" Upon this rock I will build my Church ; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Matt. 16:18

When Jesus uttered these words to Peter at Caesarea Philippi He was entering the final phase of His earthly ministry; a phase that was to be very different from the earlier ones; that was to see His popularity diminish, the crowds depart and the shadows of the Cross deepen around Him. It was then He began the process of preparing His disciples for the swift series of events which was to culminate in the Cross: Preparing them for the crisis which would face them as their faith came under the crucible-test of His own death and departure from them. And He took the first step in that process when He asked them the question, 'Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" (Matt. 16:13).

Note His method. He first of all draws from them the erroneous and conflicting opinions of unbelief and then, against that background, has them confess their own conception of who He is. And the contrast drawn between the two outlooks is so immediate, so vivid in outline and sharp in focus, that the full implication of their own testimony is established and driven home to their hearts with one master-stroke. The disciples told Him what men were saying. And what marks these popular views is their utter lack of unanimity. "Some say that thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets" (v. 14). These were the conflicting opinions of speculative thought and their discord stands in complete contrast to the harmony of those taught of God. There, one voice can speak for all, and one voice does. Peter does not say, "Well, this is John's view, and this is James's view and this Andrew's, and my own differs from them all". No!

"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God", said Peter, and he voiced the thought of every heart.

When the Lord comments on this testimony--and, incidentally, this was the opportune moment for Him to banish forever any wrong conception from their minds and the fact that He did not do so testifies to His full Messianic self-consciousness-when He comments on the testimony, He reveals its true source. Peter's confession was due, not to his own powers of insight or penetrating discernment but to the revelation of God. Jesus wishes these men--and believing men in every age--to know that their faith stands, and shall stand, not "in the wisdom of men", but in "the power of God" (I Cor. 2 : 5) .

Then, Christ proceeds to unfold the significance of their testimony to the disciples. And first, He demonstrates that significance in relation to Peter himself. Simon gets a new name, outward symbol of the new nature that the confession implies. But He does not stop at Peter in unfolding the significance of this confession. He illustrates its meaning and relevance in relation to all believers, and that illustration, and the great truth which it highlights, we have in the words of our test.

(1) The enduring stability of the Church of Christ

The major factor in the stability of any building is the foundation and this is where Christ first directs attention. "Upon this 'ROCK' will I build my church."

So much has been written on the controversy that has raged around this phrase that there is no need, here, to set out proof that the rock is not Peter but the confession that Peter made, or more precisely, the Christ that Peter confessed. I just remark in the passing that if the reference were to Peter then the manner of expression used here would be extremely indirect and unnatural. The rock is Christ, the One to Whom Peter has just borne such striking testimony.

Look at that testimony again, for it stands related to what Jesus says of the stability of His church. "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God", said Peter. These words centre on a relationship: the Sonship of Jesus to the living God. And it is within that circle of relationship that Christ 28 claims to be the "rock" on which His church is founded. It is the relation He sustains to God that Peter has confessed and, on the basis of that confession, Jesus elucidates and establishes the relation He sustains to His church. He is, in fact, accepting and confirming a confession of His Own Deity and Eternal Sonship. The words of Peter, "Living God" should be noted, for it is the expression that the Jew used to mark off Jehovah, in contrast to the idols of heathen nations, as the sovereign, self-existent, Creator: the One Whose being is completely underived: the One of Whom Jesus Himself says, "The Father hath life in Himself" (John 5:26). That is the importance of the relationship announced in Peter's confession and confirmed by Christ's reply.

Now, two things are implied in the thought of this Sonship, and they help us substantiate from His own teaching the fact that Christ did make the claim to Deity. There is identity of nature and identity of life in the thought. And, that is what Jesus did teach of His own relationship to God. "For as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given the Son to have life in Himself" (John 5:26)· We cannot doubt that the Jews recognized this as a claim to Divine nature and Divine life, for, when He asserted it they accused Him of blasphemy, "Because He made Himself equal with God" (John 5:18). Standing in the very same tradition, Peter must have been just as sensitive to what the claim involved as were the accusers and that fact underlines the certitude of his conviction and the grandeur of his confession.

