Matthew 16:13-18
“Who Do You Say That I Am?”
Translation
& Sermon by Nate Wilson for
Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 28 Oct 2012
Translation
16:13 After
Jesus came into the limits of Caesarea Philippi, He started quizzing His
disciples, saying, “Who am I that the people are saying to be the Son of Man?”
16:14 So
they said, “Some [say] John the Baptizer, and others Elijah, and various ones
Jeremiah or one of the prophets.
16:15 He
says to them, “Now [how about] y’all? Who do y’all say me to be?”
16:16 And, in answer, Rock Simon said, “You are The Anointed
One, The Son of the Living God.”
16:17 Then
in answer, Jesus said to him, “Simon, son of John, you are blessed because
flesh and blood did not make a revelation to you, but rather my Father in the
heavens did!
16:18 And I
also say to you that you are Rock and upon this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of Hades will not be as strong as she!
Exposition
16:13 After
Jesus came into the limits of Caesarea Philippi, He started quizzing His disciples,
saying, “Who am I4 that the people are saying to be the Son of Man?”
Ελθων
δε ‘ο Ιησους εις
τα μερη Καισαρειας
της Φιλιππου ηρωτα
τους μαθητας
αυτου λεγων Τίνα
με
λεγουσιν ‘οι
ανθρωποι ειναι
τον ‘υιον του
ανθρωπου;
- Context
- Once again, Jesus
is in Gentile territory, teaching His disciples.
- “Caesarea Philippi…
lay at the foot of Mount Lebanon [a.k.a. Mt. Hermon], near the sources of
the Jordan, in the territory of Dan, and at the northeast extremity of Palestine.. . Philip, the tetrarch, the only good son of Herod the Great... changed
its name from Panneus to Caesarea, in honor of the Roman emperor, and
added Philippi after his own name, to distinguish it from the other
Caesarea on the northeast coast of the Mediterranean Sea. [Josephus, Antiquities, 15.10, 3; 18.2, 1].”
~JFB
- It was a beautiful
place for a retreat with a picturesque, snow-covered mountain in the
background and springs and waterfalls nearby, and out-of-the-way enough
that there were no throngs of people.
- Jesus may
have taken His disciples on this retreat in order to prep them for what
was coming next so that when Jesus got crucified they would “not remain
as thoroughly perplexed as would have been the case had they not been
pre-informed about them.” (William Hendriksen) In this session, Jesus assures them that death will not beat
Him.
- The parallel
accounts in Mark and Luke give us a little more detail to the circumstances.
Mark (8:27) says they had entered the villages/towns (kwmas) and were on a pathway, and
Luke (9:18) explains that they were by themselves praying when Jesus
popped this question:
- Who
is the Son of Man? Υἱὸς
τοῦ
ἀνθρώπου
1.
In some places in the Bible this
phrase is a synonym for “human being”
·
Numbers
23:19a "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He
should repent…
·
Isaiah
51:12b "…you are afraid of man who dies And of the son of man who is made
like grass”
·
Jeremiah 49:18b "…no one will
live there, nor will a son of man reside in it.
2.
In other places, it singles out one
person as representing the whole human race:
·
The prophets were God’s
representatives on earth, and about half of the instances of this phrase “Son
of Man” are found in the prophecies of Ezekiel, such as 2:1 "Son of man,
stand on your feet that I may speak with you!"
·
20:18
“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to
the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death”
·
20:28
“…the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life
a ransom for many.”
3.
The Son of Man is also the “Heavenly Man,” God in human form who exists
in heaven and is coming down to earth to judge mankind:
·
Daniel
7:13 “I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of
heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of
Days...”
·
16:27
“For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His
angels, and WILL THEN REPAY
EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.”
·
24:30
"And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all
the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY
with power and great glory.
- With this phrase,
Jesus represents Himself as 1) a true human being, 2) the representative
of the human race, and 3) as coming from God in heaven. (See Matt. 8:20
for fuller treatment.)
- But the question is,
how much of this have the people caught on to? “Do they
think I am all this?” And if not, then what’s the problem?
