Resisting the Gates of Hell (Part 1)
Related Scripture
Matthew 16:13–20
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
19 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”
20 Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.
Let’s turn our Bibles to Matthew chapter 16. We finished talking about courage last Friday and so we’ll move on to a different topic, of course you can apply the subject of strength and courage still, but we’ll talk about resisting the gates of Hell while standing on the rock.
Starting on verse 13, now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”
And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”
That passage talks about the gates of Hell or the gates of Hades. Now gates should be looked up from the ancient times. In ancient times when armies go to war, the kings, the prophets, the priests will stand by the gate. Gates are small areas that may even be wider, and they will stand there and the army will march, and they will also be received by the gates.
One of the offerings, the poor tithe in the Scriptures, is also being given by the gates every three years because poor people will come in, some immigrants from other countries, and they will need food, so they will take from the storage on those gates. And so gates are very important when business transactions take place—it is by the gates. The prophets prophesy by the gate, because everybody is there all the time.
You apply this to the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of God. The devil rules the gates of darkness or the council of hell. God commands His people and His good angels, the devil commands hordes of fallen angels and demons and his human disciples, and he possesses realms of power. These are strongholds. A lot of people won’t recognize it, but there are some bondage that cannot be remedied by medicine; some are demonic oppression.