Matthew 16:13-20 Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ

Jesus asked his disciples: "Who do people say I am?" The disciples had all the answers of the day: "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." If I asked this question today, I think the answers would be: "Some say he was a good man, others say a great healer, and yet others a charismatic leader." In the past as in the present, people use the known to classify the unknown. Unfortunately, the people and categories offered are not sufficient to identify Jesus.

Jesus asks again: "But who do you say I am?" What "other people" think is not of much importance. What matters is what I think about Jesus. What others think does not define my relationship with God, but what I think does. Peter's answer to the question is right on: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." The answer was accurate, bold, and critical. I have no part in the kingdom of God unless I believe Jesus to be the Christ, the promised Messiah who comes to save. I have no rights in the kingdom of God unless I believe Jesus is deity, God in the flesh!

The answer was not mustered by human cleverness, but by the power of God.  Sometimes I get annoyed with people who "don't get it." If truth be told, there is nothing to get and everything to receive. The revelation of who Jesus really is comes from heaven and not from man. I forget that it is God who takes off my blinders and allows me to see the truth. Flesh and blood can only present the truth, but cannot make a heart believe. Only God has that power!

Jesus' establishment of the church follows Peter's confession. The church is not established upon Peter (Peter's name is translated little rock and is masculine; the rock Christ refers to is a big rock and is feminine), but upon the truth that Peter spoke about Jesus which is to say Jesus himself. Jesus is the Rock, the Cornerstone, upon which the church is built. And he offers a promise: "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." This phrase does not place the Church on the defensive, but quite the contrary. The Church is on the offensive against Hell and Hell will lose! I must shake off my fears, stop being on the defensive, and move on the offensive.

What is the offensive strategy of the Church against Hell? The binding and loosing of souls. Peter's confession entitled him to have authority (the keys) to bind and loose people and all who believe what Peter believed have the same authority. The authority is not to command the heavens at my whim, but to receive orders from heaven to work on earth (the binding and loosing is accomplished in the heavens first). The binding and loosing on earth takes place through my witness to people. Those who receive the Gospel are loosed to freedom. Those who reject the Gospel remain in bondage. I must be in tune with what God wants to do so I can be an instrument in his hands.

Father, thank you for your Son Jesus Christ who is the Rock of my salvation and the Cornerstone of the Church. Help me exercise the authority you have given me to bind and loose souls. May I be on the offensive for your kingdom every day.