Gates of Hell

"On this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18).

Most people get bogged down in this verse. Is it speaking of Peter? Is he intended to be the first Pope? "No," the Protestants cry, "it isn't speaking of Peter but his confession." "Yes," the Catholics respond, "clearly it's speaking of Peter. Who else would He be referring to?" And the disagreement rages. Me? I'm fascinated by the last phrase: "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

I like the previous phrase a lot. "I will build My Church." Talk about reassuring. Somehow in these latter times we've come to conclude that it is our task. We have to form better strategies, get better marketing, compete with the world's messages. We have to figure out ways to get the unchurched into our churches so we can build the Church. Funny thing -- Jesus said He would do that. Do we actually think that the rock on which Jesus plans to build His Church is our fancy strategies and approaches?

Still, it's that last phrase that catches my eye. Most of us read that pretty fast and keep moving. It seems to say that Christ will build His Church, and no weapon formed against it can stand. They seem to see it as a certainty that the Church will continue to the end. And while I agree that the Church will continue to the end, I'm having a hard time with this being a claim of the Church being an impregnable fortress. You see, "gates" are not a weapon of war; they are a defense. You don't close gates to attack an enemy; you close them to keep him out. It is my suspicion that many of us have missed the point on this phrase.

In his book, The Great Divorce, C. S. Lewis posits a theory. Mind you, it's just his theory. I think there is merit to it. Lewis suggests that heaven and hell are much longer than we envision them. He suggests that for those who end up judged and in Hell, their Hell began at birth. Alternately, for those who are saved and end up in Heaven, their Heaven began at birth as well. The idea is that for those who end up damned (Lewis doesn't get into the "Double Predestination" discussion or the like, so let's not do that here, either.) all things that happen to them are miserable. Unpleasant things occur and it makes them miserable. Pleasant things occur and these, too, ultimately make them miserable. You see, if you are at odds with God, when He does good things to you it simply "heaps coals of fire on your head", so to speak. So everything becomes "Hell" to the one who ends up in Hell. To the one who is saved, everything "works together for good". All the unpleasant events form a tapestry of God's hand at work. All the pleasant events are blessings from above. Everything, in the end, is good -- heavenly. I don't know. Maybe Lewis has an idea with some merit here.

The other point to consider is the biblical use of the term, "hell". While we generally think of it as "the place of the damned", the final abode for evil people, a place of eternal torment, the Bible generally uses the term to simply refer to death and the grave. The Old Testament terminology is commonly "Sheol". It isn't the place final damnation; it is the place that you go to when you die, damned or not. This place is illustrated in Jesus's story of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-31). These two characters both die and go to "hell", but the place is divided. The rich man is in torment, but Lazarus is in comfort. The place is referred to as "Abraham's bosom". The rich man can see Lazarus in comfort. It is one place -- the place of the dead.

Now, consider this. The Bible says that everyone is "dead in sin" (Eph. 2:1) until something changes that condition. There is a sense, then, in which each person is in Hell while they live on this earth. They are under the dominion of "the prince of the power of the air" (Eph. 2:2), the "god of this world" (2 Cor. 4:4). They are "slaves of sin" (Rom. 6:17). That's the condition of natural Man -- in Hell. It is my suspicion that this is what Jesus had in mind when He said "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it." He was saying, essentially, "You are surrounded by an evil kingdom called 'Hell' with gates that you can't breach, but I will breach them and take those from it that I wish to take. I will take people from spiritual death to life and use those to build My Church." Years ago there was a Christian musical group called "Jerusalem". They had an album entitled 10 Years After and a song that caught this idea: "Plunder Hell and Populate Heaven". Maybe, just maybe, that's the idea behind Jesus's statement. We are to plunder Hell to populate Heaven.