The Church, built on the rock of the revealed knowledge of Christ
Matt 16:15-18 He (Jesus) said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
16 Simon Peter answered and said,"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh
and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
18 And I also say to you that you are Peter (Petros), and on this rock (Petra) I will
build My church, and the gates of Hades (Hell) shall not prevail against it”.
According to Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words: Petra (on which the Church is to be built) denotes "a mass of rock," as distinct from Petros (the name of Peter) which means "a detached stone or boulder," or a stone that might be thrown or easily moved.
What’s the Rock on which the Church is to be built if it isn’t Peter-it’s Jesus Christ Himself
Acts 4:10-12 …The name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth…This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone…There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
Rev 19:13 …And His name is called The Word of God.
1 Cor 10:4 And all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock (Petra) that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.
The Rock on which each Christian is to be built is not just Christ but Christ revealed in us:
Mat 16:16-18 "You are the Christ”…“flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven…on this rock I will build My church” (the rock is the knowledge of who Jesus is, as personally revealed in us by God)
Matt 11:25 Jesus answered and said, "I thank You, Father…that You have hidden these things (the knowledge of Me) from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes (your children’s’ spirits which can receive revelation)
Gal 1:15-16 But when it pleased God…to reveal His Son in me that I might preach Him;
Col 1:26 The mystery (of the fullness of Christ) which has been hidden from ages… but now has been revealed to His saints (who allow Him to make them holy)
1 Cor 2:9-10 "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man the things (God Himself, by His words) which God has prepared for those who love Him." But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit…”
Matt 7:24 (Jesus)…Whoever hears (in his heart) these sayings of Mine and does them I will liken him to a wise man who built his house (his life) on the rock (Me) For Christ to be revealed in us, the eyes of our spiritual understanding must be opened
Luke 24:45 And He (Jesus) opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures (without this we cannot understand the word).
Acts 16:14 …Lydia heard us. She…worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed (hear, understand and do) the things (God’s words) spoken by Paul.
Eph 1:17-18 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ…may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your (spiritual) understanding being enlightened; that you may know…
Prov 20:27 The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD (where all enlightenment Is given by God) searching all the inner depths of his heart (or spirit).
Are you still trying in vain to understand God’s words with your intellect? Or have you allowed God to open your spiritual understanding to receive by revelation the knowledge that God is a Spirit and that His primary point of communication with you is to your spirit?
Where does Christ live, by His word and Spirit? In our hearts or spirits, not in our heads:
Eph 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…(by His words believed)
2 Tim 4:22 The Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit…(the part of you that’s eternal)
Where do you live? In your head, that is, your will being governed by your reasoning faculties, where Christ is not? Or do you live in your spirit, that is, your will being governed by the Holy Spirit and the living word, Christ Himself, meaning you are living “in Christ”?
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus
who do not walk according to the flesh but according to (ruled by) the Spirit.
Rom 8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
Jesus Christ, the Rock, is both the wisdom of God and spiritual understanding of wisdom:
Prov 3:13-18 Happy is the man who finds wisdom, And the man who gains understanding…Length of days is in her right hand, In her left hand riches and honor… She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, And happy are all who retain her (what is this wisdom and understanding?)
Prov 8:12 "I, wisdom…” Prov 8:14 “…I am understanding…” (Christ Himself is both:)
1 Cor 1:30 …Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom… KJV
1 John 5:20 …The Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we
may know Him…and we are in Him…in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God…
And how is Christ made unto us wisdom and understanding? By His Spirit revealed words:
Christ the Rock is built up in those who live in His Spirit and receive more of Him by words
John 15:4 (Jesus) Abide (live) in Me, and I in you (let Me increasingly live in you)…
John 15:5 He who abides in Me and I in him bears much fruit…(by speaking My words)
John 15:7 If you abide in Me, and (if) My words abide in you…
Here is the bedrock of true Christianity. First, we are to live in Christ – since He dwells in our hearts we are to live in our hearts, meaning our wills are to remain submitted to Him in our hearts, and not our heads. Second, Christ is to increasingly live in us – notice in the above three scriptures Jesus explains that His living in us means His words living in us.
Do you still see the word of God as instructions written on paper? Or are the eyes of your spirit opened to see the word as made living by the Spirit and to be written on your heart?
2 Cor 3:3 …You are a letter from Christ…not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God…on tablets of human hearts. AMP
Have you personally received a revelation from God to your spirit that Christ is the word of God? Do you now know Christ no longer on a physical basis but on a spiritual basis?
1 John 5:7 For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.
2 Cor 5:16 From now on, we regard no one according to the flesh (but by our spirits).
Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer (we know Him by our spirits as the word of God).
As we live in the Spirit of Christ, Christ, the word of God, continues to be formed in us:
John 16:13-14 (Jesus) When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth (God’s word, Christ, is truth - John 14:6, John 17:17)…He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine (I am the word) and declare it to you.
Gal 4:19 My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you (the new birth is but the beginning of Christ the word being formed in you)
Eph 4:13 Until we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God (increasingly knowing Him by the entrance of more of His words) to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me (by His word and by His Spirit) and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. KJV
Matt 16:18 (Jesus) “…And on this rock I will build My church (the rock of Christ formed in you, by the entrance of God’s words, revealed and written by His Spirit, in your hearts) and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it” (Him in you).
