The Lord's faithful and he's able and anything else good you want to say about him, that's what he is. Amen. Appreciate the Lord and his goodness. Song of Solomon says he's altogether lovely. Amen. Means there's nothing wrong with him. I appreciate him tonight. Appreciate the good singing that we've heard. If you would turn your Bibles to the book of Nehemiah. Book of Nehemiah chapter number three. We are still moving very slowly through this chapter, just about to wind it up. And we will be going into Chapter 4 in the next couple of services. But I thank the Lord for what He's given us out of this. And we've been looking at the 10 gates found in Nehemiah Chapter 3. and looking at these gates in light of some ingredients, if you will, for revival. We saw salvation and some things about the spirit and just different aspects of these gates. We know that they were ten gates of the old city and ten historical gates. But everything in the Bible has a practical meaning and then many places there's a spiritual meaning on top of that. And that's what we've tried to get out of Nehemiah chapter 3. It's one of those chapters when you read the chapter just in your daily reading, you think, well, what good is this other than just a historical point of view? But always look for Christ in the Word of God. He's on every page. He's in every verse and every line. I know sometimes if you're not careful we'll stretch things in typology, but I think everything in the Bible points to Christ, every bit of it, and there's been some great truth here. Tonight we want to look at verse number 29, and we'll look at the ninth gate that is mentioned in the list of the ten gates. Nehemiah chapter 3 verse 29. And then also find Ezekiel chapter 44. Ezekiel chapter number 44. And we'll look at about three verses there. Verses 1 down through verse 3. And then keep your Bibles open throughout the service tonight. We're going to be doing something that I unusually, or not normally do, which is jump around to several scriptures. And that's just the way God geared me. I'll usually take a text and stay in that text. but tonight I want to look at a topical point here of these gates, pretty much that's the way we've been looking at them, and a couple other scripture references I want to look at tonight. So let's stand together, Nehemiah chapter 3 verse 29, and then we'll jump over to Ezekiel chapter 44. verses 1 through 3. In Nehemiah chapter 3, verse 29, the Bible said, After them repaired Zadok, the son of Amor, over against his house. And after him repaired also Shimeiah, the son of Shekenai, the keeper of the east gate. And that's the gate we're going to be looking at tonight. The east gate, or the eastern gate, or some even call it the beautiful gate. Now, let's go over to Ezekiel chapter 44, and we'll look at a prophecy here concerning that eastern gate. Ezekiel chapter 44, beginning in verse 1, the Bible said, Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary, which looketh toward the east, and it was shut. 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. 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. Let's go to the Lord in prayer tonight. Father, I thank you for another privilege of being here. Lord, I thank you for the good day that you've given us. Lord, I know it's been a very busy time with the service this morning and the play practice and all the events that have been going on, but Lord, it's good to be busy for you. And I thank you for your people tonight, their faithfulness in being here at the house of God. Lord, help us now, just for a few moments, to bring the message you've laid on my heart. God, help us as we continue our study in the book of Nehemiah, that every time we get into this book, Lord, we'd learn something else about you. And then, Lord, I pray that you'd prepare our hearts for revival. Lord, you know we need it. There's never a time where God's people do not stand in need of revival. Lord, I pray as we go through this book, you may spark revival in our hearts. Truly, this is a book of revival, Lord, how you revived your people in days of bondage. Lord, I realize we're living in days of bondage spiritually, but yet you can still bring revival. Lord, help us tonight to desire that, and to pray for that, and then to live accordingly. And Father, whatever you do this evening, we want to thank you and praise you. In Jesus' name we ask. Amen. You can be seated. Amen. Thank God for the reading of His Word. Now, again we're looking at the ninth gate this evening in our study in chapter 3 of the book of Nehemiah and this is the east gate or the eastern gate. Ten gates mentioned in this book and this gate Tonight we want to look at this gate as the gate of stirring. That's the thought of the message tonight. The gate of stirring. Now, the reason why I entitled this the gate of stirring is because this gate mentions or refers to the second coming of the Lord. And if there's ever a time or a subject that God's people ought to be stirred up about, it is the coming of the Lord. Now as Bible believers, we believe the first advent or the first coming has already taken place. That took place a little over 