Following the Way of Jesus (7)

Jesus makes a Promise - “I will build my Church.”

Matthew 16:13–20 NIV84

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

1. A Question of Identity: “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

The question of just who Jesus is, has occupied peoples minds for milennia now! It has given rise to speculation and interesting discussion:

Let me give but one example: Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1788) Genevan philosopher and writer, whose political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolution and the development of modern political, economic, and educational thought, summarising the life and impact of Jesus on history said: “What purity, what sweetness in his manners! What an affecting gracefulness in his delivery! What sublimity in his maxims! What profound wisdom in his discourses! What presence of mind, what subtilty, what truth in his replies! How great the command over his passions! Where is the man, where the philosopher who could so live and so die, without weakness and without ostentation? … Yes, if the life and death of Socrates are those of a sage, the life and death of Jesus are those of a God.” (Émile - On Education, book 4 - 1762).

Albert Einstein, one of the greatest of all scientists, was interviewed by George Sylvester Viereck’s and was asked by him “To what extent are you influenced by Christianity,” Einstein answered: “As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene.” When asked “You accept the historical existence of Jesus,” Einstein answered “Unquestionably! No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life.”

There is much to admire about Jesus as a man, as a teacher, as a moral influence, but as C. S Lewis famoulsly observed: “We may note in passing that He (Jesus) was never regarded as a mere moral teacher. He did not produce that effect on any of the people who actually met Him. He produced mainly three effects - Hatred - Terror - Adoration. There was no trace of people expressing mild admiration...A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said wouldn't be a great moral teacher. He'd be either a lunatic on a level with a man who says he's a poached egg or else he'd be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse...You must make your choice: either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”(C. S. Lewis: God in the Dock).

You see people love to speculate about Jesus but the trouble is, that may not lead to faith in Jesus at all. It may lead to agnosticism; or indifference or even hostility. As Thomas Carlyle(1795-1881), the renowned Scottish Historian and Philosopher said: “If Jesus Christ were to come today, people would not even crucify him. They would ask him to dinner, and hear what he had to say, and make fun of it.”

Speculation was rife in Jesus day also, so much so that Jesus asked the disciples about it! - “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah forms the climax to the long section of the Gospel which began in Matt 4:17 with Jesus’ public teaching in Galilee.

Throughout this section the question which Jesus poses in Matt 16:13 has been increasingly in view. The disciples and the crowds who heard Him preach and witnessed His miracles, as well as various groups like the Pharisees, Saducees and Herodians all has their opinions about the true identity of Jesus.

The crowds thought Him to be at the very least, a Prophet, chosen by God to declare the messsage of the Kingdom of Heaven, because His messages were inspiring!

Others saw Him as something more than just a preacher however, because of His outstanding miracles which had helped spread His fame even to Gentile lands and caused them to “praise the God of Israel” (see Matt 4:24–25; Matt 7:28–29; 9:8, 26, 31, 33; 13:54; 15:31).

The disciples summarised for Jesus, the most popular suggestions - “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” (see also Matt 11:9-14). Herod Antipas agreed with identifying Jesus with John the Baptist, believing Jesus to be “John the Baptist..raised from the dead.”(Matt 14:1-2). Elijah was popularly expected to return to earth from heaven(see Matt 11:14) and Jeremiah was famed as being a weeping prophet of Judgment, whom Jesus in some ways imitated, being referred to as a “man of sorrows and familiar with suffering” and having a ministry, which in part, expressly condemned Israel for its failure to repent and turn to God!

Even more exciting was the rumour doing the rounds, recorded in Matthew 12:23: “All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” - this identified Jesus with the promised Messiah, whom Peter calls “Christ, the Son of the Living God” - the deliverer of Israel from the hated Romans and the conqueror of the nations who would usher in a golden age of divine rule across the whole world with Israel, becoming the World’s Superpower!(see Matt 9:27;Matt 15:22).

The Pharisees and the Saducees though decided He was an imposter, a fraud who did miraculous signs to deceive people and exercised the power of “Beelzebub”, the Devil in doing so!

All this speculation, leading to arguments and disagreements which were in danger of becoming violent and dangerous from the Jewish and Roman authorities ponts of view so that the time was coming for something to be done to remove this threat from the Civil life of Israel!

“Who do you say I am?” - There somes a point on faith when speculation must give way to conviction; when questions and doubts must give way to faith - “Who do you say I am?”

This is not answered by philosophical discussion or varied opinions when reading around the subject; it is not even answered by going to Church, as worthy as all of these things can be, for as we know; going to a hospital does not of itself, make you healthy; neither does going to a school, make you clever, so neither will going to a Church make you a Christian.

KNOWLEDGE MUST BE APPLIED FOR IT TO MAKE YOU WHAT YOU SEEK TO BECOME! - Knowledge applied is faith and faith must be personal! - “Who do you say I am?”

For the disciples there was no doubt! - “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

They had arrived at this conclusion over many months not days. They had a sneaking suspicion early on about this, especailly as John the Baptist who some of them had followed pointed forward to a ‘coming one’ (Matt 3:11–12) and had identified Jesus in this ‘Messianic’ role (Matt 11:2–6).

There had also been the divine witness at his baptism(Matt 3:17) and through the mouth of demons(Matt 8:29), and thourhg His miracles leading them too draw the only conclusion possible - “Who is this that even the winds and waves obey Him?”(Matthew 8:27) so that after the walking on the water they declared, “truly you are the Son of God”(Matthew 14:33).

