gates

    Many have understood these words to reflect the idea that the forces of hell now unleashed on us will not prevail against us in their onslaught.   More recently it has been suggested that because �gates� are more of a defensive mechanism, it is not the forces of hell that are invading, but rather we as the army of the Lord are invading the world of the lost, and that the gates which guard that world will not hold us back.

     The �gates of Hades� are mentioned on several occasions throughout scripture and would always appear to refer to the world of the dead and never to �the lost.� The grave was seen as something of a prison from which escape seemed hopeless. It is therefore most likely that the central thrust of the teaching here is that those children of God, the church, will rise from the dead into eternal life and will conquer �the final enemy� (1Cor. 15:26) just as their Lord had done.

Verses relating to the "gates of Hades" in scripture:

Job 17:16
"Will it go down to the gates of death? Will we descend together into the dust?"

Ps 9:13-14
13 O LORD, see how my enemies persecute me! Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death,
14 that I may declare your praises in the gates of the Daughter of Zion and there rejoice in your salvation.

Ps 107:15-19
15 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men,
16 for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron.
17 Some became fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of their iniquities.
18 They loathed all food and drew near the gates of death.
19 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.

Isa 38:9-10
9 A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:
10 I said, "In the prime of my life must I go through the gates of death and be robbed of the rest of my years?"

One scripture that I believe creates a beautiful type of what Christ would later accomplish is found in the account of Sampson in Judges 16:1-3.

�[Samson] got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill ��

This powerful theme is echoed in the words of "Low In the Grave He Lay� by Robert Lowry.

     As Samson carried the city gates within which the Philistines had him trapped off to a hill, the result being that the gates could not be locked again, so also Christ ripped the gates of Hades out of their place, carrying on his shoulder a great symbol of death to a hill outside the city. He has made eternal passage out of death and into the New, Heavenly Jerusalem.

Rev 21:23-25
23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.
24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.
25 On no day will its gates ever be shut�

     By God�s grace we have eternal passage out of slavery to death, and into life! Here are just a few more verses that correspond with the theme of Jesus' message of triumph in Matthew 16:

Heb 2:14-15
14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-that is, the devil-
15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

2 Tim 1:10
"Our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel."

Rom 8:38-39
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rom 6:13
"Offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life."

Hos 13:14
"I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction? "I will have no compassion."

Isa 25:8
"He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces."

Rev 20:14
"Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death."

Rev 21:4
"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

1 Cor 15:26
"The last enemy to be destroyed is death."

Vainly they watch his bed, Jesus my Savior,
vainly they seal the dead, Jesus my Lord!

Death cannot keep its prey, Jesus my Savior;
he tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord!

�And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.�
Matthew 16:18