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Revelation 21:12 "It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed".

 

So John describes the new Jerusalem, which the angel calls "the Bride, the wife of the Lamb" (Revelation 21:9), as it descends from heaven.

 

This holy city, this Bride of Christ, has a great high wall and twelve gates. Walls and gates have gotten a bad reputation lately, but they are indications that there are things and places worth protecting. They are an acknowledgment of the reality of evil and a means of safeguarding the preciousness of what they contain. Why wouldn't God protect his Bride? He knows that evil would like nothing more than to destroy Her.

 

The Kingdom these walls protect is available to all who accept Christ, He has won entry for each one of us. No one who professes Jesus as their Savior will be excluded, they will be welcomed at any gate. These walls and gates are not meant to keep out people who desire to enter the Kingdom, but to save them from the evil outside.

 

As the rest of Revelation shows so starkly, no one gets to these gates without first going through the struggles of life, some of which are very traumatic indeed. As they enter, through the gate and under the high wall, they will know they are protected from the evil from which they’ve been rescued. They will know they are home and perfectly secure.