The Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

—Matthew 16:18

In this interchange with Peter at Caesarea Philippi, we have teaching from the Lord about a subject that the disciples, including and especially Peter did not understand.

This was not about a powerful church that would have such great power that it would rule all congregations of the earth and rule over the Word of God. Nor was it about a religious organization that would continue in perpetuity no matter how apostate.

All that aside, I would like to focus this short study on what it means that the gates of hell will not prevail.

Words have meaning. So do phrases, sentences, and paragraphs. This phrase, the “gates of hell” is not found elsewhere in plain sight, but as I was reading in Isaiah recently, I came across something that might be similar that was worthy of investigation. The context was Hezekiah’s prayer after recovering from what was a terminal illness. He recovered after pleading with the Lord and began to give thanks.

Isaiah 38:10 — “I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years.”

I was intrigued after reading that and thought to investigate a little. In Lancelot Brenton’s Septuagint, the English translation is exactly the same, “the gates of the grave”. The Greek text says, transliterated, “pylais hadou”. In Matthew 16:18, the TR has, “pylai hadou”. This is pretty similar, is it not?

So what did the Lord Jesus Christ mean when He said that the gates of hell would not prevail?

The conversation in Matthew 16 does not end here. He continues the conversation, picking up in verse 21:

Matthew 16:21 — “From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.”

Peter and the rest of the disciples, but especially Peter, did not understand this at all. But the gates of hell would not prevail, first against Christ, because he would be raised again the third day.

Peter got it later:

Acts 2:25–32 — “For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.

“Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.”

The gates of hell had prevailed against every man that had come before. “Hell”, in the Old Testament, is understood as the place where dead people are. It is the translation if the Hebrew word “sheol” or in the Greek translation of the Old Testament “hades”. It is the place where the dead go, and to this time, did not return. The word is sometimes translated “grave” but must not be taken to simply mean a burying place. It is confinement, cut off from the living. We have more enlightenment from the Lord about this place in Luke’s gospel, but we’ll leave it at that for now.

But Christ said that He would rise from the dead, and they did not understand. He just told them that the gates of hell would not prevail, but such is the blindness of the natural man.

Now we know as fact that the risen Christ is victorious over death, and “the gates of hell”.

1 Corinthians 15:55 — “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”

“Grave” in this verse is also translated from “hades”, or hell.

Where is thy victory, oh gates of hell!

Christ rose from the dead and is victory. Those that are Christ’s will rise at His coming.

The gates of hell did not prevail over Christ and will not prevail against the congregation that He builds. This is true of all those in Christ, in whatever dispensation that they lived in or will live in.

While the death rate on this earth is still 100%, distributed equally as one each, Christ has promised that is not the end. All in Christ can count on His promise that the gates of hell will not prevail.

1 Corinthians 15:51–58 — “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

The beginning of the 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians begins with the gospel that Paul preached as evidence that this resurrection is real. It was real for Christ. It is real for all in Christ.

How does one find himself in Christ?

Believe the gospel of Christ, that is the power of God unto salvation, to every one that believes, for in believing, you are believing, and obeying God:

The gospel of salvation:

1 Corinthians 15:1–4 — “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:”

Believe the gospel of Christ, the power of God unto salvation, and God will put you into Christ. Forever you will be united with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. And the gates of hell will not prevail!