2,000 years ago when Jesus came. We're celebrating that season right now, Christmastime, born of a virgin there in Bethlehem. and came and lived 33 and a half years or so in this world and went to the cross and gave up his life, a ransom of sin, and then resurrected on that third and appointed morning, and then later on, some 40 days later, ascended to heaven. So we, as Bible believers, we believe in the first advent. and we believe that that was Christ. We know the Jews did not believe him. They did not see him as Messiah. They are looking for what we're looking for tonight just from a little different viewpoint. The Orthodox Old Testament believing Jews are looking for the coming of the Lord, but they don't realize it's his second coming. They're looking for Messiah, but they don't believe he came the first time. But I'm glad tonight that he did, and when we see him the second time, what a day that'll be. Now, you know if you study a Bible, there's two parts to the second coming of the Lord. The part that probably we look to the most is the rapture of the church. It's mentioned in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Paul wrote that under inspiration of the Spirit of God to the church of Thessalonians. Thessalonica so that they would not be discouraged over the death of their loved ones. There was no doubt a debate there in that church going on about what would happen with those that had died in Christ. And Paul told them that we which are alive and remain will be caught up in the air together to meet them, so shall we ever be with the Lord. So that's what we're looking for as Bible believers tonight. But then it's also interesting to look at the second portion of the second coming of the Lord, which is the Revelation. Now, some of the most detailed Scripture of the Revelation is found in Revelation 19. You find the Lord comes back. He's on a white horse and he fights the armies of the enemy there in the great battle comes in and sets up his rule and reign from the throne of David. And we're going to look at that just a little bit tonight in light of this gate and see some things about the gate of stirring and how that when these folks in Nehemiah's day began to repair the gate, it meant something to them. Matter of fact, every gate meant something to them historically and many of the gates even in the future prophetically. And as this remnant in the days at the end of the exile begin to come back and rebuild these gates, it is as if they are rehearsing the promises of God. And it's exciting to them. And you know, that's the way it ought to be to us tonight, is we read the Word of God and we see all the promises of God that He's given us. Many of the promises have already come to pass. Many of the promises we're experiencing in present-day life. But then, thank God, there are promises of the future that are found in the Word of God. I'm glad God's got a future. And if you're saved tonight, you've got a future. And if you're not saved, you don't have much of a future. Your future is going to be in hell and the lake of fire. So if you're not saved tonight, I don't know anybody's heart here, but if you're not saved, you better get in if you want in on the future things of God. God has an exciting future for His children. I believe He has an exciting future for the nation of Israel. He is not done with them. The time clock just stopped when Jesus went to Calvary according to Daniel chapter 9. That 69th week, that's when it stopped. And we're living in the grace dispensation right now. That's the time of period of Paul's in the time clock with the nation of Israel. But then as soon as the church is taken out, that time clock is going to start up again. That seventh week is going to take place, and thus you're in the coming of the Lord. So God is not done with the nation of Israel. If anybody ever tells you that Israel is just Old Testament they're done away with, you can mark her down. They don't know their Bible, and they don't know the heart of God. Amen? The covenants of God are everlasting. Amen? I know that they're an adulterous nation. They've turned against God. They're reaping a lot of that. They're really going to reap it in the days of great tribulation. But that does not do away with the covenants of God. Amen? He made those covenants, and He will keep those covenants all the way throughout eternity. So tonight, let's go through a few scriptures here, just looking at some things about the eastern gate, the gate of stirring. Now, if you will, first of all, go back to Ezekiel 44. Ezekiel chapter number 44, and we'll look at the first point tonight. Now, the book of Ezekiel, of course, written by the prophet Ezekiel, and this is at the beginning of the captivity. The captivity has been going on a few years as Ezekiel begins to prophesy. He is a contemporary with Jeremiah, and he's bringing some future events of the nation of Israel. The book of Ezekiel deals much with the holiness of God. If you want to read about the holiness of God and some details about the future millennial temple, you'll find that in the book of Ezekiel. And that's what we're going to look at tonight here in