VI: The Prophets' Visions

Twelve Gates

the covenant people's permanent camp entrances

Root
Ezek 48:30-35 · sha'ar (H8179)
Old Testament chain
  1. Num 2
  2. Ps 118:19-20
  3. Isa 26:2
  4. Isa 60:11
  5. Ezek 48:31-34
  6. Rev 21:12-13
New Testament
Rev 21:12-13; Rev 21:21; Rev 21:25

Israel's camp was ordered around the tabernacle by tribes, three on each side under their standards (Num 2). Isaiah promises Zion, "thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night" (Isa 60:11). Ezekiel closes his vision with a city whose twelve gates bear the tribes' names, three to each side, called "Yahuah is there" (Ezek 48:31-35). In Revelation 21:12-13 the camp is repeated, only now permanent; each gate a single pearl showing the value Yahuah places on His covenant people, never shut because nothing is left to close them against. Millennial teaching sets this city in a future earthly kingdom, but John places it after the final judgment.

From The Courtroom of Heaven, pp. 355–356, 358, 361–362, 378