The Life of Christ

The strongest evidence supports the “ confession ” theory:

• To enter the church, one must make this confession.

• The grammar also favors this view; it is smoother to say, "And upon this confession will I build my church,” than to say , "And upon this Myself will I build My church."

There is another important application to be drawn from this:

• Peter says to Jesus: "You are the Christ."

Jesus says to Peter: "You are Peter."

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• The church is made up of both Jesus and the people; the church cannot exist without the people or Jesus.

The final phrase reads, “And the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”

• The gates of Hades, or hell, will not be able to hold back the advance of the church.

• In Gen. 22:17, immediately after Abraham obeyed God by demonstrating his willingness to offer up his son, Isaac, the Lord gave him the following promise: “Your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.”

• Authority gained through hard core obedience provides the power to break into the devil’s kingdom and plunder his goods.

Mt. 16:19 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth 1 shall be loosed in heaven.”

From this prophetic introduction of the church, comes this prophecy declaring what the church will do:

• "I will give you (plural) the keys of the kingdom.”

• The church will use the keys of the kingdom to unlock people from the prisons of darkness.

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Mt. 16:21 From that time Jesus Christ began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.

Up until this time Jesus has only hinted that He would have to die.

He gave them the sign of Jonah.

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• He spoke about picking up one’s cross and following Him.

• However, from this point on He will speak directly about His impending death.

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