Hello Everyone,

In Nehemiah 3:29 we see the east gate.

It led directly to the temple. Tradition says that when Jesus went to the temple he entered thru the east gate.

God’s Word says that when Jesus returns at the second coming [not the rapture], but 7 years later at the end of the tribulation, when He lands on the Mt. of Olives and enters Jerusalem to sit on the throne of David and establish His earthly millennial kingdom, He's entering thru the east gate!

So this gate speaks of the second coming of Christ!

Ezekiel 43:2 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.
Ezekiel 43:4 And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.

The east gate today is all filled in with stone. Do you know why? In the 16th century when the Turks ruled Jerusalem, there was a Turkish sultan by the name of Suleiman the Magnificent [modest fellow!], an Arabic ancestor to many of today's Muslims.

He grew tired of hearing that the Jews' Messiah will someday return thru the east gate. He ordered the gate sealed with stone! He said, "There's no way He can come thru there now!"

You can't help but laugh at a guy like that! It's going to take a lot more than stone to hold Jesus Christ back. It didn’t hold Him in the grave!

Now, the east gate reminds us to live in light of His SOON return. It could be any day. It could be today! We are told to watch for Him... and pray.

Not only prayer, but purity is important in light of His coming.

1 John 2:28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

Where will you be, what will you be doing, and how will you be living when Jesus returns?!

The way this world is going, the signs of the times ARE all around us, the prophecies fulfilled, I expect Jesus to return anytime, and I fully expect it to be in my lifetime.

Greater Things Are Still To Come!

Pastor Phil