The Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven
The Apostle Peter’s testimony, the solid rock and the
foundation that Jesus said His Church would be built upon. What was that
foundation? It was just as Peter confessed, the fact that Jesus Christ was the
Son of the living God. This was the revelation that God gave to Peter and Jesus
accepted what Peter stated. Because of this, Peter was given a commission that
stands today and should be recognized by all people that seek the truth of
God’s Word.
The most important thing
contained in the Bible is that we must believe that Jesus is the only begotten
Son of God. Our eternal destiny hangs on our acceptance of this statement and
our belief of the truthfulness of it. Here is what the Bible says;
“ God so loved the World
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever would believe in Him would
not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3;16)
In
the event that someone doesn’t know what begotten means, it means that Jesus was born of a woman by procreation with the Lord
God Jehovah being His Father. How exactly did God do this? I don’t know, but
what I do believe is that nothing is impossible with God. His ways are beyond
and above man’s ways.
The second important statement in the
Bible is that the Apostle Peter was truly given the keys of the Kingdom of
Heaven, what this means and why they were given to him.
“Jesus asked His disciples
who they believed that He was and the Apostle Peter said; “You are
the Christ, the Son of the living God.”” (Matt 16;16)
Jesus said to
Peter, since God has blessed you and revealed this most important
thing to you about who I am, you are being given the keys of the Kingdom of
Heaven.
This belief of
Peter about who Jesus was, was then and is today the most important thing that
God desires for all people to believe and testify to and opens the door for all
believers to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
All of us should be able to see that the most reliable of
the writings in the New Testament are from the Apostle Peter. Peter was one of
three Apostles who were a part of Jesus’ inner circle, those who accompanied Him
the majority of the time during His travels and ministries. Peter was the one
Apostle who testified that Jesus was the Son of God which was recorded
in the Gospel of Matthew, of which Jesus did not deny, but because this fact
had been revealed to him by God Jesus endowed Peter with the insight to
determine what was or was not the truths about the Kingdom of Heaven for
mankind to know.
For hundreds of years, theologians from around the World
have attempted to determine who were the authors and or the writers of the four
Gospels in the Bible. To this day no evidence has been found to certify that
Matthew, Mark, Luke or John were the ones. Its more than likely a fact that
these four names were identified as the writers just to add some credibility to
these writings. It’s also more than likely that these gospels were written by
someone other than the Apostles, those who heard the testimonies of the
Apostles and were nothing more than scribes. One thing that is a fact according
to the majority of theologians including myself, is that the Apostle John
certainly was not the person who wrote the Gospel that bears his name. In my
opinion on the other hand, it more than likely that the Apostle Matthew wrote
or dictated to someone else who wrote it for him, the Gospel that bears his
name.
Following are two verses of scripture that should
carry a lot of weight when considering the fact about who Jesus was. Keep in
mind that Peter was one of the three Apostles who were with Jesus on the
mountain when this occurred.
Matthew 17: 3-5 and, behold, there appeared unto them
Moses and Elias talking with Jesus. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus,
Lord, it is good for us to be here: if it is your will, let us make here three
tabernacles; one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. While he yet
spoke, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the
cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
Second Peter 1: 16-18
For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known
unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of
his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when
there came such a voice to him
from the excellent glory, this is my beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased. And this voice
which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy
mount.
There it is, one
of the eyewitnesses who was present when God the Father spoke to them in an
audible voice out of Heaven and wrote about what he heard. An eye witness, the
Apostle Peter, who testified that God in Heaven spoke to them, while Jesus was
standing by them on the Mountain.
The Bible tells us that there is only one God (Malachi
2;10) and His name is Jehovah in the English language. (Exodus 6;3)
God has only one name. God said to Moses, as is recorded
in Exodus 6:3, my name is Jehovah. The name Jehovah is the English translation
of the Hebrew name of God which is Yehovah which was developed from the
original tetragrammaton, meaning four letters which was YHWH. These four
letters were pronounced Yahweh.
Jesus made the proclamation that God (Jehovah) sent His
only begotten Son into the World to be the Messenger of a New Covenant that God
was entering into for His people and His Son was named Jesus according to the
commandment given to Joseph by an Angel (Matthew 1;21)
Man has used many scriptures in the bible to try to prove
that Jesus Christ and Jehovah God were one and the same person, but because of
their lack of spiritual understanding and common sense reasoning, they erred in
their efforts. They say that Jesus was all man and all God, which is not in the
Bible, but only their opinion. They use the quote that Jesus made saying “ I and
my Father are one” to mean that they are the same person. This was a poor
translation used incorrectly. Many other biblical quotes do they use without
explaining those verses that contradict their teaching. All because of not
having any spiritual understanding that the Holy Spirit would give them.
There are many things in the
scriptures that have confused most of the truth seeking people simply because
we don’t know in fact who was responsible for writing all the New Testament
scriptures, so we must trust in the one that Jesus chose to unlock the Kingdom’s
mysteries for us, the Apostle Peter.
The Apostle Peter is still using his
keys to the Kingdom today. Do you have the gift of the Holy Spirit that God
promised to give to us in these last days Will you allow the Holy Spirit that
dwells in your heart to accept the truths that Peter has shown you? If you
can’t believe what Peter has testified to, then just maybe you should examine
your Pentecost experience, whether it was effective or not, or you might just begin
to wonder if the devil has used some false Teacher to deceive you about the
truth.
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