- Jesus did not
appear at once to be all that impressive to the eye. He was a man in
humble circumstances. He could be easily mistaken as much less than all
that it meant to be the Son of Man. As John Calvin put it, “Now that I
live on earth, clothed in flesh and one man among all the others, what is
the judgment on me?”
- This raises the
question to the disciples about how effective they have been in their own
preaching. “Christ asked this question, not as one that
knew not…, but to make the disciples solicitous concerning the success of
their preaching, by showing that he himself was so.” ~Matthew Henry
16:14 So
they said, “Some [say] John the Baptizer, and others Elijah, and various ones
Jeremiah or one of the prophets.
‘Οι
δε ειπον ‘Οι μεν
Ιωαννην τον βαπτιστην,
αλλοι δε ‘Ηλιαν, ‘ετεροι
δε Ιερεμιαν ἢ ‘ενα
των προφητων
- The disciples rattle
off theories they had heard people postulate to explain who Jesus was:
- John the Baptizer
raised from the dead: This was Herod’s hypothesis, as we saw earlier (Mt.
14:2).
- Elias/Elijah – Prophesied
to come and turn the hearts of sons to fathers and fathers to sons in Malachi
4:5 (cf. Mark 6:15).
- In the apocryphal book of 2 Maccabes it says that the Prophet Jeremiah
hid “the tabernacle, the ark,
and the altar of incense to keep them from
being plundered by the Babylonian army, the According to 20th Century Bible
commentator William Hendriksen, a legend sprung up that Jeremiah would
one day appear and find these relics which he had hidden for the Jews.
- Back in Deuteronomy
18:18, Moses prophesied that God would send another great prophet like him,
so some thought this was “The Prophet” (John 6:14) and others thought
that this was one of the O.T. prophets risen from the dead (Luke 9:8).
- The disciples don’t
bother to mention that were also those who thought Jesus was in league
with Beelzebub.
- There were a lot of
different opinions, just as there are today:
- The Mormons
teach that Jesus is the son of a divine father and mother and that Satan
was Jesus’ little brother and that planet earth is their particular
planet, and that other gods have other planets to rule over.
Newly-inducted members might not have heard that yet, but you can bet
that higher-ups in the movement (like Mitt Romney) have.
- Muslims believe
that Jesus was a prophet and a good man, but that he never claimed to be
God and that he never died on the cross, and that Mohammed superceeded
him, but that God will send Jesus (Isa) back to earth some day, and then
he will die and they will bury him at their mosque in Jerusalem.
- Non-religious
people consider Jesus to be no more than a famous man.
- “They are honourable
opinions, and bespeak the respect they had for him… Note, It is possible
for men to have good thoughts of Christ, and yet not right ones, a high
opinion of him, and yet not high enough.” ~Matthew Henry
- It’s very
important to know the right answer. It’s crucially important that we know
who Jesus is. If we don’t know who He is we can’t be in a right
relationship with Him.
- Kinda like if you
want to be in the Army ROTC program at K-State this year, you have to
know who Major Porter is. He’s in charge of recruiting for ROTC, so he
has to correspond or meet with every cadet. No one can be in the K-State
Army ROTC program without having some knowledge of Maj. Porter.
- Similarly, since
Jesus is God and is the one who will judge every human being and decide
who goes to heaven and who goes to hell, we can’t go to heaven or be
right with God if we don’t know who Jesus is. This is a very important
question.
16:15 He
says to them, “Now [how about] y’all? Who do y’all say me to be?”
Λεγει αυτοις ‘Υμεις δε τίνα με λεγετε ειναι
16:16
And, in answer, Rock Simon said, “You are The Anointed One, The Son of the
Living God.”
Αποκριθεις
δε Σιμων
Πετρος ειπεν Συ
εἶ ‘ο χριστος ‘ο ‘υιος
του θεου του
ζωντος
- Now, this was not
the first time the disciples had confessed Jesus to be the Son of
God.
