Pushing at the Gates of Hell

I find Matthew 16:13-19 to be one of the most fascinating passages of Scripture.

It contains profound meaning for the church and several difficult exegetical issues.

One of the areas that is difficult to interpret is what Jesus meant by “the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). We have recently seen that Jesus did not see the church as a defensive structure doing its best to defend itself against the onslaught of the world. Every picture of the church in the Bible is of a powerful juggernaut pushing back against the darkness and transforming lives.

Recently I came to understand just what a powerful picture Jesus gave of the gates of hell (or Hades) not prevailing against the church. The word for Hades is the Greek word for the Hebrew Sheol, the place of the dead. Jewish belief held that Hades, the abode of the dead, was a place closed forever for those who enter it. Jesus declared His victory over death, and He declared it with dramatic words and by doing so in the most awful of places.

Caesarea Philippi was twenty-five miles northeast of the Sea of Galilee at the foot of Mount Hermon. The original name for the area was Banias, but Herod Philip, in order to curry favor with Rome, renamed it Caesarea. There were other Caesareas, so this was the Caesarea in the region of Philip.

We visited this area on our last trip to Israel. Two things are remarkable about the area.

First, it is beautiful and different from anything else in the area. Mount Hermon’s snow cap feeds the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee.

Banias has a beautiful stream with trout. You would think you were in the Smokies or the Rockies.

Second, Banias is the supposed birthplace of the god Pan, “the most famous fertility symbol in ancient paganism” (Michael Green). It was because of the fertility religions with their gods that Paul talked about the immoral behavior of the gentiles that could not even be mentioned (Ephesians 4:12). “For it is a shame even to speak of the things that they do in secret.”

Near the stream in Banias is a grotto where Pan was worshiped. Above the stream was a gleaming temple to Caesar where people by the end of the century would be saying that “Caesar is Lord.”

Jesus chose this place–with its immoral religion and false gods–to stake the flag of faith for His disciples. As they confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, Jesus blessed them and gave them their marching orders. They would be pushing at the gates of hell and death. He would build His church where the false religions with their false gods could not stand. He would push back the darkness and the lostness of the world.

He promised to give the apostles the keys of the kingdom of heaven. They would have authority to preach the Gospel and change the world. Their witness to the truth would transform and save.

Nothing has changed. We still have the authority and responsibility to proclaim the transforming power of God.

Even in the worst of places and the worst of times, the Word of God will not go out void.

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