"The Gates of Hell Shall not Prevail Against it."
By John Nevins Andrews
THIS was our Lord's promise concerning his church. The hell here brought to view, is not gehenna, the place of the damned, nor yet tartarus, the abode of the fallen angels, but hades, the place of the dead. The gates of hades, the place of the dead, shall not prevail against the church of Christ. This does not mean that the individual members of the church shall not die; but it does mean, (1) That hades shall never swallow up the entire church so that the people of God shall be extinguished from the earth, and no remnant left to maintain God's pure worship; but, (2) more fully does this promise relate to the fact, that though the people of God from generation to generation enter hades and have its gates close upon them, they shall, by-and-by, have these gates opened to them, that they may come forth in triumph. Paul tells us that at the sound of the last trumpet the saints shall put on immortality; and then they shall with exceeding triumph cry out, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave [Greek, hades], where is thy victory?" 1 Cor. 15:51-55. So the victory that hades has had over the people of God is then wrenched from its grasp and given to the saints. That the gates of hades shall not prevail against the church, is therefore a promise of the resurrection of the just. And that our Lord might thus raise his people, it was necessary that he should enter hades himself (See Ps. 16; Acts 2:25-31), and bring away the key of that dark prison-house of death. This our Lord has done. Rev. 1:18. So concerning the resurrection of that people against whom hades shall not prevail, the Lord by his prophet says:-- "I will ransom them from the power of the grave [sheol, or hades], I will redeem them from death; O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave [sheol, or hades], I will be thy destruction; repentance shall be hid from mine eyes." Hosea 13:14. So hades shall not only give up the saints, but shall itself be destroyed. Several questions are suggested by these facts: 1. What brings men within the gates of hades? It is death. 2. What brings them out of hades? The resurrection. 3. Is Paradise a part of hades, as some affirm? 4. If so, when hades is destroyed, what becomes of Paradise? 5. But if Paradise is not a part of hades, how could our Lord who went to hades at his death, also at the same time be in Paradise? 6. Again, if Paradise is in hades, where is hades itself? Every scripture which gives its location, places it in the bosom, or heart, or nether part, of the earth. Eze. 32:18-32; 31:16-18; Isa. 14:1-15. 7. If Paradise then is in hades, hades being in the nether parts of the earth. Paul when caught away in vision to Paradise, was not taken to the third heaven as he supposed, but to the depths of the earth! 8. And how about the tree of life that grows in Paradise? Is it flourishing in some cavern in the interior of the earth? 9. And why speak of the gates of hades prevailing against the church, if they are only opened to the righteous to admit them into Paradise? 10. Finally, who would ever think of locating Paradise in sheol, or hades, were not the Scriptures so explicit that the righteous at death do not enter Heaven, but do enter sheol, or hades? Compare Acts 2:34; Eccl. 9:10. 11. Yet, after all, would it not be as well to view death and hades as conquered enemies that do not usher us into Heaven, but that do have a temporary victory over us till Jesus shall unlock this dark prison, and raise us to immortal life?
J. N. A.