Textual: The very clear referent for this verse comes from Matthew:
Matthew 16:18
18 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.
In the Book of Mormon version as well as that of Matthew, we have the three essential elements, a rock, something that is being built, and the gates of hell. Of course the difference between the two is the nature of the “rock.” In Matthew the most obvious reference is to Peter. In the Book of Mormon the “rock” is the gospel. The difference is not nearly as great as it might appear, for while the Matthean phrase appears to be correlated to Peter, it is actually built upon the passage that precedes this one:
Matthew 16:13-17
13 ¶ When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?
14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
Of course the thing being built is the church and kingdom. On what should the church be built? In Matthew it is built revelation that Jesus is the Messiah. In the Book of Mormon it is the revealed doctrine of that Messiah.
M’Neile explains:
“In this case the words are addressed to Peter as an individual, not as bishop of Rome. But if he is the ‘rock,’ ταύτη is strange after the direct σύ εί. It would be more natural if the lord were speaking of him in the third person to the other disciples. Nor is it more natural if the ‘rock’ is Jesus Himself. The reference is probably to the truth which the apostle had proclaimed; the fact of the Lord’s Messiahship was to be the immovable bed-rock on which his ‘ecclesia’ would stand secure.” (Alan Hugh M’Neile, D.D. The Gospel According to St. Matthew. Macmillan and Co., LTD. New York, 1961, p. 241).
The next interesting aspect of the passage is the “gates of hell.” This is certainly a known image from the Old World, but not as well known from the New. The gates of hell are the gates that hold in the dead in the land of the dead. When those gates are attacked by the atonement and the resurrection, they will not be able to against the power of the atonement.