Day 3

Today (among other things) we walked around the current city walls of Jerusalem. When we came to the eastern side of Jerusalem, across from the Mount of Olives, we saw that the main gate to enter directly to the temple (The Golden Gate) had been blocked up. There was no other entrance from the Mount of Olives to go directly to the temple. Now this doesn't seem that problematic, because there are seven other gates entering the city. Yet, when you read Zechariah 14:3-5, we read that the Lord will be standing on the Mount of Olives. In verse 5 it tells us that the LORD will come and all the holy ones with Him. Both Jewish and Christian tradition have the Messiah entering through the Golden Gate and going to the temple. So how does the LORD enter the temple when the gate has been blocked? In fact, the reason why this is blocked is because the eastern side of the temple is the Muslim quarter. They blocked the gate because of the prophecy found in Zechariah 14. This was an attempt at a psychological blow to the Christians for the return of Jesus and the Jews with the entrance of the Messiah from the Mount of Olives. This though is ineffective, because in verse 4 of this chapter, we read that at the time of the LORD's coming, the Mount of Olives will be split in two by an enormous earthquake. I believe that this will make way for the Golden Gate to be re-opened and give Jesus a clear path to the Temple Mount.

There are so many things that keep us from Jesus. There are barriers that separate us from our worship of Christ. What are some of those things in your life right now? Sometimes it is a deliberate sabotage by our enemies keeping us from worshiping God, other times it is our own barriers. Yet, have confidence that our LORD does not deal in human calculations. While we might be thinking from a human perspective, Jesus works from a divine perspective. Jesus can break down barriers in your life. P.S. These two pictures are me standing in front of this filled in gate and Heidi and I standing in front of the Mount of Olives.