Matthew 16:18 "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
Following Peter's magnificent confession of faith, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," Jesus prophecies, the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church which is built on the rock of apostolic faith. But we have to ask, has this prophecy been fulfilled or do we wait for a later date? At first glance it seems that we do, because the infernal gates seem most prevalent. Some stats via The Esther Project:
Some 70 million Christians have been killed since the foundation of the Church. Half of these were killed in the 20th century alone. Between 100,000 - 160,000 Christians are killed every year, in the same century, our own, which saw over a million martyrs (killed) between 2000 and 2010. In the meanwhile 217 churches are destroyed every month. And the response of the religious leaders in the West, in what was once Christendom? Silence or worse.
Witness the ersatz diversity hire Archbishop of Canterbury wandering around Africa, offering to pay them 100 million GBP in reparations for slavery. Don't say bribe. Or Pope Leo, wafting around North Africa on a "we apologize to Muslims" tour, All this while the head chopping Jihad savages are literally killing our people. So it looks as though we're waiting for a future fulfillment of Christ's prophecy because the gates of hell seem pretty prevalent, right about now. But not so fast, the problem with this point of view is that it's completely wrong.
Gates, per the above, aren't actively offensive, they're not demonic combined arms battlegroups which sally forth from the fastness of hell to wreak havoc on the Church. On the contrary, they're defensive, designed to keep the damned in and the Church out, to lock in death and prevent life. They're designed to withstand the charge of the Church and her Head, Christ. Have they succeeded or prevailed?
No, they have not, do not and will not. From the moment of Our Lord's sacrifice on the Cross the hellish gates are shattered as Christ defeats death. Hell is harrowed, it has no more power over Christ, the true rock on which the apostolic rock of faith is founded. The same gates which have no power over the Church today and every day, over the Church that is the Body of Christ and lifts the faithful up to life, the very ark of salvation. Those gates which, at the end of time, will be consigned to the lake of fire.
So we see that Jesus' words have, are, and will be fulfilled. Does this mean that the faithful won't be killed by the devils and the people they inhabit? No, they killed Christ. Does it mean that Christians, people who live in Christ, won't be mocked, imprisoned and tortured on account of their Petrine faith? No, they did the same to Christ. But it does mean this, that in Jesus we have life, victory over the iron gates of hell itself, victory over death.
Turn, then, with renewed faith to Peter's confession, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," and in that confession find life.
In Nom.,
LSP
