The Gates of Hell
We have been particularly impressed by the teaching of Ray Vander Laan and the Faith Lessons DVD series produced by Focus on the Family. Dr. James Dobson says, “Nothing has opened and illuminated the Scriptures for me quite like the Faith Lessons series.” One particular lesson puts an interesting twist on a familiar passage in Matthew, and steers it in a beautifully missional direction. Though the advantage of the Faith Lessons is that Vander Laan teaches on location, we have summarized his exegesis of the Matthew text and attempted to preserve his stream of thought in a way that we hope you find insightful. To learn more about Ray Vander Laan or the Faith Lessons DVD series, visit: www.followtherabbi.com
Banias (or Banyas), at the foot of Mount Hermon, is where the Jordan River begins in northern Israel. More precisely, the Jordan River is fed by several springs that come together in this region, and Banias is one of the springs. Banias is also the place known in the New Testament as Caesarea Philippi. Herod the Great built a temple at Banias and dedicated it to Caesar Augustus. Later, his son, Herod Philip the tetrarch, made his home there and renamed it Caesarea Philippi. Caesarea Philippi was a pagan place, notorious for its evil.
In Old Testament times, the tribe of Dan, after an ongoing struggle with the Philistines in the south, relocated to an area just 5 miles from Banias in the north. This new settlement, called Dan, became the high place where King Jeroboam put up the golden calf, and this area became a center for the worship of fertility gods and for Baal worship. Because of the interconnectedness between fertility, water, and life—the lush springs at Banias were understood to be the dwelling place of the fertility gods.
In New Testament times, Baal worship no longer existed because the Greeks and Romans had stopped its deplorable practices. But due to Greek influence, people simply worshipped Greek fertility gods. At Caesarea Philippi, the fertility god was known by the name Pan. There, idols were nestled in chiseled out niches on a high rock wall dedicated to Pan, and the Banias spring flowed out of a cave in this temple carved out of the rock formation.
Twenty miles south of Banias is the Sea of Galilee—the region where Jesus did much of his ministry with his disciples. As Jesus was nearing the conclusion of his formal ministry with the twelve, Matthew 16:13-15 says, “Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’”
Considering its history and reputation, why would Jesus take the disciples to Caesarea Philippi in this situation and ask them these questions? In light of standing before the massive shrine (rock) adorned with idols, verse 16 begins to give the answer, “Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’”
“Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon (Peter) son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church…’” (Matthew 16:17-18)
In the Catholic tradition, the rock is Peter, and the church is built on Peter and his work. In the Protestant faith, Peter’s confession is the rock on which the church is built. But considering the geography and the historical context, there is an additional concept that Jesus may have intended. The rock was clearly the shrine standing before them at Caesarea Philippi—the place where the gods were. The rock represented the fertility gods, the paganism, and the ungodly values of the culture. When Jesus tells Peter, “on this rock I will build my church,” Jesus is boldly declaring that the church is going to come and take the place of the paganism and idolatry that was before their very eyes.
Later in verse 18, Jesus continues saying, “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Banias was originally where the Canaanite god, Baal, was worshipped. Each year, Baal went down to the underworld to a place called Hades, where he spent the winter before coming back to life in the spring. Baal is also referred to as Beelzebub, lord of the underworld, the god of the dead—the god of hell. Jesus refers to Beelzebub, or Baal, as the devil. Given the context and the ancient understanding of water and what happens below the surface, the Banias spring is an obvious visual metaphor for, “the gates of hell.” Interestingly enough, Vander Laan refers to a rabbinic source that says, “When Messiah comes, the gates of Caesarea Philippi will collapse because of the wickedness and the paganness of that particular place.” Jesus may have even had this in mind.
Jesus says that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. When we picture this imagery, we typically envision the church as a massive fortress, and the devil continuously pounding against it to no avail. But consider this: In ancient culture, in wartime, what was the function of city gates? To defend. So if the gates of hell will not prevail against the church, who is attacking whom? The image of the church as a fortress keeping the devil out, is absolutely backwards!
The imagery here is that Jesus is going to build his church on this rock—meaning that his way is going to replace the power, religion, and strength of the devil—and the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. Jesus is saying that our mission, in our culture and in our society, is to take on the gates—the very entrance and strength of hell itself—the devil. As Christians, we have traditionally been defensive. We’ve made a serious mistake and made ourselves relatively ineffective in confronting the evils of our culture because we’ve hidden from the gates of hell.
When Jesus took the disciples to Caesarea Philippi, it was somewhat of a commencement into a new season in life. Jesus had taught them for three years, and by going to Caesarea Philippi, Jesus was telling them that the main point of everything they had learned was that their mission would be to leave that place and take on the very power of the devil in world in which they lived. This is the spirit of Christian mission.
Source Information:
Garner, B. (Producer/Director), & Stiles, S. (Director). (2004). Faith Lessons on the Death & Resurrection of the Messiah – volume 4; That the World May Know with Ray Vander Laan [DVD]. United States: A Focus on the Family Films presentation. Distributed by Zondervan.