The Victorious Church - Nee

Watchman Nee Daily Devotional for 9-27-11

Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16.18.

Gates serve as entrance and exit. Neither Hades nor death can hold on to believers or the church, because the incorruptible life has already been manifested in them (see 2 Tim. 1.10). This incorruptible life has come out of Hades. For the Lord has the authority to have His life enter in and exit out of Hades at will. Hades has no power to hold back this life. And what has been deposited in the believer is the very same life. For this reason, Hades cannot withhold us either. However vicious the environment—trial, persecution, malice, murder, and so forth—and though we may be walled in on all sides, we shall have a life which can neither be withheld nor overcome by any environment.

If the Bride of Christ will set
herself apart from the filth of
the world and the stain of sin;
if the Bride of Christ will forsake
all else and pledge her heart, her
life, her all to the One who bought
her with His Own blood; the Bride-
groom is sure to return for her !!

As much as I appreciate what Nee is saying here in a sentimental sense, that is probably not at all what Jesus meant. Throughout the bible and in the ancient world the "gates" were a place where elders or significant movers and shakers of a city spent time (See Genesis 19:1, and Genesis 34:24 for examples.) This makes sense because it was the best place to keep track of what was going on in the city. It was like the city council. I suspect that when Jesus said this, he was in effect saying, "The councils of hell will not prevail against a church that confesses Jesus to be the Messiah, the Son of the Living God." This confession is the "rock" Jesus spoke of. He is the foundational rock against which hell cannot successfully bring council.

For, "[If the] princes of this world had known [it], they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory." (Slightly reworded to apply grammatically) -1 Corinthians 2:8