“I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” [Matt 16:18 KJV]
This passage began when Jesus asked the question, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter’s response was a confession that Christ was the Messiah that the Jews had been longing and waiting for down through the centuries. Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Following that confession Jesus changed Peter’s name from Simon to Peter, “you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” [Matt 16:15-18 NKJV]
I’ve heard a few sermons on this passage. There is a lot of argument about just what or who “this rock” is upon which Jesus will build His church. I am going to leave that argument to the scholars because that is not the part that draws my attention. I find my attention glued to those five little words uttered by Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the Living God. “I-will-build-my-church.”
That’s what ministers to my soul. That and the promise that follows, “the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.”
Jesus will build His church. It’s a done deal. Nothing, including the gates of Hell, will stop Him from doing just that. Whenever I despair, thinking that the church isn’t what she should be, or the church is failing in her commission, or the church is or isn’t something …. I remember. Jesus will build His church and nothing in this world or out of it can stop Him. Hallelujah!
