The Eastern Gate in Prophecy

Around two,600 years ago, the prophet Ezekiel was offered a vision of the Glorious Appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ezekiel 10:18–19 11:23 43:1–5 44:1–2 46:12). In Ezekiel 43, we study:

“Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east: And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of several waters: and the earth shined with his glory. And it was according to the look of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city: and the visions have been like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar and I fell upon my face. And the glory of the LORD came into the property by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.” (Ezekiel 43:1-four)

It appears affordable to recommend that Jesus Christ will enter the Temple Mount through the Eastern gate in 1 of the most momentous events in the history of mankind (the Second Coming)!

The Eastern Gate

The Eastern Gate (also recognized as the Golden Gate) is 1 of eight gates constructed into the walls which surround the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The Eastern Gate delivers the only entrance from the East, and it is also the only gate that provides the most direct access to the temple mount. The Eastern Gate was destroyed for the duration of the Roman conquest of Jerusalem, and the subsequent destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70, therefore fulfilling Christ’s prophecy that “not 1 stone will be left on leading of a further” (Matthew 24:two). But sometime in the sixth or seventh century, the Byzantines rebuilt the Eastern Gate creating it the oldest of all the gates to the city. In 1969, Jerusalem archaeologist James Fleming confirmed that the ancient gate is situated suitable below the present Eastern Gate. Whilst investigating the Eastern wall of the Temple, he abruptly fell into a mass burial website and clearly saw 5 massive wedge-shaped stones set into a huge arch.

James Fleming’s photo from 1969 from inside a grave on the outdoors of the Eastern Gate searching at the arch of an ancient Eastern Gate.

The Eastern Gate was sealed shut, with fifteen feet of cement, in AD 1540–41 by order of Suleiman the Magnificent, a sultan of the Ottoman Empire. The factors for this stay unclear, even so, it is probably that the Muslim Suleiman became conscious of the prophecies which predicted the Messiah’s entrance by way of the Eastern Gate and, as a outcome, attempted to thwart the Messiah’s plans. And just in case a sealed entrance did not thwart the Messiah’s coming, Muslims even constructed a cemetery straight in front of the gate, pondering that a Jewish Holy man would in no way defile himself by walking by way of a Muslim cemetery.

The very first try was on December 9th 1917 for the duration of the Battle of Jerusalem. Muslim leaders in handle of Jerusalem wanted all, but 1, of the gates in Jerusalem sealed to deter the approaching allied Expeditionary Army led by the British Basic Allenby. The 1 gate selected to stay open just so occurred to be the Eastern Gate. On the precise day the workmen have been preparing to demolish the mysterious sealed gate, Allenby’s airplane flew more than the city, telling the Arabs to flee. Miraculously, with out a shot becoming fired, the opposing soldiers fled the city. The city was delivered into the hands of the Britain, and the gate remained sealed as Ezekiel had prophesied. 

A second try was in 1967. King Hussein of Jordan, who had handle more than the ancient city of Jerusalem, like the Temple Mount, decided to make a hotel for Arab pilgrims on a section of the Western Wall to close off the location to Jewish worship forever. The hotel was planned to be constructed more than the Magreb Gate, which Moslems utilized to enter the Temple Mount. This meant a further gate would have to be opened so that Moslems could nonetheless get to the El Aksa Mosque (on the website of the Jewish Temple Mount). King Hussein chose to open the sealed Eastern Gate. But, on June 5th of 1967, as the workmen ready their air-hammers to shatter the large stones sealing the Eastern Gate, an intimidating array of Israeli aircraft flew overhead. The Six Day War had begun, and the workmen place down their tools. At the finish of the Six Day War, the workmen have been unable to resume their project simply because the Jews had managed to recapture their ancient capital of Jerusalem. What a coincidence!

There was a further failed try about this similar time. When the Six Day War very first broke out, some members of the Jewish military recommended catching the Jordanian defenders of the city off guard by blowing open the sealed Eastern Gate. But the leader of the group, an Orthodox Jew, had vehemently protested the thought, stating that “the Eastern Gate can be opened only when the Messiah comes.” Following a heated debate, they launched an attack at the Lion’s Gate as an alternative.