The Gates of the City.

Rev 21:12-13

The City has twelve gates, four on every side; at the gates twelve angels, with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel written upon the gates. Gates are for entrance and exit, and thus speak of reception and outflow.

If the walls symbolize exclusion from the City of all that is not of Christ, the gates symbolize the reception of only what is according to Christ. In Scripture the gate of a city is well known to be the place of governmental judgment, and angels are the heavenly executors of judgment.

The angels are there to bar the way to all that is contrary to the divine judgment passed upon the flesh, even as of old when Cherubims with a flaming sword kept "the way of the tree of life." The names of the twelve tribes indicate the outflow of blessing from the City and the direction it takes.

In earthly cities men often call the main streets of their cities by the names of the towns to which they lead. So in the heavenly City the gates bear names of the Tribes to which the blessings of the City flow. This blessing will flow in equal measure to every quarter of the globe, for there are three gates on each of the four sides of the City.

Had the Church walked in the light of the City, she would have received only what is of Christ and thus would have become a testimony to Christ — a source of blessing to the world around.

Alas! the professing Church, having become Laodicean, has closed the door against Christ and let in everything of man — things that appeal to nature and gratify the lusts of the flesh — and thus has become a source of corruption to the world.

The Foundations of the City (Rev 21:14)