“The Fish Gate Message 2”
The Spiritual Application of the Gates
Nehemiah 3:3 Monte T. Brown
August 3, 2014 Sunday Evening
Stapp Zoe Baptist
Prelude
It is important to mention that the Word of God is ever living and ever speaking to us through each word on these pages.
Contrary to what some may teach or think God has not changed and God has not given up on Israel anymore than he has given up on us.
He has a plan for Israel and he has a plan for us.
Each day that passes, we see more and more of the Word of God unveiling before us.
In light of the events unfolding in the Middle East and the fact that we are living in end times I see it is important that we understand the importance of the Promise Land and that city called “The City of God.”
“The City of God” is Jerusalem and it has been in the headlines of history for thousands of years.
Part of the uniqueness of this city is the wall that surrounds the city.
Within the wall are the gates that outline the premature of the city.
Each one of these gate sends us a message that applies to us today.
The book of Nehemiah list ten of the twelve gates that needed repaired.
I would like us to look at all twelve gates and gleam insight from each of these gates.
Each one of the gates is unique and gives us a specific message about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The Gates of Jerusalem were often named for either according to their destination of the road that adjoined them or according to the purpose of what was located next to them.
The Fish Gate was where a fish market was located.
It was located on the east wall just west of the Gihon (ghee-khone’) Spring.
This gate is where the fishermen came to sell fish sometimes in violation of the Sabbath (2 Chronicles 33:14).
Almost every biblical mention of The Fish Gate involved either corruption of the people; or the aftermath of it.
Scripture
Nehemiah 3:3, "But Fish Gate did the sons of Hassenaah build, who also laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof."
Prayer
The Fish Gate
To the north of the city of the city of Jerusalem lay the Sea of Galilee.
There are a number of smaller lakes and fishing grounds on the northern side of Jerusalem but very few on to the south.
This gate was called The Fish Gate because the fisherman coming from the Sea of Galilee would bring their catch in through this gate to be sold in the city market.
I’m sure that Jesus walked through this gate many times as he began his ministry and the choosing of his disciples as they fished along the shores of Galilee.
One by one, he picked them as he spoke those words, “come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
That’s the same call that goes out today.
After we come to Christ through The Sheep Gate, the first commandment that Jesus gives us to “go out into all the world and preach the gospel to every person.”
The Fish Gate reminds us that we are to get involved in evangelism because we have been called to be ‘fishers of men’.
It is a natural progression in our Christian life that after seeing that Jesus dies for our sins, that we would want to tell others about it.
Surveys have shown that believers who have been saved less than two years win the most people to the Lord.
Their simple testimony of what Jesus has done in their lives qualifies them to be great ‘fishers of men.’
This Gate Represents:
“God’s call to transform the market place.”
This gate depicts the responsibility to be spiritual leaders for the market place.
It shows how God calls them to exercise their authority in the market place and how God holds spiritual leaders responsible for the moral conditions in the market place.
This model would suggest that pastor and spiritual leaders are not just called to a church congregation, or a ministry in a city, but they are called to the city itself.
This is further given attention by Jesus in His address to the 7-Churches in the book of Revelation.
He addresses the Churches by the name of their cities and holds them responsible for their spiritual conditions. (see Revelation 2,3)
In the market by The Fish Gate we are told, “They brought fish, and all manner of wares, and sold on the Sabbath. Nehemiah 13:16-17
When society becomes corrupt and secularized the two public ways it shows up is in the places of worship and in the business world.
Scripture says of the defilement of the worship, “They set their abominations in the House, which is called by My name, to defile it. Jeremiah 32:34.
We need to be ever aware of things that are happening around us, less we corrupt the church with secularism.
The Story of King Manasseh
This story in 2 Chronicles 33 illustrates the kind of Market Place transformation God is looking for as represented by The Fish Gate.
In verses 1-7, we are told that the King rebuilt the high places, which his father Hezekiah had broken down.
