2023/09/04

107. Successors of the Apostles, Part 2

As discussed in the previous article, the "keys of the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 16:19), which Jesus gave to Peter, was the "key of the bottomless pit" (Revelation 20:1). The "keys" mentioned here are vital to understanding and solving things, as Jesus described them as "bind" and "loose" (cf. Matthew 16:19). 

The above issue started when Jesus, in the Gospel of Matthew, asked his disciples, "But who do you say that I am?"(Matthew 16:15). In response to Peter's answer, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16), Jesus said, "[F]lesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 16:17). These words of Peter were God's timely announcement of the "hour" when Jesus, "the Son of the living God," would manifest himself as "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). 

It is written, "From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised" (Matthew 16:21). From those words of Peter onwards, Jesus proceeds towards his Passion and death. 

As he said, "No one takes it [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father" (John 10:18), Jesus, who is God, came down to earth with the "charge I have received from my Father" to undergo suffering and death as a human being. This charge was fulfilled in the Book of Revelation in the "manner of the Spirit of prophecy" as follows: "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one; I died, and behold I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades" (Revelation 1:17-18). 

From this fact, "the charge Jesus has received from his Father" can be paraphrased as "the keys of Death and Hades." Hence, Jesus gave Peter the words of assurance, "I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18), before giving him the "keys of the kingdom of heaven," namely, the "key of the bottomless pit." 

Jesus then underwent the Passion and death and rose again. Through his resurrection, the "charge I have received from my Father" was fulfilled, and "Death and Hades" were resolved. Jesus gave Peter the "key of the bottomless pit," the "keys of the kingdom of heaven" on the premise that he himself would solve the problem of "Death and Hades." This key would solve the problem of man's accidental information (cf. blog №4).

To be continued.

Maria K. M.