chapter 44 as we read these verses. Now the first point I want to make tonight out of Ezekiel 44 is the closing of the gate. Now here is a future reference to the temple and the eastern gate. Now you remember, and I tried to study this again and look at it and refresh my mind this afternoon, you'll remember Solomon's temple was the first temple. And then there was destruction that came in 70 AD through the Emperor Titus. And then you remember you come on down the line and you find that there was Zerubbabel's temple. that you read about in the book of Ezra. That was the post-exilic time, after the exile. God allowed the remnant to go back. Ezra rebuilt the temple. Zerubbabel was the temple rebuilder with Ezra, and Nehemiah rebuilt the walls around the city. And then you'll find later on the New Testament, you'll find Herod's temple. And then that was the one destroyed in 70 AD. And then you find Solomon's temple was destroyed in the time of Nebuchadnezzar in the first of the captivity. And then eventually one day there'll be a fourth temple, which we call sometimes the Millennial temple or Ezekiel's temple. And it will be built there in the place in Jerusalem. where the Muslims say tonight where the Dome of the Rock is and they say there is no old temple. But we know better than that. We know the Bible. We know what the Bible teaches. We know that there somewhere under the ground buried are the remnants of that. But God's people are going to rise up, rebuild. We know that all those things are going to happen during the time of tribulation, and then the Lord's going to come back. And we're going to look at a little bit of that tonight. Now let's look at this chapter 44 at the closing of the gate. Here's a prophecy in the days of Ezekiel. In verse number 1, let's notice the gate's position. Very self-explanatory. We've already seen it in Nehemiah chapter 3. He said, then he brought me back. the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary, which looketh toward the east, and it was shut. And if you look at a map or a drawing of the old city of Jerusalem, you'll see that eastern gate. Now that eastern gate faced over toward the Mount of Olives, and between the eastern gate and the Mount of Olives was the Brook Kidron. And you'll find the Bible said that was the position of this gate. You remember the entrance of the temple was to the east, and how important that was. Alright, so you find its position there. We know that Ezekiel is talking about the same gate in future tense. And by the way, studies, the best that I can find, studies have proven that underneath the existing eastern gate is the old remnant of the old gate. It's right there. There's been a lot of debate about where it's at, but everything I can find out from sources that I've researched, it is there. I believe if I remember the story correctly, back in the sixties, There was an American young man that was studying there in Jerusalem, and he went out one day to take a picture of that eastern gate. And as he began to get in position to take the picture, and we'll deal with this in a moment, but in front of that gate on the outside, there is a Muslim cemetery. He began to walk through that cemetery to get in position to take a picture of that gate, and it had been raining a whole lot, and he fell through and landed down in one of those tombs, if you will. It was a mass grave. Of course, there's nothing there but bones, but he was about eight feet or so, according to his own testimony, and he was in darkness other than the light of the hole that was above him, and he had a camera with a flash, and he said this. I watched a video online about him. I can't remember his name. But he said that he took pictures in a circle around through there, just snapped those pictures, didn't know what was in there. And then he stacked up enough of those broken stones to get out of there. And when he developed those pictures, you could see an archway of the old gate directly underneath the gate that is there now. So I thought that was interesting. That's not Bible. That's just a little bit of history that you can research and find. But you see the position of the gate. And then secondly, found in verse 2 of Ezekiel 44, we see the gate's prophecy. Now this is what Ezekiel is saying. Ezekiel is not talking about the day at the first advent when Christ first comes. He is talking about a future time. So don't get that confused, and I'll show you how we know that in verse 2. Then said the Lord unto me, This gate shall be shut. Now in Ezekiel's day, it's not closed, but it's going to be. Matter of fact, it was closed a couple times according to history, and then one final time that I'm going to give you a reference to. He said, "...the Lord unto me, this gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, no man shall enter in by it, because the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it." We know this must be a future reference because Christ had not come the first time yet and had not entered in that eastern gate. He said, therefore it shall be shut. Now again, everything I can find out from study of history in 1541, the Ottoman leader, he