Matthew
Death cannot Overcome the Church
From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed,
and be raised the third day.
Jesus the Messiah must die and go to the Grave, Hades, Sheol
He must die, but not see decay
For 4000 years, people hoped they would be remembered after the grave
Even Peter’s revelation that Jesus is the Son of the Living God did not prepare him for God’s answer to the question, “Can God overcome the Grave, Hades, Sheol?
Peter receives the revelation that Jesus is the “Son of the Living God”
but he could not believe Jesus must suffer and die
Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying,
"Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!"
But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men." Matthew 16:21-22
Because Jesus died on a cross, and was buried in a grave, and rose from the dead,
Jesus is able to say the Gates of Hades shall not overcome the Church
The Church is alive today
Although many have laid down their lives like the Son of the Living God,
the Church is still triumphant
He will swallow up death forever. Isaiah 25:8
"I will ransom them from the power of the grave;
I will redeem them from death.
Where, O death, are your plagues?
Where, O grave, is your destruction? Hosea 13:14
Death cannot Overcome the Church
Jesus said…
And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
The Gates of Hades are not Hell.
Jesus later will use the word Gehenna to better describe Hell.
Jesus was addressing the grave we all will someday lay in…
The ultimate end of our flesh will be to rot and be eaten by worms.
When I was a boy my grandfather,
after a day of fishing and cleaning the fish,
would take what we would not eat
and bury the remaining carcass next to the rose bush for fertilizer.
All flesh returns to the earth it came from.
So, is that the end of us?
We go to a place where we will be forgotten?
Is the grave the end?
Or, will the Son of the Living God remember us?
Job had this question…
Job 7:7-10; 14:7-14
Oh that You would hide me in Sheol, that You would conceal me until Your wrath returns to You, that You would set a limit for me and remember me! If a man dies, will he live again?”
Ethan the Ezrahite, writer of Psalm 89,
asked a similar question…
How long, O YHWH? Will You hide Yourself forever? Will Your wrath burn like fire? Remember what my span of life is; for what vanity You have created all the sons of men! What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah. Where are Your former lovingkindnesses, O Lord, which You swore to David in Your faithfulness?
Psalm 89:46-48
Ethan prayed the prayer,
and through Hosea, God answered…
Yet I have been YHWH your God since the land of Egypt; and you were not to know any god except Me, for there is no Saviour besides Me. I cared for you in the wilderness, in the land of drought. As they had their pasture, they became satisfied, and being satisfied, their heart became proud; therefore they forgot Me…
…Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from death? O Death, where are your thorns? O Sheol, where is your sting?
Hosea 13:4-6, 14a
Interesting that both Job and Ethan
talked about being forgotten in Sheol.
“Remember me!” said Job.
“Remember what my life span is!” said Ethan.
But God was quick to point out that after all He had done,
it was His own people who had forgotten Him.
And so He answered their question with a question…
“Shall I ransom them?… Shall I redeem them?”
It wasn’t a question of “if He could”,
it was a question of “if He would”.
But God kept every promise He made,
and He promised Salvation.
Ransom and redemption was exactly what God planned
and it was exactly what He would deliver!
Isaiah wrote that God cancelled
our covenant with death & the grave…
Therefore, hear the word of YHWH, O scoffers, who rule this people who are in Jerusalem, because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have made a pact. The overwhelming scourge will not reach us when it passes by, for we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception.”
Therefore thus says the Lord YHWH, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed. I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the level; then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies and the waters will overflow the secret place. Your covenant with death will be canceled, and your pact with Sheol will not stand.”
Isaiah 28:14-18a
Out of the very DEEP place,
God would raise up and redeem us!
We would no longer be chained to death or the grave.
The prayer of Hannah really drives the point home.
God had granted Hannah her deepest desire…
To become a mother.
In her joy, she gave a prophetic prayer…
“YHWH kills and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up. YHWH makes poor and rich; He brings low, He also exalts. He raises the poor from the dust, He lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with nobles, and inherit a seat of honour; for the pillars of the earth are YHWH’s, and He set the world on them. He keeps the feet of His godly ones, but the wicked ones are silenced in darkness; for not by might shall a man prevail.”
1 Samuel 2:6-9
God had the ability to take the lowly and raise them up…
In every aspect of life, and in every aspect of death.
The treasured child that Hannah had was Samuel,
the priest who would later anoint David as king.
David, perhaps under the guidance of Samuel,
knew God had the ability to raise up life and death.
He proclaimed, out-loud, that God
would not abandon his soul to Sheol…
He would rise up and be delivered
out of the depths of darkness and the pit of nothingness…
Teach me Your way, O YHWH; I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name. I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and will glorify Your name forever. For Your lovingkindness toward me is great, and You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
Psalm 86:11-13
Jesus in Matthew 16 was bringing
this all together in verse 21.
Jesus said…
From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.
Jesus the Messiah must die and go to the Grave, Hades, Sheol.
He must die, but not see decay.
For 4000 years, people hoped they
would be remembered after the grave.
Even Peter’s revelation that Jesus
is the Son of the Living God,
did not prepare Him for God’s answer to the question…
“Can God overcome the Grave, Hades, Sheol?
It was a process Jesus had to take His disciples through
and we see this in Peter’s immediate response
to Jesus’ announcement of His death…
Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!"
But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."
Matthew 16:21-22
Because Jesus died on a cross and was buried
in a grave and rose from the dead…
Jesus is able to say the Gates of Hades
shall not overcome the Church.
The Church is alive today.
Although many have laid down their lives,
like the Son of the Living God,
the Church is still triumphant.
Isaiah 25:8…
He will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces;
he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.
Hosea 13:14…
"I will ransom them from the power of the grave;
I will redeem them from death.
Where, O death, are your plagues?
Where, O grave, is your destruction?
Scripture Reading
Matthew 16:13-23 NKJV
13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"
14 So they said," Some say John the Baptist, some 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 answered and said," You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
17 Jesus answered and said to 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 also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
20 Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.
Jesus Predicts His Death and Resurrection
(Mark 8:31-33; Luke 9:21,22)
21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.
22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!"
23 But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."
Reference
Sheol: the GRAVE? Gehenna? Hades? HELL? – Hebrew Word Lessons
No comments:
Post a Comment