Upon This Rock, I Will Build My Church
Today, we continue with the exploration of our heritage of the Kingdom of our Father with our main dish served from Matthew 16:13–17:
Mat 16:13–17
(13) Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
(14) And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
(15) He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
(16) Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
(17) And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
This passage begins with our Lord Jesus asking His disciples whom men said, He, the man, Jesus was.
And His disciples responded by saying who they had heard men say variously that He was.
Our Lord Jesus then pointedly asks His disciples, even as He is asking you today, “but who do you say that I am”?
In a flash of divine illumination, Peter answered, and said, you are The Christ, The Son of the living God.
What is the significance of recognizing who, the man, Jesus, is in truth?
In 1John 5:1, the Apostle of our Lord Jesus makes a simple, yet the fundamental statement:
1Jn 5:1
(1) Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.
Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.
In verse 5 of the same 1John5, he interprets for us what it means to believe that Jesus is The Christ of God:
1Jn 5:5
(5) Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
To believe that Jesus is The Christ is to believe that He is The Son of the living God.
This was the Apostle Peter’s inspired recognition and verbal proclamation that culminated in our Lord Jesus declaring him blessed.
And this is all it takes for you to be transformed from a child of the devil to a child of God: simply believe in your heart and proclaim that the man, Jesus, is the Christ of God, The Son of the living God.
Going further, our Lord Jesus makes two fundamental declarations in Matthew 16:18:
Mat 16:18
(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.
Firstly, He declares that the inspired recognition and verbal proclamation that He is The Son of God is “the”, not “a”, but the foundation upon which His church is built.
Secondly, He states that his church prosecutes the war against hell and overcomes it on this premise.
His Apostle reechoes this in 1John 5:5:
1Jn 5:5
(5) Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Prevailing against the gates of hell is premised on being unwaveringly anchored in the truth that Jesus is The Son of God.
Furthermore, in Matthew 16:19, our Lord Jesus reveals the inseparable relationship between His Divinity and His Royal heritage of His Father’s Kingdom, saying:
Mat 16:19
(19) I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
The church of The Firstborn on the earth has the authority of The Kingdom of Heaven delegated to her by her King.
And she brings to bear the rule of God on earth by allowing or disallowing whatever is decreed from The Throne in Heaven.
The Kingdom of Heaven thus rules in, and through us on the earth, for God’s will is done when we exercise the authority delegated to us as it is written in Matthew 6:10:
Mat 6:10
(10) Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
We continue with our Lord Jesus’s profound discussion with His disciples in Matthew 16: 21–23:
Verse 21:
Mat 16:21
(21) From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
Subsequent to His revealing the foundation of His church, He began to unveil to His disciples how He must suffer in the hands of men in Jerusalem, be killed, and be resurrected again on the third day.
Verse 22:
Mat 16:22
(22) Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.
Out of human compassion, which may often be in stiff opposition to the cross of our Lord Jesus, Peter began to flay Him, saying, that none of the things written about Him would befall Him.
And verse 23:
Mat 16:23
(23) But He turned and said to Peter, Go, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you do not savor the things that are of God, but those that are of men.
Our Lord Jesus responded to this contrary emotional zeal sourced from Peter’s unsanctified soul by discerning who was speaking through Peter in an attempt to derail Him from the will of His Father being fulfilled in Him.
He discerned the person speaking in Peter’s voice as Satan, the prince of this world.
And if we would not be derailed, you and I must consistently discern whose voice we are hearing in our thoughts, or, audibly through close friends and all.
We must know our Shepherd’s Voice distinctively.
Here is the foundational guide for us to rightly identify The Voice of The Shepherd and Bishop of our souls:
1. We must have a heart absolutely devoid of the love of the world: a heart exclusively devoted to our Lord Jesus and His Gospel; otherwise, we are prime candidates for deception.
And yes, the deception could directly be at God’s instance.
In other words, you will hear from God as it were, but what you hear is not His will for you.
It is indeed a setup approved by God to facilitate a tragic end ultimately!
However, we must note that though it could be approved by Him, deceit cannot be sourced in God.
It is written concerning our Lord Jesus, or if you would, about our God, that He neither sinned nor was there any deception found in His mouth.
The old serpent is the deceiver: he, it is who deceives the whole world as is written in Revelation 12:9.
Examples of men deceived by their hearts compromised with the world with their deception and consequent tragic end sanctioned by God may be found in Numbers 22; Ezekiel 14:1–11; 1Kings 22:19–23; and 2Thessalonians 2:11
2. The voice we hear and perceive to be God’s must be in harmony with two or three scriptures that must find their fulfillment in Christ.
Our Lord Christ is all that God is speaking to us as is written in Hebrews 1:1 & 2.
3. The Spirit of Truth in us must bear witness that what we are hearing is of God.
4. We must be settled in our hearts that what God speaks will invariably always be consistent with His holy and righteous nature; and in relation to others, love is the litmus test; with peace as both the guide and His fruit.
5. God’s voice will always be in concert with His eternal plan and purposes in Christ Jesus.
6. God’s voice will not be at variance with those He has given authority over us. God is not the author of confusion and thus His voice will not speak contrary to those He has placed in:
i. Spiritual authority — those who are accountable to Him for us; and who watch over our souls in love and not for personal dominion or for financial gain.
ii. His words will not be in conflict with those to whom He delegated the authority in the family, where the husband and father is the head.
iii. The voice of God will not be in discord with the civil authority installed by Him.
This is limited to these men and women in authority being subject to Christ as King overall, and thus they speak as the oracles of God only when their words are in harmony with the nature of God, and with His eternal purpose, and of course in accord with that which is written.
At this point we will conclude our meal with the words of that Great Shepherd of the sheep written in John 10:4 & 5:
Joh 10:4–5
(4) When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
(5) A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
Amen.
