What Are The Twelve Gates In Revelation 21?

John sees written on the twelve gates of the New Jerusalem the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.

There were three gates on the east side, three gates on the north side, three gates on the south side, and three gates on the west side.

John’s description of the gates represents the twelve tribes of Israel.

Recall from Revelation 7:2-9 that from the twelve tribes of Israel were 144,000 believers who were protected from death.

They were the servants of God who took the message of the new covenant to the nations, resulting in a multitude of believers from the nations too numerous to count.

This multitude too numerous to count provides insight into why there are gates positioned in the direction of the east, north, south, and west of the new Jerusalem.

The 144,000 took the message of the new covenant into all nations...the nations of the east, the nations of the north, the nations of the south, and the nations of the west.

The twelve gates represent entrance into the New Jerusalem by those of the nations who placed their faith in Jesus.

This is seen in Revelation 22:14, when Jesus said,

“Blessed are those [from the east, north, south, and west] who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.”

Those who wash their robes are those from the nations who believed in Jesus and whose sins were washed clean by the blood of the Lamb.

As a result, they went into the New Jerusalem (heaven) and ate of the tree of life.

In Luke 12:39, Jesus talked about those coming from the nations of the east, north, south, and west sitting with Abraham in the kingdom of God.

"People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God."

With these words, Jesus described believing Jews and Gentiles enjoying heaven together.

How did those from the east, west, north, and south hear about Jesus, enabling them to believe in him and sit with Abraham at the feast of the kingdom of God?

They heard about Jesus from the 144,000 sent into the nations of the east, north, south, and west.

We read in Revelation 21:25 the gates of the new Jerusalem are never shut.

This possibly means anyone from any nation has the opportunity to receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of righteousness through faith in Jesus, whereby they enter the New Jerusalem and eat from the tree of life.

This blog is from my book Revelation Volume 3: The New Heaven and The New Earth. Due out the fall of 2026.

To view Volume 1 and Volume 2: CLICK HERE