The Son of God and the Gates of Hell (Matt. 16:1-28)

[Sung Psalm: 49}

Jesus said to Simon Peter, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

You see a picture of this in Judges 16. Samson is certainly a flawed hero. But Samson is the one whose birth narrative reminds us a lot of Jesus – even down to the line, “he will begin to save his people from the Philistines” – which is echoed in Matthew’s “he will save his people from their sins.”

Here, Samson takes hold of the doors of the gate of Gaza and the two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron (where David will reign later).

From the perspective of Israel – and David – the gates of Gaza are the gates of hell.

Pulling gates up, posts, bar, and all, is not something an ordinary mortal could do! City gates are designed to withstand an army.

So, perhaps it’s no surprise that the party of ambushers remains silent while Samson walks away with their city gate!

But this is a great illustration of what Jesus is talking about in Matthew 16: The gates of hell will never prevail against the church of Jesus, because Jesus is the divine warrior who has descended into hell, plucked up the gates, was raised from the dead, and ascended into heaven, where he sits at the right hand of the Father.

But the only way to glory is the way of the cross. That was true for Jesus. It is true for us as well: “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?”