The Twelve Gates Of The Holy City
Chapter Eight
(The
First Gate of The City, Reuben)
Revelation 21:12-13 says:
"It had a great, high wall with twelve
gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names
of the twelve tribes of Israel."
"There were three gates on
the North" ( Dan, Asher, and Naphtali)
"On the South side"
(Reuben, Simeon and Gad)
"On the East side"
(Judah, Issachar and Zebulun)
"On the West side"
(Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh)
Ezekiel 48:30 lists these names differently as follows:
1. On the north; Reuben, Judah and Levi.
2. On the south; Simeon, Issachar and Zebulun.
3. On the east; Joseph, Benjamin and Dan.
4. On the west; Gad, Asher and Naphtali.
Genesis 49:1-29 lists these names in a different order and because this
is the first place they are listed, this is the order we will use in our
discussion of the twelve gates.
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan,
Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph and Benjamin.
By studying each of these names, we will be able to see a step by step
growth and development in the life of a Christian. From Reuben to Benjamin we
go from infancy to maturity. Each of the gates are a manifestation of this
nature of God in you.
The firstborn son of Jacob was Reuben. You and I are not going to be a
part of the City and the People described in Rev. 21 until we experience the
meaning of Reuben.
Reuben means, "Behold a son!", or "See a son!" You
must be born again to enter this City. The new birth is an importation of the
divine nature in the form of a seed. You did not choose to become a Christian!
You cannot make a decision for Christ! He chooses when you will be born both in
the natural and in the spirit. Being born again is a process. I have been born
again, I am being born again, and I shall be born again. The new birth is when
God imparts and deposits Himself in us. The beginning of the divine nature is
in the form of a seed.
Mary was confused about this in Luke 1:34-35 when she said:
"How can this be?" Mary asked the
angel, "Since I am a virgin?" "The angel answered, `The Holy
Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
So the HOLY One to be born will be called the Son of God.'"
This is exactly what happens to
you when you are born again. The Holy Spirit overshadows you and births in you a new spirit and
imparts in you the same
nature and quality of seed and life that was deposited in the womb of that
young virgin. Heb. 12:9 calls God the Father of Spirits, and you are a
spirit being of which God is the Father.
"Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh
which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much
rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?"
I Peter 1:23 says:
"Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible seed; that is the living and abiding Word of
God."
James 1:18 says:
"He chose to give us birth through the
Word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all He created."
Does this say He saved us so that we might do something for Him? No! He
said, "That we might
be something." A Kind! The word `kind' can be translated `species'.
In Gen. chapter one, the seed was to produce after its own kind. You will
produce the kind of Christian you are. This is a good word for pastors. We will
produce the kind of Christian we are! The ministry I have, will for the most
part, be reproduced in those I minister to.
The purpose of the new birth is so we can be a first fruit of His
creation. John 1: 1-14 says:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been
made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in
the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. There came a man who was
sent from God; his name was John. He came as witness to testify concerning that
light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light;
he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to
every man was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and though the world was
made through him, the world did not recognize Him. Yet to all who received him,
to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children (sons) of God. Children
(sons) born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will,
but born of God. The Word became flesh and lived for a while among us. We have
seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father,
full of grace and truth."
Man is spirit, has a soul and lives in a body. Adam's spirit was so in
union with God's Spirit that there was perfect union. But when Adam sinned,
this perfect union was broken and a separation took place in man's mind between
God's Spirit and Man's spirit, which resulted in death to man's spirit. Adam's
spirit did not die in the since of ceasing to live but was separated from the
flow of God's Spirit because when Adam sinned he was filled with the spirit of
fear. However, Paul said in Rom. 8:15-16,
"For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the Spirit of adoption,
whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself bears witness with our
spirit, that we are the children of God:"
It is with our spirit we make contact with God's Spirit. When we are
born of God, the Spirit of God lights the candle of our spirit, and we become
the light of the world. John 1:9 says, "The true light,
that gives light to every man, was coming
into the world."
Prov 20:27 says, "The Spirit of man is
the candle of the Lord."
Unless the Holy Spirit lights you, I do not care how many sinner's
prayers you have repeated, you are not lit. Unless you have been drawn to Jesus
by the Spirit of God, I do not care what you think or say, you are not born of
God. Jesus said in John 6:44,
"No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him: and I will raise
him up at the last day."
However, when this happens, my spirit is saved, my soul is in the
process of being saved, and my body shall be saved. When I was born from above,
my spirit passed from death to life. A resurrection took place, and now I have
communication with the Father of Spirits, because he that is born of the Spirit
is Spirit.
John 1:10-14 (KJV) speaks of
Jesus,
"He was in the world, and the world was
made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto His own, and His own
received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: Which were born, not of
blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And
the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."
He gave us the right to
become Sons of God. You can get excited just preaching thirty fold salvation and you can
get excited about preaching sixty fold salvation but it is about time we have
some ministries that preach a hundred fold salvation. In order to enter into
this City there is only one way, and that is through the gates. Anyone who
tries to get in any other way is a thief and a robber.
Gate one is Reuben - "Behold a Son!" When God lights your
candle, all of creation stands and sings the Hallelujah Chorus and says,
"Behold, a son." Unto us a child is born, unto us a child is given.
In John 3:3 Jesus says,
"I tell you the truth, unless you are
born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God."
Verse 38-40.
"For I have come down out of heaven not
to do My will, but to do the will of Him who sent me. And this is the will of
Him who sent me, that I lose none of all He has given Me, but to raise them up
at the last day. For My Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and
believes in Him shall have eternal life and I will raise him up at the last
day."
