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Scripture Reading: Matt. 16:13-19
"Who do men say that the Son of Man is?" The Lord Jesus posed this question to the disciples. No doubt the Lord was the Son of Man. Everyone would admit that He was the Son of Man. The Jews admitted it, and so did the Gentiles. This was not the problem. The problem was not whether the Lord was the Son of Man, but who the Son of Man was. The Lord was not asking if others considered Him to be good or bad, but who did men say that He was. Those who opposed Him said that He was demon-possessed (John 7:20; 8:48, 52), a gluttonous man, and a drunkard (Matt. 11:19). We are not very concerned with these blasphemous remarks. But those who were favorable towards Him also had different views. Some said that He was John the Baptist; others said that He was Elijah. Still others said that He was Jeremiah or one of the prophets. Nicodemus said that He came from God as a teacher (John 3:2). The Samaritan woman said that He was a prophet (4:19). Who really was this Son of Man? Everyone had their own view and own opinion.
But the Lord did not stop with this question. He wanted to know one thing: He wanted to know the difference between the disciples' view of Him and the view of other men. In particular, He wanted to know the difference between Peter's knowledge of Him and others' knowledge of Him. In effect, the Lord was saying, "Others have said that I am this and I am that. But who do you say that I am? You who are My disciples, who do you say that I am?" "Who do you say that I am?" (Matt. 16:15). This was the Lord's main question.
Simon Peter answered the Lord and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (v. 16). Peter's word was clear: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Peter acknowledged two things about the Lord. First, he acknowledged that He is the Christ. Second, he acknowledged that He is the Son of God. As far as the Lord's person is concerned, He is the Son of God. As far as His work is concerned, He is the Christ of God. His being the Son speaks of who He is, and His being the Christ speaks of what He does. His being the Son speaks of His relationship with God, and His being the Christ speaks of His relationship with God's plan. As far as His person is concerned, He is the Son of the living God. As far as His work is concerned, He is the Christ, the Christ of the living God; He is the anointed One, the One set apart to accomplish God's plan. This was Peter's confession of the Lord Jesus. This is also our confession of the Lord Jesus.
After Peter made this confession, the Lord said, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in the heavens" (v. 17). This was not something that Peter thought of, or something that he learned from others. It was something that the Father who is in the heavens had revealed to him.
Following this, the Lord said, "And I also say to you" (v. 18). First the Lord showed Peter where his confession came from. Afterwards, He pointed out the great significance of this confession. What did the Lord say to Peter? He said, "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (v. 18). This tells us what the foundation of the church is. This is the most important question in Christianity. It is the crux of Christianity. What is the foundation of the church? The Lord showed us that the church is built upon "this rock." "This rock" is the foundation of the church.
Let us now specifically consider this rock. If we do not know what this rock is, we do not know the foundation of the church. If we do not know what this rock refers to, we will not know how the church is built up.
This rock is Peter's confession of the Lord. Peter confessed that the Lord Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. The church is built upon this confession. It is built upon man's confession and knowledge of the Lord Jesus.
Peter's confession did not come through a revelation of flesh and blood; he made this confession based on the revelation he received from God. This shows that Peter did not receive a Christianity that was handed down by others. He did not confess the Lord as the Christ just because others told him that the Lord is the Christ. He did not confess the Lord as the Son of the living God just because others said that He is the Son of the living God. This was not something that Peter thought of by himself, or something others told him. The Father in the heavens revealed this to him and gave him this knowledge. Peter's confession was not based on man's conjecture or the teaching of others. It was based on God's revelation of His Son in his spirit. This was the basis of his knowledge of Him as the Son of God and as the Christ of God.
The church is built upon this confession. This confession is based on God's revelation, and this revelation reveals Christ's person and work to man. When the Father who is in the heavens revealed this to Peter, He showed Peter that this One is the Son of God and the Christ of God. The Lord said, "Upon this rock I will build My church." What is this rock? It is Peter's confession: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." This word is man's confession, and it is also God's revelation. It is Christ Himself. This is the rock. The Lord is building His church upon this rock.
If we have a problem with this rock, it means we have a problem with our knowledge of the church. Once there is a problem with this rock, there is a problem with the foundation of the church. Hence, we have to spend some time to consider what this rock is. But this is a big subject; within our limited scope here, we can only touch this matter briefly.
