The gates of the New Jerusalem are for all the saints to enter and participate in the holy city. Revelation 22:14 says, “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.” To “enter by the gates into the city” is to enter the New Jerusalem as a realm of God’s eternal blessing by regeneration through the death-overcoming and life-imparting Christ.
Revelation 21:12 tells us that at the gates of the holy city there are twelve angels. In God’s eternal economy, angels are ministering spirits (Heb. 1:14) rendering service to those who inherit salvation and participate in the eternal blessing of the New Jerusalem, the center of the new heaven and new earth. The angels will be the gatekeepers of our possession, while we will be the ones enjoying the rich inheritance in God’s eternal economy. This is all in the significance of the number twelve.
The twelve angels keep the gates according to the grace which has fulfilled all the righteous requirements of the law.
The holy city “lies foursquare” (Rev. 21:16) with three gates on each of the four sides: “On the east three gates, and on the north three gates, and on the south three gates, and on the west three gates” (v. 13). The gates on the four sides are toward the four directions of the earth, signifying the availability of the entrance of the holy city to all the peoples of the earth (5:9).
The three gates on each side of the holy city signify that the three of the Triune God-the Father, the Son, and the Spirit- work together to bring people into the city. This is indicated by the three parables in Luke 15. These parables concern the shepherd and the lost sheep, the woman and the lost coin, and the father and the returned prodigal son. The shepherd refers to the Son; the father, of course, refers to the Father; and the woman signifies the Spirit. In order for a sinner to be brought back to the Father’s house, there is the need of the Son, the shepherd, to bring back the lost sheep; there is the need of the Spirit to enlighten the hearts of people that they may repent; and there is the need of the Father to receive the returned and repentant prodigal son. Hence, the Triune God is the entrance to God’s dwelling, the holy city.
The fact that the Triune God is working to bring people into the holy city is also implied in the Lord’s word in Matthew 28:19: “Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Being baptized into the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is the entrance into the holy city. Therefore, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are the three gates on each side of the city.
The three gates are not on three sides respectively; instead, there are three gates on each of the four sides repeatedly. The gates on any one of the sides are exactly the same as the gates on the other three sides. This indicates that the Triune God is available to people in all four corners of the earth.
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