become one flock of the faithful with Him – the Good Shepherd of Israel.
Sacrifice of the Shepherd for the sins of the sheep
Would a father sacrifice his own son?
Abraham offered to do so, believing that the LORD would do right.
Jesus makes personal reference after personal reference to God as His Father. Would God provide the Sacrifice for your sins and for mine as the Lord did for Abraham?
Why would a Righteous Father send His Perfect Son to a world of sinners?
17 “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.
“No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
“This command I have received from My Father.”
Jesus clearly states after His parable of the Good Shepherd that God His Father commanded Him – the Son of God and only Good Shepherd – to sacrifice His mortal life for the sheep. AND He has the authority and power or the resurrection of life itself!
Controversial?
Even to this day and in every time of these last days.
19 The Jews who heard these words were again divided. Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?”
21 But others said, “These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
Do you see?
Does Jesus open your eyes to the Light of eternal life? Or are you blind too?
What shepherd do you follow?
The One Who IS the door?
Or have you heard so many who make other claims about heaven?
And Jesus said,
“For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”
Then the watchman saw another man running; and the watchman called to the gatekeeper and said, “Behold, another man running by himself.”
And the king said, “This one also is bringing good news.”
2 Samuel 18:16
Watchtowers at gates of old city
Of Gatekeepers and Watchmen
Soldier of Roman Legion
It would have been a Roman Centurion, Roman guards at the gates of first century Jerusalem.
Armed soldiers, some who had marched on Roman roads connecting nearby towns and slaughtering rebellious zealots in the mountain passes guarded the gates.
As each festival approached with its crowds of pilgrims flooding the streets of Jerusalem, each watchtower with its Roman overseers would look to turn back any threat to their subject-king and their Caesar.
A Roman guard in each watchtower of Jerusalem would have sent out an alarm if any opponent approached their captive city.
They were unlike the faithful who worshiped here and the not so casual crowds of curious visitors of this day.
Damascus Gate of Jerusalem
Who approaches our city?
Will they enter through the gate by permission of their king (or city leader)?
Are they any threat to the Emperor’s representative, our leaders and our Legions?
Who may enter?
It was common practice of the people, including shepherds leading sheep for the slaughter of the sacrifice, to travel here from far away hills and trade within Jerusalem’s walls. Then they worshiped within the courts of their Temple, surrounded by walls of watchmen.
The gatekeeper is much more than a ticket taker, so to speak, a man of authority.
Please keep in mind the context of John’s gospel in the earthly journey of Jesus and the Apostles to Jerusalem. Although we pause once more in John’s witness of a man born blind, the context of Jesus’ actions set the stage for what will happen next.
Rome will destroy Jerusalem later, as Babylon and others had destroyed her before. This nervous alliance between a subject king of the region and ruler of Rome governed the day-to-day lives of Judea’s subjects.
Some mattered more than others. A ruling council guarded their revamped religion and culture: Pharisees, Sadducees, rich landowners paying taxes for the Roman army to remain there in peace.
They kept pretense of self-rule under Herod as a self-subjugated nation which could be crushed by Rome at any hint of rebellion.
A Roman legacy of a Judean King
Back in 19 B.C., Rome had allowed their great builder king to start rebuilding the Temple. Ten thousand skilled laborers and a thousand Levites built it with contributions of Jews mostly from the diaspora to the east just beyond Rome’s grip. It would not be completed until A.D. 63, just seven years prior to their destruction of all Jerusalem. – Source
Those now in authority choose who may enter Jerusalem. Several acted as gatekeeper for a gate entering the court of the Temple, a designated religious police poised at its gates. And as always, those judged for crimes were sentenced by a court sitting at the gate.
But now their jewish judgments must be confirmed by Rome’s prefect who cruelly crushed opposition by the constant reminders of their Roman crosses of crucifixion along roads to the city.
Like always, men of no threat to anyone often sat within the gates begging from faithful pilgrims coming and going into the city.
“For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me.
– the words of Jesus, Matthew 26:11 NASB
David’s Watchmen
When David was king, Jerusalem had fought for the LORD rather than bowing down to a Caesar. Yet even David sat as gatekeeper of Israel after opposition by his own son.
David’s great kingdom long forgotten, Jerusalem’s leaders mustered the crowds toward a new faith of confidence by the name of David, although few remembered David’s defeats and difficulties.
One such ne’er-told scripture would have been of David’s time after Absalom’s revolt. It was a day not so grandiose as their many reminders to first century crowds of Solomon’s first Temple.