As far as His own person is concerned, He is the Son of God. This knowledge is indispensable to everyone. Our knowledge of the Lord does not depend on what the Gospels say that He has done; our knowledge of Him depends on our knowledge of Him as the Son of God. What man sees, hears, and touches are not enough. The Lord is much more than what man sees and touches. He is the Son of the living God. Everyone confesses Him as the Son of Man; both friends and foes acknowledged Him as the Son of Man. But only those who have received God's revelation know that He is the Son of God. In God's eyes, whether or not a man has life depends on whether he knows Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of God. The Bible says, "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Him whom You have sent, Jesus Christ" (John 17:3). "That you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in His name" (20:31). "He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life" (1 John 5:12). Eternal life is knowing Jesus Christ, the One whom God has sent. Eternal life is knowing the Lord Jesus as the Son of God.
The Bible tells us that the Son of God is "the effulgence of His glory and the impress of His substance" (Heb. 1:3). He is "the image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15). The Son of God is God manifesting Himself among men. "No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him" (John 1:18). Hence, if a man wants to know God, he must know the Son of God; he must know God through the Son. The Lord Jesus is the Son of God, the expression of God's substance. All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily (Col. 2:9). God has manifested Himself through His Son. The nature of the Son is just God Himself, while the expression of God's substance is the Son. The Lord Jesus said, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). "I and the Father are one" (10:30). The Son and the Father are one. When God dwells in unapproachable light (1 Tim. 6:16), He is the Father. When He unveils Himself to man and when man sees Him and touches Him, He is the Son. John 1:14 says, "And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality." The Lord Jesus is the Word becoming flesh. This Word is the very Word who was with God in the beginning, and this Word was God (John 1:1-2). Words are expressions of a person; they represent the person himself. When a man utters some words, others realize what is inside him; they know the kind of person he is. The Son of God is God's spoken Word. Through Him man can understand and know God. The Lord Jesus, as the Son of God, is God's expression; He is God "manifested in the flesh" (1 Tim. 3:16). The Lord Jesus is the very God Himself.
Hence, to know the Lord Jesus as the Son of God is to know Him as the One who has God's life and nature; it is to know Him as God's expression and to know that He is God. If a man does not know the Lord Jesus as the Son of God, he does not know God. "Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who confesses the Son has the Father also" (1 John 2:23). God has raised the Lord Jesus from the dead and designated Him the Son of God in power (Rom. 1:4). God desires that man would know the Lord Jesus as the Son of God so that through His Son, man would come to know God Himself.
What causes us to confess that the Lord Jesus is the Son of God? God's revelation within us causes us to recognize the Lord Jesus as God's Son. The Father who is in the heavens has told us that the Lord Jesus is God's Son. The Lord Jesus performed many miracles on earth, which demonstrated that He is the Son of God. However, a man does not confess Jesus as the Son of God because of the miracles and works of wonders he sees, but because of the revelation which he receives from the Father. Many brothers and sisters believe in the Lord Jesus as the Son of God without seeing even one miracle. On the contrary, many people who saw the Lord's miracles with their own eyes did not confess Him as the Son of God. Peter did not know the Lord Jesus as the Son of God because he had followed the Lord for so many years and had insight about Him. No man can be so capable as to know Him this way. There is only one reason that a man knows the Lord Jesus is the Son of God: the Father in the heavens has revealed it to him. Those who have seen miracles can confess the Lord Jesus as the Son of God, but those who have not seen miracles can still confess the Lord Jesus as the Son of God, because the Father in the heavens grants men this revelation.
The church is a group of people whose eyes have been opened by the Lord to see that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God. This inward knowledge can withstand any test. They know inwardly that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, and nothing can shake them. They can forget what they see outwardly, and they can forget what they hear outwardly. But they cannot forget what they know inwardly. Hallelujah! They know the Lord Jesus.
