What are the gates of hell?

The resurrection shows the divine power of the Son of God. When Peter said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God!" the Lord said, "Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." That is, all Satan's power over the first man manifested in death shall not prevail against it: for that is the meaning of the gates of hell. Man had been tried by every means - without law, and he was lawless: by the law, but he only brought forth wild grapes: but all this depended on the responsibility of man, not on the power of God. Satan prevailed against man by his lusts, and led him on to the second death. But if it is the Son of the living God who has entered into the conflict, and founded the church on His work and victory, the gates of hell, the power of death, shall not prevail against it.

Notice that the gates of hell shall not prevail against His church. The gates of hell represent all the power and subtlety and scheming of the devil and the powers of darkness. Do not think lightly of these — there are forces of evil under the direction of Satan that are greater than anything else in the universe but God and what is of Him, and they are in perpetual counsel to thwart and overthrow the work of God. Their efforts are all in vain, they may seem to gain a temporary advantage, they may congratulate themselves that they are breaking up and destroying the church of God; they have yet to learn in bitter experience that it is invulnerable; it will come out of all the storms and buffetings of its nearly twenty centuries' history on earth unscathed, a glorious church, holy and without blame. Throughout these centuries the triumphant Christ has been building, building, and the work is nearing its completion. He will finish it as once He finished the work of redemption; then shall Satan be bruised beneath our feet. Glorious prospect! Christian, rejoice exceedingly and with exultation. You belong to that which is infinitely precious to Christ, your great Saviour, and which in and through Him will triumph over Satan, your great foe.

Hence the Lord can make this further great statement that against His Church "the gates of hades shall not prevail."

This speaks of the stability of the Church. The gates of hades signify the power of death wielded by Satan. Through sin man has passed under the dominion of death, a terrific power that lays man's glory in the dust. But in the very world where nothing has withstood the power of death, the Lord foretells that at last He will establish His Church over which the gates of hades will have no power; and this will be brought to pass because it is based upon the Son of the living God. All else in this world has been based upon Adam — a dying man — and the sons of dying men. But nothing can overcome the power of life in God, whether that life be in God, in Christ, or in those to whom He communicates the life. Christ's Assembly is composed of living stones, not dying men. It is built upon Christ, the One who inherits a life that nothing can destroy, and built of stones that possess this life and therefore is superior to all the power of death.

Beside the ordinary use of gates for the protection of a city, 'in the gate' was the place where many important things were transacted. When Boaz wanted the question settled respecting Ruth and the inheritance, he went up to the gate: the subject was debated with a nearer relative, then concluded, and witnessed by the elders. Ruth 4:1-12; cf. Joshua 20:4; 1 Sam. 4:18; 2 Sam. 15:2; Acts 14:13. To 'sit in the gate' was a place of honour: "they that sit in the gate speak against me." Ps. 69:12. It should have been the place of true judgement and justice, but was not always so. Isa. 29:21; Amos 5:10, 12; Zech. 8:16. It was, at least at times, the king's chief place of audience. 2 Sam. 19:8; 1 Kings 22:10; Job 29:7; Lam. 5:14. From this it would be a symbol of power: thus the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church which Christ builds. Matt. 16:18.

Nay, further, the Lord now addresses Peter, by the name He had conferred upon him. “And I say also to thee, That thou art Peter (petros, the stone), and upon this rock (petra, the great rock foundation), I will build My church; and the gates of hell (the machinations and plottings of Hades, in this case of the underworld) shall not prevail against it.”

As to "Thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build my church," Peter had by grace confessed what none ever had, that Christ was the Son of the living God. As entitled to be called Son of God according to promises to Messiah, He had been owned, but Son of the living God He had never been called. This the Father revealed to Peter. The Lord owns the grace conferred on him, and declares that his name should be called Peter (a stone), partaking by grace through his confession of that which he confessed, for it was upon that truth so confessed (that is, on Christ's being the Son of the living God) that He would build His church. Hence it is said that the gates of hades, of the power of death (Satan as having the power of death), should not prevail against the church. For Christ by resurrection was declared to be Son of God with power, above all the power of Satan; and, the church being built on this rock, of His being the Son of the living God, Satan's power, that of death, could not overthrow it. So Chrysostom repeatedly uses it. As James has said, to suppose any real foundation but Christ is denying the Lord. And it is in this character of a divine person having the power of life over death that He can build the church.

"The gates of hell shall not prevail against it." The gate is the seat of power. It is the "power of hades." He who sets before them the open door is He who has the keys of hades.

The counsels, schemes, espionage, and offensives of the gates of Hades all fail. (The reference to the “gates,” made in Matthew 16, points to the council places. Such were in the gates in the Old Testament times.) Hades’ gates may effect such a state in Christendom that Satan sets his throne there, and finds a convenient dwelling in it (Rev. 2:13, N.Tr.); they may be the cause of a Thyatira—Romish condition (2:18-29), and of a Sardis—Protestant state of things (3:1-6); they may even be the indirect means of the “little strength” in the Philadelphia—“Love of the brethren” assembly—which, however, remains faithful to the finish (vv. 7-13); and they may produce the lukewarm, self-satisfied condition of the Laodicean—Christian Brotherhood (vv. 14-22); but against the assembly which is the outcome of divine revelation and building they are impotent: they are just as helpless as is death itself against the life of the risen Son of God—who has triumphed over both death and the grave—for it is in that life the Son of Man’s assembly has its being and constitution.

So here, upon Peter's confession, the Lord says, "Upon this rock I will build My Church." You understand the glory of My Person; I will show you the work I am going to accomplish. Mark the expression. It is not, I have been building; but I will build My Church. He had not built it yet, nor begun to build it: it was altogether new. I do not mean there had not been souls believing in Him before, and regenerate of the Spirit; but the aggregate of saints from the beginning to the end of time it is an error to call "the Church." It is a common notion which has not one shred of Scripture for it. The expression in Acts 7:38, "The church in the wilderness," means the whole congregation — the mass of Israel — the greater part of whose carcasses fell in the wilderness. Can you call that "the Church of God?" There were but few believers among them. People are deceived in this by the sound. The word, "church in the wilderness," merely means the congregation there. The very same word is applied to the confused assembly in Acts 19, which would have torn Paul to pieces. If it were translated like Acts 7, it would be the "church in the theatre," and the blunder is obvious. The word that is translated "church" simply means assembly. To find out what is the nature of the assembly, we must examine the scriptural usage and the object of the Holy Ghost. For you might have a good or bad assembly: an assembly of Jews, of Gentiles, or of God's assembly distinct from either and contrasted with both, as can be readily and undeniably seen in 1 Cor. 10:32. Now it is this last which we mean, i.e., God's assembly, when we speak of "the Church."

What then, to return, does our Lord intimate when He says, "Upon this rock I will build My Church"? Clearly something that He was going to erect upon the confession that He was the Son of the living God, whom death could not conquer, but only give occasion to the shining forth of His glory by resurrection. "Upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hades" — the power of death — "shall not prevail against it." This last does not mean the place of the lost, but the condition of separate spirits. "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven."

Note the following Scriptures for the significance of "the gates": Joshua 20:4; Ruth 4:1-12; Acts 14:13. From a consideration of these and other Scriptures we learn that the gates are emblematic of administrative authority and power. It would be well to mention at this point, that before the gates of hell are reached, the portal of death must be gone through. The Son of the living God has gone through death and has come forth in resurrection in order to build His assembly. Peter declared in the hearing of the crowds on the day of Pentecost the verity of the death of Christ and also the verity of His having been raised from among the dead (Acts 2:23).