Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” Matthew 16:16-18.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
In our prior Life Lesson we started to look at the “Church,” now let us look at the conversation where Jesus first introduced the Church to the disciples who later would start its first community after Jesus sent down My promise of the Holy Spirit when the appointed time of Pentecost was fulfilled.
Jesus purposefully led the disciples to Caesarea Philippi to have this conversation and soon after this conversation they went up Mt. Hermon and Jesus was transfigured before their eyes. I confirmed that He is My beloved Son just as Peter had declared and Jesus had confirmed already.
Caesarea Philippi is situated north of the Sea of Galilee at the base of Mount Hermon. Mount Hermon is Israel’s highest mountain in the northernmost part of Israel. The summit of Mount Hermon is located on the border of Lebanon and Syria. The Jordan River begins at Mount Hermon and flows into the Sea of Galilee, and then out and down to the Dead Sea. Caesarea Philippi is home to one these headwaters that emerges at the foot of Mount Hermon, it is one of the largest springs in Israel, known as the Banias Spring.
At the time after Solomon’s reign, when the ten tribes separated from Judah and created the Northern Kingdom, Caesarea Philippi was near the city of Dan where Jeroboam built a high place that led Israelites to worship false gods, setting up a golden calf for the northern tribes to worship. It became a center for Baal worship.
By the time Jesus and His disciples went to Caesarea Philippi, first Greece and then Rome had occupied Israel, and it was a major center for idol worship, particularly of the Greek god Pan. The city was originally called Paneas in honor of Pan, but Herod Philip renamed the city when he rebuilt the city while Rome occupied Israel. There were numerous pagan temples and shrines in the area, including temples to Pan, Zeus, and Caesar Augustus, thus Caesarea Philippi, making two men into gods. And Herod continued this tradition.
On an appointed day Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took his seat on the rostrum and began delivering an address to them. The people kept crying out, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died. Acts 12:21-23.
When Jesus was there with His disciples, the Banias Spring gushed out of a large limestone cave known as the Cave of Pan, which created a dramatic sight. The large cave at the site was a center of pagan worship and was considered a “gate to the underworld,” in other words a “gate of hell.” The cave and spring were dedicated to the Greek god Pan, giving the site its original name of Paneas (later Banias). There were a number of pagan temples and shrines built around the spring.
After flowing through a canyon the spring becomes the Banias Waterfall, which is the largest waterfall in Israel. The spring is fed by snow and rainwater from Mount Hermon that percolates through the porous rock.
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, coming down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard, coming down upon the edge of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon coming down upon the mountains of Zion; for there the LORD commanded the blessing—life forever. Psalm 133:1-3.
Jesus purposefully chose this pagan location to make his declaration about building his Church, and that the gate of hell would not prevail against it, contrasting himself as the true God against the false pagan gods worshipped there. Do you see the great significance of what He revealed to the disciples there in contrast to the pagan surroundings? And then I confirmed it a short time after on Mt. Hermon when Jesus was transfigured in glory and I spoke in testimony over Him. Every name and every knee must bow before Him and declare Him Messiah and Lord! I have given Him a Name above every other name.
Jesus and His disciples had been in Tyre and Sidon, went back along the Sea of Galilee, where crowds had come to be hear Him and be healed, and after three days He fed over four thousand people with just seven loaves and a few fish, and the heading north with His disciples, He came into the district of Caesarea Philippi. As you know Jesus was very careful to do only what I showed Him and to say only what I instructed Him for He knew I had the Words of eternal life for those who came to Him.
When they came to the source of the Banias Spring at the cave of Pan, to the place called the “gate of Hades,” He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” But now Jesus asked them for what was in their hearts. And this went right to the core of why they were following Him, what was it that had made them leave their homes and come to learn from Him? So He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Matthew 16:13-15.