God is not only revealing the person of the Lord Jesus to us. He is also revealing His ministry to us. In His person, the Lord Jesus is the Son of God; in His ministry, He is the Christ of God. The word Christ is the same as the word Messiah, which means the anointed One. An anointed person is one who is joined to God's work. In the Old Testament, when a man was appointed by God to be a priest, a prophet, or a king, he was anointed with ointment. Hence, an anointed one is one who is commissioned and sent by God to accomplish His work and fulfill His plan. The Lord Jesus is the Christ of God. This means that God's eternal plan is accomplished through Christ. In eternity past, the Lord Jesus was the Son of God. But at the beginning of God's eternal plan, the Son of God became the Christ of God, for the purpose of accomplishing God's eternal plan. God's Christ is eternal, but He was there from the eternity which has a beginning, while the Son of God was there from the eternity that does not have a beginning. The Son of God does not have a beginning, in the same way that God does not have a beginning. But God's Christ came into being when God's eternal plan came into being. Christ was established for the fulfillment of God's plan. The anointed One was separated for God's special work. From that point on, God's Son became God's Worker, His Messenger, and His Christ. From that point on, all of God's work, all of His hopes, and all of His goals were centered on His Son. From that point on, God's Son is not only God's Son, He has also become God's Christ. God's Son became God's Christ and the anointed One for the purpose of accomplishing God's eternal plan.
A Christian must see God's eternal plan before he can become useful in God's hand. It is not enough for a Christian merely to know that he has sinned, that the Lord Jesus has accomplished redemption for him, and that he can be saved through receiving the Lord Jesus. This Christian will not perish and go into perdition, but he will be of no use in God's hand. God did not establish the church simply for the purpose of gaining a group of people. God established the church for the purpose of gaining a group of people who would know His purpose and plan in Christ. We must be clear about this. We need revelation from the Father who is in the heavens in order to know that the Lord Jesus is the Christ of God and the anointed One, that Christ is the Head of the church, that the church is the Body of Christ, and that it shares in the anointing of Christ. Brothers and sisters, we have to confess that the Lord Jesus is the Christ, and we have to confess that we are Christians who belong to Christ and who share in the anointing. One day when God opens our eyes, we will realize how narrow our view has been during all the years we were Christians, and how small a realm we have covered in our work. One day God will place us under His anointing, and we will see the kind of work that He has done. It is amazing that some claim that they have received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and yet they have not entered into God's work or seen the purpose of the anointing. May the Lord open our eyes to see the purpose of the Lord Jesus' anointing and the purpose of the church's anointing. The anointing which the church receives is the same anointing the Head received, because the church is under the anointing of the Head.
Not only do we need to know the Lord Jesus as the Son of God, but we must know Him also as the Christ of God. Not only do we need to know that the Lord Jesus possesses God's life and nature, but we must know that He is the anointed One who accomplishes God's eternal plan. Through Him as the Son of God, we can know God Himself, and through Him as the Christ of God, we can know God's plan. If we only know the Lord Jesus as the Son of God without knowing Him as the Christ of God, we will not understand God's purpose in creating us and His purpose in saving us; we will not understand what God wants to gain from the church. We must have both kinds of knowledge — the knowledge of the Lord Jesus as the Son of God and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus as the Christ of God.
We need God Himself to open our eyes to see how great the Lord Jesus is. We need to see this in an inward way. This is not something that flesh and blood can reveal to us. Blood is related to our soul, while the flesh is related to our body. The soul and the body cannot help us to know the One God has appointed. When the Lord was on earth, countless numbers of people saw Him, but most did not know Him. Countless numbers of people followed Him, but most did not know Him. Countless numbers of people thronged His side or received His healing, but they still did not know Him. Man's mind and feelings are completely useless in this respect.
The Lord Jesus said to His disciples, "Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men have desired to perceive the things that you see, and have not perceived them, and to hear the things that you hear, and have not heard them" (Matt. 13:16-17). Indeed, the Lord's disciples were blessed. But this was not enough to make them members of the church; this was not enough to make them a part of the church. Peter had the blessing that the Lord was speaking of because he had seen what the prophets and righteous men had not perceived and heard what they had not heard. However, this was not enough. Only when Peter confessed the Lord as the Christ and the Son of God did he touch the central issue. Only then did Peter's knowledge of the Lord change. In the past his knowledge of the Lord was outward, but now his knowledge of the Lord came from the revelation of the Father who is in the heavens. The Father who is in the heavens made known to him that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of the living God. This knowledge is a spiritual revelation. The knowledge that Peter had was inward rather than outward.
