The Hidden Message in the Sheep Gate

During Nehemiah’s rebuilding of Jerusalem, The bible highlighted a gate — the Sheep Gate — and the names connected to it.
“Then Eliashib the high priest rose up… and built the Sheep Gate.”
Nehemiah 3:1
Eliashib means “God restores.”
A few steps further:
“…as far as the Tower of the Hundred… then as far as the Tower of Hananel.”
Nehemiah 3:1
“The Hundred” recalls Jesus’ parable of the one lost sheep among a hundred (Luke 15:4).
And Hananel means “the grace of God.”
Put them together and a message emerges:
God restores
the one who is lost
into His grace.
This is the heart behind John 5 — the man at Bethesda who had no strength left.
No one helped him.
No one noticed him.
But Jesus did.
He doesn’t count crowds; He counts individuals.
He doesn’t chase the ninety-nine; He pursues the one.
And when He finds you, He doesn’t drag you back.
He carries you home on His shoulders — the place of strength.
Your life is not random.
Your wandering isn’t wasted.
Your restoration has been written in God’s story long before you saw it coming.
The Shepherd has a long memory and a longer reach.
And He knows exactly where to find you.