He raised up altars to Baal, made wooden images to the host of heaven, and served them.
In verse seven, it says he even sets a carved image of a carved idol he made in the house of God.
Judgment soon followed.
The Lord allowed the army of the Assyrian King to come take him into captivity.
It says they bound him with bronze fetters and put a ring in his noise.
We are told that in the midst of his affliction he cried out to the Lord God and humbled himself before God.
The Lord heard his plea and restored him back to his kingdom in Jerusalem.
The sign the King was truly transformed soon followed.
The market place begins to reflect the spiritual transformation of leadership,
“The king built a wall outside the City of David on the west side of Gihon (ghee-khone’) Spring, as far as the entrance of The Fish Gate; and raised it to a very great height and posted watchmen on the wall.
He took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem; and he cast them out of the city.” 2 Chronicles 33: 14,15
The Gihon (ghee-khone’) Spring was important to survival in Jerusalem.
A tunnel was dug to bring it into the city.
In the event of coming under siege, their water would be sure.
It provided 34,000 cubic feet of water per day.
It flowed through Hezekiah’s tunnel to the pool of Siloam within the city. 2 Kings 20:20 The Word “Gihon” (ghee-khone’) means to “gush forth.”
The temple was built above and overlooking this spring.
The spring has a spiritual application as does each gate.
As Jesus told the women at the well in John Chapter four, God is looking for those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth.
Out of these worshippers will gush forth a fountain of living water! John 4:14, 23; 7:38
Market place transformation:
This begins in the lives of spiritual leaders and the people of God in a city being committed to worshipping God in spirit and in truth both where they worship and where they live.
This means they must be willing to take down the idols in their own lives, which have become more important then God.
The homes and hearts need to be purged of false idols.
When the people of God have done this, He will direct them to take down the idols in the market place, the high places and the gates of the city. Idolatry abounds in all cities.
There are places of darkness, which represent altars of offense to God in every city.
There is a need to take a spiritual inventory of your city, our home, our church.
The king demonstrated his personal transformation to God by guarding the city and seeking to cleanse it from false worship.
He then sat a watch over the city.
There is a need to take a spiritual inventory of every city so the people of prayer can began to watch over the city.
Gates of a city can be identified by asking a few questions.
What are the spheres of influence in the city?
What are the spheres of authority?
And what are the spheres of education and entertainment?
These are the gateways of influence in a city that the enemy is seeking to possess.
The people of God need to take these gates back through prayer. By praying and worshipping over these gates, the idols are cast out of the city as the king did in the natural.
It’s time to take back The Fish Gate in the market place.
It’s time for believers to go stand in this gate and take back the market place for God.
Prophecy for Jerusalem waiting for Future Fulfillment
“And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burns, the gentiles shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory. You shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord will name...
You shall no longer be termed forsaken, nor shall your land any more be termed desolate; but you shall be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah, for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married…
I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem, who shall never hold their peace day of night.
You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, and give Him no rest till He establishes and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” Isaiah 62:2-6
Summing up we just learned about The Fish Gate let us review:
This gate was called The Fish Gate because the fisherman coming from the Sea of Galilee would bring their catch in through this gate to be sold in the city market.
I’m sure that Jesus walked through this gate many times, as he began his ministry and the choosing of his disciples as they fished along the shores of Galilee.
One by one, he picked them as he spoke those words, “come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
That’s the same call that goes out today.
After we come to Christ through the Sheep Gate, the first commandment that Jesus gives us to “go out into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”
The Fish Gate reminds us that we are to get involved in evangelism because we have been called to be ‘fishers of men’.
It is a natural progression in our Christian life that after seeing that Jesus dies for our sins, that we would want to tell others about it.
Surveys have shown that believers who have been saved less than two years win the most people to the Lord. Their simple testimony of what Jesus has done in their lives qualifies them to be great ‘fishers of men.’
Amen!”
