How Do Gentiles Walk Through the 12 Gates of New Jerusalem?

Picture this, a stunning city coming down from heaven, glowing with Yah's glory. Its walls shimmer like jasper, and its foundations are decorated with precious stones. This is the New Jerusalem we read about in Revelation 21, the eternal home where Yah lives with His people in perfect peace.

A lot of people today imagine the kingdom as this wide-open place where anyone can just walk in however they want. But when you actually dig into Scripture, you find something deeper and more meaningful; the kingdom is firmly rooted in Yah's covenant with Israel. The city has 12 gates, and each one bears the name of one of Israel's 12 tribes.

Now, here is the beautiful part; Gentiles (that is anyone not born into the tribes of Israel) can absolutely have eternal salvation and can enter and share in these eternal blessings. But there is a specific path. Entry comes through spiritually joining Israel, following Yah's commandments as He revealed them through Israel, and walking with the Messiah Yahusha. And here is what is really important to understand, Gentiles will learn from and follow the teachings of Yah's kings and priests, the bloodline descendants from the 12 tribes of Israel. These descendants have the central leadership role in the kingdom, serving as guides and teachers for all nations.

This is not about keeping people out. It is about honoring Yah's chosen people as the doorway and light to the nations of the world, just like Isaiah 49:6 tells us. Let us walk through what Scripture actually says about all this.

1. The 12 Gates: Israel’s Central Role in Yah’s Kingdom

The New Jerusalem gets this incredible description in Revelation 21. At its heart is a massive, towering wall with exactly twelve gates. Each gate has an angel standing guard, and each one is inscribed with the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Revelation 21:12-13 says: “And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel, On the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.”

This setup actually mirrors how Israel camped around the tabernacle in the wilderness (Numbers 2) and matches Ezekiel’s vision of the restored tribal gates (Ezekiel 48:30-34). These gates are not just neutral doorways, they actually show us that access to Yah's presence flows through His covenant with Israel.

Nothing unclean gets in (Revelation 21:27), and only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life can pass through. Entry requires obedience and obedience requires faith.

Revelation 22:14-15 tells us: “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.”

Those who reject Yah's ways stay “outside the camp,” just like the unclean or rebellious were kept out in ancient Israel (Leviticus 13:46; Numbers 5:2-3; Hebrews 13:11-13).

For Gentiles, walking through these gates means embracing Israel’s covenant identity. There is no separate entrance into New Jerusalem.

2. Gentiles Reaching Out to Israel

When Israel is restored, Gentiles will not stand back at a distance, they will reach out to Israel with humility and genuine eagerness.

Zechariah 8:23 paints this picture: “Thus saith Yahuah of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that Yah is with you.”

The “ten men” represent a full number from “all languages of the nations.” They are grabbing onto the “skirt,” the robe or tzitzit fringes that symbolize Torah commandments, of an Israelite person. Their plea is heartfelt: “We will go with you, because we have heard that Yah is with you.” This shows they recognize Yah's presence with Israel.

This echoes what the Old Testament already provided for foreigners:

Isaiah 56:6-8 talks about Gentiles who join themselves to Yah, keep His Sabbath, and hold fast to His covenant. They are brought to His holy mountain and made joyful in His house of prayer.

Exodus 12:48-49 says a stranger or sojourner must be circumcised and obey Torah to participate in Passover, becoming “as one born in the land.” Under the Old Covenant, physical circumcision was required for any male sojourner to partake in the Passover meal, integrating him into the covenant community for that purpose with one law applying equally. However, this physical act was a sign of covenant inclusion, not the means of salvation itself.

Through faith in Yahusha, Gentiles are drawn to Israel’s Messiah and His ways, becoming part of the same covenant family and learning from Israel’s bloodline kings and priests.

The deeper reality that the physical sign always pointed to is circumcision of the heart, which Yahuah Himself commanded and promised:

Deuteronomy 10:16 - “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.”

Deuteronomy 30:6 - “And Yahuah thy Elohim will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love Yahuah thy Elohim with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.”

Jeremiah 4:4 - “Circumcise yourselves to Yahuah, and take away the foreskins of your heart…”

This promise of heart circumcision reaches its fulfillment in the New Covenant, as Yahuah declares through the prophets:

Jeremiah 31:33 - “But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith Yahuah, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their Elohim, and they shall be my people.”

Ezekiel 36:26-27 - “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.”

In the New Covenant through Yahusha, this heart circumcision and new heart are fulfilled by the Spirit for all who believe, Israelite and Gentile alike, producing genuine love for Yah, obedience from the inside out, and the law written on the heart. Gentiles enter the covenant family by faith in Yahusha, receiving this inward circumcision made without hands, becoming a member and citizen of the nation of Israel without needing the physical sign for salvation.

3. Israel’s Restoration: From the Bottom to the Top

Israel’s story is one of dramatic reversal, from being scattered and humiliated to being lifted up as leaders in Yah's kingdom.

Deuteronomy 28:13 promises: “And Yahuah shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of Yahuah thy Elohim…”

This promise stands in stark contrast to the curse that comes with disobedience (Deuteronomy 28:44, aliens become the head, Israel becomes the tail). In the Messianic kingdom, Israel rises to guide the nations of the world. The bloodline descendants from the 12 tribes, as Yah's kings and priests, will lead in teaching and ruling.

