The "Rock"

^{Matthew 16 : 13-20
13}When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"

¹⁴They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

¹⁵"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"

¹⁶Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ,^b]">[b] the Son of the living God."

¹⁷Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. ¹⁸And I tell you that you are Peter,^c]">[c] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades^d]">[d] will not overcome it.^e]">[e] ¹⁹I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be^f]">[f] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be^g]">[g] loosed in heaven." ²⁰Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

I have often thought that Jesus was giving Peter a special appointment here telling him that he would be the one to build Jesus' church. And to some extent I think he was but focusing on that as many people do I think misses a key part of what Jesus was saying. First let me say that I know that Peter is very close to the word for Rock in Greek having taken classes in new testament Greek and that I do believe that Jesus was assigning Peter a particular role to play in the building of his church here on earth, just look at verse 19. But I think most people miss something from this verse, at least I know I did for a long time, and that is this; if you stop focusing on Peter as the rock and instead focus on the words Jesus spoke you get the idea that Jesus was instead saying that the rock that the church will be built on is in fact the confession of Christ as the Son of God. This is something that I think the church today misses, it is not Peter who is the Rock but rather the rock is the confession. This should be a great encouragement to all because of what Jesus says about that rock v 18"...and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." The gates of Hades will not over come it. I don't know if you have seen Lord of the Ring: Return of the King but if you have then you will know what it is I picture in this verse. In the movie the entire army of Mordor (sp) Comes out of the gates and as they swing wide Aragorn and the rest meet with an army vast beyond imagining, and definitely much bigger than the group they have brought. But Jesus says the the entire army of Hell, Satan himself and every angle cast down out of heaven with him have no power over the church or its members because of a single confession "Jesus is the Son of the Living God". That confession gives you all the protection you need. Be warned though Jesus says you will nto be overcome this implies that you will infact be attacked, in fact to me it seems that the church is attaked by the entire force of Hell not one fallen angel is left behind but all have put on thier battle gear and are marching out to meet us, with the intent to destroy us. Jesus is the Son of the Living God. Satan is smart he has been deafeated already by God and his angles and knows that he can not win by force but now focuses on us and to separate us from our protection. He does not attack heaven and its angels instead he attacks our link to God. He will try to get us to deny it, or to say that it is not true. If we allow ourselves to believe that Jesus and God himself and all of thier angles are not fighting to defend the church or that we dont matter individually to them then Satan sees his oppourtunity to separate us from the rock and destroy us. So I encourage you brothers and sisters hold firm to your faith and stand steady on the rock because the gated of Hades cannot and will not over come it or you while you still hold firm.