was a Turkish man, Sultan Suleiman, if I'm pronouncing that right, he was a Turkish Muslim. And what I found out about it is when he came into Jerusalem and they took over in those days, that someone began to mention about the coming of Messiah. Some of those Jews began to talk about the Lord returning and setting things in order. So this emperor or this sultan begins to inquire of the Jews, the rabbis. He said, what are you talking about? Who is this Messiah? And history goes to say that they told him about the Messiah. So he looked at him as a military leader. And of course he was there conquering Jerusalem and that land, so what he did was in those years he ordered for that gate to be closed up and blocks to be put in place and everything to be sealed up. And then it's also said that at that time or around that time they began to establish that Muslim cemetery in front of that gate between the Mount of Olives. Now we're going to look at Scripture in a minute. I don't want to get ahead of myself. But the reason why he did that is he wanted to prevent this Messiah from coming back. He did not want him to come through that gate and he wanted to shut that off so that he would have power. And of course we know that a blocked gate is not going to stop the Lord Jesus Christ. He also put that, according to history, put that Muslim cemetery there, knowing that a good Jewish rabbi would not walk through there and defile himself. But this one that's coming back, the Lord Jesus, He's not going to be defiled, never has been, never will be. So you find the closing of the gate. And this meant something in Nehemiah's day. Remember, Ezekiel prophesied before the time of Nehemiah rebuilding these walls. So there's no doubt, as they're rebuilding this eastern gate, they're thinking about what they know, those that know the Scripture from the book of Ezekiel. So we see the prophecy. Then thirdly, found here in Ezekiel 44, I see the gate's person. There is a person mentioned concerning this gate. In verse 3 it said, "...it is for the prince, the prince, he shall sit in it, and 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." And I believe he's talking about, again, the future coming of the Lord, when the Lord is going to set up His rule and His reign. Of course, we're going to see that He's come one time in the first advent, and then He's going to come a second time, which is the future reference that we see in Ezekiel 44. So you find the closing of the gate tonight. Now, let's move on to the second point of this thought of the gate of stirring. No doubt, this stirred the hearts of the Israelites in Nehemiah's day. And you may not think much about it tonight because it's Jewish history, but if you study your Bible, you ought to enjoy Jewish history. I don't know a whole lot about it. I'm learning more and more, and I want to know more and more. But it's amazing when you study that history and you see how it ties in with the Word of God. And remember, the Word of God's always right. If there is any kind of controversy between the Word of God and what somebody else says, the Word of God is always right. You remember that as you're studying the Bible, okay? Let's look at the second thought tonight found in Matthew chapter 21. I'll give you just a minute to turn over there. Matthew chapter 21. We're going to be looking quickly at verses 1 through 13. We're just going to skim over these verses. I don't have time to go through all of them, but I'm just going to give you the overview tonight concerning this eastern gate. Now, when you get to Matthew 21, you can also find this in Luke 18. I didn't research the other Gospels of where it's at there, but I did look at those two references. In Matthew 21, we see the winding down of the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ during his first coming. His first advent, which is what we celebrate at the time of Christmas, began as a babe born in a manger to the Virgin Mary and then wound up on the cross and the resurrection and the ascension. Now here he is. He's getting ready to come into Jerusalem on the last week before the crucifixion. We find some things in Matthew 21 that are interesting about the coming to the gate. Now the gate is not mentioned here, but we know the way the Lord comes through here. He's coming in contact with this same place again. And I thought this was interesting. Notice in verses 1 through 7, and I'll read these to you quickly, we see his approach. Now in verse number 1 of Matthew 21, the Bible said, And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, there come to Bethphage unto the Mount of Olives. And then Jesus sent two of his disciples. Again, if you look at a Bible map, you will see the Mount of Olives facing in a westerly direction toward the eastern gate. You would go down off of that mountain Interesting. I thought about this in studying this today. It was interesting. I mentioned to you in a message a few weeks ago how Absalom was a type of Antichrist and anti-God. And you remember we brought a message about Absalom running David out of Jerusalem in that day. And it's interesting that David took somewhat the same