AT THE GATES OF HELL!

Jesus takes His disciples all the way north to Caesarea Philippi.   
(Matt 16:13-20)                                            

Whatever for??                                                                         
No self-respecting Jew would dare come near this place... obscene fertility orgies would be held here at the ‘Gates of Hell’ where water once gushed out of this rocky cave!                                                                        
Perhaps there’s an important announcement coming, but first up...          

“Who do men say that I the Son of Man am?”                              

(Wow, that’s a bold claim: the right to universal dominion!)                                  Matthew has already told us Jesus is the Christ (Messiah) but now Simon is sure –                                                                                

“Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God”

To mark the moment Simon is named Peter, meaning ‘a stone’ (petros), then...  

“...upon this Rock (petra) I will build my ‘ekklesia’ and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

This probably seems no big deal for these disciples...                     

‘You’ve brought us all the way here, just to tell us this?’                                      

We know this is the first reference to the Church (ekklesia) but already they are ‘an assembly of men called out’... and why should they feel threatened by the gates of hell?  
So far the only surprise for them is Peter being given authority with ‘the keys of the kingdom of heaven’.

Before we move on... Who or what is the Rock?                                  

Is it really Peter, like the Catholics so boldly claim?                                

Apostle Paul spells it out for us... “that Rock was Christ”               

...and later, Simon Peter agrees... “Ye also, as lively stones...” while Jesus Christ is “a rock of offence”

Where to from here?                                                                                            
Could Jesus possibly build His church - any church - on Peter?...NEXT!