Summary
Christ the Gate: Access to the Father
When Jesus declared, "I am the gate for the sheep" John 10:7, He spoke, as in all His "I am" statements, by pointing to something already known and visible to His hearers. Shepherds in Israel did sometimes lie down across the opening of a sheepfold and serve as a living gate—but the deeper reference here is architectural and liturgical. Jesus was standing in the temple complex, and there was a particular gate He had in mind.
The temple had several courts arranged in concentric order. Gentiles could enter only the outer court. Beyond that lay the Court of the Women, entered through the ornate Beautiful Gate of Corinthian brass mentioned in Acts 3:2. But on the western side of the Court of the Women stood another gate—the Nicanor Gate, made of bronze, reached by fifteen steps. This gate opened onto the inner court where the altar of sacrifice stood. Only the ceremonially clean could pass through it. On its fifteen steps the Levites would sing the fifteen Songs of Ascent, Psalms 120–134, and during the Feast of Booths the king himself would stand at the bottom and cry out the words of Psalm 118:19: "Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord." The great bronze doors would swing open, and the procession ascended to the altar.
The Nicanor Gate, then, meant one thing above all: access to God. It was the threshold between the worshiper and the place of sacrifice and atonement. This is the gate Jesus claims to have become in Salvation: The Gate - 10-5-25.
That claim is enormous because, left to ourselves, we have no access. The Law of God reveals that we are lost, unrighteous, condemned, and under wrath. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" Romans 3:23. "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" 1 John 1:8. By nature we are "children of wrath" Ephesians 2:3. The closed gate is no metaphor; it is our condition before God.
But Christ is the gate. He is also the sacrifice the gate opened toward. As Hebrews 10:11–14 declares, the priests of old offered the same sacrifices repeatedly, "which can never take away sins"; but Christ, having offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, sat down at the right hand of God, "for by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified." His shed blood cleanses; His perfect righteousness is credited to us; His death absorbs the wrath that stood against us; His resurrection opens the way.
This is what salvation means. Through Jesus Christ the relationship severed by sin is healed, and we have access to the Father. "I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture… I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" John 10:9–10. He alone is the door of righteousness; through Him the sheep enter, and through Him alone they are safe.
Video citations
- Salvation: The Gate - 10-5-25 — Job in your Bible's please with me this morning to the gospel of John the 10th chapter. If you're using a few edition of Holy Scripture, you're going to find that the New Testament on page 90, the…