20151207 Monday, December 7 2015
Ezekiel 44: Will The Pearly Gates Ever Be Closed?

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"Blessed are they that do His Commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city"

When the LORD God (see The Identity Of The LORD God and The LORD God Our Saviour) has completed all that The Father has sent Him to do (see The Church: Mission Accomplished), the Earth will be purified with fire. Only those who have accepted the LORD's offer of salvation, on His Terms, will survive that worldwide Flood of fire. Then, The Father is coming to Earth with the New Jerusalem. Notice (along with the only Biblical mention of the "pearly gates" - where they are described on Earth) that the gates of the New Jerusalem, which will exist on Earth after all salvation has been completed, will then never be closed to humanity - after they have become the children of God (see also What Was The Lesson Of John 3:16?).

"21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." (Revelation 21:1-4 KJV)

"21:21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. 21:22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. 21:23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. 21:24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. 21:25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. 21:26 And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. 21:27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." (Revelation 21:21-27 KJV)

The reason that, by then, there will be no need to close the gates will be because "there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." All of the defiantly unrepentant will by then have been incinerated into inert ash.

"20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:11-15 KJV)

Notice carefully that, in the Temple that the LORD gave Ezekiel to see (see What Temple Did Ezekiel See? and When Will There Be No More Temples Built In Jerusalem?), "the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east ... Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut." The reason for that is because that Temple will exist during the 1,000 years from the day of the Messiah's return until the time of final Judgment as we read above. At that time, and at the end when the great physical resurrection will happen (see When The LORD Will Raise All Of The Dead), there will still be mortal humans on Earth who then will be given the free choice of choosing the LORD's offer of eternal life, or of being incinerated in the then-coming ocean of fire that will Flood the entire Earth before the coming of the New Jerusalem. It's only when there are no unrepentant sinners left in existence that the "pearly gates" will never be closed.

"44:1 Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut. 44:2 Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut. 44:3 It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.

44:4 Then brought he me the way of the north gate before the house: and I looked, and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD: and I fell upon my face.

44:5 And the LORD said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of the LORD, and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary. 44:6 And thou shalt say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O ye house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations, 44:7 In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations. 44:8 And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things: but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves. 44:9 Thus saith the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel.

44:10 And the Levites that are gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols; they shall even bear their iniquity. 44:11 Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having charge at the gates of the house, and ministering to the house: they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them. 44:12 Because they ministered unto them before their idols, and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity; therefore have I lifted up mine hand against them, saith the Lord GOD, and they shall bear their iniquity. 44:13 And they shall not come near unto me, to do the office of a priest unto me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, in the most holy place: but they shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed. 44:14 But I will make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein.

44:15 But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord GOD: 44:16 They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge.

44:17 And it shall come to pass, that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, whiles they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within. 44:18 They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat. 44:19 And when they go forth into the utter court, even into the utter court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they ministered, and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments; and they shall not sanctify the people with their garments.

44:20 Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads. 44:21 Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the inner court. 44:22 Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away: but they shall take maidens of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that had a priest before. 44:23 And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

44:24 And in controversy they shall stand in judgment; and they shall judge it according to my judgments: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all mine assemblies; and they shall hallow my sabbaths.

44:25 And they shall come at no dead person to defile themselves: but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister that hath had no husband, they may defile themselves. 44:26 And after he is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him seven days. 44:27 And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, unto the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering, saith the Lord GOD.

44:28 And it shall be unto them for an inheritance: I am their inheritance: and ye shall give them no possession in Israel: I am their possession. 44:29 They shall eat the meat offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; and every dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs. 44:30 And the first of all the firstfruits of all things, and every oblation of all, of every sort of your oblations, shall be the priest's: ye shall also give unto the priest the first of your dough, that he may cause the blessing to rest in thine house. 44:31 The priests shall not eat of any thing that is dead of itself, or torn, whether it be fowl or beast." (Ezekiel 44:1-31 KJV)

Fact Finder: The first humans were blocked out of paradise "lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever" while they were unrepentant sinners. Why will the gate to the Sanctuary be blocked for mortal humans, while they are yet unrepentant sinners, as we read above? The same reason as the Garden of Eden?
See Will You Return To The Tree Of Life?