Harvest at Gate Beautiful

by David Harris

A great harvest is waiting at the gate, and the Lord is especially passionate for this one, just as He longed to share Passover with His disciples before He was crucified. The very fullness of time is upon us, and Heaven's reaping angels are ready and eager to release power and gather the harvest from the four corners of the earth. Worship will soon find its way out into the streets and the public courtyards will become the place for the Lord to manifest His presence over us.

The Lord told my wife Judith in a dream that He was waiting for her at Gate Beautiful. Because of the unusual nature of this message, it was necessary to do some research. In so doing, I discovered the following information. The Gate Beautiful was the entrance to the public courtyard of the temple. The lame beggar that Jesus healed through Peter entered the Beautiful Gate with thanksgiving and entered the courtyard with praise (see Acts 3:1-10). This beggar became a sign as to when the multitudes would "enter into His gates with thanksgiving...and into His courts with praise..." (Ps. 100:4).

So why do you suppose the Lord said, "I'm waiting for you at Gate Beautiful?" First of all, we are now the gates. Psalm 87:2 says, "The Lord loves the gates of Zion [through which the crowds of pilgrims enter from all nations] more than all the dwellings of Jacob (Israel)." Several verses later, it says:

Psalm 87:5-7:  Yes, of Zion it shall be said, this man and that man were born in her, for the Most High Himself will establish her. The Lord shall count, when He registers the peoples, that this man was born there. Selah [pause and calmly think of that]! The singers as well as the players on instruments shall say, all my springs (my sources of life and joy) are in you [city of our God].

Similarly, Psalm 24:7 says "Lift up your heads, O you gates; and be lifted up, you age-abiding doors, that the King of glory may come in." As these verses demonstrate, we are the gates.

Prophetic Worship

The soil of the human heart will be cultivated by the Holy Spirit through the anointing of prophetic worship. The temple was a place of worship, but we are now the worshiping temple, and the Lord Jesus dwells within. The gate was a place of entrance to the temple court, and we are now the gates through whom the pilgrims enter into God's presence. The courtyard was the public meeting place of the temple, and the open public arena is where we will go with the praises of the Lord.

So, for the Lord to say that He awaits us at Gate Beautiful implies that we will be going to the public courtyards  as a temple of worshiping gates that are wide open for the Lord. As He comes, the lost will enter through these gates and encounter Jesus. What an awesome privilege it will be to usher in such a great harvest through the intimate wedlock of intercession and worship. Jesus Himself will be the great evangelist. Miracles, signs, and wonders will follow in the wake of this anointed worship, and multitudes of spiritual orphans will receive salvation.

But why was the gate called beautiful? It wasn't called beautiful because it was arrayed with gold and fine craftsmanship. The word beautiful in Acts 3:2 was translated from the Greek word horaios and means "belonging to the right hour or season (timely); a day or hour, high time." This season of the Lord's power will be like a freeze-frame of timely glory. God will move by His Spirit more powerfully than ever before in these final days of human history.

In His own beautiful time, He will move through the gates of Zion in order to possess the remnant of Edom and all of the nations that are called by His name. Our holy quarterback (Jesus) will throw the ball to His wide receivers (the Gates of Zion) at the exact nanosecond when the enemy is caught off guard, resulting in the most graceful Lynn Swann, one-handed, fingertip touchdown  reception of all time: a thing of beauty! The glory of God will touch down; yes, the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will fill the earth as the waters cover the sea (see Hab. 2:14).