The Rock Revelation

UV 600/10,000 The Rock Revelation “ And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.” Matthew 16 v 17 The world does not change through revolution but through revelation. My world or my tiny universe changed for the better when it was revealed to me by the Father in heaven that Jesus indeed is the Christ, the anointed Son of the living God. That revelation transformed my darkened mind and increased my understanding. By a process of logic or discussion or rationality we can never arrive on such a conclusion or develop such a conviction. The Holy Spirit prints that truth on our spirits, hearts and minds even as His holy finger wrote the Ten Commandments with fire on tablets of stone. When we receive the revelation, our amorphous faith that will shift from one idea to another idea, from following one leader to another, from pursuing various goals and interests in life, will be hardened as rock. Simon the son of Jonah, who like Jonah acted on his impulses and emotions, ran often in the opposite direction that God indicated was brought on track like an arrow. Everything we think, speak and do will point back to the living God. We will receive the anointing of Christ that Peter received so that we will help to plunder souls from hell and populate heaven. Simon Barjonah was transformed into Simon Peter or Simon the son of the Rock. Jesus is the Rock out of which all of us are carved. We too like Peter are “sons of the Rock”. We should hereafter reflect characteristics of the Rock: of firmness, of singlemindedness, of faith, of fearlessness, courage and strength. This is the rock that Daniel saw in a revelation: a rock not cut out by human hands, but by the Lord God Himself: a rock that will roll down from heaven and transform the destiny of individuals, families and nations. Many people misunderstand the words of Jesus when He said, “ This is the rock on which I will build my church.” They misunderstand Peter to be that rock and attempt to deify him. He was Simon the son of Jonah who now is transformed by godly revelation into Simon the son of Peter or the Rock. What Jesus means is that it is on this revelation from the Father that He is the Son of the living God that He would build the Kingdom of God. When we believe this revelation, our lives would be blessed. The word “ blessed” in the Greek is “ makarios” and in Latin “ haggios”, both of which means “ lifted up and to be envied.” When we are so blessed we will practice the beatitudes spoken of in the Sermon on the Mount by Jesus: to recognize our spiritual poverty and God’s riches, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be meek, to mourn our sinfulness and negative qualities, to withstand persecution, to be merciful and pure, to work for peace and reconciliation between God and people. The blessings enumerated in the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy will also be our portion: we will be blessed in the city and in the country, our children will be blessed, even our pets and animals, our food and drink will be blessed, our journeys and our destinations will be blessed, our enemies will be defeated in their plans against us and they will be scattered, our storehouses and bank accounts will be blessed, our land will be blessed. In short, we will be blessed in everything we do. These are the keys to the kingdom of Heaven given to us in Scripture. No wonder our Lord rocks and our lives rock! Prateep V Philip