SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/14/2022 9:52 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-5 “I Will Build My Church”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matthew 16:18
Message of the verse: “18 "And I
also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of
Hades shall not overpower it.”
Fifth,
Jesus spoke of the invincibility of the church, which the gates of Hades shall
not overpower.
I
suppose that may people over the ages have described “the gates of Hades” as
representing the evil forces of Satan attacking the church of Jesus Christ, but
I don’t think that is the right way of understanding this section of verse 18,
and the reason is that gates are not instruments of warfare. The purpose of gates is not to conquer but to
protect those who are behind them from being conquered, or, in the case of a
prison to keep those inside from escaping.
And “hades” which corresponds to the Hebrew word Sheol, refers here to the abode of the dead, not to eternal
hell.
I
have been studying for my Sunday school lesson for this up-coming Sunday which
is on Hebrews 11:20-22 which speaks of how Isaac, Jacob and Joseph died in
faith. One of the books that I am using
to help me in this study is “One Minute After You Die” a book written by Erwin
W. Lutzer. As the title shows this book
is about dying, and when a person dies they either go to hades or heaven. In the Old Testament before the death of our
Lord everyone when to Sheol which
according to the story that Jesus told in Luke 16 had two compartments in it,
one for those who were believers and one for those who are not believers. When Jesus died on the cross the sins of
these unbelievers were paid for, along with all those who will accept Him, and
then those believers came out of Sheol and went to heaven. Now, in the church age Sheol is only the place for
those people who die without receiving the free gift of salvation through Jesus
Christ go into, and the others who have received the free gift of salvation
through Jesus Christ go into heaven when they die. Lutzer explains that right now there are no
people in hell as especially in the KJV uses hell for hades, which is not
right. In the book of Revelation we read
that after the “Great White Throne Judgment” which is made up of only believers
that it is then that these unbelievers of all ages will be put into hell. So this is a little segment of this SD that
explains a little bit about hades.
MacArthur
writes “When the term gates and Hades are properly understood, it becomes clear
that Jesus was declaring that death has no power to hold God’s redeemed people
captive. Its gates are not strong enough
to overpower (kattischuo, to have
mastery over) and keep imprisoned the church of God, whose Lord has conquered
sin and death on her behalf (Rom. 8:2; cf. Acts 2:24). Because ‘death no longer is master over Him’
(Rom. 6:9), it is no longer master over those who belong to Him “Because I
live,’ Jesus said, ‘you shall live also’ (John 14:19). Satan now has the power of death, and he
continually uses that power in his futile attempt to destroy Christ’s
church. But Christ’s ultimate victory
over Satan’s power of death is so certain that the writer of Hebrews speaks of
it in the past tense: ‘Since then the
children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the
same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of
death, that is, the devil’ (Heb. 2:14; cf. Rev. 1:18).”
Peter
speaks of this great truth in his sermon at Pentecost in Acts 2:24 “"But
God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was
impossible for Him to be held in its power.”
It is the truth about which Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers who
were wavering in their belief in the resurrection as he declared in 1 Cor.
15:14-57 “54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and
this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that
is written, "DEATH IS
SWALLOWED UP in victory. 55 "O
DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?" 56 The
sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to
God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
MacArthur
concludes this section: “In light of
what He was about to teach them concerning His own death and resurrection and
their own willingness to deny themselves and take up their crosses and follow Him
(Matt. 16:21-24), Jesus now assured the Twelve, and all believers who would
ever come to Him that the gates of Hades, the chains of death itself, could
never permanently overpower them and hold them captive.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Knowing these truths that we have talked about
in this SD I can say that I am so thankful that I do not have to fear death,
but one day look forward to the time when our Lord comes in the clouds in order
to take me to be with Him, and my prayer is that I will be one of those who are
living when this happens, but if not will return with Him to the clouds above
the earth with a new glorified body that will never be able to sin.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I trust that the Holy Spirit of God will give
me the wisdom to prepare my Sunday school lesson for this up-coming Sunday, and
that it will bring glory to the Lord.
9/14/2022 10:34 AM
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