All of these experiences had been confirmation tro them , given by God to help them to see the true identity of Jesus - “The knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven”(Matt 13:1) had been given to the disciples and four of them, Peter, James, John and Andrew would again hear a voice from Heaven saying, “this is my beloved Son, with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him”(Matthew 17:5).

So, “Simon Peter”, openly declares what they all believed about Jesus: “you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” This is not because he was cleverer or more astutue than the others it was simply because “this was revealed to you…by my Father in Heaven.”

HIS FAITH WAS NOT SPECULATION IT WAS CONVICTION. HIS FAITH WAS NOT DIRECTED AND CENTRED ON JESUS, AND THIS IS A FAITH THAT SAVES! - Romans 10:8-10 “But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”

2. A Promise for Eternity: “I will build my Church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it”!

Jesus is going to ensure that His Church will grow from this initial faith expressed through Peter to something that will alst throughout the whole of time to eternity!

It is not notice, built upon Peter’s character, because he does not present as ‘rock-like’ in terms of stability or reliability, given that he so soon was used by Satan to rebuke Jesus (16:23). this, denied his Lord BUT is is built upon Peter’s confession which is the foundation of all subsequent confessional belief in Jesus - “you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

All who belong to the Church of Jesus Christ, declare Him to be the Messiah and Saviour of His people, their Lord and their God!.

The Church is Eph 2:20 “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.” And Peter, along with all the other Apostles of our Lord, played a foundational role in establishing the Church of Jesus Christ on earth. (see also Rev 21:14) but it is not Peter or the Apostles who ultimately ensure that this happens, it is rather Christ himself, “the foundation” laid so that others might build on it, and the “precious capstone” (1 Cor. 3:10ff.; 1 Pet. 2:6–8; etc.)

Jesus, promises that the “gates of Hades”, quite literally “the gates of death”(Isa 38:10; Ps. 9:13; 107:18), the place of the dead will not be able to prevent the Church from growing.

The point is not that the dead shall storm the Kingdom of Heaven but rather that death shall not prove a barrier to the growth of the Kingdom.

Peter’s faith is to be the foundation-stone of Jesus’ new community of the restored people of God, a community which will last beyong the grave, even into eternity! - “I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever”(Psa 23:6).

All who believe in Jesus as the Christ the Son of the Living God need not fear death because Jesus promsied: John11:25-26 “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

I follow on Twitter a man called Stuart Rogerson, a Christian man from Scotland, who describes himself as “happily married with three daughters and eight grandchildren. Dying of oesphageal cancer”

Stuart Rogerson joined the Twitter in 2019. after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, to write about the experience. His brief reflections, often beginning with the hashtag “#DyingUpdate,” and he has reached thousands of people around the world. On October 1, 2022 he tweeted: “#DyingUpdate so rather unexpectedly it’s October. 8 months since I was given 3 to live. As time passes dying becomes just ordinary daily living. No drama. Just peace, acceptance and trusting in Our Lord. Pray for you all everyday. Been interviewed again. God is good. All for Him.”

In an interview by a Christian magazine he was asked: “You are housebound and largely confined to a chair. Do you think your confinement has helped you to gain greater intimacy with Jesus?”. His answer, “Our Lord had answered my heartfelt prayer of decades that I would know my end, that I would have time to prepare others for my death. I was deeply grateful and at peace with an utter trust in His goodness. My body is dying but I’m not. I’m not dying, I am going home to be with my beloved Lord.”

Finally he was asked, “Do you have any advice about prayer for people who are caught up in the busyness of their everyday lives?” His answer, humbly staed is: “I have no advice for others except to encourage them to remember this life is a brief journey, a passing shadow on the world, and to strive to live in the presence of God every minute of the day, no matter how busy it is. To keep in constant contact with Our Lord.”

That is true faith! Personal faith! Faith that works at the “gates of death”. Faith that the “gates of Hades” cannot “overcome”! - “I will dwell in the House of the Lord, forever!”

3. A Position of Authority: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Peter here, and the other disciples in Matthew 18:18 are given the power of the Keys which gives them authority to bind and loose on earth with a promise that this will be confirmed in heaven. - Isa 22:22 “I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.”

The binding and loosing, are technical terms for the pronouncements of Rabbis on what was or was not permitted. To bind was to forbid, to loose was to permit. It probably refers to a ‘legislative’ authority among the people of God, as to what may or may not be allowed and forgiven (see Matt 18:18-20).

This is the application of John 20:23, “If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” It is through the church that Christ intends to make his word and will known; when she speaks in Christ’s name, shares the Gospel and calls people to repentance and faith in Jesus, the church binds and looses, and opens the gates of heaven to those who believe and closes them on those who do not.

This worked out very early in the life of the Church, when some Jewish Christians wanted to exclude Gentiles from the Church but God spoke to Peter in a vision and made it clear that the Church was not to call people “unclean” if God was prepared to pronouce them clean and so he made a courageous stand in accepting and welcoming Gentiles who exercised faith in Jesus because, “while Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said, “Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.”(Acts 10:45-48 see Acts 15:7–11).

And so faith in Jesus is essential to salvation - “who do you say that I am?”

Those who belong to Jesus have their identity in Christ, they know who He is and they beleive in Him by faith!

They do, by virtue of their believing faith belong to the Church that can’t be overcome by death - a remindner that the believer lives on for all eternity and can say with Paul, “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain” for to be “absent from the body is to be present with the Lord”(Philippi 1:21; 2 Cor 5:8)

And the Church is invested with Authority from heaven to declare to you, that if “you will confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and beleive in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”!(Rom 10:8,9).