Use Your Keys: Finding Purpose in LifeSample

The Gates

Now, are you ready for the really good stuff? The next thing Jesus says, which gives me chills just thinking about it, is “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Wow. I had heard this verse many times in my life. I envisioned that the gates were around hell. Satan & his fallen angels were hiding just behind the gate waiting to pounce. When we weren’t looking, they’d open the door, sneak out, and grab us–throwing us into their fiery prison. I thought that was too bad for him–the gates won’t prevail. Satan will ultimately stay locked up and he can’t get me because God will protect me.

Now, that’s a pretty cool picture if you stop and think about it … but the Holy Spirit showed me that my vision of what that looked like was wrong. It is so much deeper. Are you ready? In reality, we are already inside the gates. The whole world is inside the gates. Everyone on Earth is headed to hell. Satan already has us.

Don’t believe me? Ephesians 2:2 calls him the “prince of the powers of the air.” John 12:31 calls him the “ruler of the world.” Luke 4:5-6 describes how Satan offered to give Jesus the kingdom of the world if He would worship him, saying he has been given authority over it. In 2 Corinthians 4:4, he is referred to as the god of this age. Friends, we are all headed for hell, and we are inside the gates that are taking us there.

This was not God’s original plan. Hell was not created for us! Hell was created for Satan and the fallen angels who rebelled against God. Through the sins of Adam, man was corrupted, and now we are not holy enough to enter into the presence of our mighty Father. It cannot be done.

God is perfect, and we are not. Imagine a pure, perfect glass of water. Then imagine putting one tiny drop of poison in it. Is it still perfect? Would you drink it? Our sin is that poison, and one tiny sin makes us too toxic to come into the presence of our Holy Father. We absolutely cannot be good enough to escape from these gates of hell. The only way someone could … would be if they were sinless. God knew this, so He sent His Son to come to earth and live a sinless life. Then He offered Himself up as a sacrifice to remove that sin from us and make us holy so that we can go where we were intended to go.

So, with the knowledge that Jesus did those things, He is saying the gates of hell cannot hold us in. There is an escape from prison, condemnation, judgment, and eternal damnation. We can break out! The gates of hell cannot hold us into this destiny anymore because we recognize who Jesus is and what He did. How amazing is that?!