- The disciples all
said it after Peter had walked on the water with Jesus (14:33),
- and Peter
had said it earlier when the multitude deserted Jesus in Capernaum (John 6:69),
- Martha said
it when Jesus came to visit after her brother Lazarus had died (John 11:27),
- But this is
the only place in the Bible where the phrase “son of the living God” appears;
it does appear to be a divine title.
- Notice what Peter
does NOT say:
- He doesn’t say,
“I’m just an unlearned fisherman, and if the priests and Bible scribes
aren’t sure who you are, then who am I to say?”
- Nor does he say, “I
believe that you are…” This is no statement of relative truth
which would allow someone else to disagree with him. This is a statement
of absolute truth! “You are The Christ...”
- Most of you have
had more education that Peter had, and just as he spoke out unequivocally,
you too can speak the truth.
- Christ
- To say that Jesus is “The Christ” is to say in Greek that He is
the “Anointed One” – the one who has been christened, and it is also a
statement in Greek that Jesus is the Hebrew Messiah, which also means
“Anointed One” in Hebrew and indicates that Jesus is the fulfillment of
all the Jewish messianic prophecies (such as the resurrection –Acts 2:31).
- “”When Peter
declares Jesus to be ‘the Christ’ he means the long-awaited Anointed One,
the One who as Mediator was set apart or ordained by the Father and
anointed with the Holy Spirit, to be his people’s chief Prophet (Deut. 18:15, 18. Isa 55:4;
Luke 24:19; Acts 3:22, 7:37); only Highpriest
(Ps. 110:4; Rom 8:34; Heb. 6:20; 7:24; 9:24); and eternal King (Ps. 2:6; Zech. 9:9; Matt. 21:5;
28:18; Luke 1:33; John 10:28; Eph. 1:20-23; Rev. 11:15; 12:10, 11; 17:14;
19:6).” ~Wm. Hendriksen
- The Jews were
already looking for “The Christ” (Mat. 24:23). They thought maybe John
the Baptizer (Lk. 3:15), or maybe Jesus was (John 7:26) “The Christ.”
- The scribes knew
when the magi came through that “The Christ” would be born in Bethlehem, according to the prophecy of Micah (Mt. 2:4, John 7:41-42).
- The Pharisees knew
that “The Christ” would be a descendent of David. (Mat. 22:42) when Jesus
asked them about it.
- The people, even
down to the thief on the cross, knew that “The Christ” was to be a great
king over Israel (Mark 15:32), who would have power to save (Luke 23:39).
- Even the Samaritan
woman at the well knew that “The Christ” would come and show who He was
by supernatural knowledge (John 4:29).
- To say that Jesus
is “The Christ” was a way of preaching the Gospel to Jews, so that’s what
the early church in Jerusalem did (Acts 5:42), as did Phillip in Samaria
(Acts 8:5), Paul to the diaspora Jews (Acts 9:22, 17:3, 18:5, 26:23), and
Apollos to the Jews in Achaia (Acts 18:28), “Jesus is The Christ!”
- “In the praise of
Christ is comprehended His eternal Kingdom and Priesthood, that He
reconciles God to us and wins perfect righteousness, expiating our sins
by His sacrifice, that He keeps His own, whom He has received into his
trust and care, and adorns and enriches us with every kind of blessing.”
~J. Calvin
- Note also that Jesus
asked who the Son of Man is, and Peter declared that the Son of Man
is the Son of God.
16:17 Then
in answer, Jesus said to him, “Simon, son of John, you are blessed because
flesh and blood did not make a revelation to you, but rather my Father in the
heavens did!
Αποκριθεις
δε ‘ο Ιησους
ειπεν αυτω Μακαριος
εἶ Σιμων βαρ Ιωνα
‘οτι σαρξ και ‘αιμα
ουκ απεκαλυψεν
σοι αλλ’ ‘ο πατηρ
μου ‘ο εν τοις
ουρανοις
- Bar-Jonah
- is Aramaic for “son
of John” – there is some debate whether to render his Dad’s name “John”
or “Jonah,” but the two names are very similar.
