Greetings to you Paul and Peace in Jesus.
You who have the name of He who for zeal without knowledge persecuted the Church until He who chooses even that Manna of Heaven chose to reveal Himself in Him as it is written :
Gal 1:15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace,
16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:
How are you :-}
Blessing to you from me and HE yea the one whom the flaming sword hath guarded even THE TREE OF LIFE. and the ONLY POTENTATE
I hope to be able to share this with you that you may see that we are not in disagreement that JESUS is in truth THE ROCK.. indeed the CornerStone which those who thought they built rejected.
Suffer me to show you why I asked that you look at leaven and perhaps we will see eye to eye on this and some other things which would be FUN :-}
Jesus taught us using "leaven" or in the common tongue "Yeast"
Let's look at the first place I want to share.
Mark 8:15 And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.
In this verse we see that Jesus warns against the LEAVEN of the PHARASEES.
He uses the "Quality of the Leaven" as something that starts off as a small seed within until the whole is filled and changed by it. However the "thing" he refers to is the deeds of the flesh in hypocrisy
So that the leaven reveals a quality and infers to hypocrisy
Yet we can not say then that leaven always means hypocrisy !
Look again now a Jesus use this term here :
Luke 13:21 It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
He uses the "Quality of the Leaven" as something that starts off as a small seed within until the whole is filled and changed by it. However the "thing" he refers to here is the True Kingdom of God spreading throughout the world without hypocrisy !
So then we see that Jesus uses LEAVEN to show the same Quality.. that which has humble beginnings yet dominates in the end.
Yet Jesus uses it to refer to two opposite things - In the one case Hypocrisy in the other God's Kingdom of Truth.
Jesus is described as "THE ROCK" as it is written:
2 Samuel 22:2 And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;
Rock is used to describe "Quality" Just as the man who built his house on Rock. That which is solid and unchanging !
However when Jesus uses "ROCK" in this verse:
Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Rock is the quality but the reference is to the REVELATION of Jesus in THE ELECT throughout all the ages. That is God Truth that can not be purged from the earth no matter how many of us are killed and hated.
I don't know if you understood that when I said "rock" is in the neuter tense in the original Greek it can not mean a person... not Jesus not Peter It must mean a thing ! That same thing that stopped Paul (SAUL )from Persecuting the Church and becoming the most famous new Testament Saint there ever shall be :-}
Isaiah 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
And again the Church has been kept:
Isaiah 1:9 Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
So then Jesus has plainly called Himself THE Rock but has , concerning the builiding of the church, called the revealing of Himself in the Elect by the Father also THE ROCK.
The True Israel of God consists of those who are Born of the Spirit by God.. those who are the Sheep of His Pasture Those whom the Son hath chosen to reveal the Father to.. as it is written:
Luke 10:22 All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.
This is the work of the Holy Spirit.. to bring forth the Bride of Christ whom the Father hath promised Him before the World Began.
Whose name are written in the Lamb Book of Life.
That is the Rock which builds the Church even this Knowledge :
John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
I'm sorry I was out all night so I did not return your message but I bid you well.. Paul which means "small" Besides all this Peter means "little stone" Rather ironic when you think of those who use a rather strange way to interpret this verse to mean Peter... what do they do with the following :
Mark 8:33 But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.
If they use the same "rules" to understand that verse then suddenly Peter becomes Satan .. which is ridiculous but rather Satan was only using Peter and hiding within him for the Spirit had not yet been given.
If you still do not believe That Jesus was referring to revelation of himself when he used "rock" in that verse I will leave it to God to show you. I leave you with this:
1 Corinthians 9:16 For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!
Christ's slave and servant Brian Valentine.
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