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THE GATES OF HELL

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Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California, U. S. A. · Sep 9, 1930

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 57, No. 35.

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THE GATES OF HELL

By Allen Walker

Christ has the keys of hell and of death.
Christ has the keys of hell and of death.
When Jesus said, “Upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18), what did He mean by the words “gates of hell”? The Roman Catholic Church says this means that, beginning with Peter, the “apostolic succession” would not be interrupted, and on this basis they attempt to prove that the Roman Catholic Church is the true church. Is this what Jesus had in mind when He said, “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it”?
The word “hell” in this text is from the Greek “Hades,” which word, all informed people know, means the grave. What Jesus meant was that although the members of the church may die and go into the grave, the time would come when, by a resurrection, they would be released and no longer held there. If they should never be released, then the “gates of hell” would “prevail.”
ALLEN WALKER
In Isaiah 38:10 the king said that if he should die he would go to “the gates of the grave,” which is the same as “the gates of hell.” The resurrection of Jesus is the pledge that those who have “fallen asleep” “in Christ” will be raised from the dead when He comes again. Jesus declares: “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” Revelation 1:18. So with these “keys” of resurrection power Christ will unlock the “gates of hell” (“Hades”) and let the prisoners go free. As they come forth on that glad resurrection morn, they in triumph will exclaim, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” 1 Corinthians 15:55.

A WONDERFUL PROMISE

Becoming members of the church did not mean that they would be immune from physical death. Many of them would die a martyr’s death for their faith and loyalty to Christ. But they were to “fear none of those things.” For the day will come when “the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16. It is because of the certainty of the resurrection that “the gates of hell” will not “prevail.” The promise is, “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death.” Hosea 13:14.