"Opening Soon!”
For many years, we Believers in the San Francisco Bay Area have been praying for Messiah to return and open the only sealed gate in the walls of Old Jerusalem, and then gather us to His side from our Golden Gate to His Golden Gate. In 1541, Moslem sultan “Suleiman the Magnificent” walled up the Eastern /Golden Gate, believing that so doing would prevent the Messiah’s return! As the End Times unfold, we confidently and joyously proclaim, “Opening Soon!”For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, As the waters cover the sea. —Habakkuk 2:14Many Jesus-followers have been calling on the Name of the Lord and demonstrating fierce determination to see His fame and His Name lifted above the iconic Golden Gate Bridge and point all humanity to the impending arrival of the Messiah. We do this constantly with a strong emphasis on the Jewishness of the Gospel and the need for the Church to recognize Israel as God’s beloved and prophetic timepiece.
Pray for Us in San Francisco
Whenever I speak in areas of the Bible Belt, I remind listeners to pray for us here in the San Francisco Bay, not against us. It seems that many Christians in America’s heartland have a let-them-drop-off-the-edge-of-the-earth attitude about this very Babylon-ish neighborhood. One can almost hear them thinking, “A good earthquake would cleanse the West Coast …” Thank God, His ways are higher than our ways!Yes, we abound in sin here…but “Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Messiah Yeshua our Lord,” (Rom. 5:20, 21). True, like Nineveh of old, we San Franciscans are not known for our righteousness.
Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me. —Jonah 1:2
But our God is the God of second chances: e.g.,
“Now the Word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.’” —Jonah 3:1, 2
Like Nineveh, the testimony of Nazareth did not bode well for its current place in the hearts of Christians as the locale of Yeshua’s childhood. After all,
And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” —John 1:46
The temporary darkness of San Francisco rivals the obscurity of Bethlehem as a site for impossible dreams.
But you, Bethlehem Ephratah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting. —Micah 5:2
I invite you to visit just one of many gatherings here in the Bay Area. Katharine and I went with our son to Reality SF—a house of God packed every Sunday with nearly 1,000 young students and professionals between the ages of 20 and 35. They meet on Church Street, in the very colorful Castro District in the heart of San Francisco. Visitors find impressive not only the large number of young adults gathering in this city, but also the depth of the teaching, and the commitment to the Word and worship. They linger in the palpable presence of God.“Golden Gate to Golden Gate” we pray…adding the tongue-in-cheek, yet expectant, tagline under Jerusalem’s Golden (Messiah’s) Gate: OPENING SOON!