If a man does not have the knowledge that Peter had, he cannot be a part of the church, no matter how many years he has stayed with Christians. Even if he has seen Christ appearing in the flesh, he still cannot be a part of the church. In order to be a part of the church, a man must receive the same revelation that Peter received from the Father. When a man receives instructions from heaven to know that the Lord Jesus is the Son of God and the Christ of God, he becomes a part of the church. Therefore, we need to remember that the church is not only built upon Christ, but upon the Christ whom God has revealed. Without revelation, a man cannot know Christ or the Son of God. This knowledge cannot be gained by learning doctrines or by reading many books that say this and that about the Lord Jesus, and then repeating them. The revelation that we are speaking of is revealed and taught by the Father. The Lord Jesus once said to the disciples, "No one knows who the Son is except the Father" (Luke 10:22). What a wonderful word! If we were the disciples, we might have said, "What do You mean that we do not know You? We know where You were born. We know who Your father and mother are, and we know Your brothers and sisters. We also know Your cousin John. We not only know Your family, but we know Elizabeth and Zachariah." But the Lord Jesus said, "No one knows who the Son is except the Father." When the Lord says no one knows, He means no one knows. No one knows the Son except the Father. In Matthew 16, the Father was revealing the Son whom He knew to Peter so that Peter would know Him too.
One kind of knowledge of the Lord comes from man's revelation. According to the Lord Jesus, this kind of revelation cannot be considered real knowledge. The only real knowledge is the knowledge which God has concerning the Lord Jesus, and only God can reveal this knowledge to man. Therefore, anyone who has not received the Father's revelation does not know the Son. No one can come to the Father except through the Son, and no one can know the Son except through the revelation of the Father. This kind of revelation from heaven is indispensable. The church is built upon this revelation when it knows this man — Jesus — inwardly as the Christ and the Son of God. This inward knowledge is the foundation of the church. If a man does not have this kind of knowledge, yet tries to speak about this and that concerning the church, it is like cooking with a pan that has no bottom or drawing water with a bucket that has no bottom; the result is nothing but vanity. A man's knowledge of Christ does not come from man's teaching, but from the revelation of the Father who is in the heavens. The Lord said, "Upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." The church is built upon this rock for the purpose of closing the gates of Hades. We must emphasize again and again that the knowledge of Christ we conjure up in our mind will not stand the tests; it is powerless and useless. If we come up with an idea of Christ in our head, a tranquil environment may not expose the superficiality of the knowledge, but the minute the gates of Hades open, our knowledge concerning Christ will prove untrustworthy and will be proven to be something other than God's revelation. It will not stand.
Peter knew the Lord Jesus, and he was tested. Did he fail? Yes, he failed. For a few minutes he denied the Lord, then he remembered His word after He turned toward him, and he wept. Although he failed and although he stumbled, he had the inward knowledge. This knowledge was precious; it led Peter to tears immediately after he fell. The church is resilient because its knowledge of Christ comes from the revelation of the Father who is in the heavens and not from man. It is wrong to think that as long as a person is smart, he can come up with an idea of Christ, or that as long as a person is eloquent, he can speak to others about Him. The knowledge of Christ that man produces by his own wisdom and ability is not a rock; it will tumble at the slightest push.
A Christ that is produced by our own imagination cannot help us, and a Christ that others tell us about cannot help us either. A big problem in the church is that many people receive their Christ from others' teaching; they say something because others are saying it. This knowledge is useless. This does not mean that the church should not preach. But it means that the kind of knowledge that is passed on from one mouth to another and from one ear to another is useless. If we do not have light from the Father who is in the heavens, and if all the light we have is handed down to us through others, we will be shaken when others are shaken. It is spiritually useless to have doctrines without revelation. What is a doctrine? A doctrine is something that flesh and blood reveal to us; it is something that exists apart from God's light and apart from any direct communication with the Lord. Anything that comes from flesh and blood, that requires the mind to remember and the intellect to understand, is a doctrine. We have to remember that the doctrine of Christ will not save us; we stand because God has revealed this Christ to us and we have received Him. The inward revelation that results in an inward knowledge of the Lord cannot be shaken by anything.
After Peter answered the Lord, saying, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," the Lord said that Peter was blessed, because his declaration was not the result of revelation by flesh and blood, but from a revelation of the Father who is in the heavens. The Lord Jesus was not satisfied with right answers from man. He was after answers that were based on revelation. The worth of an answer is based on revelation. It is easy for a person to tell someone that Jesus is the Son of God. When you ask the second person who Jesus is, he may be able to tell you readily that Jesus is the Son of God. But if his answer is not based on revelation, it is worthless.
