Caesarea Philippi and The Gates of Hades
“When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked … whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter … said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus … said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona … Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:13‑18).
In Matthew 16:13‑18, Jesus asked his apostles a simple question: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” (Here Jesus identifies himself with the title “Son of Man” or “Son of Adam.”) He subsequently narrowed the question, “whom say ye that I am?” Peter answered that Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Then Jesus spoke of the founding of “my church,” and affirmed that “the gates of Hades” (symbolic of Adamic Death) would not overpower it (NASB).
On this foundation doctrine, that Jesus is the son of the living God — Jesus would build the faith of his church. The obedience of the perfect man, Jesus, would break open the gates of the prison house of death (Isaiah 61:1) sealed shut by the disobedience of the perfect man, Adam.
THE GATES OF HADES
The gates of hell, hades, the grave, would not prevail against Christ’s program. Hades is the Greek word for the condition of death. King Hezekiah used a similar expression, using the Hebrew word sheol corresponding to the Greek hades. The occasion was when God delivered Hezekiah from illness and added 15 years to his life.
“I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years. For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth” (Isaiah 38:10).
“The Gates of Hades,” Philippi
Perhaps Jesus had these words in mind when he spoke of the Gates of Hades. However, there is an additional connection to this expression, concerning the location at which Jesus mentioned these words.
At the time, Jesus was in Caesarea Philippi Perhaps when Jesus spoke of the Gates of Hades, he pointed to a large cave known by the Pagans as the Gates of Hades. Jesus may have used the dark cave to illustrate the condition of death, sometimes rendered the pit, or the grave, as in Ecclesiastes 9:10: “There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.”
HADES IN PAGAN USE
Hades, in Pagan use, referred to a place of departed souls low in the earth, for graves are dug into the earth for common burial. They supposed a lingering of departed souls in some mystical realm of the underworld, as Satan deceived the pagan world into thinking that death is something more than what is apparent and evident, namely a cessation of life.
The Pagan world would oppose and persecute the Church, as in persecutions under Nero, Domitian, Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius through Maximinus, Decius, Valerian, and the “great persecution” from 303 to 313. This is referred to in Revelation 2:10, “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”
But the “gates of hades” would not overcome. The Church of Christ would weather this storm and prevail. Pagan Rome, by contrast, would be like “a great mountain burning with fire [of God’s judgments] … cast into the sea” (Revelation 8:8).
AN ULTIMATE RELEASE OF ALL
Jesus’ voluntary sacrifice of his perfect life to redeem Adam would throw open the impenetrable iron‑clad gates of death, so that all may live again. “In Adam all die … in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22).
All die because of sin. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).
Therefore, all need a redeemer, an intercessor, “one among a thousand, to shew unto man” a way back to “uprightness” (John 33:23). Thus, God gave His only begotten son to become flesh and lay down his life in order to bring life to humanity. What unrelenting love for God’s human creation! “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Hezekiah had said, “Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day. … we will sing … all the days of our life in the house of Jehovah” (Isaiah 38:17, 19, 20).
How glorious. When the world is raised and learn that they have life because of their loving God in heaven, and may have life forever, they will want to sing His praises (Isaiah 35). They will glorify God and Jesus, “Through all eternity, to thee, A grateful song I’ll raise, And my eternal joy shall be, To herald wide Thy praise” (Hymn 324).
— Adapted from a discourse by Br. Dan Wesol