TEXT— “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18)

Introduction

In Matthew 16, Jesus asks two very serious questions to his disciples. They give Him these responses, When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:13-16)

From Peter’s testimony, we get this response from Jesus, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:17-18) In this article, we will study the 5-word phrase, I will build my church.

I

“I” is a personal pronoun which refers to Jesus since He is the speaker. This means that HE is the one who will build His church. If you are a member of a religious organization named after an individual, other than Christ, then you are not a member of His church (Col. 1:18; Eph. 1:22-23; Rom. 16:16).

Will

From the 1828 Webster’s Dictionary— 7. will is used as an auxiliary verb, and a sign of the future tense. This suggests that what He is doing hasn’t happen yet, but to take place later. There are some that state that “their church” existed before the birth of Christ; let alone prior to his death. If that is the case, then it is not the one that Jesus built. As he states here, His church doesn’t exist yet.

Build

From the 1828 Webster’s Dictionary, verb intransitive bild. To exercise the art, or practice the business of building. As a verb, this means he is doing something. In other words, it didn’t just manifest itself out of thin air. An action was required for the very item to exist.

My

From the 1828 Webster’s Dictionary, pronoun, Belonging to me. Personal possession which means that thing that Jesus built belongs to Him as He is the one who built it. As stated above, if your religious organization has a human name, it doesn’t belong to Christ and will not be acknowledged as such.

In Acts 20:28, the apostle Paul tells the elders of Ephesus, “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” If it’s built and paid for by Jesus, why worship anywhere else?

Church

Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament words uses the Greek word, EKKLÉSIA to represent, “congregation” or “the called out”. In other words, the church which Jesus was to build is not a physical building; something that you can see with your own eyes.

You will also notice, in scripture, that both the words, “church” and “kingdom” are interchangeable throughout scripture. In Mk. 9:1, Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.” If the kingdom isn’t here yet, then this means that someone who heard Jesus utter these very words are still alive even today (in 2024).

A follow-up passage can be found in Acts 1; after Jesus’ resurrection and before his ascension back to the Father, Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (vs. 6-8)

As you can see, the disciples were looking for a physical kingdom. Jesus told them about the power of the Holy Spirit would come upon them. This is the second time he used that word, power. This is then clearly seen in Acts 2:1-4.

Conclusion

Jesus said that he would build his church and he did just that! If you are still waiting for a physical kingdom, on earth, that will never, ever happen. Paul writes, But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. (1 Corinthians 15:23-26)

Christ is reigning over His kingdom now and, at the end of time, He will deliver it back to The Father. He can’t reign if His kingdom doesn’t exist.