Before you hear the answer given. I am going to ask you the same question. If someone were to ask you today, “Who is Jesus?” What would you say? And going deeper, why do you believe in Him and why do you want to follow Him? Hopefully these conversations we are studying in these Life Lessons are helping you to form your answer.
Simon Peter took the lead and answered Jesus, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” This is the revelation that changes your life. This is the chief stone, the precious stone, that the builders rejected that has become the cornerstone of the Church. The Messiah, the One who would come to save His people, the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 that is pierced for your sins and scourged for your healing. The good Shepherd of Psalm 23 who supplies all your needs and leads you out of darkness into My own marvelous light and right into My house forever. This is the child born to you and Son given you upon whose shoulder dominion rests whose Name is called Wonderful, Counselor, God Hero, Father Forever, Prince of Peace. The Redeemer from Zion who would remove sin. The seed of the woman, born to a virgin, who is Immanu-El, “God with Us.” The One Daniel saw coming on the clouds of Heaven and ascending to the Ancient of Days. Adonai. God and Man. The anointed One bringing good news to the poor, sight to the blind, healing to the broken hearted, setting captives free, and bringing a time of Jubilee. The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The author and finisher of our faith.
And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Messiah. Matthew 12:18-20.
There is so much in His answer for to ponder and digest. But it effects you who through faith in Him are a member of the Body of the Messiah, the Church.
First, Jesus said no one can come to Him unless I draw them. Your flesh and blood does not reveal this to you, it is of the Spirit.
Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 1 Corinthians 15:50.
But I draw you all with human cords with bands of love. Deep calls unto deep. I draw your heart.
They said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?” Luke 24:32.
“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, bring her into the wilderness and speak upon her heart. Then I will give her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor (trouble) as a door of hope. And she will sing there as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.” Hosea 2:14-15.
I am His Father and your Father and I reveal to you My Yeshuah (Jesus, Salvation) when you draw close to Me in love. Psalm 91:14-16. As I did to Peter, as I did to Paul, and as I have done for you.
I called Peter a rock, and if you recall Jesus had given him this name when Peter was introduced for the first time to Jesus by his brother Andrew, John 1:42, after John the Baptist had pointed out Jesus as the Lamb of God and My Son. John 1:29-34.
And what was the rock on which Jesus was building His church? Himself, the Word. The chief cornerstone. I am an everlasting rock and we are One, in seeing Him you see Me. But there is more, this rock foundation that will not be shaken by any storm is the revelation of Jesus as your Messiah and Lord, the revelation of the New Covenant sealed in His Body and Blood, the revelation of the New Creation in Christ. The revelation of who you are in Christ, what you have in Christ, and the gift of the Holy Spirit to those who are in Christ, that is, to the Church. The revelation of the glorious freedom of the children of God. The revelation of your inheritance as a joint heir with Christ of the Kingdom and everything that goes with it.
And Jesus declared the gates of hell would not prevail against the Church. There is so much here. False gods and worship, Satan who seeks your worship, cannot take down the truth and they cannot take down the Body for I have put all demonic power under My Son’s feet, and since I have raised you in your spirit with Him and seated you with Him under your feet as well.
But this statement is also a fulfillment of a promise I gave to Abraham when I taught him the gospel ahead of time in the virtual enactment of how I would offer My beloved Son as the Lamb for the burnt offering. What was that promise?
Then the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed (singular) shall possess the gate of HIS enemies. In your seed (singular) all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” Genesis 22:15-18.
And I confirm this with a second witness:
Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ. Galatians 3:16.
And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20.
It is the revelation of your authority as believers as a corporate body that can bind and loose on earth what is bound and loosed in the Kingdom of Heaven. And we will talk more about this great truth that most are not using but should be to bring My Kingdom to earth for days of Heaven upon the earth. You will note if you study the context, that My Son only teaches binding and loosing and the prayer of agreement within the context of the Church.
I love you and that is why I have given you the Church. And it is all about My everlasting Covenant of love.