There is real danger in this day of easy believeism. Jesus did not come
preaching just believe. When asked, "What are we to do?", Peter
replied in acts 2:38, "Repent and be baptized." Repent means to have
a change of heart. Turn from your way of thinking and acting. You cannot
do this by yourself. It takes the power of God to change your way of thinking.
Today there are too many trying to take the place of the Holy Spirit, and they
talk of saving souls. "How many souls have you won to Jesus this
year?" "We have to be soul winners for Jesus." In all of the
years of my ministry, I have yet to save one soul for Jesus. I have not led one person to Jesus, and I
never will, nor will you. I can be used by the Spirit to present the Word to
you but the Holy Spirit is the one who will reveal to your spirit the truth.
This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit alone. You may be used from
time to time to be His spokesman. You may think you are a spiritual midwife at
the alter helping to pray someone through, but I have news for you. When a baby
is ready to be born, it does not need anyone's help. I cannot lead anyone to the Lord, nor can I pray you through to
anything.
The first Adam produced the beast of self-nature. At the new birth, we
receive another nature that begins to overcome that beast. It begins to break
his power and dominion until Christ in you is formed. The new birth, [the first
gate] is the beginning of the descending of the New Jerusalem into the visible
realm. Your family and your friends can begin to see the nature of God in you,
because you are becoming different.
Six things the new birth is:
1. A birth
2. A cleaning
3. A quickening - bringing to life
4. A creation by the Spirit
5. A resurrection from the death of sin to a right
relationship with Christ.
6. A translation from the dominion of the kingdom of
darkness into the kingdom of light and truth.
Gen. 49:1 says,
"And Jacob called his sons and said,
`Gather yourselves together so I can tell you what will happen to you in the
last days.'"
Notice he said, "last days".
"Gather yourselves together, sons of
Jacob, and listen to Israel, your father. Reuben, you are my first-born, my
might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the
excellence of power: Unstable as water, you shall not excel because you went up
to your father's bed then defiled it; he went up to my couch."
Amplified version says,
"Reuben, you're my first born, my might,
the beginning [first fruits] of my manly strength and vigor; [your birthright
gave you) the preeminence in dignity and the preeminence in power. But unstable
and boiling over like water you shall not excel and have preeminence [of the
first born], because you went to your father's bed; you defiled it; he went to
my couch!"
From verse three we can see four aspects of what happens to us when we
were born again. We receive might, strength, dignity, and power. All of these
are in the seed that gave you birth and is your potential. When you plant a
seed into the ground, you do not have the fruit nor can you yet see the
potential of that seed. There must be a growing time. A developing time.
God has put Himself in us by His word and if allowed to grow it will
manifest in the fruits of the Spirit as recorded in Galatians 5. If this is so,
then why do we have so many problems? He says we are unstable as water. James
1:6-8 says:
"But when he asks, he must believe and
not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by
the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he
is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does."
This tells you what a new Christian is: He is double minded and
unstable in all his ways. Isn't this true also in natural birth? How can anyone
who is unstable and double minded lead others? Paul said in Eph. 4:14-15:
"Then we will no longer be infants,
tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of
teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who
is the Head, that is, Christ."
This is the purpose of the five-fold ministry gifts. If you have only
come through the first gate of the City, you are unstable. If you stay at this
gate and do not go on into maturity, you will not excel. The word excel means
to over come something.
Reuben, you will never be an overcomer as long as you just walk through
one gate. If you only walk through one gate, even though the potential to
succeed is in you, you will not be successful in this life by overcoming
In our area, there are churches after churches with hundreds of people
in them with the divine seed of God in their lives, but they are unstable as
water and will not excel as long as they remain in that place of refusing to
mature.
Then Jacob said, "Because you went to your father's bed and
defiled it;" Reuben's problem is pride and lust. Love of self. I want what
I want and I want it now! I will scream or whatever else I can do until I get
your attention!! If I want to go up to my father's house and lay with his
concubine, I will do it. Reuben was not able to control his desires. Everyone,
in the Reuben category is trying to live the Christian life by following the
letter of the law, and it is humanly impossible to do it. This is why Reuben is
flustered, confused, and unstable in all his ways.
In Gen. 35:22 we read,
"And it come to pass, when Israel dwelt
in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine, and
Israel heard about it."
The word Bilhah means trouble. It can also be rendered as confusion.
This is a perfect description of a young child or young Christian: They always
want to join themselves to something or somebody that is going to get them into
trouble. It seem as though they are always troubled and unstable in all they
do.
Here is the Ninth Principle: As long as I am motivated by pride
and lust and possess an inability to control my desires, I will want to lay
with that thing that is trouble and join myself to it so that it becomes one
with me. I will be constantly in trouble in my life and I will constantly be
unstable, I will constantly be nervous, and I will be constantly flustered and
will never be able to excel.
Reuben was the first born son of Jacob and because of his indiscretions
fell to number four position on the High Priest's breastplate. Judah was the
forth born son of Jacob and ascended to the number one position on the High
Priest's breastplate.
If you only walk through one gate, even though the potential to succeed
is in you, you will not be successful in this life by overcoming and all you
can hope for is that there is a better life awaiting in the future. You will be
found on the outside of this City. Again, this does not mean that those who refuse to go any deeper into the word of
God will not be saved. You simply will not rule and reign with the Lord.
This teaching will open your eyes to the fact that in order to become a
mature Son of God requires all that you have. It requires your very life.