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When Jesus told Peter that he was Petros meaning a stone in Matthew 16:18, Jesus was using a play on words that was a prophecy.

Matthew 16:18 And I also say to you that you are Peter (Petros), and on this rock (Petra) I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. (NKJV)

Too often people remember this verse and don’t recall the verse before it. 17 Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And that comes directly after Peter had declared Jesus was the Son of the living God.

Jesus was not saying that Peter was the rock that He would use to build His church. Jesus was actually saying Simon was a chip off the old block. “Petros, you are a living stone, a piece of Me, the Rock, the foundation of My church.” There is a huge sermon in those few words. But, wait! There is more!

The Aramaic word bar has myriad meanings.

pure, clear, sincere

clean, empty adv

purely

corn, grain

field

bar of wood, of city gates, of tribulation, a fortress, of the earth as a prison (fig.)

tongue

tongue (of men)

tongue (literal)

tongue (organ of speech)

language

tongue (of animals)

tongue (of fire)

wedge, bay of sea (tongue-shaped)

Rock in the sea Jonah 2:6.

Every connotation is directly related to spreading the Gospel of Christ. Jesus was using the plethora of meanings in conjunction with Simon’s real father, and Simon’s father’s namesake: Jonah.

Peter was sifted by Satan, and the chaff was sifted away leaving a core of purity and sincerity to be what he prematurely professed to Jesus before the cock crowed three times. Peter gave much spiritual food to Christians in Jerusalem and Judea and Asia, and finally to Rome. His letters to Christians are just as alive today as when he first penned them.

Peter used his tongue in languages that so many from around the world could understand so that at Pentecost, the church grew from 120 to 3,120 in one day through the Holy Spirit using the apostles’ tongues.

The Rock in the Sea is a bit more complex, yet it was this phrase that turned on the light bulb for me. Listen to this: I went down to the moorings of the mountains; The earth with its bars closed behind me forever; Yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O LORD, my God. Jonah 2:6. Does that not depict precisely what happened to Peter? He hit the absolute bottom when he denied Jesus and the cock crowed reminding him of what Jesus had said. Peter looked at the sadness in Jesus’ eyes, the flood of grief that immersed him, almost drowning him as he fled from the mercy in those eyes. The disciples scattered. The darkness engulfed the earth and there was a hush over all the heavens and earth. Satan thought he had won. But, God told Job about the roiling sea (often a word used to mean humanity). He said in Job 38:10, When I fixed My limit for it, And set bars and doors; 11When I said, 'This far you may come, but no farther, And here your proud waves must stop!'

Then the sun broke the darkness on the third day and the tomb was empty.

Peter wrote to Christians everywhere 1 Peter 2:1 Then laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil words, 2 as newborn babes desire the pure soul-nourishing milk, that you may grow by it; 3 if indeed you "tasted" "that the Lord is good;" (LXX-Psalm 33:9; MT-Psalm 34:8) 4 to whom having drawn near, a living Stone, indeed having been rejected by men, but chosen by God, precious; 5 you also as living stones are being built a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

"God's Words For US" from Cecelia Lester

Renew a Right Spirit