(1) Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces east. And it was shut.
(2) And the LORD said to me, "This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut.
(3) Only the prince may sit in it to eat bread before the LORD. He shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and shall go out by the same way."
This shows us that there is something special about the eastern gate of the new temple. Specifically, it is to remain shut because God entered through it. Presumably it can remain shut because He is never going to leave the temple again. The only use of the gate is for the prince to eat in fellowship with the Lord.
I wonder if we have any kind of that sense of the holy today. The specific reason given here is because God went through it. Whatever He touches becomes holy. It would seem that would include His people as well.
I don't think that makes us in any way untouchable or extraordinary. What I do think is that it should remind us of what it means to be holy. The perfect and unapproachable God of the universe humbled Himself by becoming a man and dying so that we might approach Him. We often take this too much in stride. Let's remember what an incredible privilege it is that we can meet with Him. And let's not abuse that privilege, amen?
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