The gates of Hades will not prevail against Christ’s church.
You are Peter,
and on this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
I have the keys of Death and Hades.
Jesus says it at Caesarea Philippi. Peter has confessed Him as the Christ, the Son of the living God. On this rock He will build His church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. Gates are the strength of a city, the place of counsel and the bar against an enemy. Hades does not get the last word against the church He builds.
- The gates do not attack in the sentence. They do not prevail. Death’s stronghold cannot hold what He builds.
- He holds the keys of Death and Hades. The gates and the keys belong to the same realm. The gates fail. The keys are in His hand.
- He died and is alive forevermore. The Living One is the one who says the gates shall not prevail.
Do not read the gates as a power equal to the church. He builds. They do not prevail. He has the keys.
On this rock I will build my church.
The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
He has the keys of Death and Hades.
- Spoken once, in Matthew 16:18.
- Gates are the strength of Hades, not a vague darkness.
- They shall not prevail against the church He builds.
- The confession of Christ is the setting of the promise.
- The keys of Death and Hades are His after the resurrection.
- The gates fail. They are not given the keys.
- The Place – Hades, the realm of the dead.
- The Gates – Strength, counsel, and the bar of that realm.
- The Promise – They shall not prevail.
- The Builder – Christ builds His church.
- The Rock – The confession that He is the Christ.
- The Keys – Held by the Living One, not by the gates.
- Matthew 16:16-18 – “Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ … ‘You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.’”
- Revelation 1:18 – “I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”
- Isaiah 38:10 – “I said, In the middle of my days I must depart; I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years.”
On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
The gates are real. They do not prevail. He builds the church. He holds the keys.
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