Let us bear in mind another factor which reveals the strength of Peter's confession and testimony. The Divinity of Jesus is part of our theological thought-structure, but it was not so with Peter. He first knew Jesus as a man, and as a man among men. He knew the place of His birth, he knew Mary His mother and he knew His brothers. Peter had seen Him tired and weary; had seen Him mourn and weep, and hunger and thirst, just like other men. Peter knew Him in the familiarity of everyday contact--and how often sheer closeness like this can blunt perception and blur vision!--but even through this familiarity with Jesus as a man, Peter's faith reached to take hold of this other truth, "Here is the Son of God". "Whom do men say that I, the Son of MAN am?" and, as heaven's light flashed into his soul Peter saw this grand truth. The Son of Man IS the Son of God.

But Peter's testimony was not only to the Person of this Son, but to His work also. "THOU art the CHRIST". He saw that Jesus of Nazareth was not only the Son, but the Servant of Jehovah. The Ordained and Anointed and Sent One. The One promised in Old Testament prophecy and pre-figured in its sacrifice and ceremony. His confession thrills through with his recognition of the "Hope of Israel". He saw Jesus now, not alone for who He really was, but also for what He had come to do.

This is where the Church is founded. This is the platform of her enduring stability. She is rooted, not in the visions and labours of men of faith but in the Person and Work of the Eternal Son Himself. Her life flows from the One Who has life in Himself and Who, having life in Himself, had the authority to lay it down and the ability to take it again, actively providing both the purchase price and the saving power of her eternal redemption. "On this rock I will build my church." And, let everyone who is a part of the Church through faith in Jesus be unafraid, for it is the rock of Enduring Stability.

(2) The envisaged structure of the Church of Christ

"I will build my church." The thought is illustrative of His church as a building and it is a thought that leads to three remarks about the Church.

There is, first of all, the thought of personal possession. Behind every building is a person. A person who plans and prepares and builds. That is precisely the emphasis here. "My" church. "I" will build. There is a tremendous sense of assurance and possession about that: of purpose and determination. My "Church", even although, as He spoke that church was only a handful of country followers. But, as Jesus looked at these few, what did He see ? His church ! And He saw His church because His eye looked on from that hour at Caesarea Philippi, on through the coming 30 centuries, and contemplated the building in all the glory of its completion. He saw, not merely the plan, not just the foundation, but He saw the building in its full realisation. He saw the "Lively stones" come from every nation, tribe and tongue and they were as "the sand on the seashore for multitude". And, He saw the walls reared up straight, and stately and strong; He saw every stone hewn and shaped and fitted in place and then, surely, He saw the great headstone itself, "brought forth with shouting" and He heard the songs of acclamation ... "salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb ... blessing and glory" (Rev. 7:10, 12).

That was His vision when He said that great thing, "I will build my church". And it was His vision because it was His purpose and His Father's purpose. The purpose that He was, even then, in the process of fulfilling; fulfilling by way of obedience; by way of suffering; by way of death. And, through all the way of His perfect obedience, through the agony of the garden and the suffering of the Cross, that purpose can be read and re-read unchanged, "I will build my church". The vision girdled the purpose and so our Redeemer, "For the joy that was set before Him, endured the Cross, despising the shame" (Heb. 12:2). And, as we look to Him in faith we can also be strong, for He will build His church, He is building His church, and one day the structure will stand complete.

That leads to a second remark about the Church, and it is simply this. The Church of Christ is a living structure, and points to the thought of a living fellowship. The Creek original, "Ecclesia" means a group of people who are "Called", or "Called out", and so, when we think of the Church in this New Testament sense of the word we have to dismiss any thought of buildings or organisations from our minds and think of it as a group of living persons who have been called by the Holy Spirit into fellowship with Christ and with one another.

It is good, in these days of ecumenical ferment, that we remember this fact. For, it teaches us where the true unity of the Church really centres. The question that lies at the heart of the matter is not what organization a man may belong to but whether, by the grace of God, he has been called into the living fellowship of the Church that Christ is building. That, and not his connection among men, is what makes a Christian!

