I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH

“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” – Matthew 16:13

LIGHT FOR NOW: The building of the church is not an ongoing work.

It must be noted first that what Jesus said to Peter in verse 18 was in response to what Peter said about him in verse 16 “…thou art the Christ…”. The question that now comes to the fore is what did Jesus mean when he said I will build my church? What is the church and when was the church actually built? Firstly, note the personal pronoun used: ‘I will’ and ‘my church’. Meaning the building of the church (note, his church) will be Jesus’ personal responsibility. Him alone will be committed to do it. He will not need help from construction engineers to help or aid him carry what him alone has committed himself to carry out. Now what did the building of the church mean? The word, ‘build’ used in the text from its root word implies to establish. In essence, Jesus is saying I will establish my church. This obviously will not be a physical building.

And everyone knows that Jesus never used any building tools to construct a building physically and call it church. Jesus here was speaking of a spiritual reality. So, what did he mean by the word church? The word ’church’ was translated from the Greek word ‘ekklesia’ which implies the called-out ones; it speaks of people. Who are these people to be called out by Jesus? They are the believers. So, the church fundamentally are the called-out ones. The believers are the church and the gathering of the believers in a particular location (structures) is called the gathering of the church. It is not the physical building that makes a church; it is the people that gather there that make it a church.
Now, when did this statement, ‘I will build my church’ got fulfilled? Now, notice Jesus further said ‘the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’. The phrase ‘gates of hell’ implies the authority of death. An understanding of the phrase now lets us see that he will die, but death will not prevail against it. Now, prevail against what? Against his resurrection. That is, Jesus was saying I will build my church and the gate of death will not stop my resurrection.   That is, the grave will not keep him captive. Therefore, the church which is the believers; the body of Christ and the gathering of believers was founded or established upon his resurrection.

Therefore, the phrase ‘I will build my church’ which was futuristic when that statement was made was fulfilled when Jesus rose. Meaning the building of the church is no more futuristic. Jesus will not build His church; he has already built his church when he rose from the dead. The building of the church is not an answer to a prayer, neither is it a prayer point. It is what Jesus did when he rose from the dead. Paul in Colossians 1:18 lays more credence to this “And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have preeminence”. Thus, the church is the body of Christ. Jesus is the head; we are the body. We are the house of God; the temple where God dwells; the habitation of God and the eternal home of God. Hallelujah!!!

INSTRUCTION: The building of the church is an answer to a prayer. Stop praying for Christ to build his church. He built his church. We are the church. We are his building.

PRAYER: Thank you, father, for making me your dwelling place and eternal home. You live in me and I live in you. We are in an inseparable union, in Jesus Name.  Amen.

For More Light; get the message, “The Knowledge of Christ” by Dr. John Linus

QUOTE: The building of the church is not an ongoing project. It was finished in his finished work.

DAILY BIBLE READING: MORNING: MATTHEW CHAPTER 16; EVENING: COLOSSIANS CHAPTER 1