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Foreshadowing of the Cross
251
against it.” The word
Peter
signifies a stone—a rolling stone. Peter
was not the rock on which the church was founded. The gates of
Hades, or hell, did prevail against him when he denied his Lord with
cursing and swearing. The church was built on One against whom
the gates of hell could not prevail.
Christ Is the Rock
Moses had pointed to the Rock of Israel’s salvation. See
Deuteronomy 32:4
. The psalmist had sung of “the rock of my
strength.”
Psalm 62:7
. Isaiah had written, “Thus says the Lord God:
‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, ... a
sure foundation.’”
Isaiah 28:16
. Peter himself applies this prophecy
to Jesus: “You have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Coming to Him
as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and
precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual
house.”
1 Peter 2:3-5
. “No other foundation can anyone lay than
that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
1 Corinthians 3:11
. “On
this rock,” said Jesus, “I will build My church.” Christ founded His
church on the living Rock—Himself, His own body, broken and
[191]
bruised for us. The gates of hell will not prevail against the church
built on this foundation.
How feeble the church appeared when Christ spoke these words!
There was only a handful of believers. Demons and men would
direct their power against them, yet they were not to fear. They
could not be overthrown.
Peter had expressed the truth that is the foundation of the church’s
faith, and Jesus now honored him as the representative of the body
of believers. “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and
whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever
you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
“The keys of the kingdom of heaven” are the words of Christ.
All the words of Holy Scripture are His. These words have power to
open and shut heaven. The work of those who preach God’s Word is
an aroma of life unto life or of death unto death.
2 Corinthians 2:16
.
The Savior did not commit the work of the gospel to Peter in-
dividually. Later, repeating the words spoken to Peter, He applied
them to the church and also to the Twelve as representatives of the