Anything the church says must be based on revelation; otherwise, it will not have any spiritual value. Without revelation, there is no knowledge. All those who genuinely know the Lord recognize this fact. If a church lacks revelation, it only has teachings, and it is doomed to failure. A teaching is something that is passed on from one man's mouth to another's, and then to a third's. The result of this passing on is that whatever a man learns, he passes on the same thing to others. The only things that these ones have are based on teachings handed down by others, and not based on revelation. This is the reason for the church's failure. We do not despise preaching. We pay a great deal of attention to preaching. Yet preaching cannot replace God's revelation. God wants us to have revelation and to speak according to our revelation. For example, Philip was sent by the Lord to the way of the wilderness, and he preached Jesus to a eunuch. When they came to a place with water, the eunuch asked to be baptized. "And Philip said, If you believe from all your heart, you will be saved. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God" (Acts 8:37). Philip then baptized the eunuch. Some people may try to imitate Philip's work. They may speak to others about Jesus being the Son of God for half an hour, after which they ask their listener, "Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God?" If the other one says yes, they baptize him. If you asked why they do this, they would say, "Philip did this; therefore, this is scriptural." It is true that they may be saying the same thing, but we have to ask what is the basis for their speaking. Some base their speaking on revelation. This speaking will penetrate others' hearts. Others do not base their speaking on revelation. This speaking will impart only words to others. If your speaking is based on revelation, not only will you be speaking, but the Father and the Holy Spirit will be speaking as well. When this happens, the word will enter into others. Otherwise, others may be able to repeat word for word that Jesus is the Son of God, but what they say is only letters. Just because Philip did something once does not mean that we can do it now. This is outward imitation; it is not Christianity. The basis of Christianity is inward revelation and inward knowledge. Anything that comes by the way of teaching and imitation is not Christianity.
The foundation of the church is revelation. Where there is revelation, there is life. We were not saved by taking doctrine as life. In the same way, after we are saved, we cannot replace life with doctrine. If a man has merely received a doctrine without being enlightened, if he has only acquired a doctrine without acquiring Christ, he does not have life yet. After a man is saved, how should we help him and lead him on? Should we just ask how much teaching he has received, without checking if he has received any revelation from the Lord? The reason for the church's weakness, failure, and desolation is that it has paid too much attention to doctrines and has not paid any attention to revelation. There are too many teachings which are simply passed on from one person to another; they do not contain any inward revelation. How can the church not be weak this way?
The church is built upon this rock, and this rock is Christ, the Son of God. The rock is also the revelation which God has given to man. Furthermore, the rock is the confession which issues from those who have received the revelation. We need to see. But confession is also very important. When our Lord was on earth, He said, "I am" (John 8:24). He is pleased to hear us confess, "You are." God is always pleased to hear and accept our salutation when we say, "You are." We say to the Lord, "You are Lord!" This is a very important word. We declare, "Jesus is Lord!" This is a very powerful declaration. Sometimes everything around us seems to be in confusion; Satan mocks us and tells us that we are through. At such times, prayer may not work, and the best thing to do is to declare loudly, "Jesus is Lord!" You will find that the difficulties are nothing and Satan's mockery is nothing. When you are put into any trial, you should rise up to speak. You may speak in your own room or in the prayer meeting. But wherever you are, you should say, "Jesus is Lord!" and tell Him, "You are!" The Lord likes to hear such a declaration. This will give us strength from within.