- “…a reminder of
what he was by nature, simply a human…” ~Wm. Hendriksen
- Makarios
= happy and blessed (in beatitudes ch. 5). Happiness is
a result of knowing and speaking the truth about Jesus as a result of God
revealing the truth about Jesus to us. (cf. Psalm 89:15-17)
- “flesh & blood” is set in opposition to
the “Father in heaven” as the source of this revelation
- This could be
construed to mean that seeing Jesus in flesh and blood was not enough to
lead Peter to the conclusion that Jesus is God (Isa. 53:2), but rather it
had to be revealed to Peter’s mind by God Himself.
- “From this we infer
that human minds lack the ability [in and of themselves] to perceive the
mysteries of heavenly wisdom hidden in Christ; more, all human senses
fail in this respect until God opens our eyes to see His glory in
Christ.” ~John Calvin
- “‘[T]his light
sprang neither from nature nor from education, but from my Father who is
in heaven.’ … The Christian religion is a revealed religion… given by
inspiration of God, not the learning of philosophers, nor the politics of
statesmen.” ~Matt. Henry
- “Jesus accepts the
confession as true. Thereby Jesus on this solemn occasion solemnly claims
to be the Messiah, the Son of the living God… deity in other words.” ~ATR
- Jesus continues with
the Greek word “Kagw”
meaning “I also,” as if to say, “The Father hath revealed to thee one
truth, and I also tell you another” (McNeile, quoted by A.T. Robertson)
16:18
And I also say to you that you are Rock and upon this rock I will build my
church, and the gates of Hades will not be as strong as she!
καγω
δε σοι λεγω ‘οτι συ
εἶ Πετρος και επι
ταυτη τη πετρα οικοδομησω
μου την εκκλησιαν
και πυλαι ‘αδου ου
κατισχυσουσιν αυτης
- The
first thing to note is that there is a play on words going on here:
- In the Aramaic
language which Jesus spoke, the word Cephas/Kepha
means both the proper name “Peter” and the inanimate object
called a “rock.”
- In the Greek
language in which the N.T. was written, the words are almost the
same, but have different endings: Petros
is the name Peter, and petra
is the word for rock. Furthermore, in Classical Greek, petra is the word for a rocky mass
(like the rock on which the wise man built his house in Jesus’ parable –
Mt. 7:24), and Petros
(Peter’s name) is the word for a piece of rock small enough to hold in
your hand.
Commentators I respect argue back and forth, however, as to whether or
not this difference in meaning should factor in to our interpretation of
this text.
- In English,
however, we tend to translate petra
as “rock” and then to transliterate Petros as “Peter” so the play on words is lost.
- It
is also important to note that giving and receiving names is part of
having a personal relationship with God:
- Peter was not this
man’s given name, his real name was “Simon son of John.” Peter was a
nickname that Jesus had given him (John 1:42, Mat. 4:18). Here Jesus
explains why He gave him the name Peter, because, under Jesus’ influence,
Peter was becoming a rock-solid spiritual leader.
- Likewise, “Abraham”
was a name given by God to a man named Abram, who was promised to be the
father of many nations,
- “Israel” to Jacob, because he wrestled with God,
- God called Solomon
Jedediah, because he was dearly loved by God,
- then to the
Prophet Isaiah God said that He would call his people by a new name
(62:2),
- and in the N.T.,
Saul was renamed Paul,
- and in Rev. 2:17,
God promised the overcomers in the church in Pergamum stones with a new
name written on them.
- This is one of the
ways God expresses a relationship with us – He changes us by His grace
and then calls us by a new name that reflects our characteristics as a
new creation.
- Likewise, we use
names for God to express our relationship with Him. Throughout the Bible
people describe God with so many names – The Holy One, Father, Redeemer,
Christ, The Living God, The God who knows me, etc. etc. Let us use these
names in relating to God to express the ways He has related to us or to
ask Him for graces in keeping with His character – such as the Gracious
God who is slow to anger but abounding in lovingkindness.
- Now,
we need to figure out what Jesus meant by “upon this rock.” Bible
Commentators I respect fall into three camps here:
1.
