Resurrection Lutheran Church, St Catharines

“Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the LORD. This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous shall enter through it” (Psalm 118:19-20). The gospels do not tell us how many times the donkey circled the city of Jerusalem as Jesus and His disciples searched for the Gates of Righteousness. You see there was a Water Gate, a Fountain Gate, and a Valley Gate. There was the Corner Gate, the Inspection Gate, and the Gate of the Guard. There was the Golden Gate, the Ephraim Gate and the Gate of the Ash Heap. There was even a Horse Gate, a Fish Gate, and a Sheep Gate. Nothing was labelled the Gates of Righteousness.

 

Most historians and Bible scholars believe that Jesus entered through the Golden Gate, the one on the East side, facing the Mount of Olives. Well, if you cannot find the Gates of Righteousness, then the Golden Gate is going to have to do. The crowds at least got their lines right: “Hosanna [save us, we pray]... blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” (John 12:13; Psalm 118:25, 26).

 

It is to this one Whom they praised that the Gates of Righteousness are to be opened. He comes in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. He is Himself the one upon whom the people call to save them. Another psalm has the people sing to the gates, “Lift up your head, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of Glory may come in” (Psalm 24:7). And then the question and answer: “Who is the King of Glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of Glory” (24:10).

 

The LORD God Himself enters in. The only one who is worthy to enter through the Gates of Righteousness is the one who is righteous. And because the Righteous One, God the LORD, the King of Glory, is entering, whichever gates He chooses become the Gates of Righteousness, the gates of the Righteous One. “This is the Gate of the LORD; the righteous shall enter through it” (Psalm 118:20).

 

So whichever gates Jesus chose to enter in His own Righteousness, holiness, sinlessness, justice, godliness, are the gates of righteousness. And “the righteous shall enter through it.” There was a sheep gate for the sheep and a horse gate for the horses. The gates of righteousness are for the righteous. Which gate is for you?

 

The Horse Gate, the Sheep Gate, the Fish Gate, the Gate of the Guards; none of these have your name on it. The Gates of Righteousness are those that belong to the LORD God. He alone has access through the Gates of Righteousness, because He alone is righteous. You have trespasses and injustices and impurities and evils to which the Gates of Righteousness are closed. Your passport does not have the right name on it for you to enter through the Gates of Righteousness.

 

But Jesus does not enter alone. Those who accompanied Jesus when He entered Jerusalem, looking to Him for salvation, were righteous ones. They were righteous, not by their own holiness, sinlessness, or godliness, but they were declared righteous by God because of their faith in Jesus.

 

Just as “Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness” (Rom 4:3; Gen 15:6), so to all those who share the faith of Abraham, the Lord also imputes that same righteousness. “The words ‘it was counted to him’ were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in Him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:23-25).

 

It is the holiness, sinlessness, justification, and godliness of Jesus Christ Himself, the righteous One, imputed to all who look to Him as their Saviour, that opens the gates of righteousness. They are given His righteousness through faith, and God declares them to be holy, sinless, and justified in His sight. He shares His name with them, the name of the Righteous One.

 

Just as horses could gain access through the Horse Gate and sheep through the Sheep Gate, so the righteous gain access through the Gates of Righteousness. Jesus gives us His access. As the King of Israel, which the crowd hailed Him to be, He was given access to the Holy City. And He entered to give thanks to the LORD God, the heavenly Father, for providing salvation for His people. All of the festival pilgrims had come to do just that: to give thanks to the LORD for the salvation of His people from Egypt and from Babylon and in eager expectation of an even greater salvation promised.

 

Jesus was well aware of that greater salvation that they expected, for He had come to deliver it Himself. In answer to the will of the heavenly Father that He should be the Saviour of all who look to Him in faith, Jesus entered through the gates of Jerusalem. The crowds hailed Jesus as He entered, expecting Him to be their promised Saviour but not knowing how that salvation would be accomplished.

 

Jesus knew. He knew it would be accomplished through His suffering and death for the sins of the world, that all might receive the righteousness of God through Him: cleansed from all trespasses to be holy, declared reconciled to the Father, justified by Him, all guilt removed to be righteous.

 

Through Jesus not only did the faithful in the crowds enter with Him through the Gates of Righteousness, but we are also given access to enter with Jesus. We do not go into the city of Jerusalem, but into the heavenly places before the throne of God the Father. By the holy and precious blood of Jesus shed on the cross for our sins, we are given access to bring our prayers and petitions before God. The righteous enter with the Righteous One.

 

And this was dramatically illustrated when, at the death of Jesus for our sins, “the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (Matthew 27:51). That curtain hung in the inner part of the temple where only the priests were allowed to go. And the curtain even kept them from entering the Most Holy Place where the ark of the covenant was situated, over which God promised to be present to hear the prayers of His people. Only the high priest could go in there, just once a year on the Day of Atonement, and only by taking with him the blood of the sacrifice. When Jesus’ blood was shed for us on the cross, that curtain barrier was ripped open by God the Father Himself, because the blood of Jesus had given us access to Him.

 

We enter the Most Holy place of heaven by the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:19-22). We lift up our hearts unto His royal throne room as we receive the cup of Jesus’ blood, shed for the forgiveness of sins. He makes us holy and righteous as we receive His body and blood with faith in Him as our coming Saviour.

 

The Gates of Righteousness are opened so that the righteous may enter and give thanks to the LORD. Cleansed by the sacrificial blood of Jesus and declared righteous by God on account of our faith in Jesus, we lift up our hearts unto the Lord and we give thanks unto the Lord our God. It is right to give Him thanks and praise.