Matthew
If you are Greek, you say Hades
If you are a Hebrew Jew, you say Sheol and if you are English, you say grave
No matter how you say it, no one escapes the grave
The older we get the more we recognize the decay in our bodies
The lack of energy
Be gracious to me, Adonai,
because I am withering away; heal me, Adonai,
because my bones are shaking;
4(3) I am completely terrified; and you, Adonai — how long?
5(4) Come back, Adonai, and rescue me!
Save me for the sake of your grace;
6(5) for in death, no one remembers you; in Sh’ol, who will praise you?
Psalms 6:3-6 CJB, a Psalm of David
None of us is greater than the grave, Sheol, Hades
Peter received the revelation that Jesus is the Son of God at the Gates of Hades
Peter, preached a new message of hope after the resurrection of Jesus from the dead
…he (David) looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah that He was neither to abandon to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.” Acts 2:22-32 KJV
“the gates of Hades will not overcome” because Jesus conquered Hades
Greater than Hades
Matthew 16:17-20
17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
Jesus said Peter was blessed because it was His Father in heaven
that revealed to Peter that Jesus is the Son of the living God.
When Jesus asked…
Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
Matthew 16:13
The disciples gave answers familiar to Jewish history…
"Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah;
and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
Matthew 16:14
Jesus made a clear point about Peter’s answer.
The answer was revealed by His Father in Heaven.
This lets us know the revelation of who Jesus is
does not come from opinions of the Jews,
or Mythology for the Greeks.
All of us should be reaching out to
our Father in Heaven for the truth.
But just reaching out to heaven is not enough.
Jesus in John 14:6-7 tells us,
we have the ability to come to the Father through Himself…
6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."
Why is this important?
79 times in the NIV, the Gospels quote Jesus saying…
“I tell you the truth”
Now lots of people say they are telling the truth…
What makes Jesus different than everyone else?
One of the greatest answers is found in what Jesus told Peter…
I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
The Gates of Hades
Hades is the Greek god of the dead,
lord of the underworld.
The Old Testament calls it Sheol.
What the Greeks believed about Hades
and the Old Testament teaches about Sheol…
Is not Hell.
We have more than one word for grave
and it shouldn’t be of concern;
English is notorious for multiple words
meaning the same thing…
grave, tomb, sepulchre, cemetery plot, burial chamber.
Sheol in the Old Testament was a place of darkness,
It was a pit with worms where we will all eventually go,
down into the dust.
Job describes Sheol as my home…
I make my bed in darkness.
Job 17:11-16
Solomon says the fate of us all is to return
to the dust we came from.
Ecclesiastes 3:19-20
Jobs tells us Sheol is a place where
we will not be remembered.
Job 24:19-20
Sheol opens its throat, it is always hungry.
Isaiah 5:14, Habakkuk 2:5
David had great hope in God
and asked God to save him from Sheol.
Everyone dies.
Everyone goes to the grave.
And in Sheol everyone is separated from the God of Life.
David cried out to be saved from Sheol.
2 Samuel 22:2-7 (also see Psalms 18)
In Psalm 88, Heman the Ezrahite wrote a bleak poem
about his feeling that death was coming soon.
Psalm 88:1-7, 11-15…
O YHWH, the God of my salvation, I have cried out by day and in the night before You. Let my prayer come before You; incline Your ear to my cry!
For my soul has had enough troubles, and my life has drawn near to Sheol. I am reckoned among those who go down to the pit; I have become like a man without strength, forsaken among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom You remember no more, and they are cut off from Your hand.
You have put me in the lowest pit, in dark places, in the depths. Your wrath has rested upon me, and You have afflicted me with all Your waves…
…Will Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave, Your faithfulness in Abaddon? Will Your wonders be made known in the darkness? And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? But I, O YHWH, have cried out to You for help, and in the morning my prayer comes before You.
O YHWH, why do You reject my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me? I was afflicted and about to die from my youth on; I suffer Your terrors; I am overcome.
To Heman, Sheol was a grave of forgetfulness…
A dark pit where souls were rejected and cut off from YHWH,
unable to see His face, and remembered no more.
No wonder he felt overwhelmed.
David had a similar prayer in Psalms 6:2-5 6(5)…
For in death, no one remembers you;
in Sh’ol, who will praise you? CJB
From the gates of death, the grave, Shoeol, Hades…
No one can escape.
We are powerless to escape death.
We will decay and not be remembered.
We will not have the ability to thank God,
praise God, or be able to hope.
18 “Sh’ol cannot thank you, death cannot praise you;
those descending to the pit cannot hope for your truth.
19 The living, the living — they can thank you,
as I do today;
Isaiah 38:18-19 CJB
Our thanks to God, our Praise to God,
our hope must be done before death and the grave.
So, is it possible God will remember us?...
7 Where can I go to escape your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I climb up to heaven, you are there;
if I lie down in Sh’ol, you are there.
Psalms 139:7-8 CJB
There is hope.
10 Adonai spoke again to Achaz; he said, 11 “Ask Adonai your God to give you a sign. Ask it anywhere, from the depths of Sh’ol to the heights above.” 12 But Achaz answered, “I won’t ask, I won’t test Adonai.”
13 Then [the prophet] said,
“Listen here, house of David!
Is trying people’s patience such a small thing for you
that you must try the patience of my God as well?
14 Therefore Adonai himself
will give you people a sign:
the young woman will become pregnant,
bear a son and name him ‘Immanu El [God is with us].
Isaiah 7:10-14 CJB
The hope is the Messiah.
God wants you and I to…
“Ask a Sign for yourself”
like He said to Ahaz.
A sign that goes to the depths of Sheol
and the height of heaven.
God answered and gave us a sign…
A child born of a virgin, the Messiah.
His name is Immanuel, meaning God with us.
God will remember those who
commitment their lives to Him.
When Jesus said the Gates of Hades
will not prevail against the church…
He meant in the same way death could not hold Him,
death will not be able to hold the people of the church.
Peter delivered a poignant message
in a sermon where he quotes from
Psalm 16:8-11…
“Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. For David says of Him,
‘I saw YHWH always in my presence; for He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted; moreover my flesh will also live in hope; because You will not abandon my soul to Hades [Sheol], nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of gladness with Your Presence.’
Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on His throne, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah that He was neither to abandon to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.”
Acts 2:22-32 KJV
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
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