What are the gates of hell, and what did Jesus mean when He said they would not prevail against His Church? The gates of hell is every damnable force that will try to come between us and our God. It’s those things or out of our control situations that Satan bring to put a wedge into our faith to prevent us from living the life God intended through Christ for us to live. The devil will use whatever’s in his arsenal, but God has already decreed in Christ that his plans will not prevail.
The word prevail means: to prove more powerful than opposing forces; be victorious, conquer, or win in the end.
Anyone of those words taken by itself speaks of a more dominant force against another. But Jesus assured us that there’s no power on earth strong enough to prevail against the Church that is born of His Spirit. Let’s agree on what the church isn’t. It’s not a brick and mortar structure, it’s a body of believers redeemed by His blood. It’s those who have received and accepted the revelation of who He is and what He’s done. It’s those who have done what Romans 10:9 says to do. Now that we have agreed on who the Church is, we can agree with Jesus that we cannot be prevailed against.
Now this is not to say the enemy won’t try. He started with the One who built the Church In Luke 4. Then he incited a religious group against Him who falsely accused Him and had Him crucified. But on the third day Jesus proved His Word. The gates of hell received a shellacking- Colossians 2:13-15- and He prevailed. The gates of hell are no match for the One who has established His Church. And if we will believe the words of Jesus it’s no match against us either.
Have you been feeling like the gates of hell are indeed prevailing? Look closer, it’s a tottering fence. It’s already been taken out of the way. See Jesus in the midst of the storm. If He has said it can’t prevail then whatever it is that you’re facing cannot overcome you. The enemy thought he had Job by the throat. He took his children, he took all his earthly possessions, he attacked his health, his marriage and still he could not prevail. He couldn’t get between Job and his God. Job chose worship over accusations, worship over the bad news, worship over giving up. The gates of hell did not prevail.
I recently read that the famous French philosopher Voltaire, once called the “prince of infidels,” reportedly said in 1776 that within 100 years, the Bible would be a forgotten relic found only in museums. Fifty-eight years after Voltaire’s death, his house was being used by the Evangelical Society of Geneva, which distributed Bibles throughout Europe, and the printing presses on which he printed his revulsion of Christianity were printing the Holy Scriptures.🤣 the gates of hell shall not prevail. Hallelujah! If one can roll over in the grave, he certainly was but not in a good way.
Though the pain may seem unbearable, the loss earth- shattering, the relationship irredeemable, the debt insurmountable, the report unbelievable, the situation irreparable, you’re hemmed in on the left and right and Satan is saying ha ha, he cannot prevail against us. We have the winning hand. Jesus has already declared us victorious over it all. Paul shouted from the dark dungeons of a hellish prison:
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:35-39 KJV
The gates of hell shall not prevail against us who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We can believe in something but never identify with it. But we who believe have put on Christ. We identify with Him through our willingness to suffer with Him. To lose everything to gain Christ- Philippians 3:7-11. Having the same mind Christ has makes us win over the prevailing forces of Satan. Greater is He who is in us. No matter what we’re facing, or are about to face or have faced. Jesus said the gates of hell will not prevail. A gate is designed to either keep something in or out. It’s a barrier for both good and evil. It all depends on which side we’re on. Hell’s gates cannot come between us and our God, as I stated earlier. We get to decide if we’ll be prevailed against by how we respond to Satan’s attacks. Jesus has already declared us victorious. He didn’t say it will not, He said it shall not. Shall implies an attempt will be made but it won’t succeed.
Church we shall not be prevailed against. We have been built on a firm foundation. When the contrary winds of doubt come crashing in, remember the words of Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God, The Gates of Hell shall not Prevail against you! When has His Word ever failed? In the book of Jeremiah we find these words from Jehovah.
“And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord: ‘If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season, then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, My ministers. “Thus says the Lord: ‘If My covenant is not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, then I will cast away the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his descendants to be rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captives to return, and will have mercy on them.’ ”
Jeremiah 33:19-21, 25-26 NKJV
Do we still have day and night? How long have you been alive? God has not and neither can we, break His covenant. We have been given a solid. Nothing can shake it or break it. What you’re facing may be hellish, but it shall not prevail. Take your cue from Jesus, walk in His authority. He said you’re His Church, built on who He is. When you don’t know what to do, worship Him! Praise Him! Glorify Him! Declare the gates of hell shall NOT prevail against you! Oh yeah, he may succeed in taking some stuff, he may tear down the building with hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and fires. But the Church will still be standing when the dust settles, because we cannot and shall not be prevailed against! Jesus Christ. Always remember who’s speaking His Words never fail🙏
Written by permission of the Holy Spirit
W. Tennant
January 27, 2022
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