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Revelation

13When 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, 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, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19I 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.” (Matthew 16)

Jesus has been with the disciples for around three years by this point, and there are only about six months left until His crucifixion. He really needs to get them on His plan – but how? He’s not even sure they know who He is, and nothing will ever make sense until this has been established. He’s not sure they are ready, but time has run out. You can almost feel the tension as He asks the question of the ages: “But what about you? Who do you say I am?” It is likely that the disciples have been discussing this among themselves and have reached a conclusion: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Long-time Christians have a hard time understanding why this is such a big deal. “How could they not know this by now?” we ask. But remember, even though the many factions among the Jews disagreed on many points, the one thing they all agreed on was that there was only one God. And they had seen that Jesus prayed to God. So who was this man? He had not told them. But they knew! In spite of everything in their previous understanding, they knew! “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” I would say that Jesus was ecstatic! “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.” And it is upon the “rock” that Jesus will build His church, and the gates of Hades (death) will not prevail against it.

But what is this “rock” that Jesus will build upon? Jesus; Peter; the confession of faith; belief in Jesus? There are very good arguments for each of these, but for me, the “rock” upon which the church will be built is none other than “revelation”. This ability for a man to know the will of God through revelation is the foundation of a true existence with God. This is the beginning of the re-establishment of the God-man relationship which existed before the sin of Adam – this is who man was created to be. And the church will be build upon this new beginning, with the keys to bind and loose.

This term, “the keys to bind and loose” was part of the Jewish culture and was used to recognize those who had completed their courses of study in law. On completing the course of Law a Key (as a Diploma) was received by the Jewish student who had passed his examinations for the high position of Doctor of Law. The key handed to the student had the words ‘receive authority to bind and to loose’ inscribed on the key. Having mastered the Law, the Doctor of Law could now say what was lawful and what was unlawful. The scribes in the day of Jesus looked upon Keys as their insignia of their office to be interpreters of the moral law.

But there is more. In the original text the tense used to describe this if “future perfect”. Thus, it is really saying, “Whatever has already been bound in heaven you can now see through revelation and bind in the church, and whatever has already been loosed in heaven you can see through revelation and loose in the church.”

Now that is a church built upon the rock of revelation!

Note: This was also express by Paul in 1 Galatians 11: “I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.”