Kingdom Principles

Kingdom Concept #6

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” He asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by My Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the king dom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:13-19). In the Jewish faith of that day, the titles “Christ” and “Son of the living God” were reserved exclusively for the Messiah, the deliverer of Israel and hope of the world who had been prophesied for cen turies. So Simon Peter here was confessing his belief that Jesus was the Messiah. Jesus tells Peter that he did not arrive at this knowledge through his own understanding; it was given to him through super natural revelation. Then Jesus says that upon the “rock” of Peter’s confession of faith, He will build His “church.” The Greek word for “church” is ecclesia , a word that is widely misunderstood. Because it is translat ed here as “church,” most people believe that ecclesia is a religious word. It is not. Ecclesia is a governmental term. It literally means “called-out ones” and was used by the Greeks to refer to the senate or other political groups that were chosen by the “democrat,” or gov ernment. The Greeks invented the concept of democracy but never really applied it. But when the Romans overran the Greek empire, they adopted much of Greek thought and philosophy, including democracy, and developed them. This is how Caesar developed such a powerful government.

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