course, reverse, as what we're seeing Christ come in. David went out of the city. Of course, we know Solomon's temple was not built and all that at that time. But David went out of the city and he ascended up the Mount of Olives the same way that Christ is coming back in. I just thought that was interesting how that ties in to what we're thinking about with the Lord's return. Now, back to Matthew 21. In verse 1, we find he's there at the Mount of Olives. He's getting ready to descend in a westerly direction down to the Eastern Gate. In verse number 2, the Bible said, saying unto them, Go into the village over against you. Straightway ye shall find an astide with a colt with her. Loose him, bring them unto me. And if any man say, All unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them, and straightway he will send them. All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sin, Behold, the king cometh unto thee, meek and sitting on an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. And that prophecy is found in Zechariah 9.9. was prophesied in the Old Testament. That's exactly how the Lord would come in his first advent. Now let's look at verse 6 and 7. And the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them, and brought the ass in the cold, and put them on their clothes, and they set him thereon. Now boy, there's much preaching about this one that Jesus rode into Jerusalem. You can see this donkey here, this foal of the ass, You can see him as a picture of humanity, as our rebellious nature. You can see that they set Christ on him, and in essence he exalted Christ and brought him in before the people. That's exactly what we're supposed to do after we get untied and we get loose like Jesus did this cult. When that happens to us, we're supposed to exalt him. The Bible tells us, I believe, Luke 18, they piled all the clothes on top of him. I really believe that you couldn't see the donkey. All you could see is Christ. Boy, there's a lot of preaching in that. A lot of great truth there. But you find this was the approach of the Lord. This is how he came. And this was another way that threw them off. They would have been looking for the Messiah, King of kings, Lord of lords. probably coming in, in great majesty and great power, and here he comes, the Bible said, on the foal of an ass. In a way, they would have never believed. But if they had known the Scripture, they would have known it was Him. If they had known that Old Testament, those sons of Abraham that they said they were, if they had known the Bible like they should have, they would have believed and known it was Christ. But they didn't know that. So you see his approach, alright? And then something else about the coming to the gate. In the first advent, we see his adoration. Not everybody was upset with Christ. Look in verses 8 down through verse number 11. In verse number 8, a very great multitude spread their garments in the way. Others cut down branches from the trees and strawed them in the way. And the multitudes that were before... and that followed cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. This word Hosanna is what we might say glory, when you'd praise the Lord and somebody would cry out and say, glory to God, praise the Lord. That's what they were doing here. They were adoring the Lord. Now we know He's going to go in, into the temple. We know that they're going to begin to plot His death. We know they hated Him, the Sadducees and the Pharisees, the rulers, religious leaders. They hated him, brought him before Pilate, all the things that led up to the crucifixion. But there was a remnant that was looking for him and adoring him in that first advent. And so it's going to be in the second advent. There's going to be a remnant, the nation of Israel there, that's going to be looking for his coming. And a nation will be born in a day. The scales will fall off of their eyes. They'll see him as king of kings, lord of lords. They'll realize through the working of the Antichrist that they've been deceived. That first three and a half years of the Tribulation, the Antichrist is going to be the Messiah to them, so to speak. He's going to promise the rebuilding of the temple. That's going to take place. That's what those Jews are longing for tonight more than anything. They want their blessed temple rebuilt. They're wanting that place to worship again. They're wanting that place to go back to the Old Testament ways. And that's why they're going to fall in with that. peace treaty, if you will, from the Antichrist. But of course, we know the Scripture, the Bible said, in the midst of those three and a half weeks, he's going to break that treaty, then he's going to go into the Holy of Holies, sit on it himself. Daniel mentions the abomination of desolations. He's going to go in, set himself up as God, exalt himself, and they're going to realize they believed a lie, and they're in a mess. And then the latter half of the three and a half years of tribulation is a time of Jacob's trouble, according to Jeremiah 30. or ever will be. All right? So you see the adoration of the Lord in the first coming. You see His approach. And