Reading: 1 Peter 2:1-12; Matthew 16:16-18.
We turn to the Word of the Lord in Matthew 16:16-18; the fragment of that passage which is basic to our meditations is that in the eighteenth verse: "I will build my church," and we will immediately seek to explain what we have in view. And it is, that which issues from the death and resurrection of Christ, and its real nature. It is here called by Him: "My church," and that embraces matters no fewer and of no lesser importance than the Person of Christ, the death and resurrection of Christ, the heavenly position and activity of Christ, the advent and vocation of the Holy Spirit, the coming again of the Lord Jesus, the new birth, the warfare with Satan, and the vocation of believers in the ages to come. There you have a catalogue of the magnitudes of the Word of God, and these are all included in that phrase: "My church." So that it will be seen at once that to be occupied with what the Lord Jesus calls "My church" is to be occupied with no small thing - not that it is my intention to deal with all these matters, but I simply want to have you impressed at the outset with the great importance of this matter.
Our specific object at this time is the nature of what Christ effects and brings into being in His resurrection; and we shall consider this in two ways. Firstly, what we may call contemplatively or objectively, and secondly, introspectively or subjectively. That is, on the one hand we shall look at its nature as it is presented to us, and then on the other hand we shall look into it and see its deeper nature and content.
To begin, then, with the contemplation of "My church." We have read a passage which defines for us what Peter - the one to whom the statement was specifically made - understood it to mean: "...upon this rock I will build my church"; he did not understand it at the time. That is quite apparent from what he said a few minutes afterward, but he did come to understand what the Lord had said to him, and he gives us what he understood to be the meaning of that phrase: "I will build my church," or: "...upon this rock I will build my church." Listen again to his own definition and explanation of those words: "Unto whom coming" (that is, of course, the Lord Jesus) "a living stone..." What was the rock? "Unto whom coming a living stone, rejected indeed of men..." Look again at Matthew 16 and you will find immediately after the Lord Jesus had said those words to Peter: "From that time began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things... and be killed..." "Unto whom coming, a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but with God elect, precious, ye also, as living stones are built up a spiritual house..." "I will build my church." "...built up a spiritual house..." That is Peter's explanation and definition: "...built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Because it is contained in scripture, "Behold I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame." There you have what Peter understood to be the meaning of the Lord's words in Matthew 16:16-18.
When we turn to the letter to the Ephesians we have what the Apostle Paul came by the Holy Spirit to understand to be the meaning of such words. We shall leave that for a little while, returning to it later, bearing in mind as we go on, that what is before us is the nature, not just the object, but the nature of that which Christ brings into being in His resurrection.
Let us study this passage in Matthew a little more closely, and see what is implicit in the statement. We begin with the personal statement of the Lord Jesus: "I will build my church." "I"; that carries with it two things quite clearly. One is that Christ builds the Church. That is discriminating and important. Christ builds the Church. No man can build the Church. Christ is the Builder. "And the Lord added to them day by day those that were being saved." No man can add to the Church. No man can constitute the Church, no company of men, no committee of men. This is something which is the Lord's doing, and if the Church is eternal, only the Lord can build it. What man may do will be but for a time. The second thing in connection with that "I" is this; that in view of the imminent cross, the statement - "I will build my Church" - means that the risen Christ will build His Church. He looks right across the grace, He looks right through death, He looks to the other side of Jerusalem, His crucifixion and all that was about to take place there, He looks through it, beyond it, and says: "I will build my Church." It is the absolute confidence and certainty that He will go through, that He will come out on the other side; and He will be as truly on the other side of Calvary and of death and all that that means as He is here and now on this side of it; and now as One Who has already in faith and assurance and certainty passed through it, He says: "I will build." That is the faith with which the Lord Jesus faces the cross. It is a challenge. It is as though He were saying: "Let Elders, Scribes, Pharisees, Rulers, men and demons, and all the power of spiritual death do their work, and their utmost. I will build My church; I face the Scribes, Pharisees, Elders, Rulers, people, devil and death, and I will build My Church in spite of them all!" That "I" is a tremendous "I" as it comes there with the cross clearly in view, imminent.
We turn to the Word of the Lord in Matthew 16:16-18; the fragment of that passage which is basic to our meditations is that in the eighteenth verse: "I will build my church," and we will immediately seek to explain what we have in view. And it is, that which issues from the death and resurrection of Christ, and its real nature. It is here called by Him: "My church," and that embraces matters no fewer and of no lesser importance than the Person of Christ, the death and resurrection of Christ, the heavenly position and activity of Christ, the advent and vocation of the Holy Spirit, the coming again of the Lord Jesus, the new birth, the warfare with Satan, and the vocation of believers in the ages to come. There you have a catalogue of the magnitudes of the Word of God, and these are all included in that phrase: "My church." So that it will be seen at once that to be occupied with what the Lord Jesus calls "My church" is to be occupied with no small thing - not that it is my intention to deal with all these matters, but I simply want to have you impressed at the outset with the great importance of this matter.
Our specific object at this time is the nature of what Christ effects and brings into being in His resurrection; and we shall consider this in two ways. Firstly, what we may call contemplatively or objectively, and secondly, introspectively or subjectively. That is, on the one hand we shall look at its nature as it is presented to us, and then on the other hand we shall look into it and see its deeper nature and content.
Peter's Explanation of What Christ Said to Him
When we turn to the letter to the Ephesians we have what the Apostle Paul came by the Holy Spirit to understand to be the meaning of such words. We shall leave that for a little while, returning to it later, bearing in mind as we go on, that what is before us is the nature, not just the object, but the nature of that which Christ brings into being in His resurrection.
Christ is the Builder
