Thus it was the revelation of Christ coming from the Father that would be the bedrock upon which Christ would build His church, not Peter the stone! Thus, the idea that Peter was the first pope of the universal (Catholic) church is false. God planned to build His church on the bedrock of divine revelation not on one man.
This revelation of Christ is the foundation upon the true church is to be built. Many other scriptures confirm this.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him. (John 14:6-7).
Paul said: But I certify you, brethren that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:11-12).
And: “Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith (Romans 16:25-26).
Also: “ The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: (Revelation 1:1).
The divine revelation from God is the only road to the way, the truth and the life which is Christ. His Kingdom is not of this world. It is built upon the continued revealing of the mystery of Christ hidden from ages past, but revealed to His Sons.
And to him to whom who the revelation comes, he will be given the keys of the Kingdom (which is Christ) and whatever he binds in earth shall have already been bound in Heaven (the spiritual realm where God dwells) and whatever he loosed the same (see Matthew 6:10 – “thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven”).
Imagine the misinterpretation of some major religions that this set of scriptures meant that Peter was the first Pope. One must wonder whether it was innocent misinterpretation or misinformation in order to give the church legitimacy by using the name of the beloved disciple. At least we who respond only to what we hear from God by revelation know the true answer.
THE TRUTH
Many people seek after the “truth” of creation. They seek the truth in order to explain their existence on the planet. They seek to counter the seeming futility that exists on the earth by finding the elusive concept of truth that explains everything. All or nearly all, religions are expressing a quest for ultimate truth. They believe ultimate truth will explain how they are to function on the earth and tell them right from wrong-how to act. However, as will be seen below, truth is not a concept apart from God. Truth is a person. Jesus Christ is the truth and the way and the life.
The “I am” statements in John 14:6 describe what Christ is to us. He is our way, truth and life. They are not separate concepts outside of Christ. He “IS” these things. Those of us seeking the way or path to God need only know Christ because He is the way. Those of us seeking truth need only know Christ because He is truth. The same is true with spiritual life. Thus those three concepts, the way, truth and life, are a person—Jesus Christ.
Many of us seek to know the truth or truths such as wisdom and knowledge as truths apart from ourselves. The Gnostic Christian sect believes truth comes through an accumulation of secret knowledge. The Buddhist seeks truth through deep meditation into one self as revealing of the ultimate truth, a state of being called Nirvana. Many other religions seek truth as revealed by principles of great leaders such as Confucius, Krishna, Mohammed, etc. Truth to them is always a concept separate from a God-head; a tangible quality that exists apart from our experience. They tend to exalt principles such as wisdom, knowledge, true sayings and truth according to our own consciences and concepts of morality. None of these concepts, which are obtained only through long seeking and study, are really the truth we are seeking. The truth is contained in and is that of a person, Jesus Christ. The real truth is Jesus Christ the perfect combination of God and man. Know Him and you know the truth. He is the living embodiment of it.
Many say they want eternal life so they seek it by doing many good works they think will please God. But God is not pleased with the works that originate from our own concepts of good. We cannot please God by doing good things. Only by being led by the spirit of God do we please God (Romans 8:14). When we know Him, and are being led by Him, we have eternal life.
Many say “What path or way should I pursue to please God?” Should I be a missionary? Do miracles? Become a hermit or a nun? Should I be a pastor or a leader in my church? You may become one or all of those things but these pursuits will not bring you to an awareness of the truth or a free pass to heaven. Jesus was very clear on this:
Christ spoke about those who did great works to please God.
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’
“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:21-23). These were those who attempted to obtain life through their own methods; the result was that all Christ required was that they “knew Him”. We must know Him in order to please Him.
There are those who strive to keep the laws of God, like the 10 Commandments. It was proven in the Old Testament that Israel, with all its efforts, could not keep even the least of the commandments or Laws of God. them. This fact led to the inescapable fact that something more was needed on order to know truth and become righteous. Jesus Christ had to come into the earth into the earth to keep the commandments for us so that we no longer had to strive to do them. Christ came so that these laws would be written on our hearts; so that truth would become part of our nature. Only as we appropriate the nature of Christ, eat his flesh and drink his blood will we have those laws “written on our hearts” (Hebrews 10:16-17; Jeremiah 31:33).
How do God’s laws get written on our hearts? Since all these qualities exist in the man Christ we are open to be open to receive His nature. Our own nature must experience the transformation into His nature so that we become like Him. Then we know truth-we become the truth as He was.
How do we get to know Christ in this intimate way? Seek Him and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking until the door opens (Luke 11:9-13). Christ’s gift of grace is available to all. Just remember it is not separate from Him. He is truth. He is God. And it is His good pleasure to give it to us because He loves us.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS AND MORE
The Law of the Old Testament (the Torah) was brought by God for a different purpose than most understand. The writer of Hebrews and the Apostle Paul make this very clear. Below is a summary of the Old Testament Jewish Laws and a discussion of the importance of these Laws to the ancient nation of Israel and to our lives today.
The Old Testament of the Bible conveys the history of the physical nation of Israel from the standpoint of God. In order to reveal His nature to the Israelis, God promulgated laws upon which the monotheistic nation was to govern itself both as a nation and as the individuals within that society. God made a covenant (contract) with the people of Israel that if they obeyed these laws their lives would be blessed by God (Deuteronomy 28:1-14). But He also warned that if the Laws were disobeyed there would be serious consequences Deuteronomy 28:15-68). The 10 Commandments were ten Laws that were part of over 600 laws that God enacted for the Israelites in the Old Testament (See Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy for the entire law). The laws covered everything from criminal law and punishment, civil laws, laws regarding the sick and dead, laws regarding foods, how to