This takes us to the third remark about the Church. It is Christ who builds. And that, I think, is a thought of great tenderness. When we remember how Jesus dealt with people, then we can be trusting and unafraid. The very thought of another having absolute sovereignty over us can be overwhelming, but when we remember who it is that wields this power then there is no place for fear. "I will build", and He reserves the work for Himself; He delegates it to no one else. Every time He touches our lives to shape us for the building--and the hewing can be a sore process sometimes--His touch carries with it His own tender word, "Be not afraid, it is I". His is the touch of love, of perfect love, and, "Perfect love casteth out fear, for there is no fear in love" (I John 4:18). The thought carries not only tenderness, but assurance. Of this builder and His great task the prophet said, "He shall not fail nor be discouraged" (Isa. 42:4·), and the psalmist sang, "He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth" (Ps. 72:8)·

(3) The eternal security of the Church of Christ

Mark how strongly Christ puts this security. "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.''

That expression, "The gates of hell' is by some regarded as being the mere equivalent of the word "hell". Taken so, the words just mean that the Church shall never perish, it has certainty of life. But, while that is a very wonderful truth taught elsewhere in Scripture, I do not think it is the main truth taught us here. There is the plain idea of conflict in the word "prevail". It enshrines the idea of a consistent purpose to storm and destroy; to attack the Church with a strong, persistent onslaught. Add to this the fact that, in Biblical times, the "gates of the city" were the places where important business was done; where the elders met to deliberate and pass judgment and hold councils of war until the expression came to have a specific, technical usage, and to mean collective experience, wisdom and skill, and we can begin to understand how strong the thing Jesus said really was. Plainly, He was asserting that although the total resources of hell, the cunning and evil and malice of the marshaled forces of Satan, were to be pitted against His Church, they would not prevail nor conquer.

The Church does not just contend against flesh and blood--these are often against her--but her most formidable foe is Satan himself. Paul, in his letter to the church at Ephesus, puts it very strongly, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers... against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Eph. 6:12). Well, this word of Christ is a promise for the Church and so, for every individual member of it. Every believer can draw strength from this. Though hell pit all its resources against us--and down through the centuries hell has done that-the building of Christ stands sure, having this seal, "The Lord knoweth them that are His" (2 Tim. 2 :19). No weapon forged against this building can prosper. Nothing from the armoury of Satan can destroy one of Christ's people, for their "life is hid with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3)· What utter security belongs to those who are called into Christ and so into His Church, for, "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it".

Let me sum up, in conclusion, the teaching of our text. Three things are vital to the lasting strength of any building. The first is the foundation. No building is any stronger than its found. Let all who have been brought into Christ's Church by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit remember, always, the rock that is the fortress and foundation of her stability: nothing less than Christ Himself, in all the glory of His person and His Work. With Jeremiah we can look up and say, "A glorious high throne from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary" (Jer. 17:12).

The second factor in the strength of a building is this. The workman who erects the structure. On his character, on his honesty, on his integrity on his skill and his craftsmanship hangs the whole future of the building. And, this workman is none other than the Master-builder Himself. This is the One in whom, and by whom, "Ah the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord" (Eph 2:21).

The third thing in the strength and lasting security of a building is its power of resistance to the destructive elements of nature. By what power is the Church of Jesus Christ preserved from destruction? Peter himself tells us. The believer is, he says, "Kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation" (I Pet. I :5)·

The ultimate question with which we each, as individuals, have to deal is just this: are we, ourselves, within the safety of Christ's true Church? Have we trusted the salvation of our souls to Him ? This is the very Saviour of whom Peter was later to preach--and, let me urge the point of his sermon in his own words--"There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). All who know Him as Saviour, all who have trusted Him, find rest and peace in Him. He is the One who carries toward fruition the redemptive accomplishment that stood clear to His gaze as He made this great assertion, "I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it". There is our confidence: there is the measure of our Christian hope: there we may trust, and not be afraid.

 

Rev J Douglas MacMillan was minister of Bon Accord & St Vincent Street. He was also Professor of Church History at the Free Church College.