The title of the Word: The Authority Of The Church Of God That The Gates Of Hell Cannot Prevail
Jesus finally asked His disciples how knew the world about him. Some have said that John the Baptist, and some others, are either Jeremiah or one of the prophets. Most of the people in this age also see him as one of the saints or one of the prophets.
Finally, Jesus asked the disciples who he is. Then Simon Peter answered immediately:
” Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
At that time, Jesus was the son of Joseph, a carpenter, about thirty years old. How could Simon Peter confess that Jesus was the very Christ foretold in the Bible? Jesus first said to Him who recognized Him that He is blessed. He also said that no one with blood and flesh could have made him known to him, but that he was revealed by God the Father in heaven.
That Jesus is the Christ, prophesied in the Bible, is that He alone is the God who gives eternal life to all who believe in Him. He who believes in Him must first know who He is. Jesus said of eternal life in his final prayer before he died:
” And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17: 3)
In other words, when we know that Jesus is the very Christ foretold in the Bible, we will receive eternal life when we become children of our Heavenly Father by faith. Jesus said that only those who believed in Him would come to the Father:
” I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me..” (John 14: 6)
The fact that Jesus Christ had been foretold in the Bible in advance that he is the way to heaven, the God who gives life to those who believe in Him. He is the one who can get rid of the devil, the serpent who brought sin on earth He is the only one who can eliminate all the sins that are spread all over the world.
Although many prophecies about Jesus Christ are recorded in the Old Testament, the first prophecy of Christ is clearly contained in the words of God spoken unto the serpent who brought sin and death in the Garden of Eden:
” And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel..” (Genesis 3:15)
God called Abraham to fulfill what he had said. He gave Jacob the name of Israel, choosing the Israelites, and saying that he was his own God’s wife.
” For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.” (Isaiah 54: 5)
God has made Israel a spiritual woman in order to send His only Begotten Son into the earth in the form of Son of man as the seed of a woman. Apostle Paul recognized this truth and testified to the Galatians:
” Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. (Galatians 3:16)
Jesus Christ, who came as the Christ, must give eternal life to all who believe in Him, because He must take away all the sin of the world by dying and devouring His whole body, so that God the Father uses the serpent devil to kill Jesus Christ on the cross By nailing to bruise His heel. But God has enabled the resurrection of Christ on the third day through the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome the power of sin and death. As soon as Christ Jesus appears again in this world, the seed of woman that is , Christ Jesus, will bruise the head of the serpent that is the devil, and at this time heaven and earth will become new heavens and a new earth without sin and death.
Therefore, Apostle Paul testified unto the Corinthians that if they had not believed the gospel of Christ in vain, they are saved. He continued to say, Christ died for our sins and was buried and rose again the third day according to the scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15: 1-4). He also testified about the bruising the head of the serpent by Christ Jesus coming as the seed of woman:
“And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.“ (Romans 16:20). “
Jesus, the Christ, finally said about establishing a church of God, composed of those who would receive life delivered from sin and death, believing in himself:
“ That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”(Matthew 16:18)
It is not that Peter is the Rock, but that He will build it on Himself. In other words, you are to make those who have received eternal life believing in the gospel of Christ, the rock, to be His own church.
God made the living water flow out like a river by having a rock hit once in the wilderness to give water to the Israelites to make them understand the truth that Christ is the rock. This is to say that by striking Christ on the cross once ,and for all that believe in Him to drink of the water of life. Apostle Paul testified about this:
” And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.” (1 Corinthians 10: 4)
Jesus, the Christ, spoke to Peter about the authority he gave to the Church after he had said that he would build his church on this rock:
” the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18)
We must realize how great the power of the church is in this statement. Everyone who believes in Christ and becomes a member of the Church of God is given the authority that the gates of hell could not prevail. Then we need to know where the gates of hell are. The serpent Satan, the Devil has for six thousand years of human history has known that those who are saved would live in this world, and he made the gates of hell in the world. All this is a net that has been set aside to persecute and swallow up the church of God.
Apostle Paul testified about the gates of hell and testified that the wrestling of our churches is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, the powers , the rulers of darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places.(Ephesians 6:12). The devil made many gates of the hell all over the world and dug the traps to make people fall into the path of destruction so that they may not Jesus Christ. In addition, the devil has done all kinds of persecution against the Christians to have them deny Jesus Christ by using his worldly power and by killings many Christians, the history of the church for the past two thousand years is truly bloody footstep. But the children of God have glorified God by defeating the gates of hell. The closest example is that now Christians in North Korea are still defeating the gates of hell laid by communist.
In addition, the devil has made the gates of the hell only using the principalities and the power, but by also using all kinds of temptation such liquor, narcotics, and fornication in order to seduce the children of God to follow the fleshly lusts of the world, He is looking for them as a roaring lion to swallow up to draw them into the hell.
But the Church of God, born of water and the Holy Spirit, can overcome all these gates of hell. In order to overcome these gates of hell, the Holy Spirit witnessed to the spiritual leader of the children of God to testify through Apostle Paul:
” Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
18Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;” (Ephesians 6: 15-18) Amen! Hallelujah!