Possessing the Gate of Your enemies

I noticed that two references concerning blessing refer to "possessing the gate of your enemies."  Look at God blessing Abraham:

I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, (Genesis 22:17 ESV)

Now, look at Jesus commending Peter for Peter's identification of Jesus as the Christ. Jesus commends Peter and then blesses the Church:

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. (Matthew 16:18)

Both passages talk about basically possessing the gates of their enemies. I'm not sure what it means, but it is an interesting parallel.

Francis Schaffer on Work, Life and Death

His [Schaeffer] view of death and his own death was having confidence that life matters and that the world matters, that life and existence is something real, true and eternal and is not going to just disappear into thin air. Because of that you fight to live, and because of that you need to go out and carry on the good fight. You do matter, and God does exist. So you put your hand to the plow, you work and you struggle—you do what you can in all different areas, with passion. You don’t sit in a corner somewhere and wait to die. You don’t embrace death. You see death as a terrible, terrible enemy. What you look forward to is not death, but the Second coming. You are longing and working for that. Contrary to what people say—that you can’t take anything with you—yes, you do take your work with you. It’s a biblical teaching, that what you do matters and will continue on into eternity—building houses, walls, and hiking paths and the whole of human existence. You live with energy.

Colin Duriez quoting Debby Midelmann, 2007 about her father's, Francis Schaeffer, views on life and death.