Some say “This rock” is Christ
– in other words Jesus pointed to Peter and said, “Your name means ‘rock,’”
then Jesus pointed to Himself and said, “But, just as you confessed, I am the
rock upon which the church is built.”
- According to the
teaching of the rest of the Bible, this is a sound point:
1 Corinthians 3:11 (NASB) For no man can lay a foundation other than
the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
- 1 Peter 2:6-7 NASB
…I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone,
AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM
WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED. …but for those who disbelieve, THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS
REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone
- So the Bible is
clear that Christianity is built upon Christ as the foundation and
cornerstone.
- Exegetically,
however, there are some problems with saying that the stone is Jesus. It
ignores the play on words with Petra and Petros, and it disrupts the
metaphor of Jesus being the one who is building His church and makes Him
the building material instead. I think that somehow without denying that
Jesus is the foundation and cornerstone, we need to look for a different
explanation for this passage in Matthew.
2.
A slight majority of commentators I
read[14]
said that “This rock” is Peter’s confession of faith
- Again, this is a
sound point theologically, for in order to be part of the church one
should believe that Jesus is God’s Prophetic word made flesh, God’s Priestly
son who reconciled us to God, and our Kingly Lord whom we will obey.
This is the common ground of Christians on which the church is built.
- Exegetically it
has something going for it in the fact that there is a little distance
between “Peter” and “this rock” – not a lot, but some distance; they
don’t appear to be identical.
- But again, this
position is weak exegetically because it is a stretch to interpret “this
rock” as the statement that Peter had recently made, especially after Jesus
used his nickname for Peter “Petros-the
rock.”
- So, again, without
devaluing the importance of a solid confession of faith, I think this
passage requires us to consider another meaning:
3.
The third interpretation I ran across
is that “This rock” actually means “Peter” in some sense.
- “[T]he word rock
refers to Peter himself. This is the obvious meaning of the passage; and
had it not been that the Church of Rome has abused it, and applied it to
what was never intended, no other interpretation would have been sought
for.” ~Adam Clarke
- Marvin Vincent
wrote, “The word refers … to Peter
himself, in a sense defined by his previous confession, and
as enlightened by the “Father in Heaven.” … New Testament writers
recognize no impropriety in applying to the members of Christ's church
certain terms which are applied to him. For instance, Peter himself (1Pet.
2:4), calls Christ a living stone, and,
in 1Pet. 2:5, addresses the church as living
stones. In Rev. 21:14, the names of the twelve apostles
appear in the twelve foundation-stones of the heavenly city; and in Eph.
2:20, it is said, “Ye are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets (i.e., laid by the apostles and
prophets), Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone.”
- Does this mean we
have to fall into the errors of the Roman Catholics that make Peter so
important in the church hierarchy? No! The Dutch Reformed Commentator
William Hendriksen stated the qualifications well that “upon this rock”
is “…not referring to Peter as he was in himself…
1. not on Cephas as he was by nature but on him considered as a
product of grace… 2. nor [does it refer] to that apostle acting
all by himself… but ‘Peter taking his stand with the eleven’
(Acts 2:14)… 3. Not on Cephas as the primary foundation… but in a
secondary sense… always pointing… to Jesus Christ as the
one and only Savior… the Builder and Owner of the church… Peter who
preached the sermon on Pentecost… [Peter the source of the Gospel of
Mark which Matthew and Luke also quote in their gospels.]” ~Wm. Hendriksen
- It is a false
dilemma to say that if we interpret Jesus as saying that He would build
His church on faithful Peter that we have to deny that Jesus is the foundation
or that Peter’s confession of faith was an example of faith for us all.
The Bible says all three are true at the same time: Jesus would build
His church on Peter, Peter’s confession was a pattern of faith for us to
follow, and Jesus is foundation of all Christianity.
- On
this rock I will build My church
- What is a “church?”
- This is the first occurrence
of the word in the N.T.
- It is never used
of a building but always of a group of people.
- The Greek word is
a compound of the preposition “ek=out” and the verb “kalew=to call,” so it can literally
be translated the “called out ones.”
