THE CHURCH AND THE KINGDOM (Matthew 16)

THE CHURCH AND THE KINGDOM (Matthew 16)

H. A. IRONSIDE

MATTHEW 16 - WE now come to another great turning point in Matthew’s Gospel. Hitherto the Lord has been dealing entirely with matters relating to the kingdom of heaven. Now for the first time He speaks of the Church, though not entirely as dissociated from the kingdom, but rather as connected with it in the new phase it is to assume after His rejection and His ascension to heaven. In Peter’s great confession we have the sure foundation upon which the Church was to be built. The earthly kingdom, or, rather, the heavenly kingdom to be built on the earth, is to be founded upon the truth that Christ is the Son of David (2 Sam. 7:12, 13). The nations of the world are to share in the blessings of that kingdom because Christ is the Son of Abraham, the Seed in whom all peoples shall be blessed (Gen. 22:18). But the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ is built upon the precious truth that He is the Son of the living God. 

  MATTHEW 16:6-12 - In view of this, they should have realized that He was not speaking of material bread which He could supply so abundantly, but He was warning them to beware of the leaven, which is explained in verse 12, as “the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.” The leaven of the Pharisees is explained in Luke 12:1 as hypocrisy. With this was coupled self-righteousness. The leaven of the Sadducees was false doctrine: they denied the authority of all the Old Testament except the books of Moses, and they did not believe in spiritual realities. Such evil teachings work like leaven, spreading throughout any company beginning to tolerate them; hence the warning of the Lord to beware of them.  

MATTHEW 16:16 - “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Christ and Messiah are synonymous. Both mean “the Anointed.” It was the title given prophetically to the coming Deliverer (Isa. 61:1). Of old, prophets, priests, and kings were all anointed. Jesus holds the three offices, for all of which He was anointed by the Spirit of God (Acts 10:38). In His human nature He is the Son of David, the Messiah, the Christ. As to His divine nature He is the Son of the living God.

It is all-important that men have a right understanding of the nature and Person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Only as He is recognized by faith as the Son of the living God, co-equal with the Eternal Father, do we dare trust our souls to Him as our Saviour. There is an unbridgeable gulf between the highest of all created beings and the Creator Himself. The Church of Christ is not founded on any mere man, no matter how holy, enlightened, or devoted he may be. It rests securely upon the revelation of the truth so clearly declared by Simon Peter. And just as the Church is built upon this blessed reality, so does the salvation of each individual soul depend upon the fact that God became Man in order to give Himself a ransom for our sins

  “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church.” “This rock” is Christ (1 Cor. 10:4). He it is on whom the Church is built. Peter means a stone, or a piece of a rock. He was to be built into the Church. The Church was not to be built on him. Against the true Church, built upon Christ as the Son of the living God, “the gates of hell (hades) shall not prevail.” No effort of Satan and his hosts can avail to destroy the Church or to stay the progress of its testimony. The only real hindrance comes from within the Church itself as other scriptures show. Note, He does not say, “I have been building,” or “I am building;” but, “I will build.” The assembly, that which He calls “My Church,” was still in the future. The building of this spiritual temple did not begin until after He had ascended to heaven, and the Spirit of God came as the promised Comforter. In this house Peter was to be a living stone. The name given him by Jesus means a stone, a piece of rock. But on “this rock,” that is, this great truth just enunciated, His Church was to be built. Christ, not Peter, is the Foundation-Rock on which the Church is builded. 

“The keys of the kingdom of heaven.” The keys of this kingdom were entrusted to Peter. Note, He did not give Peter the keys to heaven. Such a notion is the grossest superstition. A key is designed to open a door On Pentecost Peter opened the door of the kingdom to the Jews; in Cornelius’ house he opened the door to the Gentiles.

  “Get thee behind Me, Satan.” What a poor rock Peter would have been on which to build the Church! He became unwittingly the mouthpiece of Satan when he advised Jesus against going to the cross. It is strange that anyone could teach in one breath that Peter was the first Pope, and in the next that the Pope is infallible; for, while he was a most devoted and earnest man, Peter blundered perhaps as badly as any of his brother-apostles, not only during the days of our Lord’s humiliation, but also after His resurrection and ascension to heaven. Paul tells us how he had to withstand him to the face because he was to be blamed for dissimulation and the fear of man, thereby compromising the liberty of grace (Gal. 2:11–16). 

He who would think to better his condition by avoiding persecution for Christ’s sake, and so to save his life would really lose it, but he who was ready even to lay down his life for Christ’s sake would keep it unto life eternal. Death in this world would be only the introduction to everlasting glory. It would be worth nothing if one were able to gain even the whole world and yet in so doing lose his soul. The soul is really the life, the self. To lose the soul, therefore, is to miss the purpose for which one has been created. Man was made, as the Shorter Catechism declares, to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. He who makes it his object to accumulate wealth, or the favor of a Christless world will lose out and find himself at last bereft of everything that is of any worth whatever. If he continues in his sin his soul will be lost forever, but if he turns to Christ he will find redemption in Him. When He comes the second time as the Son of Man in the glory of His Father with His angels then He will reward each one according to his works.