And the Gates of Hell shall Not Prevail against it!

 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Matthew 16:15-18 

 

Jesus declared here in this passage that the gates of hell would NOT PREVAIL against his church.  The word in the greek here for prevail is katischyō  which means to Overpower and Overcome!

 

This is vitally important to remember during the present difficulties in the world today. Whether you believe it or not, the very gates of hell (powers of Satan) are rising all around us. We are clearly told in Scripture that the final 7 years of this present age on Earth will be run by a One World Empire with the Antichrist in charge. With this Covid plandemic, the lockdowns, the FEMA concentration camps, the Great Reset, the World Economic Forum, ID 2020, Event 201, Recombinant DNA vaccine, political turmoil, lies and deception, media propaganda, etc, it's hard not to see the Final Empire rising on the horizon. 

 

Yet Jesus tells us plainly that these gates will NOT overcome His church! I run into so many Christians who are terrified of things they are learning and seeing around them. How much will God allow us to suffer? What if this happens or that happens?  I have no idea how much God will allow us to see before His rescue, but I do know this

 

The Gates of Hell will NOT Overpower the Bride of Jesus!  

 

You can take that to the bank!

 

But what about this following verse?

 

 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. Revelation 13:7

Doesn't this contradict the words Jesus spoke? Let's think about this for a moment. Jesus doesn't lie. He plainly said that satan would NOT overcome the church, but here we see that power was given to the Antichrist to overcome the saints!

 

The solution lies in the difference between the words "church" and "saints"

Church refers to a group of people who trust Jesus for their Salvation and follow Him

Saints refers to individual people who are consecrated to God. 

The PRE Tribulation connection here is plain.  We, the church, who are still alive and here on earth CANNOT be overpowered by satan. However, after we are gone and the Antichrist takes power, God will grant him to be able to overpower those still here who have since given their lives to the Lord. So, we who truly follow Jesus now will NOT be here when the Antichrist overpowers believers!  No Worries!

I'll leave you with this comforting promise.  Remember many of God's promises have conditions. As you read it, ask yourself if you are a servant of the Lord. What is a servant? Someone who does the bidding of his master!

No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.

 Isaiah 54:17