"Therefore your gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day or night..."(Isaiah 60:11); "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city"(Revelation 22:14 NIV).

The Word of God has much to say about gates, and it begins with a gate closing on Adam and Eve. Imagine their hopelessness! But in Revelation 22:14 we have the glorious idea of entering the gate into the Everlasting City, and this gate will always stand open for us.

In Isaiah we are told that "He will be...a source of strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate" (Isaiah 28:6 NIV). We battle each day with our fears and angers, our validities and validations, and wonder if God cares. So Jesus became our Gate that we might win our lonely battles; He became our Gate so that we who enter will be saved: "I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture" (John 10:9 NIV). This will be our theme of gratitude for eternity! I read a wonderful thought that when sheep rest for the night they form a circle and the shepherd curls himself at the opening so he may protect them, should an animal come during the night. That surely applies to our lives. Our Shepherd is there always to protect us from our fears.

Jesus died outside the gate as the worst of criminals that we could enter through the gate: "Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate" (Hebrews 13:12).

"So let us go out to him beyond the city walls [that is, outside the interests of this world, being willing to be despised] to suffer with him there, bearing his shame" (Hebrews 13:13 TLB). We must be willing to bear the cross and the crown of thorns if we would share the crown of life with Him: "Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life."