- Apr 19, 2007
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We recently had a sermon about Jesus saying to his followers that there would be a day of judgement and on that day he would say to some, I did not know you. This was followed by the analogy of the wide gate and the narrow gate. The wide gate to a city was for merchants and foreigners to use while it was open to come into the city. The narrow gate was used to allow pedestrian traffic for city residents that were returning after nightfall. By saying I did not know you, he is saying that these people were foreigners and not residents of the city. Since the city is Heaven, the residents that make it through the narrow gate already have a place there. They have stored up there treasure in Heaven.The rock was the revelation from the Father that Peter received.
Mat 16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church;
So Peter's confession is important and certainly can be viewed as an ultimate cause for Jesus' reaction. But when viewed deeper, it becomes evident that Peter's confession was from God and to hear God, Peter would have had to recognize who Jesus was, not just a rabbi, but God Himself. He would have had to go against all that he had been taught about who the Messiah is and come to the startling conclusion that the Messiah was not a mere man; but God. At this time that does not seem so radical; but none of the other disciples had arrived at this revelation and they had been taught by Jesus just as long. So why is Peter's confession important. It is important because it showed that Peter had found the narrow gate and could enter Heaven.
This all fits nicely into the whole confession of faith soteriology; but I wonder why the same people who claim that a church is not a building; but the people in that building and they are members because of a confession of faith, fail to acknowledge that Peter and his confession of faith are indivisible. If that is the case, then the rock is both Peter and his confession of faith, not one or the other. To me it seems like the perfect response from Jesus to Peter. Peter reveals that he knows who Jesus really is and Jesus reciprocates by telling Peter who he really is. If Peter was self-reflective at all, he would have realized that he was someone who allowed the winds to blow his beliefs about, hardly rocklike. So Jesus' revelation could have been as shocking to Peter as Peter's was to the others there.
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