The Lord Jesus likes to hear the words "You are!" Otherwise, why would He have asked His disciples? If the disciples did not know the answer, what was the use of asking them? If they knew the answer, what need was there for the Lord to ask them such a question? The Lord Jesus asked this question because He wanted Peter to speak out. We have to remember that the foundation of the church is not only built upon the revelation from God, but upon Peter's declaration of the revelation he received. God has revealed His Son to us and unveiled His masterpiece to us. When we speak out and confess this revelation from God, and when we confess that Jesus is the Son of God and the Christ, we have the church. The church is Christ's voice on earth. God allows the church to remain on earth as a declarer and a confessor of Christ. It was not enough for Peter to say in his heart, "I believe that the Lord is powerful, that He reigns, and that He is glorious." It was not enough for Peter to say to the Lord, "Lord, I believe You in my heart." The Lord asked, "Who do you say that I am?" "You" refers to the Lord's disciples. "Who do you say...?" The disciples had to do one thing, which was to say, to speak with their mouth. What should they say? They should say who the Lord is. They should speak out the Lord Himself; they should say who He is. We have to pay attention to the phrase, "Who do you say that I am?" We have to remember that the church is built upon our confession of the Lord. The Lord said, "Upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." If we have not seen the relationship between the church and the gates of Hades, we will not realize the importance of speaking; we will think that believing in the heart or praying is all that is needed. But if we see that the church is here to close the gates of Hades, we will realize that a declaration of who Jesus of Nazareth is is a declaration with life, with power, and with authority. Some can testify that they have often encountered difficulties before the Lord, and they could not get through no matter how hard they tried to believe. It seemed as if neither faith, prayer, nor supplications would work. But one day they stood up and said, "Lord, You are the Lord. You are the King! You have trodden the devil under. You are the One who has destroyed the work of the devil!" When they declared this, the power came. Therefore, the best prayer is not a supplication. The best prayer is to say, "You are! You are!" This should be the church's declaration of faith. Let me repeat this again: the church is not only built upon God's revelation, but also upon man's declaration of this revelation. A declaration that comes as a result of a revelation has spiritual value to it; there is power to it, and it shakes Hades.
We know that Peter was a talkative person. The Lord interrupted his speaking more than once. But this time, He allowed Peter to go on and even called him blessed after he finished. Peter's word represented the voice of the church. It is a voice that heaven loves to hear and a voice that is hard to find on earth. It is also a voice that Hades dreads to hear and a voice that God desires to find! In our prayer meetings, in the bread-breaking meetings, and in our personal prayers, we should learn to say more and more, "You are!" The Lord Himself declared on earth, "I am!" We should gladly respond, "You are! You are!" There are no better words than these. "You are" is the foundation of the church. The foundation of the church is built upon the Lord Himself; it is built upon God's revelation of the Lord. The foundation of the church is also built upon our declaration before men and the devil, a declaration of the Lord which comes as a result of our knowledge through revelation.
After Peter declared, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," the Lord Jesus said, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona." Simon is Peter. The prefix Bar means a son. Barjona means the son of Jona. The Lord pointed out Peter's name and said, "Blessed are you," and He even mentioned Peter's father's name. The Simon who was so blessed was not any Simon, but Simon the son of Jona. Following this, the Lord said, "You are Peter." This shows us that this revelation is a personal one; it is absolutely personal. This declaration and confession are also personal, absolutely personal. Those who do not have such a revelation before the Lord and who do not have such a confession have no part in this blessing.
In short, this rock signifies three things: (1) This rock is Christ, the Son of the living God. (2) This rock is the revelation of Christ, the Son of the living God. (3) This rock is also Peter's confession of Christ, the Son of the living God. When we combine these three aspects together, we have "this rock" that the Lord spoke of.
The Lord Jesus said, "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church." The name "Peter" means a little rock in the original language (John 1:42), while the word "rock" means a big rock. The Lord's choice of words here is very meaningful. He was saying, "You are a little rock, and I will build My church upon this big rock." The foundation of the church is Christ Himself. Christ is like a big rock. The church is built upon Christ. "You are Peter." This means that "you are a little rock. You Peter are a part of Christ." The Lord showed us that He needs many little rocks. He will build His church with these many little rocks. "This rock" is the big rock, which is the foundation. There is only one foundation, but there are many small rocks. We need to join with Peter to know who this Jesus of Nazareth is, and we need to join with Peter to confess who He is.
The foundation of the church is Christ Himself. The church is built upon Christ. This building is still going on, even today. He is building the little rocks upon this foundation. If a man wants to be a useful vessel to the Lord, he must know the Lord Jesus as the Son of God and as the Christ of God. We must not only see Him as the Savior, but as Christ and as the One appointed by God to accomplish His goal. The church must have this revelation, this testimony, and this declaration before the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. All the temptations of the devil and everything that death can do will fall before such a church. The church overcomes all the power of Satan through its inward revelation and through the testimony of its mouth. Hallelujah, the gates of Hades cannot prevail against the church. Death is swallowed up by life because the Lord has built His church upon "this rock"!