then in verse 12 and 13 of Matthew 21, let's look just for a moment at His actions. His actions here are very similar to what is going to take place in the second advent. I thought that was interesting. Look with me, if you will, at verse 12 and 13. Let's read verse 10 down. Verse 10 said this, and when he was coming to Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitude said, This is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth, of Galilee. Now, verse 12, we notice Jesus' actions. Now we know he went into the temple, and it would have just made sense When he came down off of the Mount of Olives in that westerly direction, heading to that eastern gate, he would have went through that eastern gate right into the temple. It would have brought him right into that place. Now the Bible said in verse 12, when he went into the temple of God, cast out all them that sold and bawled in the temple, and overthrew the tables of moneychangers and the seats of them that sold doves. Now, the Lord did this twice in his earthly ministry. He did it at the beginning of his earthly ministry, and he did it at the end of his earthly ministry. And he's going to set things in the temple right again when he comes back in the second coming. And we'll see some scripture about that in just a moment, all right? So you see the first coming, the Lord comes back, again dealing with this eastern gate. It's always referencing to the coming of the Lord. So as Nehemiah and these men were building that gate, their hearts were stirred. They began to be reminded about all the prophecy that they knew of the coming of the Lord. Now, let's look at the third thing tonight, and we'll be done. I know this may be a little bit different message than what you're used to, but it's a good history lesson, maybe, if nothing else, and a little bit of prophecy. I am not a great student of prophecy. I wish I was a better student of prophecy. I feel like sometimes with prophecy, I myself I'm going to put two things together that shouldn't be there and get out on a limb and solve the limb all. God has given some men, some preachers, a gift of prophecy, and I'm going to leave it with them. Amen? I'll give you what little bit I know, but there are some men that God's given great insight into the prophetic passages of the Word of God, and they're interesting. If you study and read after them, they're interesting. Prophecy, you may say tonight, what's it matter to me? I'm going to heaven, you know, where to the church? It's just interesting. The more you know about God's Word, the more you know about God. And the more you see things coming to pass, I believe it was Dr. Curtis Hudson said this, he said, you can take a whole lot on the journey if you know what's at the end of the trip. I like to know what's at the end of the trip, amen? I like to know how some things are going to turn out, and that gives you faith as you're traveling down here. Now, the third thing I want to look at is found in Zechariah chapter 14, and then we'll wind up in Psalm 24. I told you he's going to be going everywhere tonight. Zechariah 14, and we're going to look at one verse in Zechariah 14, verse number 4. Now, Zechariah was a prophet that was a contemporary with Haggai, and you will find their names both mentioned in Ezra chapter 5. In the days of Ezra, rebuilding that temple a little bit before Nehemiah comes back and rebuilds the walls, you'll find that was the time of Zechariah, Haggai, they're what we would call post-exilic prophets. They showed up on the scene after the exile. Ezekiel, Jeremiah was before, Haggai, Zechariah is after. So we're getting a perspective now of this same thought from the tail end of this captivity, if you will, that we've been studying in the book of Nehemiah. Now let's look at Zechariah chapter 14, and then we'll look at Psalm 24. This last point tonight, I entitled this, The Crashing of the Gate. Amen? There's a day when that sealed gate, I've already mentioned to you that gate is sealed. I was actually there in 1993, saw the gates, saw the city of Jerusalem. Many of you have traveled over there, I'm sure some of you have. You've seen it on TV, you don't have to travel over there to see it. You can see it a whole lot cheaper on the internet now and a whole lot safer, amen? It's a dangerous place over there, I'm sure. I'll tell you this real quick and I'll get back to the message. We spent two weeks in Haifa, Israel, which is really at the foot of Mount Carmel on the Mediterranean side. And I had some of the men that were with me that were older that told me a little bit about what to expect. And you go into the town of Haifa, a very modern town just like we enjoy today. I'm telling you, they're carrying Uzis on their back and one thing and another. They're ready, amen? They are ready for the drop of a hat. It's like the Wild Wild West in that place from what I saw, amen? But I'm glad it was the good guys that I saw with the guns, not the bad guys. But they take seriously an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, life for life. That's how they operate. And the reason why people misunderstand the nation of Israel, they've