Matthew 16:13-20 “When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, ‘Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?’ 14 So they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ 15 He 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, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’ 20 Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.”
This is one of the key kingdom passages of scripture.
WE HAVE TO KNOW WHO JESUS IS
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
WE HAVE TO KNOW WHO WE ARE
Jesus speaks specifically to Peter and gives him perspective – “You are Peter (petros = a piece of the rock) and upon this rock (petra = a mass of rock) I will build my church…” The “rock” was referring to the collected disciples and not just Peter, who is referred to as a “piece” of the rock. We must know who we are within the context of community.
WE MUST KNOW WHO SATAN IS
“The gates of hell shall not prevail against it (the church).” Satan is completely defeated.
Once we know who Jesus is, who we are and who Satan is, we will then know what we are capable of and what we should do. We have been given keys that function in the kingdom of heaven. One of those keys is binding and loosing or releasing. This is not practiced by most Christians today because most do not understand who they are and have little understanding of the kingdom. You must realize that as a believer, follower and disciple of Jesus Christ there is power and authority available to you over the power of Satan (Luke 10:19). Know this and you will be more dangerous than you realize.