And the Gates of the City shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there.” (Rev.21:25)
“The Gates shall not be shut at all by day”. In the Greek there is a double negative here, which is always used to emphasise some important fact. We might translate as follows – “The Gates shall by no means ever be shut by day”. It is as though the Lord wanted us to know that He would never, ever, shut His Gates. And why is this? The answer may be found in 22:17. “Let him who is thirsty come, and whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely”. There will never be a time when the Lord closes His Gates to the City. As long as there is someone out there who despairs of his own way, and turns his eyes to heaven, there will be a guiding hand ready and willing to take him into the City, there to drink of the King’s Fountain of Life, be forgiven, restored, cleansed, and reconciled. Such is the lovingkindness of our God. His Gates are NEVER SHUT.
We read that no evil persons can gain entry into the City, which is strongly guarded. But as soon as a person quits his evil, and seeks the Lord, he will be escorted into the City. Psalm 10:15 – “O Lord, break the arm of the Lawless One, and the Evil One, seek out his wickedness UNTIL YOU FIND NONE”. This is one of the most wonderful verses in the Bible. It shows that even the Antichrist, the Man of Lawlessness, and all evil men, will ultimately be purged of their evil ways, so that the Lord will be unable to find any evil left in them! And they will say “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn Thy statutes”. (Psalm 119:71)
