LOVE THIS TRUTH THANK YOU FATHER GOD. AMEN ! “When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven” (Mat. 16:13-17). How was it that Peter suddenly realized who Jesus was? He got a revelation from the Father that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God! He received a revelation of who this Christ was. If there is one thing in the world that you and I and all men everywhere need to know it is who this Christ is. Without a revelation of who the Christ is we will never attain anything in God. But one cannot receive a revelation of who the Christ is without getting something else to go with it. Let me show you what that something else is. “Thou art Peter (Petro, small rock, fragment), and upon this rock (Petra, large rock, rock mass) I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mat. 16:18). Upon the revelation of who I am I will build my church, saith the Lord. When you receive a revelation of who this Christ really is, the church is in that moment established in your heart, for Christ is not one member, not one person, but many. “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ” (I Cor. 12:12). It was upon this revelation of who the Christ is that Jesus said to Peter, “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” A key is an instrument that closes or opens something which without that key cannot be closed or opened. Spiritually, it may be a word that opens a hidden mystery which cannot be otherwise discovered, or a power by which a state or condition or circumstance may be revealed, dealt with, or changed, which could not otherwise be effected. Jesus spoke of keys several times. To the astonished John on the isle of Patmos He declared, “I have the keys of hell and of death” (Rev. 1:18). To John there came One who announced Himself as “the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last.” At His girdle hung “the keys of Hades and of death.” Ah, the enemy usurped control over mankind, ruling with fear, and bringing creation into bondage to the whole dreadful realm of death. Death was the adversary’s “trump card,” his final victory. He beguiled man into sin, and “sin when it is finished, bringeth for death” (James 1:15). After all the beguilement, which the adversary has exercised with ruthless working and deception, causing man to become perverted and corrupt, sinking into the quagmire of fear, sorrow, and hopelessness, the final result was death with its habitation in Hades. When Jesus came into the world in the humiliation of the Incarnation, He started on a route of conquest that took Him through the lonely years prior to His introduction at the muddy waters of Jordan, where the bony prophetic finger of John the Baptist was pointed at Him and those significant words were uttered, “Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (Jn. 1:29). For some thirty-three and a half years He overcame and lived an impeccable life so that it was said of Him that “He was tempted in all points like as we, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). Jesus’ flawless life was followed by a decisive death. He went to Calvary to endure inexplicable and incomparable suffering: suffering of which we can only have a hint; suffering we can only look at curiously with a sob in our throats; suffering veiled in the mystery of the bearing of sin: suffering surrounded by torn rocks and a sun that refused to shine, and an earth that writhed in agony. As He hung there alone, God reached down His giant fist and gathered the accumulated sins of men and placed them upon Him. In the awful agony of Calvary, Christ made His soul and offering for sin. The sin of the world was imputed unto Him, and the waves of sin’s judgment were released upon Him. When He had become an offering for sin, He gave up the Ghost and came down from the mystery of His sufferings, having finished that work. What men saw was a man hanging limp — every bone out of joint, a swollen tongue protruding from burning lips that cried out, “It is finished!” And then He arose the conquering Christ! What a marvelous turn of events! He took control of the situation as with one exultant shout He grasped the keys of death and hell from him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; stripped away the power of death, burst asunder the bars of hell, stalked boldly out in eternal triumph over all the dread powers of that unseen realm, entered back into His body in the garden tomb, passed through the walls of rock as water passes through a filter, ascended up far above all heavens, stepped up to the Father’s throne, and presented the tokens of His redemption. The Father said, “Sit down, Son, at my right hand until all your enemies are made your footstool!”
Posted on: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 16:49:01 +0000
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