- It indicates selection
and collection – people selected/called out by Jesus and gathered
together in His name.
- The church is not
Peter’s church, it is Jesus’ church. Later on, Peter would
instruct church elders in his first epistle, “don’t lord it over those
allotted to your charge” because it’s not your flock, it’s “the flock of God!”
(1 Peter 5:2-3)
- And the church is
something that Jesus promised to build. Peter was only one stone
of many, but he was one of the first, and many living stones have been
laid down by Christ over the years on top of Peter.
- 1 Peter 2:5 NASB “you also, as
living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy
priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through
Jesus Christ.” (cf. Zec. 6:11-13)
- The church is
built as God changes the hearts of people He wants to save and as those
people hear us talk about Jesus and as those people express faith in
Jesus and join the movement!
- The final phrase
indicates that this global church movement which Jesus is overseeing is unstoppable.
- What
are The Gates of Hell, and how will they not prevail? Once again, I found
commentators I respect divided into three camps:
1. The majority saw this
as describing the forces of evil attacking the church, but the church standing
firm.
- “The expression Gates of Hades is an orientalism
for the court, throne, power, and dignity of the infernal kingdom. Hades
is contemplated as a mighty city, with formidable, frowning portals…”
~Vincent
- “[G]ates…
were the principal places for holding courts, transacting business, and
deliberating on public matters... The word “gates,” therefore, is used
for counsels, designs, machinations, evil purposes… [T]he meaning of the
passage is, that all the plots, stratagems, and machinations of the
enemies of the church would not be able to overcome it a promise that
has been remarkably fulfilled.” ~Adam Clarke
- “The
gates of hell are the powers and policies of the devil's kingdom… by
which he makes war with the Lamb…
These fight against the church by opposing gospel truths, corrupting
gospel ordinances, persecuting good ministers and good Christians… This
assures us that the enemies of the church shall not gain their point.
While the world stands, Christ will have a church in it, in which his
truths and ordinances shall be owned and kept up, in spite of all the
opposition of the powers of darkness… This gives no security to any
particular church, or church-governors that they shall never err, never
apostatize or be destroyed; but that somewhere or other the Christian
religion shall have a being…” ~Matthew Henry
- “‘[G]ates’
without doubt denotes a kind of power and fortification… The new Church
… would stand triumphant against all the designs of hell… victorious
against all the power of Satan; that is, the truth of God on which her
faith rests shall ever remain unshaken… ‘This is the victory that
overcomes the world, even your faith’ 1 John 5:4… those who are united
in Christ and acknowledge Him to be Christ and Mediator shall remain
safe from all harm even unto the end… But this also warns us that so
long as the Church is a pilgrim on this earth, she will know no rest but
will be exposed to many assaults.” ~J. Calvin
- “…in the Gospels, ‘Hades’ means ‘hell’…
Besides, those who favor the meaning ‘the realm of the dead’ experience
great difficulty in their attempt to show in what sense the gates of
that realm are striving to overpower the church and are failing in their
assault… ‘Gates of hell,’ by metonymy represents Satan and his legions
as it were storming out of hell’s gates in order to attack and destroy
the church. What we have here is an oft-repeated promise of the victory
of Christ’s church over the forces of evil.” ~Wm. Hendriksen
- While we
know that Satan assaults us, let us be careful not to give evil more
credit than it is due. So many people talk of bad things happening to us
being an assault of the devil and we get all worried that supernatural
forces are arrayed against us and might overcome us if we don’t perform
extra special spiritual prayers to keep them at bay. That’s not the
picture Jesus presents at all.
2.
A couple of the more recent commentators suggest that this is actually speaking
of the church assaulting Satan’s kingdom:
- This word translated
prevailKJV/overpowerNASB/overcomeNIV
here is a combination for the Greek preposition “kata=against” and the verb “hiskeuw=to be strong.” It occurs75
times throughout the Greek Bible, and about 80% of the time, it is
translated “strengthened/fortified/rebuilt/made strong” Here are a few
examples (For the full
list, see the appendix):
- Deut. 3:28
And charge Joshua, and strengthen him, and encourage him...