never lived in a vice like the nation of Israel's in. They've got the Arabs all around them in the Mediterranean, on their west side. And those Arabs have said for years, we're going to push them off into the Mediterranean. That's why they live like they live. But they know that God's going to come back and He's going to fulfill that covenant that He gave to Abraham, that greatest land transaction that's found in the Word of God, and it's going to be taking place one of these days. So that's why they live like they do. Now let's go to Zechariah 14, verse number 4. This gives you a little bit more insight of what's going to happen when the Lord returns and then comes down off the Mount of Olives to go in that eastern gate. Look in verse number 4. The Bible said, "...and his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives." Now you remember in the book of Acts, you remember when those angels said, this same Jesus that you see departing, he said, "...he shall come again in like manner." This is how the Lord's going to come back. The first portion... of the second coming, the rapture of the church, the Lord will not touch planet Earth. He's going to step out on the clouds. Again, you can find that 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. And he's going to call the church up. I like the way a preacher put it one time. He had an illustration. He had a bunch of pieces of metal and a big speaker magnet. And he said, it's going to be this is the Lord, this magnet. And he hovered over those pieces of metal and he said, that's the saved people. All those pieces of metal jumped up to that magnet. And he said it like this. He said, something in that magnet's going to yoke up with something in that metal and they're going to go be with him. And we know the Spirit of God's going to yoke up with Christ and we'll be called out and we'll forever be with the Lord. So that's the first portion of it. But here's this second portion that no doubt the Israelites are looking forward to. In verse 4, the Bible said, His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east. and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west. There shall be a very great valley. Half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, half of it toward the south." So again, the Lord, from what I can find in the Scripture, will descend down to the Mount of Olives, go down, cross that brook Kidron. Of course, there's a highway there now. If you've studied that, that ain't going to stop him. Go right over that Muslim graveyard, not going to stop him a bit. He'll trot them underfoot, maybe shout the victory as he goes, and right straight through the gate. Amen? Now, let's go to Psalm chapter 24, and we'll finish up tonight. I hope I'm making sense to you, and I hope you're getting a little bit out of this. I challenge you, study it out yourself, and it'll probably mean a whole lot more to you. In Psalm 24, this is one of the messianic psalms. And these, of course, psalms of David, but they're also prophetic psalms. And we'll see some great truth here in Psalm 24 about the Lord coming back and entering that eastern gate, the crashing of the gate. Now, we saw His return in Zechariah 14.4. He's going to land on the Mount of Olives. In Psalm 24, 1 through 6, let's look just for a moment at His remnant. Notice what the Bible said. This is speaking in a millennial mindset. When you read these prophets and you realize they're talking about the millennial rain time. I'm reminded of a preacher years ago said he preached on the millennial rain. Now this is true. This is how people don't read their Bible. And some of you probably heard this. He used to preach around here a whole lot. He said he was preaching a message on the millennial rain. said an old feller come to him after service, said preacher, said I don't know a whole lot about that millennial rain business, but if it rains a thousand years, we're in trouble, amen? We'll be flooded. That's not talking about a physical rain falling out of the sky. It's His rain as a king would rain, amen? I know there's nobody here tonight that didn't understand that. These good folks, good folks in these mountains for years and years didn't understand prophecy. They were all millennial, some post-millennial. and they had those things crossed up. A lot of them didn't believe in the millennial reign of Christ. But as Bible believers, we know it's there. We know that the Lord is going to rule and reign with a rod of iron for a thousand years. You can study that out in the book of Isaiah, I believe, is where you'll find it. Now, let's go back to Psalm 24. I'll give you two things, and we'll be done tonight. Psalm 24 verses 1 through 6, notice his remnant. The earth is the Lord's, the fullness thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein. When Jesus Christ returns, you remember in Revelation chapter 5, when that title deed of the world is there, no man can open the books, and they call for the one that can, which is the Lamb of God, slain for the foundation of the world. I believe in Revelation 5 he is receiving the title deed of planet Earth. That's what the millennial reign is going to be all about. The curse is going to be lifted. Remember the nation of Israel, their promises are earthly. Our promises are heavenly. And that's why we're not too stirred up about that, but they're very stirred up about that. But yet it's interesting to know about it. Look in verse 2. For he hath founded it upon the seas, established it upon the floods. This just speaks of his creation ability. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? Now he's talking about these worshipers that will come in the millennial time. He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Notice verse 6, this is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. We see this is a prophecy to Israel. O Jacob, see law. So there's the remnant, that generation that's going to usher in the coming of the Lord in the millennial. What a time that's going to be. Now, let me give you this last thing. This is pertaining to the gates. Verses 7 through 10, we see the psalmist mentions his re-entry into that eastern gate that we've been looking at tonight. Look in verse 7. I believe this is a direct reference to it. He said, Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this king of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. We know according to Revelation 19, when he comes back and he fights that great battle there, he's going to destroy all the enemies of Israel with the brightness of his coming, the Bible said. We're going to be with him. If you believe the Bible, we're going to be with him. The armies of heaven will be following him on white horses. I heard a fellow one time say that a man began to argue with him about preaching on the white horse. He said, preacher, he said, there's no way the church will be back on a white horse. He said, why do you say that? He said, my grandma was 88 years old and she was crippled up with arthritis when she died. She won't be able to hold on to the reins. Well, that fellow wasn't thinking right. Amen? When she comes back, we're going to be like unto him. And when we come back, we're going to have new bodies and there's not going to be any of the ailments of these physical bodies. Amen? So Revelation 19 teaches us He'll come back and destroy the enemies with the brightness of His coming with the word of His mouth. And then we see in verse 9 and 10, Lift up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the King of glory, Selah. So there is a day, according to the Scripture, when the Lord will land there on the Mount of Olives, come down that western face, cross that brook, Kidron, go into that gate. I don't know how it's going to open. One commentator I was reading after said it would just explode open and the Lord would walk through. That may be the way it is. I don't know. I can't find any Scripture that is specific on how it'll open, but we know it's going to lift up its heads. It's going to open up, and the Lord's going to go in, and things are going to be set right. Amen. So I hope that tonight maybe this is just a little interesting tidbit of Scripture on the Eastern Gate. In Nehemiah's day, when they were building that Eastern Gate, it was a stirring in their soul. And I want to bring it down to where we close the message tonight and say, why is that important to us? We need to be looking for the coming of the Lord. Amen? We're not necessarily looking for the time and the things that the nation of Israel's looking for, but we're looking for the Lord catching us up out of here. We're looking for the Lord stepping out on the clouds, the trumpet sounding, we that have been saved and all those that have been saved before us coming up out of the grave, we meet together, so shall we ever be with the Lord. And then Paul said in verse 18 of 1 Thessalonians 4, he said, Comfort ye one another with these words. Amen? I cannot think tonight of a greater comfort for the child of God than the coming of the Lord. Amen? When we think about the second coming of Christ, I know there's some fear about it. I know there's some unknown. And we always fear what we don't know. We may not understand how every little detail's going to pan out, but we don't need to fear if we're saved tonight. If we're walking with God and we know we're born again, we need to realize that when He comes, He's going to set everything right. When the church is raptured out, things will be set right with the church. And seven years later, when He comes and steps on that Mount of Olives and goes into that temple, He's going to set things right for the nation of Israel. And what a time that'll be. Amen? So I hope this will be a help to you tonight. And Lord willing, next time we're together on Sunday night, we'll look at that last gate in the book of Nehemiah, and then we'll move on into chapter 4 in the days ahead. Amen? So let's stand this evening and give you just the opportunity to come to the altar, heads bowed, just a moment. God spoke to you about anything tonight. There may be someone here, you say, Preacher, all that talk about the second coming of the Lord, it bothers me. I'm scared, I'm afraid. Well, if you know you're saved tonight, you don't have any reason to be afraid.