The Gates of Hell

[Tambora]

The Gates of Hell


This may throw a different spin on the meaning of what Christ said when we know how the ancient Jews would have understood it to mean according to history.

Matthew 16 ESV​

(13) Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”​

(14) And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”​

(15) He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”​

(16) Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”​

(17) And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.​

(18) And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.​

Caesarea Philippi was in the district of Bashan at the base of Mount Hermon.
It is near the northern border of Israel where present day Tel Aviv is, Golan Heights, Mount Hermon.

This region was pagan and known for worshiping demon gods.
Several shrines and temples were built at the base of Mount Hermon in the region of Bashan.

Mount Hermon is a giant rock mountain range
In this region are underground water sources with cave openings to deep dark water.
And the waters from Mount Hermon feed the Jordan River.
So deep were the waters of these cave openings that the ancients believed them to be bottomless and gates to the underworld.
These deep dark cave openings became known as "The Gates of Hades" (the gates of hell).

To this day you can visit the ruins of the ancient temple to pagan gods.


Here are some images of the area today showing the ruins of the cave openings (the gates of hell), shrine pillars, and the many cut out niches in the mountain to place their pagan idols.








This area is the rock Christ was standing on when He told the disciples that His Church would be built atop and the gates of hell would not prevail against it.

Some scholars have said that this verse is not saying that the gates of hell will attack the Rock that is Christ & His Church and will not prevail, but that it is saying that the Rock that is Christ & His Church are the ones attacking the rock (Mount Hermon) with the gates of hell and the gates of hell will not be able to withstand it.
The Rock that is Christ & His Church will be built atop (above/superior) of the gates of hell and the gates of hell will not prevail against the Rock.
The rock of the gates of hell will forever be entombed below to the underworld.
It is as if Jesus was purposely declaring that His Church, His body (He is our ROCK) will be above & superior to their rock.
Our ROCK will entomb their rock and the gates of hell forever to the underworld.


Which aligns well with:

Deuteronomy 32 ESV​

(37) Then he will say, ‘Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge,​

Knowing that history gives a different perspective of the imagery that would have come to mind of the disciples of that area Christ was speaking of.

 

[Tambora]

More about the area .......


Mount Hermon has an ancient sinister history of the fallen gods, called Watchers in the book of Enoch.
It was at this place that the fallen angels (the Watchers) made their pact to take the human daughters of mankind as wives and bear children (the nephilim) with them (from Genesis 6:1-4).

From the book of Enoch:

Book of Enoch
Chapter 6
1. And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters.
2. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.'
3. And Semjâzâ, who was their leader, said unto them: 'I fear ye will not indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin.'
4. And they all answered him and said: 'Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations not to abandon this plan but to do this thing.'
5. Then sware they all together and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it.
6. And they were in all two hundred; who descended ⌈in the days⌉ of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it.

 

[Tambora]

And more about this area ......

It is interesting is that the one tribe that abandoned GOD's allotment of land to them is missing from the list of the 144,000 saints of the tribes of Israel that are sealed in the book of Revelation.

Revelation 7 ESV​

(4) And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:​

(5) 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of Gad,​

(6) 12,000 from the tribe of Asher, 12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,​

(7) 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon, 12,000 from the tribe of Levi, 12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,​

(8) 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.​

Dan is missing. This is the only place in scripture that Dan is eliminated from the list of 12 tribes.

The tribe of Dan was originally allotted the land at the northern part of the Philistines (bordering Judah and Ephraim and the Philistines, shown on the map below just above Philistines.
But they (tribe of Dan) grew weary of trying to cast out the Philistines and moved to the northern region of Israel as shown on this map (at the northern tip of the map with the light brown area of Dan.
They abandoned the allotted land ordained by GOD and picked their own area up north to settle, in the area of Bashan. at the base of Mount Hermon.

Deuteronomy 33 ESV​

(22) And of Dan he said, “Dan is a lion's cub that leaps from Bashan.”​

Some speculate that Judas (one of the 12 apostles) being deleted from the 12 apostles is a typology of the tribe of Dan being deleted from the 12 tribes.

Some also speculate that the future antichrist will be of the tribe of Dan.

 

[glorydaz]

Yes, a very different perspective.

 

[Right Divider]

@Tambora
Great posts... so glad to see you back here. We've missed you greatly.

 

[JudgeRightly]

@Tambora
Great posts... so glad to see you back here. We've missed you greatly.

And @glorydaz too!

 

[Tambora]

@Tambora
Great posts... so glad to see you back here. We've missed you greatly.

Thanks. Missed you too.

I loved leaning about this.
I get a mental picture of Christ getting right up in the face of the enemy and saying "I'm here now, you're fired!".

In fact we learn that there were several times Christ seemed to specifically show His Superiority over devils and demons.
The Pool of Bethesda where Jesus told the lame man to get up and walk was a pagan shrine at the time.
They weren't scrambling to get in the water for YHWH's healing, they were there for the healing from pagan gods.
And Jesus pretty much established that he (the lame man) had gone to the wrong ones, and the real Most High God was there to show everyone that.
In your face again!

I remember something Chuck Missler said about wouldn't it be funny to have a bumper sticker that read: "Beware the wrath of the Lamb".

 

[Jefferson]

I've always looked at this verse differently from my friends whom I viewed as holding the passive "get stepped on for Jesus" attitude.

Gates are a defensive weapon, not an offensive weapon. Therefore, I read the verse as, "The defensive gates of Hell will not prevail against the aggressive, attacking church."

That interpretation told my friends they needed to drop their "get stepped on for Jesus" attitude. I don't think they wanted that much responsibility laid on their shoulders.

Being passive in the social wars does not require you to work so hard.

 

[Omniskeptical]

ᾅδης​

Transliteration
hadēs (Key)
Pronunciation
hah'-dace
Part of Speech
proper locative noun
Root Word (Etymology)
From ἄλφα (G1) (as negative particle) and εἴδω (G1492)

The Gates of Hades (i.e. the unnoticed) -- the term implies the something that a gate of the unknown. Not that we are to be perfect converters, but that the assembly would be always noticed till the end of life on the planet. There is life in the planet, and on the surface of it. The gates of the unknown have not prevailed against Christianity.

 

[Jefferson]

ᾅδης​

Transliteration
hadēs (Key)
Pronunciation
hah'-dace

Part of Speech
proper locative noun
Root Word (Etymology)
From ἄλφα (G1) (as negative particle) and εἴδω (G1492)

The Gates of Hades (i.e. the unnoticed) -- the term implies the something that a gate of the unknown. Not that we are to be perfect converters, but that the assembly would be always noticed til the end of life on the planet. There is life in the planet, and on the surface of it. The gate of the unknown has not prevailed against Christianity.

What?

 

[Tambora]

What?

I wondered the same.