The Golden Gate

The sealed Eastern gate or aka the Golden Gate of the old Jerusalem wall (seen here from the beautiful Orson Hyde Gardens on the Mt. of Olives directly across the street) has a fascinating history and future.  Jewish tradition says that this is the gate through which the Messiah will enter.  The gate was sealed in 1541 by the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.  It is possible Suleiman had the gate sealed for defense reasons but he may have had it sealed simply to prevent the Messiah from entering the city at His coming.  If you look closely you can see that the stones surrounding the gate are actually grave stones in a cemetery.  That cemetery was built by the Muslims also to prevent the Messiah from entering through the gate.  Jewish belief holds that a priest can not enter a cemetery.  Although there are qualifiers to that statement, the Muslim cemetery was built on that premise.

Matt 24:27 says:

27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.