- Josh. 23:6 …therefore
strive diligently to observe and do all things written in the book
of the law of Moses…
- 2 Chron. 32:5
And Ezekias strengthened himself, and built all the wall that
had been pulled down… and fortified the strong place of the city of David, and prepared arms in abundance.
- 2 Chron, 34:10…
they gave it to the workmen who wrought in the house of the Lord, to
repair and strengthen the house.
- Psalm 89:21 For
my hand shall support him; and mine arm shall strengthen him.
- Isa. 54:2
Enlarge the place of thy tent, and of thy curtains: fix the pins, spare
not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy pins;
- Luke 21:36
"But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have
strength [be counted worthyKJV] to escape all these
things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of
Man."
- I would contend
that in almost all of the remaining instances where it is translated
“prevailed/conquered/won out against” that the idea is that they were “stronger,”
and often the word occurs before they even take up swords and go out to
fight (Ezek. 30:24 And I will strengthen the arms of the king of
Babylon, and put my sword into his hand: and he shall bring it upon
Egypt, and shall take her plunder...) .
- So from the use of
this word in the Bible, I believe the main force of its meaning is that
something is strong, not that it is attacking.
- Now, let’s apply
that to the gates of Hell – they will not be strong compared to my
church, says Christ. They are like a fortress with flimsy walls, and it
will not hold up to God’s power at work in the church!
3.
A third camp brings the interpretation full circle to its context by saying
that Death will not be strong enough to beat the church.
- You see,
Hades (which is the Greek word here in the phrase “gates of Hades/hell”)
is the realm of the dead, it’s the Greek word for the afterlife, equivalent
to the Hebrew word “Sheol”.
- The only other
place that this phrase “gates of hell/Hades” occurs in the Greek Bible
is Isa. 38:10, where King Hezekiah is remembering what he was thinking
as he was dying of illness, “I said, In the middle of my days I must
depart; I am consigned to the gates of Sheol…”
- The phrase also
occurs in the apocryphal books of Wisdom and Maccabees where it also
means “death.”
- It is synonymous
with the phrase “gates of death” found in Ps. 9:13; 107:18; and Job
38:17.
- A.T. Robertson, who is my go-to person on Biblical Greek grammar
wrote, “It is not the picture of Hades attacking
Christ’s church, but of death’s possible victory over the church. “The ekklēsia is built upon the
Messiahship of her master, and death, the gates of Hades, will not
prevail against her by keeping Him imprisoned. It was a mysterious
truth, which He will soon tell them in plain words (Mat. 16:21)...
Christ’s church will prevail and survive because He will burst the gates
of Hades and come forth conqueror… The ekklēsia
which consists of those confessing Christ as Peter has just done will
not cease. The gates of Hades or bars of Sheol will not close down on
it. Christ will rise and will keep his church alive.”
Conclusion
A. Do you know who Jesus is and what
it means that He is the Son of Man?
- That
He is fully God and fully man who is the One who can reconcile us to God.
- 1Jn.
5:1 Everyone who
believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who
loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. 1Jn. 2:22 Who
is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the
antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.
- We
who believe are part of that “called-out” church which Jesus is building
B. Who do your family, friends and co-workers say Jesus is?
Have you adequately informed them?
- Don’t be shy to speak the truth about Jesus just
because you are not a great theologian or just because it is not popular
to make statements of absolute truth.
- Explain who God is and that Jesus is God
- Explain how Jesus is a Prophet who speaks God’s
word, a Priest who brings us near to God, and a King who leads us
authoritatively.
- Yet recognize that in the end, in order for your
friends and family to believe, God Himself must convince them of the truth
of who Jesus is. Therefore we must pray and seek for God to make our
witness effective, or else it’s all in vain.
- And remember, we are part of an unstoppable movement which is
overcoming the world by faith. When the world put Jesus to death, He was
resurrected. When the world martyrs Christians, the church grows like wildfire,
and one day when Jesus returns there will be no more death!