7 The people of Israel were defeated there before the servants of David [Judah], and the slaughter there that day was great, 20,000 men…
17 They took Absalom and cast him into a deep pit in the forest and erected over him a very great heap of stones. And all Israel fled, each to his tent.
24 Now David was sitting between the two gates; and the watchman went up to the roof of the gate by the wall, and raised his eyes and looked, and behold, a man running by himself. The watchman called and told the king.
And the king said, “If he is by himself there is good news in his mouth.”
And he came nearer and nearer. Then the watchman saw another man running; and the watchman called to the gatekeeper and said, “Behold, another man running by himself.”
And the king said, “This one also is bringing good news.”
…
Why send two?
Two messengers. King David awaits good news as he sits in the gate as gatekeeper of the City of David.
Men from the watchtowers above see a distant scene long before David has news of what has happened. Two separate messengers approaching the stronghold of Jerusalem where the people had kept their king behind as gatekeeper.
Why two? What details of the battle for the LORD will they reveal?
“O my son Absalom
The report of hope turns into great sorrow for the king.
“Let my lord the king receive good news, for the Lord has freed you this day from the hand of all those who rose up against you.”
“Let the enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise up against you for evil, be as that young man!”
33 The king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept.
Though his victory as King is secured, David would have done anything to have kept his own son from death.
And thus he said as he walked, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”
2 Samuel 19:
8 So the king arose and sat in the gate. When they told all the people, saying, “Behold, the king is sitting in the gate,” then all the people came before the king…
After several violent battles between the rebellious tribes of Israel David prevails as king.
Solomon then becomes Israel’s richest and greatest king, building the Temple of the Lord. But in his old age Solomon falls away from his faith and at his death Israel and Judah once again divide.
After some centuries both kingdoms fall, the Temple of Solomon destroyed.
A Babylonian-built Jewish temple
Perhaps you have never considered that the temple in Jerusalem could never have been rebuilt over the ruble where the Law was found without Persia’s and Babylon’s help. Of course, the LORD made it possible as the LORD had influenced Pharaoh before.
“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Ezra 1:2 NASB
Therefore, ‘in order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia.’ [Ezra 1:1]
For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.
Hebrews 3:3 NASB
Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,
DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME, AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS…
Hebrews 3:7-8 NASB
Nehemiah & Ezra
Prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel warned both Israel and Judah to return to the LORD, but they also provided hope for later faithful generations of God’s faithfulness.
Although building of the second temple was begun around 516 BC (many centuries after David), it was not completed until about 349 BC under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah.
Then I said to them, “You see the bad situation we are in, that Jerusalem is desolate and its gates burned by fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a reproach.”
Nehemiah 2:17 NASB
Again, note the passage of time and the patience of the LORD in completing His plan of redemption.
Nehemiah 4:
He [Sanballat] spoke in the presence of his brothers and the wealthy men of Samaria and said,
“What are these feeble Jews doing?
Are they going to restore it for themselves? Can they offer sacrifices? Can they finish in a day? Can they revive the stones from the dusty rubble even the burned ones?”
The importance of gatekeepers guarding the gates of the faith, as well as the city continued as it had since the time of David and traditions of Moses.
… And Judah was carried away into exile to Babylon for their unfaithfulness.
17 Now the gatekeepers were Shallum and Akkub and Talmon and Ahiman and their relatives (Shallum the chief being stationed until now at the king’s gate to the east)…
20 Phinehas the son of Eleazar was ruler over them previously, and the Lord was with him. Zechariah the son of Meshelemiah was gatekeeper of the entrance of the tent of meeting. All these who were chosen to be gatekeepers at the thresholds were 212.
The Pharisees and priests (Levites) of the rebuilt temple of the first century had legitimacy of guarding the purity of the faith of the LORD.
Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem, but the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while nine-tenths remained in the other cities.
We will next return to first century Jerusalem, but first hear the words of the Prophet Isaiah. (Without knowing their context you may have heard them before.)
Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. … The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising. “Lift up your eyes all around, and see: They all gather together, they come to you; Your sons shall come from afar, And your daughters shall be nursed at your side. Then you shall see and become radiant, And your heart shall swell with joy…
Yet previously Isaiah the Prophet had warned:
His watchmen are blind, All of them know nothing. All of them are mute dogs unable to bark, Dreamers lying down, who love to slumber; And the dogs are greedy, they are not satisfied.
And they are shepherds who have no understanding; They have all turned to their own way, Each one to his unjust gain, to the last one.
Into this same Jerusalem the Messiah Jesus enters the gates, encounters the watchmen and shepherds of Herod. Among other signs the Lord gives a man blind from birth his sight!
Could the LORD have sent a new gatekeeper of heaven to Jerusalem?
