the gates of hell will not prevail

 Today we read from these verses in the One Year Bible:

Deuteronomy 28:1-68
Luke 11:14-36
Psalm 77:1-20
Proverbs 12:18 

Let's look at Luke. Jesus casts out a demon, and many people accuse Him of driving out demons with the power of Satan. Jesus tells them that the kingdom of God has arrived. And then He says that someone who has his stuff locked up safe is protected, until someone stronger than he is comes and overpowers him and steals his stuff. That someone, if you read it in context, is Jesus stealing Satan's treasures.

And that brings us to a much misunderstood verse in the Bible. Jesus is founding the church, which is still running strong today. And He says, "Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it." Most people think of this verse as meaning, "Hell will not be able to destroy the church I'm building." But think about the verse closely. The GATES of hell will not prevail against the church. Gates don't attack. Gates DEFEND. Like the man in the story above with his stuff locked up. In this case, the stuff is human souls. And the church will attack and defeat the GATES of hell, stealing what's inside: human souls. That's what Jesus did between the time He died and was resurrected - He went to hell and plundered it. We're celebrating His death and resurrection this week. Let's keep plundering hell by sharing the good news of the kingdom of God with everyone who would otherwise be headed there.

God, thanks for giving us the church, which will attack and defeat hell.