Believers, including grafted-in Gentiles, get to participate in this royal calling:

Revelation 1:6 and 5:10 say we are made a kingdom and priests to Yah who will reign on the earth.

1 Peter 2:9 calls us a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.

Even former oppressors will bow down in acknowledgment:

Isaiah 60:14 says: “The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of Yahuah, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.”

Nations will stream to Zion for instruction:

Isaiah 2:2-3 and Micah 4:2 describe many nations coming to the mountain of Yah to learn His ways. The law goes out from Zion, the word of Yah from Jerusalem.

Gentiles need to humbly submit to the leadership and teachings of Israel’s bloodline kings and priests.

4. The Real Consequences of Disobedience

Scripture does not sugarcoat things. Refusing to align with Yah's order brings real consequences.

Zechariah 14:16-19 lays it out clearly: “And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahuah of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith Yahuah will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.”

Nations that survive Armageddon must come up yearly to worship the King and keep the Feast of Tabernacles. If they refuse, they face drought and plague. This fulfills the covenant curses we see elsewhere:

Deuteronomy 28:18, 23-24 describes cursed crops, skies like bronze, earth like iron, rain turned to dust.

Leviticus 26:18-20 warns that strength will be spent in vain, the land will not yield fruit.

Haggai 1:6, 10-11 shows what happens when people neglect Yah's house. They sow much but harvest little; the heavens withhold dew, the earth withholds produce.

These serve as serious warnings that rejecting Israel’s central worship role and the teachings of its bloodline leaders has tangible, real-world effects.

5. The Grafted Branch: How Gentiles Join Israel’s Covenant

Gentiles do not replace Israel or take over its distinct physical promises (like the land or David’s throne, as Romans 9:4-5 makes clear). But they are graciously brought in and added.

Romans 11:17-18 explains it this way: “And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.”

Gentiles (wild olive branches) are grafted into Israel’s cultivated olive tree. We share the nourishing root, the Abrahamic promises and covenants, through faith in Yahusha. Paul gives a stern warning against arrogance (Romans 11:18-24) and reminds us that Israel’s calling can never be revoked (Romans 11:29).

This grafting makes Gentiles fellow heirs of eternal salvation (Ephesians 3:6), members of Yah's household (Ephesians 2:19). We were once “separate from Christ… excluded from citizenship in Israel… strangers to the covenants of promise,” but now we are “brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:12-13).

Galatians 3:29 puts it beautifully: if you belong to Christ, you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. So Gentiles then follow the teachings of Yah's kings and priests from the bloodline of the 12 tribes, as members of the nation of Israel.

Walking Through the Gates of New Jerusalem

So yes, Gentiles can and will walk through those glorious 12 gates into the New Jerusalem, but it happens by embracing Israel’s central place in Yah's plan.

Israel holds the central and foundational place in Yah's eternal plan. Yah chose Abraham and his descendants, the nation of Israel, to be the people through whom He reveals Himself to the world, delivers His covenants, brings forth the Messiah, and blesses all nations. From the beginning, Israel was called to be a light to the Gentiles (Isaiah 49:6), the root of the olive tree (Romans 11:16-18), and the channel of salvation, for “salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22). Through Israel came the Torah, the prophets, the promises, and ultimately Messiah Yahusha, fulfilling the covenant with Abraham to bless every family on earth (Genesis 12:3; Galatians 3:8). In the end times and in eternity, Israel remains the head, not replaced or set aside, with its bloodline descendants serving as kings and priests, and Jerusalem/Zion as the center where the nations come to learn Yah's ways (Isaiah 2:2-3; Zechariah 8:23).

Through genuine faith in Messiah Yahusha, Gentiles, as wild olive branches, are grafted into the olive tree (Romans 11:17-24), becoming partakers of the root and fatness. The covenants, promises, and nourishing life belong first and foremost to Israel. Gentiles do not replace or become the natural branches. Instead, they are warned against arrogance toward the natural branches, for it is the root that supports them, not the other way around.

In this grafting, Gentiles are called to:

• Take hold of Israel’s ways, as prophesied: “In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you’” (Zechariah 8:23).

• Submit to Yah's ordained order, where the bloodline descendants of Israel, kings and priests from the 12 tribes, serve as the head and teachers of the nations (Deuteronomy 28:13; Isaiah 60:14).

• Obey Yah's commandments, which those who keep them are blessed to enter by the gates and have right to the tree of life (Revelation 22:14-15).

• Join in the worship at Jerusalem, keeping the appointed feasts such as Tabernacles (Zechariah 14:16-19).

• Learn Yah's ways and Torah from Zion, as the law goes forth from Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:2-3).
  

Refusing this humble alignment with Yah's design brings consequences such as drought, judgment, and separation from the city. But walking in faith, obedience, and submission to Israel’s rightful place brings eternal life, true fellowship, and access through the gates.

This is not division. It is the beautiful unity of Yah's design. Israel remains the root, the light to the nations, and the source of blessing for every family on earth through Abraham’s seed, the Messiah (Genesis 12:3; Galatians 3:8). Gentiles enter as fellow partakers and members, not as natural branches, but as grafted-in wild branches bearing fruit together under the same root.

In the end, the New Jerusalem shines with Yah's glory for every soul, natural branch or grafted, who enters according to His way.